Dividing Ireland: World War I and Partition

THE GREAT WAR AND NATIONAL IDENTITY 109
description of his military success as the ‘fruit of a policy of liberty
and the recognition of national rights in this part of the Empire’.
The Irish leader pointed out to the House of Commons that Botha
too had had to face serious—white—‘racial animosity’ and ‘bitter
national memories’ between Britons and Boers in South Africa—‘he
had to face his Sein [sic] Feiners’. Redmond asked the Commons if
any fair-minded man thought that General Botha could have
over come those difficulties if the war had broken out immediately
after the recognition of South Africa’s national rights and before
they had been put into operation. ‘I honestly believe’, said
Redmond, ‘in my own heart that…Botha’s difficulties were in
reality small compared with the difficulties that my colleagues and
I had to face in Ireland’. It was now true to say that for the first time
the overwhelming sentiment of the Irish people was with the
Empire, and the incalculable value of this had been felt in every
one of the Dominions and in the United States. Redmond appealed
to Parliament to:
Trust us to know…the best methods of getting recruits for
your Army. Do not attempt to drive a people who have
already gone far, and who have gone further than yesterday
you could have hoped or believed. Do not weaken the hands
of men who are straining every nerve to allay suspicion and to
arouse enthusiasm in the cause amongst their…countrymen.
Do not carp…and…belittle Irish effort. 120
Unionists and conscription
It has been argued that the unionist concentration upon the war
effort in the Southern provinces helped weaken Unionist
sentiment. 121 However, it would be more accurate to state that
while opposition to home rule may have declined among some
Southern Unionists, imperial sentiment remained as strong as
ever. The Home Rule Act 1914 would still see Irish MPs
represented at Westminster, and although the Union would be
altered, it was not to be broken. Many members of the Southern
Unionist community became convinced that their dual allegiance,
to Ireland and the Empire, could be accommodated by Irish selfgovernment.
Two factors influenced the rapprochement between moderate
Unionists and moderate Nationalists. The first was the role played
by the Irish Party during the war, as part of the Southern Unionist
political elite came to see the Irish Party’s commitment to the war
effort as evidence that Redmondites were sincere in professing