“From every part of Ireland I have had assurances from the Irish Volunteers that they are ready to fulfil this duty:  and from every part—­perhaps better and happier still—­evidences of a desire on the part of men who in the past have been divided from us to come in at this hour of danger.”

He told his audience how a battalion of that famous regiment, the Inniskilling Fusiliers, had been escorted through the town of Enniskillen, in which Orange and Green have always been equally and sharply divided, by combined bodies of the Irish and Ulster Volunteer Forces.  Then turning to the question of equipment, and reminding them that the proclamation against importing arms had been withdrawn, he announced that he had secured several thousand rifles to distribute.[4] He went on then to pledge himself—­it must be said with characteristic overconfidence—­as to the intentions of the Government:  “The Government—­which has withdrawn its troops from Ireland and which has refused to send English Territorials to take their place—­is about to arm, equip and drill a large number of Irish Volunteers.”  Very soon, he told them, every man in the force would have a rifle—­and this involved a grave responsibility, and the need for discipline in the work which was laid upon them.

“I wish them God-speed with their work.  It is the holiest work that men can undertake, to maintain the freedom and the rights and to uphold the peace, the order and safety of their own nation.  You ought to be proud—­you, the sons and the grandsons of men who were shot down for daring to arm themselves—­you ought to be proud that you have lived to see the day when with the good will of the democracy of England you are arming yourselves in the light of heaven.”

The note of exultation in this passage rings again and again through his utterances.  He saw, or thought he saw, the symbol of achieved liberty in the muster of young men, ready to take up the sword, and no longer branded with the name of felons for so doing.  Nor was he alone in his rejoicing.  The host at that meeting was a great Irish landlord, Colonel Sir Hutcheson Poe.  He, upon reading Redmond’s speech of August 4th had written to the Press saying that since he was too old to serve he was taking steps to arm and equip a hundred National Volunteers.  Now, in Redmond’s presence, addressing a body of the Volunteers, he told them what he thought of Redmond’s action.

“That five minutes’ speech did more to compose our differences, to unite all Irishmen in a bond of friendship and good will, than could have been accomplished by years of agitation or by a conference, however well-intentioned it might be.”

That was a notable tribute from one of the eight men who formed the historic Land Conference of 1902; and Sir Hutcheson Poe was not the man to rest on complimentary expressions.  He set to work at once to promote a memorial praying for joint action between Ulster and the Irish Volunteers and for settlement of the political question which alone prevented such action.