William O'Brien
O'Brien disagreed with the establishment of a southern Irish Free State under the Treaty, still believing that Partition of Ireland was too high a price to pay for partial independence. He wrote in 1923, "It is now obvious enough that, had the Irish Council Bill been allowed to pass in 1907, the Partition of Ireland would never have been heard of." Retiring from political life, he contented himself with writing and declined Éamon de Valera's offer to stand for Fianna Fáil in the 1927 general election. He died suddenly on 25 February 1928 while on a visit to London with his wife at the age of 75. His remains rest in Mallow, and one of the principal streets in the town bears his name to this day. His head-bust overlooks the town Council's Chamber Room and one of his finest portraits hangs in University College Cork.
William O'Brien
O'Brien saw the outbreak of World War I in August as an opportunity to undertake a last crusade to preserve at any price the unity of Ireland, by uniting the Green and Orange in a common cause, declaring himself on the side of the Allied and Britain's European war effort. O'Brien was the first Nationalist leader to call on Irish Volunteers for the front. Towards the end of August he had an interview with Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, and laid before him a scheme for raising an Irish Army Corps embracing all classes and creeds, South and North. Kitchener (incidentally a Protestant and born in County Kerry) favoured the idea. O’Brien immediately summoned a meeting held in the Cork Town Hall under the auspices of the All-for-Ireland League on 2 September, the hall packed with an enthusiastic audience of men and women. In a speech that far exceeded Redmond's in favour of its adherence to England cause, he said:- :