British government's debt to "dead Irishmen buried in Belgian ditches"

In December 1914 the format and editorship of the Irish Volunteer was changed. 'Edited by Eoin Mac Néill' was carried prominently on its mast-head and the smaller, slimmer and clearer publication reflected the slimmed down ranks of the Irish Volunteers, and their more militant stance, following the split with John Redmond, leader of the Home Rule party who was, by this time, actively recruiting for the British Army.

This edition contains a scathing front page article denouncing British Government betrayal of Irish nationalists. It describes the British promise of Home Rule as a treaty with the Irish people and goes on: "They were as much bound in honour to fulfil that treaty as to protect the neutrality of Belgium.They broke the treaty. And now they pose as champions of treaty obligations and defenders of small nationalities." And the paper expresses little hope that the British government will repay its debt to "dead Irishmen buried in Belgain ditches".

Mac Néill's editorial says the Volunteers are not revolutionary but constructive. But within the Volunteers the revolutionary Irish Republican Brotherhood was now more active, their influence having increased following the split with the Redmondites.

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