Printed circular letter by George Noble Plunkett stating his political standpoint in the aftermath of his victory in the North Roscommon by-election

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Dublin, March 17th, 1917. DEAR SIR, I am returned to Dublin pledged by the Electors of North Roscommon to recognise no foreign authority over Ireland; to maintain the rights of Ireland to independence; and to initiate Ireland's work of taking control of her own affairs. The duty has been cast upon me of inaugurating a policy for Ireland. If the declaration of policy may seem new, the principle upon which it is based is as ancient as the Irish race. Ireland will accept nothing short of complete liberty. The faith in a free Ireland which her boldest and ablest sons sealed with their blood a year ago is not to be abandoned now. From our advanced post our Nation can never retreat. To bring this affirmation of the National faith and the National will to a practical issue, it is necessary to organise the whole country. The vast majority of our people hold, as their fathers held, the principles for which Ireland has fought through the centuries. If the members elected in Ireland represented the opinions of their constituencies they would be sitting as an independent body in Ireland, not as a minority accepting its defeat in a foreign Parliament. The complaint of those who trusted the so-called constitutional movement is, that the men they appointed to represent them, from being their agents, became their masters. In consequence the daily needs of the country and the material advantages upon which its life depends, have been made secondary to the little plots and plans of the Party at Westminster. In this condition of affairs it was an easy matter to transfer to the English Party dictators the allegiance of men pledged to Ireland. The payment of Irish members by England severed a natural tie between the electors and the elected. The Irish member of Parliament is in most cases no more than an English pensioner. By the English Government's refusal to allow a general election to take place during the war, the expression of Irish opinion through the electoral system has been silenced. The position of the Irish Party during Easter Week was deplorable. The Leader of the Irish Party accepted the points of view of the Government. He speaks like an Englishman, intent on maintaining English supremacy, not as an Irishman who believes that his Nation has the rights common to all nations, and the duty to wrest her liberties from foreign control by every means in her power. The Irish Party's alliance with the Liberals and the nondescript administration that followed is ostensibly come to an end. But inter-communication between the Party and the Government is not ended, although the Party are at present in a position of absolute hopelessness. The nominal Home Rule Act is a worthless measure that it would be injurious to Ireland to put into operation. But the Party cannot take even that mock Act from the war shelf where it lies with other "scraps of paper". The alternative plan fathered by the Party, by which the Irish people were to be permanently divided for the conve…