g. And in the scale of things it must
be counted, for the young men who risked their lives in Easter Week,
not the least of their performances that they gave back to the people
of Ireland the right of thinking and acting for themselves. How well
they used this right to exact a full measure of retribution from the
Party that had betrayed them the General Election of 1918 abundantly
shows.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE IRISH CONVENTION AND THE CONSCRIPTION OF
IRELAND

The time had now come when the Irish Party had to taste all the
bitterness of actual and anticipated defeat. Several Irish newspapers
had gone over to Sinn Fein. _The Irish Independent_ had been
previously a fearless critic of the Party, and the defeat of the
Partition proposals was largely due to the manner in which they had
denounced them and exposed their real character.

A bye-election took place in North Roscommon. There was a straight
fight between the Parliamentary Party and Sinn Fein and the former
were defeated by an overwhelming majority. Another trial of strength
came soon afterwards, and the Party again bit the dust. The
Coalitionists had now turned a cold shoulder to the Party. They could
get along very well without them. They had got all they could out of
them for war purposes. They foresaw their approaching defeat, and they
did not, therefore, count on their scheme of things as a force to be
conciliated or to be afraid of. And as if to ensure the complete
downfall and overthrow of the Party the Government continued their
arrests and deportations.

The Party had to "demonstrate" in some way and they hit upon the device
of withdrawing from Parliament and sending a Manifesto to the United
States and the self-governing dominions. But whilst they paid _Sinn
Fein_ the compliment of adopting their policy of Parliamentary
abstention, they neither honestly kept away nor openly remained--asking
questions and sending ambassadors from time to time. _Sinn Fein_ was not
inactive either. It summoned a Convention to meet in Dublin to assert
the independence of Ireland, its status as a nation and its right to
representation at the Peace Conference.

The Government was still faced with a reluctant and undecided America,
and it became essential for "propaganda purposes" to do something of
fair seeming on the Irish Question. The Prime Minister accordingly
revived the old Partition