he and his followers would withdraw and consider apart what they would do. The Nationalists then left the House in a body. Next day they held a meeting, at which a statement was drawn up repudiating the right of a small minority in N.E. Ulster to have a veto on self-government for a united Ireland, and appealing to men of Irish blood in the Dominions and the United States to bring pressure to bear upon the Government to act towards Ireland " in accordance with the principles for which they were fighting in Europe."
For more than two months no further open attempts at a settlement were made, and meanwhile in Ireland itself Sinn
Fein gathered courage and force. On Feb. 23 it had Agitation gained a footing in the Dublin Mansion House when Amnesty. Alderman O'Neill succeeded Sir William Gallagher
as Lord Mayor. On March 6 a Royal Irish constable was fired at and wounded in Ennistymon a sinister portent in the light of later events. On the 2ist Count Plunkett, who had received the freedom of the city of Sligo four days earh'er, issued a circular calling for a Sinn Fein conference and stating that the duty had been cast upon him of inaugurating a policy for Ireland. As the anniversary of Easter week approached the tension increased. On April 2 the Dublin Corporation passed a resolution demanding an amnesty of the rebel prisoners, and on the pth (Easter Monday) there were disturbances in Dublin, where the Sinn Fein flag was hoisted on the ruins of the Post Office, and in Cork, where, after high mass in the cathedral for the souls of the executed leaders, a noisy crowd of Sinn Fein demon- strators had to be dispersed by the police. The most significant episode, however, was the meeting at the Dublin Mansion House, on April 19, of the conference summoned by Count Plunkett. There were present between 500 and 600 delegates
from elective bodies throughout the country, and Omaniza- from labour organizations, the Ancient Order of 'sinn'rein.' Hibernians, Sinn Fein clubs and the Women's League,
together with about 100 representatives of the younger Roman Catholic clergy. In his address Count Plunkett declared that " they would not be fettered slaves and that any offer that England had to make that was short of complete liberty would be treated with contempt," and he ended by proposing a long series of resolutions asserting the right of Ireland to complete independence and to representation at the Peace Conference, and pledging those present " to use every means in their power " to attain the complete liberty of Ireland. After these resolutions had been carried unanimously, Mr. John Milroy moved, and Mr. Arthur Griffith seconded, a resolution in favour of united action between such bodies as Sinn Fein, the Nation League, the Irish-American Alliance, the Irish Volunteers, and the Irish Labour party, and proposing that, in order to secure control of public institutions and elective bodies, a Council, to be called the Executive Council of the Irish National Alliance, be created, with instructions to bring into being at the earliest possible moment a constituent assembly, to be known as the Council of the Irish Nation. This resolu- tion, however, the chairman refused to put to the meeting, as too directly aimed against a still powerful section of National- ist opinion, and he substituted one couched in more general terms, namely, " That we desire to establish an organization to unite Irish advanced opinion, and provide for action as a result of its conclusion." This was carried by acclamation. 1 Sinn Fein was thus provided with the nucleus of a national organization. It was soon to be provided once more with the brains to make this organization effective.
On May 16 the Prime Minister addressed to Mr. Redmond a letter in which he made two alternative proposals for the
settlement of the Irish question: (i) the immedi- Fresh ate introduction of a bill for the application of the Proposals ^cl o f I g I ^ t subject to an amendment providing Settlement, for the exclusion for five years of the counties of N.E.
Ulster; (2) the summoning of a Convention of Irishmen of all parties for the purpose of devising a scheme for Irish self-government. That the first of these proposals 1 Irish Times, April 20 1917.
would find favour was improbable, in view of the unpopularity already incurred by the Nationalist party owing to their con- cessions to the principle of " partition "; and the improbability was increased by another Sinn Fein victory at the polls on May 10, Mr. McGuinness, the Sinn Fein candidate, being returned by a majority of 37 over the official candidate of the Nationalist party. 2 Mr. Redmond, accordingly, rejected the first proposal, but accepted the second, which certainly gave a better prospect of some tangible result. On behalf of the Southern Unionists Lord Midleton also agreed, on condition that the Convention should be fully representative, and that its decision should be subject to review by the Imperial Parliament. The representa- tives of Ulster in Parliament said that they would lay the Prime Minister's proposal before the Ulster Unionist Council.* Count Plunkett, on the other hand, without waiting for the Government scheme, announced on May 18 that Sinn Fein would take no part in it.
Undeterred by this attitude of Sinn Fein, the Government announced on May 21 that they would summon an Irish Convention empowered to submit to the Imperial Parliament a scheme for the future self-government Msh of Ireland within the Empire. In making this % ' a v A ' n '. announcement the Prime Minister said that if the aouaced. Convention reached substantial agreement, the Government would give legislative effect to its decision. It was not, he added, to be an assembly merely of politicians, but of representatives of all Irish interests and opinions, including Sinn Fein. The Government letter was to define the terms of reference, and the debates, in order to obviate undue pressure and intimidation from without, would be held with closed doors. On June n the Prime Minister announced the composition of the Convention. Invitations were to be sent to 101 repre- sentative Irishmen chairmen of county and borough councils, with elected representatives from small towns and urban dis- tricts; four Roman Catholic bishops, the Protestant archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, and the moderator of the Presbyterian Church; the chairmen of the Dublin, Belfast and Cork chambers of commerce; five representatives of labour from the Trade Councils of Dublin and Cork and the Trade Unions of Belfast; five members each from the Nationalist party, the Ulster Union- ists and the Southern Unionists, two from the O'Brienites, 4 and two Irish peers. Five seats were reserved for Sinn Fein; and the Government proposed to nominate the chairman and 15 prominent Irishmen of all sections of opinion. Among those thus nominated were Dr. Mahaffy, Provost of Trinity College, and Mr. George Russell (" A. E. "), whose " Thoughts for the Convention," published in the Irish Times, won the approval of that fiery Nationalist, Archbishop Walsh of Dublin. Finally, on June 15, Mr. Bonar Law Release announced in the House of Commons that, " in sinnFein order that the Convention may meet in an atmos- convicts. phere of harmony and good -will," the Government had decided to release all the prisoners convicted and sen- tenced for their share in the rebellion of 1916.
This release was unconditional. There was no such " iron-clad " oath as the North had imposed upon the South after the Ameri- can Civil War. The released Sinn Feiners were free to exercise all the rights of citizenship without first swearing allegiance to the United Kingdom; still less were they required to make a statement, before voting or taking office, that in sharing in the rebellion they had been guilty of " treason and felony." It was an act of political generosity without parallel in history. In Ireland it was very generally regarded as an act of political folly equally without parallel. The Lord Mayor might, in addressing his Corporation, hail the release as " a happy omen of peace and good-will "; but by the mass of the Irish people
2 The figures were: McGuinness, 1,498; McKenna; 1,461.
3 The Ulster Council consented on condition that no scheme should be forced on Ulster to which its representatives did not con- sent (June 8).
4 Mr. William O'Brien, on June 18, announced his refusal to at- tend the Convention, on the ground that nine-tenths of its members were " pawned beforehand to partitionist compromise."
