The Indictment: July, 1919 (Classic Reprint)

Explore a pointed view on Ireland, empire, and democracy as a sharp, historical argument against autocracy.

This edition presents a persuasive perspective on Ireland’s struggle for liberty and the role of England in world power. It argues that democracy at home must align with justice abroad, and it challenges prevailing narratives about empire, diplomacy, and the postwar order.

Across its pages, the book examines how public opinion shapes foreign policy, the conduct of nations after war, and the idea that true peace rests on self-determination for all peoples. It blends historical claims with a call for accountability in international diplomacy.

• A clear, forceful account of Ireland’s fight for self-government and its impact on American views.


• Arguments about how empires have used diplomacy, wars, and treaties to extend power.


• User-friendly context for readers interested in early 20th‑century politics and peace efforts.


• Thoughtful reflections on democracy, liberty, and the limits of postwar settlement.

Ideal for readers of historical politics, independence movements, and the complexities of early 20th‑century diplomacy.

Excerpt from The Indictment: July, 1919

A word about the author of the following remarkable pamphlet. Without doubt the paper is one of the most powerful and unique polemics yet produced by Ireland's most recent struggle for independence.

To the Irish race in America, and the friends of Ireland's cause, the author, Daniel Florence Cohalan, stands out as a strong national and international figure. Above all else, he is to them a 100 per cent American, whose fight for Ireland's liberty grows directly out of his American character and principles.

He is a native of the State of New York, born at Middletown. He is in the full vigor of middle age. Of the pure Celtic strain of the "fighting race," members of his family have been in every war for America from the Revolution on.

He is a graduate of Manhattan College, of New York City. Admitted to the Bar in 1888, for many years he practiced law in New York. He became interested in politics, and, over a course of years, wrote the State and City platforms of one of the great parties. In the year 1911 he was appointed to the Supreme Court bench of the State of New York and, in the following election, he was elected to a full term of fourteen years.

From the days of his youth he w'as interested in the cause of Ireland, and constantly worked and spoke in her behalf. He has visited Ireland many times; has a beautiful country place near Cork, and, oddly enough, knows England almost as well as he knows Ireland. He has been many times a visitor of both countries and is a close student of their histories.

No man in this country is better acquainted with the strength and weakness of England, and no one is more familiar than he with the methods of conquest and exploitation by which the world-wide British Empire has been built up.

He has made a complete study of the economic factors underlying the struggle between England and Ireland. This arsenal of knowledge, joined with a direct, simple, forceful style of speaking, makes him one of the most convincing and powerful speakers in the United States. His logic is inexorable. This quality, joined with great legal attainments, has given him a reputation as one of the soundest and most capable Judges of the Supreme Bench of the State of New York.

Justice Cohalan is today the leader of the Irish race and the Irish cause in America.

To him is chiefly due the rise and progress of the more recent great Irish movement in America. It was he who started the formation of the Friends of Irish Freedom, the national organization which today is to be found in every State of the Union.

He presided over the great Irish Race Convention in Philadelphia, February last, to which over five thousand delegates were accredited. The resolutions at the Convention were presented by Cardinal Gibbons, of Baltimore, and were seconded by a Jewish Rabbi, an Episcopal Minister and a Presbyterian Minister.

To Justice Cohalan the claim of Ireland admits of no compromise: The Irish Republic, established by the will of the vast majority of the Irish people, must be recognized.

That solution, and that only, can satisfy the people of Ireland, and, therefore, the American friends of Ireland and of Liberty throughout the world, and contribute to the making of a just and permanent peace for all mankind.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com