Memorandum from Joseph P. Walshe to Eamon de Valera regarding the proposed introduction of conscription in Northern Ireland
(Secret)

Note for Minister¹

I have made it clear to the British Government that any attempt to impose compulsory military service in Northern Ireland would constitute an act of war against the Irish Nation.

I have taken that course because I hold that the right of the people of Ireland to govern the whole of this island is sovereign and indefeasible.

I hold that, in contemplation of the law of nations and of the Constitution of Ireland, the national territory is indivisible and the unity of the Irish Nation perpetual.

I hold that no power on earth has the legal or the moral right to conscript Irishmen inhabiting the national territory of Ireland for service in a foreign army.