In Ireland we have
never had military conscription, for reasons which are well known to
all, and upon which I need not enter. I am well satisfied it should be
so, for it leaves open to us the possibility of a much nobler service,
one which has never yet been attempted by any modern nation, and that is
civil conscription.
I throw out this suggestion, which may hold the imagination of those who
have noble conceptions of what national life should be and what a nation
should work for, in the hope that some time it may fructify. There is a
prohibition laid on the people in this island against conscription for
military purposes. Is there any reason why we should not have
conscription for civil purposes? Why should not every young man in
Ireland give up two years of his life in a comradeship of labor with
other young men, and be employed under skilled direction in great works
of public utility, in the erection of public buildings, the beautifying
of our cities, reclamation of waste lands, afforestation, and other
desirable objects? The principle of service for the State for military
purposes is admitted in every country, even at last by the English-
speaking peoples.
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