Release date is 2026-04-14

Charlene Taylor, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

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in the Convention and the author’s refusal, with detailed objections: a convention too unwieldy and politicized; outdated local bodies and party machines dominating; key communities (notably Ulster Nationalists, labor, and universities) underrepresented; and the Ulster Unionist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.)

Originally published: Dublin: Maunsel & Company, Limited, 1917