---
title: 'Ireland''s Solemn League and Covenant: A National Pledge (anti-conscription, 1918)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/irelands-national-pledge-1918/
description: A printed pledge form in Celtic-knot borders, headed 'Ireland's Solemn League and Covenant', with blanks for name, address and date.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Ireland's Solemn League and Covenant: A National Pledge (anti-conscription, 1918)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/irelands-national-pledge-1918.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/irelands-national-pledge-1918.jpg)

# Ireland's Solemn League and Covenant: A National Pledge (anti-conscription, 1918)

A printed pledge form in Celtic-knot borders, headed 'Ireland's Solemn League and Covenant', with blanks for name, address and date. Around the text are captioned portraits of two archbishops, Eamon de Valera and Arthur Griffith for Sinn Fein, and Irish Parliamentary Party, All for Ireland and trade-union leaders. The tell: named public figures and the hierarchy are lined up beside the signature line, and the title recalls the 1912 Ulster covenant of the same name.

- **Date:** April 1918
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** Mansion House Conference, Dublin (Irish Parliamentary Party, Sinn Fein, All for Ireland League, Irish Trade Union Congress, with the Catholic hierarchy); drawn by J. J. O'Reilly
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [United Kingdom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-kingdom)
- **Medium:** [Document](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=document)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [Lloyd George Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=lloyd-george-government)
- **Leader:** [David Lloyd George](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=david-lloyd-george)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism), [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Religion](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=religion)
- **Event:** [Irish Conscription Crisis 1918](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=irish-conscription-crisis-1918)
- **Techniques:** [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ireland%27s_National_Pledge,_April_1918.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published Dublin 1918, before 1931; Commons PD-anon-70-EU) J. J. O'Reilly (draughtsman) for the Mansion House Conference, Dublin, April 1918; via Wikimedia Commons.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Ireland's
Solemn League and Covenant
A National Pledge

Denying the right of the British Government to enforce compulsory service in this country, we pledge ourselves solemnly to one another to resist Conscription by the most effective means at our disposal.

The above was signed by me
at ......
on ...... day of ...... 1918.
Name ......
Address ......

MAYNOOTH COLLEGE, CO. KILDARE
Where the Prelates of Ireland received the Deputation from the Mansion House

HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL LOGUE
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland

HIS GRACE THE MOST REV. J. WALSH D.D.
Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland

EAMON DE VALERA, M.P.
representing SINN FEIN.

JOHN DILLON, M.P.
representing Irish Parliamentary Party

ARTHUR GRIFFITH
representing SINN FEIN

JOSEPH DEVLIN, M.P.
representing Irish Parliamentary Party

WILLIAM O'BRIEN (Dublin)
President Irish Trade Union Congress.

WILLIAM O'BRIEN, M.P.
representing 'All for Ireland' League.

M. EGAN, J.P., T.C.
Cork

THE RIGHT HON. LAURENCE O'NEILL
THE LORD MAYOR
Who presided at the Mansion House Conference
Ireland's Envoy to Washington.

MANSION HOUSE, DUBLIN
Where the Conference assembled.

also present
T. JOHNSON,
BELFAST.

T. M. HEALY, M.P.
representing 'All for Ireland' League

J. J. O'REILLY, Del.
```

English throughout, in a decorative Celtic-style display face; the wording is as printed. The form's fill-in lines are blank in this copy.

[← Za naši samostatnost! Hrr na vraha! Za demokracii! Československá armáda (For our independence! Charge at the murderer! For democracy! Czechoslovak Army)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/za-nasi-samostatnost-1918/) [Now for a round-up →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/now-for-a-round-up-iww-1918/)

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