The Irish cause and "the Irish Convention" : Authorized report of speech…
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The Irish cause and "the Irish Convention" by William O'Brien is a political pamphlet—an authorized parliamentary speech with appended correspondence—written in the early 20th century. The book examines Ireland’s Home Rule crisis, rejecting partition and assessing the proposed Irish Convention as a potential route to a constitutional settlement. The speech denounces the government’s partition plan as an affront to Irish nationhood and dismisses the proposed Council of Ireland as a cosmetic device.
It criticizes British and Irish parliamentary failures that emboldened Ulster resistance and alienated Irish youth, then pivots to an alternative: let Irishmen frame a constitution through a small, non-partisan round-table conference, submit the result to a nationwide referendum, and secure broad consent without coercion or partition. The appended letters show the Prime Minister inviting participation in the Convention and the author’s refusal, with detailed objections: a convention too unwieldy and politicized; outdated local bodies and party machines dominating; key communities (notably Ulster Nationalists, labor, and universities) underrepresented; and the Ulster Unionist Council positioned to force six-county exclusion. He warns that failure will discredit constitutionalism, inflame extremism, and drive Ireland to seek redress before an international peace forum. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | O'Brien, William, 1852-1928 |
|---|---|
| Title | The Irish cause and "the Irish Convention" : Authorized report of speech delivered on May 21, 1917, in the House of Commons, in the debate on Mr. Lloyd George's Irish proposals; to which is added correspondence with the Prime Minister |
| Edition | Third edition. |
| Original Publication | Dublin: Maunsel & Company, Limited, 1917. |
| Credits | Charlene Taylor, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe |
| Subject | Home rule -- Ireland |
| Subject | Irish question |
| Subject | Lloyd George, David, 1863-1945 |
| Subject | Ireland -- Politics and government -- 20th century |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78446 |
| Release Date | Apr 14, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 258 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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