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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15277-8.txt b/15277-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5720344 --- /dev/null +++ b/15277-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4056 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Open Secret of Ireland, by T. M. Kettle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Open Secret of Ireland + +Author: T. M. Kettle + +Release Date: March 7, 2005 [EBook #15277] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OPEN SECRET OF IRELAND *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Charles Aldarondo and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + +THE OPEN SECRET OF IRELAND + + + +By + +T. M. KETTLE + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY J. E. REDMOND, M.P. + + + + "Also it is a proverbe of olde date, 'The pride of Fraunce, the + treason of Inglande, and the warre of Irelande, shall never have + ende.' Which proverbe, touching the warre of Irelande, is like + alwaie to continue, without God sette in men's breasts to find some + new remedy that never was found before." + +_State Papers_, Reign of Henry VIII. + + + +LONDON + +W. J. HAM-SMITH + +1912 + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION BY J. E. REDMOND, M.P. vii +PRELIMINARY. xi + +CHAP. + I. AN EXERCISE IN HUMILITY. 1 + II. HISTORY _(a) Coloured_. 17 + III. HISTORY _(b) Plain_. 31 + IV. THE OBVIOUSNESS OF HOME RULE. 47 + V. THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (1). 65 + VI. THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (2). 80 + VII. THE HALLUCINATION OF "ULSTER". 98 +VIII. THE MECHANICS OF HOME RULE. 120 + IX. AFTER HOME RULE. 144 + X. AN EPILOGUE ON "LOYALTY". 161 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The object of Mr Kettle, in writing this book, is, I take it, to reveal +to English readers what he not inaptly terms as "The Open Secret of +Ireland," in order to bring about a better understanding between the two +nations, and to smoothe the way to a just and final settlement of their +old-time differences. Any work undertaken on such lines commends itself +to a ready welcome and a careful study, and I feel sure that both await +Mr Kettle's latest contribution to the literature of the Irish question. +As the son of one of the founders of the Land League, and as, for some +years, one of the most brilliant members of the Irish Party, and, later, +Professor in the School of Economics in the new National University in +Dublin, he has won his way to recognition as an eloquent exponent of +Irish national ideas; whilst the novelty of his point of view, and the +freshness, vigour, and picturesque attractiveness of his style ensure +for his work a cordial reception on its literary merits, apart from its +political value. + +Undoubtedly, one of the main sources of the Anglo-Irish difficulty has +been mutual misunderstanding, generating mutual mistrust and hatred. But +the root of the difficulty goes deeper. It is to be sought in the system +of misgovernment and oppression which successive generations of British +rulers have imposed upon what, with cruel irony, British historians and +statesmen have been wont to call "the sister country." This is the real +"open secret" of Ireland, a secret that all who run may read, and the +effective bearing of which is: that tyranny begets hatred, and that +freedom and justice are the only sure foundations of contentment and +goodwill between nations. + +During the past thirty years, and especially since 1886, when Mr +Gladstone threw the weight of his unrivalled genius and influence into +the scale in favour of justice to Ireland, a great deal has been done to +erase the bitter memories of the past, and to enable the English and the +Irish peoples to regard each other in the light of truth, and with a +more just appreciation of what is essential to the establishment of +genuine and lasting friendly relations between them. + +But it would be idle to ignore the fact that, to a considerable section +of the English people, Ireland is still a country of which they possess +less knowledge than they do of the most insignificant and remote of the +many islands over which the British flag floats. Mr Kettle's book ought +to be of service in dispelling this ignorance, and in enabling +Englishmen to view the Anglo-Irish question from the standpoint of an +educated and friendly Irish opinion. + +The output of purely political literature on the Irish problem has been +increasing during the past few years, and there is room for a book which +aims at focussing attention upon some aspects of it which the mere +politician is apt to pass lightly over or to ignore altogether. Like +most of Mr Kettle's work, the book bears the impress of his +individuality, and, to many of his readers, this will constitute much of +its charm and merit. At the same time, in order to prevent +misunderstanding, it is necessary for me to state that I do not commit +myself to acceptance or endorsement of everything which the book +contains. I content myself with stating, from personal experience, that +nothing which Mr Kettle writes about Ireland can fail to be worthy of +notice by everyone interested in the Home Rule controversy, and that I +believe the circulation of this volume will serve to stimulate thought +about Ireland, and so to hasten the advent of that brighter day when the +grant of full self-government to Ireland will reveal to England the open +secret of making Ireland her friend and helpmate, the brightest jewel in +her crown of Empire. + +J. E. REDMOND. + +_12th December, 1911_. + + + + +PRELIMINARY + + +After an intermission of nearly twenty years Ireland once again blocks +the way. "Finally rejected" by the House of Commons and the English +electorate in 1886, "finally rejected" by the House of Lords in 1893, +the Home Rule idea has not only survived but waxed stronger in the +wilderness. Time and events have altered its shape only to clothe it +with a richer significance. + +Will Great Britain decide wisely in the choice to which she is now put? +Naturally, I do not speak of the Parliamentary future of the Home Rule +Bill: that is safe. I have in mind rather that profound moral +settlement, that generous reconciliation which we have seen in South +Africa, and desire to see in Ireland. What of it? Did reason and the +candid vision of things, as they are, control public affairs, there +could be little doubt as to the issue in this choice between friendship +and hatred, between the formula of freedom and that of domination. But, +unhappily, we have no assurance that Philip sober rather than Philip +drunk will sign the warrant. There exists in England, in respect of all +things Irish, a monstrous residuum of prejudice. It lies ambushed in the +blood even when it has been dismissed from the mind, and constitutes the +real peril of the situation. No effort will be spared to reawaken it. +The motto of militant Unionism has always been: When in doubt throw mud. +Such a programme naturally begets a predilection for ditches, and when +certain orators speak of the "last ditch" they must be taken to mean +that which has most mud in it. The old methods are already once more in +operation. The wicked lying of previous campaigns no doubt cannot be +repeated: bigotry will make no further experiments in Pigottry. But a +resolute attempt, lavishly financed and directed by masters of the art +of defamation, will be made to blacken Ireland. Every newspaper in every +remotest country-town in England will be deluged with syndicated venom. +The shop-keeper will wrap up his parcels in Orange posters, and the +working-man will, I hope, light his pipe for years to come with +pamphlets of the same clamant colour. Irishmen, or at all events persons +born in Ireland, will be found to testify that they belong to a +barbarous people which has never ceased from barbarism, and that they +are not fit to govern themselves. Politicians who were never known to +risk a five-pound note in helping to develop Ireland will toss down +their fifties to help to defame her. Such is the outlook. Against this +campaign of malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness it is the duty of +every good citizen to say his word, and in the following pages I say +mine. This little book is not a compendium of facts, and so does not +trench on the province of Mr Stephen Gwynn M.P.'s admirable "Case for +Home Rule." It does not discuss the details, financial or otherwise, of +a statesmanlike settlement. Such suggestions as I had to make I have +already made in "Home Rule Finance," and the reader will find much +ampler treatment of the whole subject in "The Framework of Home Rule," +by Mr Erskine Childers, and "Home Rule Problems," edited by Mr Basil +Williams. In general, my aim has been to aid in humanising the Irish +Question. The interpretation of various aspects of it, here offered, is +intended to be not exhaustive but provocative, a mere set of shorthand +rubrics any one of which might have been expanded into a chapter. +Addressing the English reader with complete candour, I have attempted to +recommend to him that method of approach, that mental attitude which +alone can divest him of his preconceptions, and put him in rapport with +the true spirit of the Ireland of actuality. To that end the various +lines of discussion converge:-- + +Chapter I is an outline of the pathology of the English mind in Ireland. + +Chapters II and III present the history of Ireland as the epic, not of a +futile and defeated, but of an indomitable and victorious people. + +Chapter IV exhibits the Home Rule idea as a fundamental law of nature, +human nature, and government. + +Chapters V and VI contain a very brief account of the more obvious +economic crimes and blunders of Unionism. + +Chapter VII discusses the queer ideas of "Ulster," and the queer +reasons for the survival of these ideas. + +Chapter VIII demonstrates that, as a mere matter of political technique, +Home Rule must be conceded if any real government is ever to exist +again, whether in Great Britain, in Ireland, or in the Empire. + +Chapter IX dips into the future, and indicates that a Home Rule Ireland +will have so much interesting work to do as to have no time for civil +war or religious oppression. + +Chapter X shows that everybody who values "loyalty" must of necessity be +a Home Ruler. + +The only moral commended to the reader is that expressed by Browning in +a firm and inevitable line, which has been disastrously forgotten in so +many passages of English history:-- + + "It's fitter being sane than mad." + +I have tried also to convey to him, with what success others must judge, +something of the "pride and passion" of Irish nationality. That is, in +truth, the dream that comes through the multitude of business. If you +think that Home Rule is a little thing which must be done in a little +way for little reasons, your feet are set on the path to failure. Home +Rule is one of those fundamental reforms that are not achieved at all +unless they are achieved greatly. + +T.M.K. + +_December, 1911_. + + + + +THE OPEN SECRET OF IRELAND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +AN EXERCISE IN HUMILITY + + +In order to understand Ireland we must begin by understanding England. +On no other terms will that complex of facts, memories, and passions, +which is called the Irish Question, yield up its secret. "You have +always been," said a Lady Clanricarde to some English politician, "like +a high wall standing between us and the sun." The phrase lives. It +reveals in a flashlight of genius the historical relations of the two +nations. It explains and justifies the principle adopted as the basis of +this discussion, namely, that no examination of the Irish Problem is +possible without a prior examination of the English mind. It used to be +said that England dearly loved a Lord, a dictum which may have to be +modified in the light of recent events. Far more than a Lord does the +typical Englishman love a Judge, and the thought of acting as a Judge. +Confronted with Ireland he says to himself: "Here are these Irish +people; some maintain that they are nice, others that they are nasty, +but everybody agrees that they are queer. Very good. I will study them +in a judicial spirit; I will weigh the evidence dispassionately, and +give my decision. When it comes to action, I will play the honest broker +between their contending parties." Now this may be a very agreeable way +of going about the business, but it is fatally unreal. Great Britain +comes into court, she will be pained to hear, not as Judge but rather as +defendant. She comes to answer the charge that, having seized Ireland as +a "trustee of civilisation," she has, either through incompetence or +through dishonesty, betrayed her trust. We have a habit, in everyday +life, of excusing the eccentricities of a friend or an enemy by the +reflection that he is, after all, as God made him. Ireland is +politically as Great Britain made her. Since the twelfth century, that +is to say for a great part of the Middle Ages and for the whole of the +modern period, the mind of England and not that of Ireland has been the +dominant fact in Irish history. + +This state of things--a paradox in action--carries with it certain +metaphysical implications. The philosophers tell us that all morality +centres in the maxim that others are to be treated as ends in +themselves, and not as instruments to our ends. If they are right, then +we must picture Ireland as the victim of a radical immoralism. We must +think of her as a personality violated in its ideals, and arrested in +its development. And, indeed, that is no bad way of thinking: it is the +one formula which summarises the whole of her experience. But the +phrasing is perhaps too high and absolute; and the decline and fall of +Mr Balfour are a terrible example to those of us who, being young, might +otherwise take metaphysics too solemnly. It will, therefore, at this +stage be enough to repeat that, in contemplating the discontent and +unrest which constitute the Irish difficulty, Great Britain is +contemplating the work of her own hands, the creation of her own mind. +For that reason we can make no progress until we ascertain what sort of +mind we have to deal with. + +I do not disguise from myself the extremely unpleasant nature of this +inquiry. It is as if a counsel were to open his address by saying: +"Gentlemen of the Jury, before discussing the facts of the case I will +examine briefly the mental flaws, gaps, kinks, and distortions of you +twelve gentlemen." There is, however, this difference. In the analysis +upon which we are engaged the mental attitude of the jury is not merely +a fact in the case, it is the whole case. Let me reinforce my weaker +appeal by a passage from the wisest pen in contemporary English letters, +that of Mr Chesterton. There is in his mere sanity a touch of magic so +potent that, although incapable of dullness, he has achieved authority, +and although convinced that faith is more romantic than doubt, or even +sin, he has got himself published and read. Summarising the "drift" of +Matthew Arnold, Mr Chesterton observes: + + "The chief of his services may perhaps be stated thus, that he + discovered (for the modern English) the purely intellectual + importance of humility. He had none of that hot humility which is + the fascination of saints and good men. But he had a cold humility + which he had discovered to be a mere essential of the + intelligence." + +Such a humility, purely hygienic in character, is for Englishmen the +beginning of wisdom on the Irish Question. It is the needle's eye by +which alone they can enter a city otherwise forbidden to them. Let there +be no misunderstanding. The attitude of mind commended to them is not +without its agreeable features. Closely scrutinised, it is seen to be a +sort of inverted vanity. The student begins by studying himself, an +exercise in self-appraisal which need not by any means involve +self-depreciation. What sort of a mind, then, is the English mind? + +If there is anything in regard to which the love of friends corroborates +the malice of enemies it is in ascribing to the English an +individualism, hard-shelled beyond all human parallel. The Englishman's +country is an impregnable island, his house is a castle, his temperament +is a suit of armour. The function common to all three is to keep things +out, and most admirably has he used them to that end. At first, indeed, +he let everybody in; he had a perfect passion for being conquered, and +Romans, Teutons, Danes, and Normans in succession plucked and ate the +apple of England. But with the coming of age of that national +consciousness, the bonds of which have never been snapped, the English +entered on their lucky and courageous career of keeping things out. They +possess in London the only European capital that has never in the modern +period been captured by an invader. They withstood the intellectual +grandeur of Roman Law, and developed their own medley of customs into +the most eccentric and most equitable system in the world. They kept out +the Council of Trent, and the Spanish Armada. They kept out the French +Revolution, and Napoleon. They kept out for a long time the Kantian +philosophy, Romanticism, Pessimism, Higher Criticism, German music, +French painting, and one knows not how many other of the intellectual +experiments that made life worth living, or not worth living, to +nineteenth-century Europe. Their insularity, spiritual as well as +geographical, has whetted the edge of a thousand flouts and gibes. +"Those stupid French!" exclaims the sailor, as reported by De Morgan: +"Why do they go on calling a cabbage a _shoe_ when they must know that +it is a _cabbage?_" This was in general the attitude of what Mr Newbolt +has styled the "Island Race" when on its travels. Everybody has laughed +at the comedy of it, but no one has sufficiently applauded its success. +The English tourist declined to be at the trouble of speaking any +foreign tongue whatsoever; instantly every hotel and restaurant on the +Continent was forced to learn English. He refused to read their books; a +Leipsic firm at once started to publish his own, and sold him his +six-shilling Clapham novels in Lucerne for two francs. He dismissed +with indignation the idea of breakfasting on a roll, and bacon and eggs +were added unto him. In short, by a straightforward policy of studying +nobody else, he compelled everybody else to study him. + +Now it is idle to deny this performance the applause which it plainly +deserves. The self-evolution of England, as it may perhaps be called, in +its economic, political, and literary life, offers an admirable model of +concentration and energy. Even where it is a case of obtuseness to other +civilisations, at least as high but of a different type, the verdict +cannot be wholly unfavourable. The Kingdom of Earth is to the +thick-skinned, and bad manners have a distinct vital value. A man, too +sensitive to the rights and the charms of others, is in grave danger of +futility. Either he will become a dilettante, which is the French way, +or he will take to drink and mystical nihilism, a career very popular in +Russian fiction. Bad manners have indeed a distinct ethical value. We +all experience moods in which we politely assent to the thing that is +not, because of the fatigue of fighting for the thing that is. A +temperament such as has been delineated is therefore, as human types go, +an excellent type. But it has its peculiar perils. To ignore the point +of view of those in whose country you eat, drink, sleep, and sight-see +may breed only minor discords, and after all you will pay for your +manners in your bill. But to ignore the point of view of those whose +country you govern may let loose a red torrent of tragedy. Such a temper +of mind may, at the first touch of resistance, transform your stolid, +laudable, laughable Englishman into the beastliest of tyrants. It may +drive him into a delirium of cruelty and injustice. It may sweep away, +in one ruin of war, wealth, culture, and the whole fabric of +civilisation. It may darken counsel, and corrupt thought. In fact, it +may give you something very like the history of the English in Ireland. +Now it is not denied that most Englishmen believe the English mind to be +incapable of such excesses. This, they say, is the Russian in Warsaw, +the Austrian in Budapest, the Belgian in the Congo, the blind fool-fury +of the Seine. But it is not the English way. Nor is it suggested that +this illusion is sheer and mere hypocrisy. It is simply an hallucination +of jingoism. Take a trivial instance in point. We have all read in the +newspapers derisive accounts of disorderly scenes in the French Chamber +or the Austrian Reichstag; we all know the complacent sigh with which +England is wont on such occasions to thank God that she is not as one +of those. Does anybody think that this attitude will be at all modified +by recent occurrences at Westminster? By no means. Lord Hugh Cecil, his +gibbering and gesticulating quite forgotten, will be assuring the House +next year that the Irish are so deficient in self-restraint as to be +unfit for Home Rule. Mr Smith will be deploring that intolerant temper +which always impels a Nationalist to shout down, and not to argue down +an opponent. Mr Walter Long will be vindicating the cause of law and +order in one sentence, and inciting "Ulster" to bloodshed in the next. +This is not hypocrisy, it is genius. It is also, by the way, the genesis +of the Irish Question. If anyone is disposed to underrate the mad +passions of which race hatred can slip the leash, let him recall the +crucial examples which we have had in our own time. We have in our own +time seen Great Britain inflamed by two frenzies--against France, and +against the Boer Republics. In the history of public opinion there are +no two chapters more discreditable. In the days of Fashoda the Frenchman +was a degenerate _tigre-singe,_ the sworn enemy of religion and soap. He +had contributed nothing to civilisation except a loathsome science of +sensuality, and the taint of decay was in his bones. In the days of +Spion Kop the Boer was an unlaundered savage, fit only to be a target +for pig-stickers. His ignorance seemed the most appalling thing in the +world until one remembered his hypocrisy and his cowardice. The +newspaper which led the campaign of denigration against France has come +to another view. Its proprietor now divides his time between signing +£10,000 cheques for triumphant French aviators, and delivering speeches +in which their nation is hailed as the pioneer of all great ideas. As +regards the Boers, the same reversal of the verdict of ten years ago has +taken place. The crowd which in 1900 asked only for a sour appletree on +which to hang General Botha, adopts him in 1911 as the idol of the +Coronation. At this progress towards sanity we must all rejoice. But +most of all we have to ask that these two sinister pageants of race +hatred shall not be suffered to dissolve without leaving some wrack of +wisdom behind. Writers on psychology have made many studies of what they +call the collective illusion. This strange malady, which consists in all +the world seeing something which in fact does not exist, wrought more +potently on the mind of England than did reason and justice in the Home +Rule controversies of 1886 and 1893. What has occurred may recur. And +since we are to speak here with all the candour of private conversation +I confess that I cannot devise or imagine any specific against such a +recurrence except an exercise in humility of the kind suggested by Mr +Chesterton. My own argument in that direction is perhaps compromised by +the fact that I am an Irishman. Let us therefore fall back on other +testimony. Out of the cloud of witnesses let us choose two or three, and +in the first place M. Alfred Fouillée. M. Fouillée is a Platonist--the +last Platonist in Europe--and consequently an amiable man. He is +universally regarded as the leader of philosophy in France, a position +not in the least shaken by Bergson's brief authority. In a charming and +lucid study of the "Psychology of the Peoples of Europe" Fouillée has +many pages that might serve for an introduction to the Irish Question. +The point of interest in his analysis is this: he exhibits Irish history +as a tragedy of character, a tragedy which flows with sad, inevitable +logic from a certain weakness which he notes, not in the Irish, but in +the English character. + + "'In the eyes of the English,' says Taine who had studied them so + minutely, 'there is but one reasonable civilisation, namely their + own. Every other way of living is that of inferior beings, every + other religion is extravagant.' So that, one might add, the + Englishman is doubly personal, first as an individual and again as + a member of the most highly individualised of nations. The moment + the national interest is involved all dissensions cease, there is + on the scene but one single man, one single Englishman, who shrinks + from no expedient that may advance his ends. Morality for him + reduces itself to one precept: Safeguard at any cost the interest + of England." + +Like all foreigners he takes Ireland as the one conspicuous and flaming +failure of England. In that instance she has muddled, as usual, but she +has not muddled through. + + "The Anglo-Saxons, those great colonisers of far-off lands, have in + their own United Kingdom succeeded only in inflicting a long + martyrdom on Ireland. The insular situation of England had for + pendant the insular situation of Ireland; the two islands lie there + face to face. The English and the Irish, although intellectually + very much alike, have preserved different characters. And this + difference cannot be due essentially to the racial element, for + nearly half Ireland is Germanic. It is due to traditions and + customs developed by English oppression." + +Having summarised the main lines of British policy in Ireland, he +concludes: + + "It is not easy to detect here any sign of the 'superiority of the + Anglo-Saxons.'" + +With Fouillée we may associate Emile Boutmy. In his "Political +Psychology of the English" he declares that the haughty, taciturn, +solitary, unassimilative temperament of England, so admirable from the +point of view of self-development, shows its worst side and comes to a +malign florescence in the history of Ireland. It explains why + + "the relations of Ireland with England have been, for so many + centuries, those of a captive with his jailer, those of a victim + with his torturer." + +I pass over De Beaumont, Von Raumer, Perraud, Paul-Dubois, Filon, Bonn. +The considerations already adduced ought to be enough to lead the +English reader to certain conclusions which are fundamental. For the +sake of clearness they may be repeated in all their nudity: + +England has failed in Ireland. + +Her failure has been due to defects of her own character, and +limitations of her outlook. The same defects which corrupted her policy +in the past distort her vision in the present. + +Therefore, if she is to understand and to solve the Irish Question, she +must begin by breaking the hard shell of her individualism, and trying +to think herself into the skin, the soul, and the ideals of the Irish +nation. + +Now the English reader is after all human. If he has endured so far the +outrage on his most sacred prejudices perpetrated in this chapter he +must at this moment be hot with resentment. He must feel as if, +proposing to his imagination Pear de Melba, he had in truth swallowed +sand. Let me end with a more comfortable word. We have seen that Irish +history is what the dramatists call an internal tragedy, the secular +disclosure and slow working-out of certain flaws in the English +character. I am not to be understood as ascribing horns to England and a +halo to Ireland. We Irish are not only imperfect but even modest; for +every beam that we detect in another eye we are willing to confess a +mote in our own. The English on the other hand have been not monsters or +demons, but men unstrung. + + "In tragic life, God wot, + No villain need be, passions spin the plot; + We are betrayed by what is false within." + +Least of all am I to be understood as ascribing to modern Englishmen any +sort of planned, aforethought malice in regard to Ireland. It is what +Bacon might have called a mere idol of the platform to suppose that they +are filled with a burning desire to oppress Ireland. The dream of their +lives is to ignore her, to eliminate from their calculations this +variable constant which sheds bewilderment upon every problem. Could +they but succeed in that, a very Sabbath of peace would have dawned for +them. The modern Englishman is too much worried to plan the oppression +of anybody. "Did you ever," asked Lord Salisbury on a remembered +occasion, "have a boil on your neck?" To the Englishman of 1911--that +troubled man whose old self-sufficiency has in our own time been +shattered beyond repair by Boer rifles, German shipyards, French +aeroplanes--Ireland is the boil on the neck of his political system. It +is the one _péché de jeunesse_ of his nation that will not sleep in the +grave of the past. Like the ghost in "Hamlet" it pursues and plagues him +without respite. Shunned on the battlements it invades his most private +chamber, or, finding him in talk with friends, shames and scares him +with subterranean mutterings. Is there no way out of a situation so +troublesome and humiliating? + +There is. Ireland cannot be ignored, but she can easily be appeased. The +boil is due to no natural and incurable condition. It is the direct +result of certain artificial ligatures and compressions; remove these +and it disappears. This spectre haunts the conscience of England to +incite her not to a deed of blood but to a deed of justice; every wind +is favourable and every omen. It is, indeed, true that if she is to +succeed, England must do violence to certain prejudices which now +afflict her like a blindness; she must deal with us as a man with men. +But is not the Kingdom of Heaven taken by violence? + + + + +CHAPTER II + +HISTORY + +_(a) Coloured_ + + +Mendacity follows the flag. There never yet was an invader who did not, +in obedience to a kindly human instinct, lie abundantly respecting the +people whose country he had invaded. The reason is very plain. In all +ages men delight to acquire property by expedients other than that of +honest labour. In the period of private war the most obvious alternative +to working is fighting, or hiring servants to fight; the sword is +mightier than the spade. If we add that an expedition into a foreign +country offers the additional advantages of escape from your exacting +creditors, and your still more exacting king, we have something very +like the economics of the Invasion of Anywhere in early feudal times. +Had the leaders of these invasions, or rather their clerkly secretaries, +written the plain tale of their doings they would have left some such +record as this: "There were we, a band of able-bodied, daring, needy +men. Our only trade was war; our only capital our suits of armour, our +swords and battle-axes. We heard that there was good land and rich booty +to be had in Anywhere; we went and fought for it. Our opponents were +brave men, too, but badly organised. In some places we won. There we +substituted our own law for the queer sort of law under which these +people had lived; when they resisted too strongly we had, of course, no +option but to kill them. In other places we got mixed up completely by +alliances and marriages with the old stock, and lived most agreeably +with them. In others again the natives killed us, and remained in +possession. Such was the Invasion of Anywhere." + +But (I had almost said unhappily) the invaders were not content with +having swords, they had also consciences. They were Christians, and +thought it necessary to justify themselves before the High Court of +Christian Europe. Consequently the clerks had to write up the record in +quite a different fashion. They discovered that their bluff, +hard-bitten, rather likeable employers, scarcely one of whom could read +or write, had really invaded Anywhere as the trustees of civilisation. +Now it may be said in general--and the observation extends to our own +time--that the moment an invader discovers that he is the trustee of +civilisation he is irretrievably lost to the truth. He is forced by his +own pose to become not an unprincipled liar, but that much more +disgusting object, a liar on principle. He is bound, in order to +legitimise his own position, to prove that "the natives" are savages, +living in a morass of nastiness and ignorance. All facts must be adapted +to this conclusion. The clerks, having made this startling discovery, +went on to supplement it by the further discovery that their masters had +invaded Anywhere in order to please the Pope, and introduce true +religion. This second role completes the dedication of the invaders on +the altar of mendacity. It was Leo XIII. himself who, with that charming +humour of his, deprecated the attitude of certain _a priori_ historians +who, said he, if they were writing the Gospel story would, in their +anxiety to please the Pope, probably suppress the denial of Peter. + +These things which might have happened anywhere did, in fact, happen in +Ireland. Out of the footprints of the invaders there sprang up a legion +of fictionists, professional cooks of history. Beginning with Giraldus +Cambrensis they ought to have ended, but, as we shall see, did not end +with Froude. The significance of these mercenaries of literature can +hardly be exaggerated; it is not too much to say that they found Ireland +a nation, and left her a question. It is not at all that they put on +record the thing that was not as regards the events of their own period. +That might be and has been amended by the labours of impartial +scholarship. The real crime of the fabulists lies in this, that their +tainted testimony constituted for honest Englishmen the only information +about Ireland easily obtainable. The average Englishman (that is to say, +the forty millions of him who do not read learned books of any kind) +comes to the consideration of contemporary Ireland with a vision +distorted almost beyond hope of cure. The treasured lies of seven +hundred years are in his heart to-day. For time runs against the cause +of truth as well as with it. Once create a Frankenstein of race hatred, +and he will gather strength in going. The chronicler's fable of this +century becomes the accredited historical fact of the next. Give it what +billiard-players call "legs" enough and it will mature into a tradition, +a proverb, a spontaneous instinct. There is a whole department of +research concerned with the growth of myths, stage by stage, from a +little nebulous blotch into a peopled world of illusion. The strange +evolution there set forth finds an exact parallel in the development of +English opinion on Ireland. And, indeed, the more you study "the Irish +Question," as it is envisaged by the ruling mind of Great Britain, the +more conscious are you of moving in the realm not of reason but of +mythology. + +All this will seem obvious even to the point of weariness. But it is of +interest as furnishing a clue to the English attitude towards Irish +history; I should rather say attitudes, for there are two. The first is +that of the Man of Feeling. His mode of procedure recalls inevitably an +exquisite story which is to be found somewhere in Rousseau. During +country walks, Jean Jacques tells us, his father would suddenly say: "My +son, we will speak of your dear, dead mother." And Jean Jacques was +expected to reply: "Wait, then, a moment, my dear father. I will first +search for my handkerchief, for I perceive that we are going to weep." +In precisely such a mood of deliberate melancholy does the +sentimentalist address himself to the Confiscations and the Penal Laws. +He is ready to praise without stint any Irish leader who happens to be +sufficiently dead. He is ready to confess that all his own British +forerunners were abominable blackguards. He admits, not only with +candour but even with a certain enthusiastic remorse, that England +oppressed Ireland in every phase of their relations. Then comes the +conclusion. So terrible have been the sins of his fathers that he feels +bound to make restitution. And in order to make restitution, to be kind +and helpful and remedial, he must retain the management of Irish affairs +in his benevolent hands. In order to expiate the crimes of the past he +must repeat the basal blunder that was the cause and source of them. For +this kind of sympathy we have only to say, in a somewhat vulgar phrase, +that we have no use whatever. The Englishman who "sympathises" with +Ireland is lost. + +But the more general attitude differs widely from this. Confronting us +with a bluff and not unkindly demeanour, worthy of the nation that +invented cold baths as a tonic against all spiritual anguish, the +practical, modern Englishman speaks out his mind in straight-flung words +and few. "You fellows," he says, "brood too much over the past. After +all, this is the twentieth century, not the twelfth. What does it matter +whether my ancestors murdered yours or not? Both would be dead now in +any event. What does it matter whether yours were the saints and men of +letters and mine the savages, or whether the boot was on the other leg? +That's all over and done with. Imitate me. Let bygones be bygones." + +Now this is, in some respects, the authentic voice of health. +Undoubtedly the most characteristic thing about the past is that it is +not present, and to lavish on it too tragic and intense a devotion is to +love death more than life. And yet our bluff Englishman can learn in two +words how it comes about that his invitation represents a demand for the +impossible. In the first place, the bygones have not gone by. Our +complaint is made not against the crimes of his fathers, who are dead, +but against the crimes of himself and his fellows, who are alive. We +denounce not the repealed Penal Laws but the unrepealed Act of Union. If +we recall to the memory of England the systematic baseness of the +former, it is in order to remind her that she once thought them right, +and now confesses that they were cruelly wrong. We Irish are realists, +and we hold the problems of the present as of more account than any +agonies or tyrannies of the past. But our realism has the human touch in +it, and that constitutes the second impossibility in the invitation +tendered us. _Que messieurs les assassins commencent!_ The anti-Irish +legend is not dead nor even sleeping, nor are the resources of calumny +yet exhausted. An instance is immediately at hand. I have, at this +moment, on my desk a volume lately issued--"The School History of +England." It is published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford; Mr Rudyard +Kipling contributes twenty-three pieces of verse, and a Mr C. R. L. +Fletcher, whose qualifications are not stated, appears to be responsible +for the prose. The book has been praised in most of the papers, and it +will no doubt go far. This is the picture of the coming to Ireland of +the Cymro-Frankish adventurers which its pages will imprint on the minds +of the youth of England: + + "One event of his reign (Henry II.'s) must not be forgotten, his + visit to Ireland in 1171-2. St Patrick, you may have heard, had + banished the snakes from that island, but he had not succeeded in + banishing the murderers and thieves who were worse than many + snakes. In spite of some few settlements of Danish pirates and + traders on the eastern coast, Ireland had remained purely Celtic + and purely a pasture country. All wealth was reckoned in cows; Rome + had never set foot there, so there was a king for every day in the + week, and the sole amusement of such persons was to drive off each + other's cows and to kill all who resisted. In Henry II.'s time this + had been going on for at least seven hundred years, and during the + seven hundred that have followed much the same thing would have + been going on, if the English Government had not occasionally + interfered." + +The English whom Henry II. left behind him soon became "as wild and +barbarous as the Irishmen themselves." + +Oxford, the home of so many other lost causes, apparently aspires to be +also the home of the lost cause of mendacity. The forcible-feeble malice +of Mr Fletcher calls for no serious discussion; submit it to any +continental scholar, to any honest British scholar, and he will ask +contemptuously, though perhaps with a little stab of pain, how the name +of Oxford comes to be associated with such wicked absurdities. Every +other reference to Ireland is marked by the same scientific composure +and balanced judgment. And this document, inspired by race hatred, and +apparently designed to propagate race hatred, is offered to the youth of +these countries as an aid towards the consolidation of the Empire. It is +a case not merely of the poisoning of a well, but of the poisoning of a +great river at its source. The force of cowardice can no farther go. So +long as it goes thus far, so long as the Froudes find Fletchers to echo +them, Irishmen will inevitably "brood over the past." We do not share +the cult of ancestor-worship, but we hold the belief that the Irish +nation, like any other, is an organism endowed with a life in some sort +continuous and repetitive of its origins. To us it does matter something +whether our forerunners were turbulent savages, destitute of all +culture, or whether they were valiant, immature men labouring through +the twilight of their age towards that dawn which does not yet flush our +own horizon. But we are far from wishing that dead centuries should be +summoned back to wake old bitterness that ought also to be dead. Hand +history over to the scholars, if you will; let it be marshalled as a +multitudinous and coloured pageant, to incite imaginations and inspire +literature. Such is our desire, but when we read the clotted nonsense of +persons like Mr Fletcher we can only repeat: _Que messieurs les +assassins commencent_! + +For the purpose of this inquiry it is inevitable that some brief account +should be rendered of the past relations between England and Ireland. +The reader need not shrink back in alarm; it is not proposed to lead him +by the reluctant nose through the whole maze and morass of Irish +history. The past is of value to political realists only in that residue +of it which survives, namely, the wisdom which it ought to have taught +us. Englishmen are invited to consider the history of Ireland solely +from that point of view. They are prayed to purge themselves altogether +of pity, indignation, and remorse; these are emotions far too beneficent +to waste on things outside the ambit of our own immediate life. If they +are wise they will come to Irish history as to a school, and they will +learn one lesson that runs through it like the refrain of a ballad. A +very simple lesson it is, just this: Ireland cannot be put down. Ireland +always has her way in the end. If the opposite view is widely held the +explanation lies on the surface. Two causes have co-operated to produce +the illusion. Everybody agrees that Great Britain has acted in a most +blackguardly fashion towards Ireland; everybody assumes that +blackguardism always succeeds in this world, therefore Ireland is a +failure. The only flaw in this syllogism is that it is in direct +conflict with every known fact. For the rest we have to thank or blame +the sentimentalism of Mr Matthew Arnold. His proud but futile Celts who +"went down to battle but always fell" have been mistaken for the Irish +of actual history. The truth is, of course, that the phrase is in the +grand manner of symbolism. When Ecclesiastes laments that the eye is not +filled with seeing nor the ear with hearing we do not argue him deaf +and blind; we take his words as a proclamation of that famine and fierce +appetite of the spirit which has created all the higher religions. +Ireland agrees with Ecclesiastes. Perceiving that there is in matter no +integral and permanent reality she cannot be content with material +victories; her poets are subtle in what a French writer styles the +innuendoes by which the soul makes its enormous claims. The formula of +her aspiration has been admirably rendered by the late Mrs Nora Chesson: + + "He follows after shadows when all your chase is done; + He follows after shadows, the King of Ireland's son." + +Were I to read the poem, of which these lines are the motif, to certain +genial Englishmen of my acquaintance they would observe that the +gentleman in question was a "queer cove, staying up late at night and +catching cold, and that no doubt there was a woman in the case." But +these are considerations a little remote from the daily dust of +politics. In the sense in which every life is a failure, and the best +life the worst failure, Ireland is a failure. But in every other sense, +in all that touches the fathomable business of daylight, she has been a +conspicuous success. + +A certain type of fanaticism is naive enough to regard the intercourse +of England with Ireland as that of a superior with an inferior race. +This is the sanction invoked to legitimise every adventure in invasion +and colonisation. M. Jules Hormand, who has attempted, in his recent +book, "Domination et Colonisation," to formulate a theory of the whole +subject, touches bed-rock when he writes: + + "We must then accept as our point of departure the principle that + there is a hierarchy of races and of civilisations, and that we + belong to the higher race and civilisation.... The essential + legitimation of conquest is precisely this conviction of our own + superiority.... Nations which do not hold this belief, because + incapable of such sincerity towards themselves, should not attempt + to conquer others." + +The late Lord Salisbury was grasping at such a justification when he +likened the Irish to Hottentots; it would be a justification of a kind +if it chanced to be validated by the facts. But it does not. There is so +much genuine humour in the comparison that, for my part, I am unable to +take offence at it. I look at the lathe painted to look like iron, and I +set over against him Parnell. That is enough; the lathe is smashed to +fragments amid the colossal laughter of the gods. The truth is that in +every shock and conflict of Irish civilisation with English, it is the +latter that has given way. The obscuration of this obvious fact is +probably to be ascribed to the military successes of the Norman, or +rather the Cymro-Frankish invaders. If we were the higher race why did +we not put them out? Replying on the same plane of thought we observe +that if they were the higher race they would have put us down. But a +more detailed assignment of qualities between the two peoples is +possible. In general it may be said that the two stood on much the same +level of mentality, but that they had specialised on different subjects, +the Normans on war and politics, the Irish on culture. Of the many +writers who help us to reconstruct the period we ought to signalise one, +Mrs A.S. Green, who to a rare scholarship adds something rarer, the +genius of common sense. This is not the place in which to recall the +whole substance of her "Making of Ireland and its Undoing" and her +"Irish Nationality"; but from borrowings thence and elsewhere we can +piece together a plain tale of that first chapter of the Irish Question. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HISTORY + +_(b) Plain_ + + +In those days war was the most lucrative industry open to a young man of +breeding, courage, and ability. Owners of capital regarded it as a sound +investment. What Professor Oman tells us of the Normans in 1066 was +equally true of them in 1169: + + "Duke William had undertaken his expedition not as a mere feudal + lord of the barons of Normandy but rather as the managing director + of a great joint-stock company for the conquest of England, in + which not only his own subjects but hundreds of adventurers, poor + and rich, from all parts of Western Europe had taken shares." + +The Normans, then, came to Ireland with their eyes on three objects. In +the first place, property. This was to be secured in the case of each +individual adventurer by the overthrow of some individual Irish +chieftain. It necessitated war in the shape of a purely local, and +indeed personal grapple. In the second place, plunder. This was to be +secured by raids, incursions, and temporary alliances. In the third +place, escape from the growing power and exactions of the Crown. This +was to be secured geographically by migration to Ireland, and +politically by delaying, resolutely if discreetly, the extension in that +country of the over-lordship of the King. Herein lies the explanation of +the fact that for three and a half centuries the English penetration +into Ireland is a mere chaos of private appetites and egotisms. The +invaders, as we have said, were specialists in war, and in the +unification of states through war. This they had done for England; this +they failed to do for Ireland. The one ingredient which, if dropped into +the seething cauldron of her life, must have produced the definite +crystallisation of a new nationality, complete in structure and +function, was not contributed. True, the Cymro-Franks proved themselves +strong enough in arms to maintain their foothold; if that physical test +is enough to establish their racial superiority then let us salute Mr +Jack Johnson as Zarathustra, the superman. But in their one special and +characteristic task they failed lamentably. Instead of conquest and +consolidation they gave us mere invasion and disturbance. The disastrous +role played by them has been unfolded by many interpreters of history, +by none with a more vivid accuracy than we find in the pages of M. +Paul-Dubois: + + "Had Ireland," he writes, "been left to herself she would, in all + human probability, have succeeded, notwithstanding her decadence, + in establishing political unity under a military chief. Had the + country been brought into peaceful contact with continental + civilisation, it must have advanced along the path of modern + progress. Even if it had been conquered by a powerful nation, it + would at least have participated in the progress of the conquering + power. But none of these things happened. England, whose political + and social development had been hastened by the Norman Conquest, + desired to extend her influence to Ireland. 'She wished,' as Froude + strangely tells us, 'to complete the work of civilisation happily + begun by the Danes.' But in actual fact she only succeeded in + trammelling the development of Irish society, and maintaining in + the country an appalling condition of decadent stagnation, as the + result of three centuries and a half of intermittent invasions, + never followed by conquest." + +On the other hand the triumph of Irish culture was easy and absolute. +Ireland, unvisited by the legions and the law of Rome, had evolved a +different vision of the life of men in community, or, in other words, a +different idea of the State. Put very briefly the difference lay in +this. The Romans and their inheritors organised for purposes of war and +order, the Irish for purposes of culture. The one laid the emphasis on +police, the other on poets. But for a detailed exposition of the +contrast I must send the reader to Mrs Green's "Irish Nationality." In a +world in which right is little more than a secretion of might, in which, +unless a strong man armed keeps house, his enemies enter in, the +weakness of the Gaelic idea is obvious. But the Roman pattern too had a +characteristic vice which has led logically in our own time to a +monstrous and sinister growth of armaments. + +To those who recognise in this deification of war the blackest menace of +our day the vision of a culture State is not without charm. The +shattering possibilities enfolded in it would have fevered Nietzsche and +fascinated Renan. But, be that as it may, Ireland played Cleopatra to +the Antony of the invaders. Some of them, indeed, the "garrison" pure +and simple, had all their interests centred not only in resisting but in +calumniating her. But the majority yielded gaily to her music, her +poetry, her sociability, that magical quality of hers which the Germans +call _Gemütlichkeit_. In a few centuries a new and enduring phrase had +designated them as more Irish than the Irish themselves. So far as any +superiority of civilisation manifests itself in this first period it is +altogether on the side of Ireland. This power of assimilation has never +decayed. There never was a nation, not even the United States, that so +subdued and re-fashioned those who came to her shores, that so wrought +them into her own blood and tissue. The Norman baron is transformed in a +few generations into an Irish chieftain, and as often as not into an +Irish "rebel." The Jacobite planter of the first decade of the +seventeenth century is in the fifth decade found in arms against +Cromwell; the Cromwellian settler is destined in turn to shed his blood +for James II. and Catholicity. Protestant colonists who, in the early +eighteenth century, enforce and defend the abominable Penal Laws, will +in 1782 demand, with drawn swords, that henceforth there shall be no +longer a Protestant colony but in its place an Irish nation. The +personal history of the captains of the Irish cause in modern times is +no less remarkable. O'Connell begins his public career in the Yeomanry +called out to put down the insurrectionary movement of Emmet. Isaac +Butt comes first into note as the orator of the Orange Party in Dublin. +Parnell himself steps out of a Tory milieu and tradition into the +central tumult of agitation. Wave after incoming wave of them, her +conquerors were conquered. "Once again," cried Parnell in the last +public utterance of his life, "I am come to cast myself into the deep +sea of the love of my people." In that deep sea a hundred diverse +currents of blood have met and mingled; they have lost their individual +drift to become part of the strong tide of national consciousness and +national unity. If Irish history is to be regarded as a test of racial +superiority then Ireland emerges with the crown and garlands of victory. +We came, we the invaders, to dominate, and we remained to serve. For +Ireland has signed us with the oil and chrism of her human sacrament, +and even though we should deny the faith with our lips she would hold +our hearts to the end. + +But let us translate her triumph into more concrete speech. The +essential lesson of experience, then, is that no device, plan, or policy +adopted by England for the subjugation of Ireland has ever been anything +except an abject failure. And the positive of this negative is that +every claim that ever formed part of the national programme of Ireland +has won its way against all enmities. No plough to which she ever put +her hand has been turned back or stayed eternally in mid-furrow. It does +not matter what period you call to the witness-box; the testimony is +uniform and unvarying. Until Tudor times, as has been noted, there +cannot be said to have been in any strict sense an English policy in +Ireland; there was only a scuffle of appetites. In so far as there was a +policy it consisted of sporadic murder for the one half, and for the +other of an attempt to prevent all intercourse that might lead to +amalgamation between the two peoples. The Statute of Kilkenny--which is, +all things considered, more important than the Kilkenny cats though not +so well known in England--made it a capital offence for a settler to +marry an Irishwoman or to adopt the Irish language, law, or costume. The +Act no doubt provided a good many ruffians with legal and even +ecclesiastical fig-leaves with which to cover their ruffianism, and +promoted among the garrison such laudable objects as rape and +assassination. But as a breakwater between the two races it did not +fulfil expectation. The Statute was passed in 1367: and two centuries +later Henry VIII. was forced to appoint as his Deputy the famous +Garrett Fitzgerald whose life was a militant denial of every clause and +letter of it. With the Tudors, after some diplomatic preliminaries, a +very clear and business-like policy was developed. Seeing that the only +sort of quiet Irishman known to contemporary science was a dead +Irishman, English Deputies and Governors were instructed to pacify +Ireland by slaughtering or starving the entire population. The record of +their conscientious effort to obey these instructions may be studied in +any writer of the period, or in any historian, say Mr Froude. For Mr +Froude, in his pursuit of the picturesque, was always ready to resort to +the most extreme measures; he sometimes even went so far as to tell the +truth. The noblest and ablest English minds lent their aids. Sir Walter +Raleigh and Edmund Spenser were both rather circumambulatory on paper; +the work of each is 'a long monotone broken by two or three exquisite +immortalities. But they were both as concise in action as an Elizabethan +headsman. Sir Walter helped Lord Grey, the recognised pattern in those +days of the Christian gentleman, to put to death seven hundred +prisoners-of-war at Smerwick. Spenser, being no soldier, leaned rather +to famine. In his famous book he recommends the destruction of crops, +houses, cattle, and all necessaries of life so that the Irish should +"soon be compelled to devour each other." The Commanders-in-Chief and +the Deputies specialised in poison, as became men whose wealth and +learning enabled them to keep in touch with the Italian Renaissance. +Bluff, straightforward troopers like Mountjoy, Malby, Wilmot, Bagenal, +Chichester, and the rest, not pretending to such refinements, did their +best in the way of hanging, stabbing, and burning. In those days as well +as ours the children had their Charter. "Nits," said the trustees of +civilisation, "will grow to lice." And so they tossed them on the points +of their swords, thus combining work with play, or fed them on the roast +corpses of their relatives, and afterwards strangled them with tresses +of their mother's hair. + +I do not recall these facts in order to show that Elizabethan policy was +a riot of blackguardism. That is obvious, and it is irrelevant. I +mention them in order to show that the blackguardism under review was an +unrelieved failure. At one time, indeed, it seemed to have succeeded. + +"Ireland, brayed as in a mortar, to use Sir John Davies' phrase," writes +M. Paul-Dubois, "at last submitted. In the last years of the century +half the population had perished. Elizabeth reigned over corpses and +ashes. _Hibernia Pacata_--Ireland is 'pacified.'" + + * * * * * + +The blunder discloses itself at a glance. Only half the population had +perished; there were still alive, according to the most probable +estimate, quite two hundred thousand Irishmen. The next generation helps +to illustrate not only the indestructibility of Ireland, but her all but +miraculous power of recuperation. So abundant are the resources of his +own vitality that, as Dr Moritz Bonn declares, an Irish peasant can live +where a continental goat would starve. And not having read Malthus--Mr +Malthus at that time being even less readable than since--the Irish +remnant proceeded to develop anew into a nation. In forty years it was +marching behind that _beau chevalier_ Owen Roe O'Neill to battle and +victory. O'Neill, a general famous through Europe, the one man who might +have measured equal swords with Cromwell, was removed by poison, and +then came the massacres. In eleven years, Sir William Petty assures us, +616,000 out of a total population of 1,466,000 perished by the sword or +by starvation. For the remainder the policy of root and branch +extermination was abandoned in favour of a policy of State-aided +migration and emigration. As an alternative to hell the Irish were +deported to Connaught or the Barbadoes. Henceforth there were to be +three provinces of loyal English, and one of rebelly Irish. This again +was not a radiant success. The transformation of the Cromwellian settler +has been indicated; if you were to search for him to-day you would +probably find him President of the local branch of the United Irish +League. The story repeats itself period after period. The Penal Laws did +not protestantise Ireland. The eighteenth century may be said to mark +the lowest ebb of national life, but the tide was to turn. After Aughrim +and the Boyne, the new device of England was to sacrifice everything to +the "garrison." "Protestant Ireland," as Grattan put it, "knelt to +England on the necks of her countrymen." In one aspect the garrison were +tyrants; in another they were slaves. They were at once oppressors and +oppressed. There was a sort of "deal" between them and the English +Government by which the public welfare was to be sacrificed to the +English Government, the Irish Catholics to the "garrison." A vile +programme, but subtle and adroit, it bore its unnatural fruit of +legislation, passed by the Westminster Parliament and the Dublin +Garrison Parliament alike, for the destruction of every manufacturing +and commercial interest in Ireland that was thought to conflict with a +similar interest in England. But another debacle has to be chronicled. +Out of the very baseness of this regime a new patriotism was begotten. +The garrison, awakening abruptly to the fact that it had no country, +determined to invent one; and there was brought to birth that modern +Ireland, passionate for freedom, which has occupied the stage ever +since. In our own time it has knit, as a fractured limb knits, into one +tissue with the tradition of the Gaelic peasantry. Hanging and burning, +torture and oppression, poison and Penal Laws, bribes and blackguardism +so far from exterminating the Irish people actually hammered them into a +nation, one and indestructible, proud of its past and confident of its +future. + +Take instances still more recent and particular--the struggle for +religious freedom or the struggle for the land. Catholic emancipation is +a leading case: obstinacy against obstinacy, the No! of England against +the Yes! of Ireland, and the former sprawling in the ditch at the end of +the tussle. "The Law," ran the dictum of an eighteenth-century Lord +Chancellor, "does not suppose any such person to exist as an Irish +Roman Catholic." At this moment a Catholic holds the seals and purse of +the Chancellorship. Never did ministers swallow their own stubborn words +more incontinently than did Peel and Wellington. So late as 1828 Peel +was loudly declaring that the continuance of these bars, which excluded +the Catholics from the acquisition of political power, was necessary for +the maintenance of the Constitution and the safety of the Church, and +Wellington was echoing his words. A year later, utterly defeated by +O'Connell, Peel was introducing the Catholic Relief Bill in the Commons. +Wellington had it for his task to induce, or rather frighten the king to +assent. Ireland not only emancipated the Catholics, she went on to +emancipate the Dissenters, a service of freedom of conscience which is +too often forgotten. + +The Tithe System was similarly declared to be part of the fabric of the +Constitution, to be upheld at the point of the bayonet. Scythe in hand, +the Irish peasant proclaimed that it must go. It went. Still more +fundamental was the existence of the Protestant Established Church. To +touch it was to lay hands on the Ark. Orange orators threatened civil +war; two hundred thousand Ulstermen were to shoulder their Minie +Rifles, and not merely slaughter the Catholics but even depose Queen +Victoria. + +Ireland said that the Establishment too must go; and, with the echoed +menace of Fenianism ringing in his ears, Mr Gladstone hauled down the +official blazon of Ascendancy. "Ulster" did not fight. But the fierce +struggle for the land affords the crucial test. Landlordism of that most +savage type which held for its whole gospel that a man may do what he +likes with his own was conceived to be the very corner-stone of British +rule in Ireland. It controlled Parliament, the judiciary, the schools, +the Press, and possessed in the Royal Irish Constabulary an incomparable +watch-dog. It had resisted the criticism and attack loosened against it +by the scandal of the Great Famine. Then suddenly Ireland took the +business in hand. On a certain day in October 1879, some thirty men met +in a small hotel in Dublin and, under the inspiration of Michael Davitt, +founded the Land League. To the programme then formulated, the +expropriation of the landlords at twenty years' purchase of their rents, +England as usual said No! The proposal was thundered against as +confiscation, communism, naked and shameful. To any student, with +patience sufficient for the task, the contemporary files of such +journals as the _Times_ will furnish an exquisite chapter in the +literature of obtuseness. England sustained her No! with batons, +bullets, plank-beds, Coercion courts, and an occasional halter; Ireland +her Yes! with "agitation." Is it necessary to ask who won? Is it +necessary to trace step by step the complete surrender of the last +ditchers of those days? The fantastic and wicked dreams of the agitators +have in thirty years translated themselves into Statute Law and solid +fact. An English statesman of the period, say Mr Balfour or Mr Wyndham, +is fortunate if, with a few odd rags pilfered from the Land League +wardrobe, he can conceal from history his utter poverty of ideas. + +This, then, is the essential wisdom of Irish history: Ireland has won +all along the line. The Normans did not normanise her. The Tudors did +not exterminate her. She has undone the Confiscations, and drawn a +cancelling pen through the Penal Laws. The Act of Union, so far from +suppressing her individuality or overwhelming it, has actually brought +it to that full self-consciousness which constitutes the coming of age +of a nation. Tears, as we read in Wordsworth, to human suffering are +due; if there be anyone with tears at command he may shed them, with +great fitness, and with no profit at all, over the long martyrdom of +Ireland. But let him, at least if he values facts, think twice before he +goes on to apply to her that other line which speaks of human hopes +defeated and overthrown. No other people in the world has held so +staunchly to its inner vision; none other has, with such fiery patience, +repelled the hostility of circumstances, and in the end reshaped them +after the desire of her heart. Hats off to success, gentlemen! Your +modern God may well be troubled at sight of this enigmatic Ireland which +at once despises him, and tumbles his faithfullest worshippers in the +sand of their own amphitheatre. Yet, so it is. The Confederate General, +seeing victory suddenly snatched from his hands, and not for the first +time, by Meagher's Brigade, exclaimed in immortal profanity: "There +comes that damned Green Flag again!" I have often commended that phrase +to Englishmen as admirably expressive of the historical role and record +of Ireland in British Politics. The damned Green Flag flutters again in +their eyes, and if they will but listen to the music that marches with +it, they will find that the lamenting fifes are dominated wholly by the +drums of victory. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE OBVIOUSNESS OF HOME RULE + + +Ireland, then, has made it her foible to be not only right but +irresistible in her past demands. What is it that she now claims, and on +what grounds? She claims the right to enter into possession of her own +soul. She claims the _toga virilis_, and all the strengthening burdens +of freedom. Now it is difficult to represent such a demand in terms of +argument. Liberty is no mere conclusion of linked logic long-drawn out: +it is an axiom, a flaming avatar. The arguments by which it is defended +are important, but they bear to it much the same relation that a table +of the wave-lengths of various rays of light bears to the immediate +glory of a sunrise. There is another obstacle. Self-government, like +other spiritual realities, say love or civilisation, is too vast, +obvious, and natural to be easily imprisoned in words. You are certainly +in love; suppose you were suddenly asked "to state the case" for love? +You are probably civilised; suppose you were suddenly asked "to state +the case for civilisation"? So it is with the Home Rule idea. To ask +what is the gate of entrance to it is like asking what was the gate of +entrance to hundred-gated Thebes. My friend, Mr Barry O'Brien, in +lecturing on Ireland, used to begin by recounting a very agreeable and +appropriate story. A prisoner on trial was asked whether he would accept +for his case the jury which had tried the last. He objected very +vehemently. "Well, but," said the Judge, "what is the nature of your +objection? Do you object to the panel or to the array?" "Ah!" replied +the traverser, "if you want to know, I object to the whole damned +business." That is approximately our objection to the present system of +government in Ireland. But let me attempt to group under a series of +somewhat arbitrary headings the "case for Home Rule," that is to say, +the case for applying to Ireland the plain platitudes of constitutional +freedom. + +The whole matter roots in the fact of nationality. Nationality is to +political life what personality is to mental life, the mainspring, +namely, of the mechanism. The two principles of organisation have this +in common, that although by, through, and for them the entire pageant +of our experience is unfolded, we are unable to capture either of them +in a precise formula. That I am a person I know; but what is a person? +That Ireland is a nation I know; but what is a nation? "A community of +memories and hopes," says Anatole France; but that applies to a football +club. Something for which a man will die, says Mr T. M. Healy: but men +will die for strange reasons; there was a French poet who shot himself +because the trees were always green in the spring and never, for a +change, blue or red. A cultural unit, say the anthropologists; an idea +of the divine mind, declare Mazzini and the mystics' of sociology. Each +of these formulas possesses a certain relative truth, but all of them +together come short of the whole truth. Nationality, which acts better +perhaps than it argues, is one of the great forces of nature and of +human nature that have got to be accepted. Nationality will out, and +where it exists it will, in spite of all resistance, strain fiercely to +express itself in some sort of autonomous government. + +German romance depicts for us the misery and restlessness of a man who +had lost his shadow. Catholic theologians--if the masters of a wisdom +too high and too austere for these days may be invoked--tell us that +the departed soul, even though it be in Paradise, hungers with a great +desire for the Resurrection that it may be restored to its life-long +comrade, the body. + + "The crimson-throbbing glow + Into its old abode aye pants to go." + +Look again at Ireland and you will discern, under all conflicts, that +unity of memory, of will, of material interest, of temperamental +atmosphere which knits men into a nation. You will notice the presence +of these characteristics, but it is an absence, a void that will most +impress you. You will see not a body that has lost its shadow, but +something more sinister--a soul that has been sundered from its natural +body. She demands restoration. She sues out a _habeas corpus_ of a kind +not elsewhere to be paralleled. That is the "Irish Question." + +You may not like this interpretation of things. It may seem to you +fantastic, nasty, perilous to all comfort. Life often does make on the +tender-hearted an impression of coarse violence; life, nevertheless, +always has its way. What other interpretation is possible? Lancashire, +to take any random contrast, is much richer than Ireland in wealth and +population; but Lancashire is not a "Question." Lancashire is not a +"Question" because Lancashire is not a nation. Ireland is a "Question" +because Ireland is a nation. Her fundamental claim is a claim for the +constitutional recognition of nationality. + +We have seen that in almost every conflict between English and Irish +ideas the latter have had the justification of success. This holds good +also as regards our long insistence on nationality as a principle of +political organisation. In various passages of the nineteenth century it +seemed to be gravely compromised. Capital, its mobility indefinitely +increased by the improved technique of exchange, became essentially a +citizen of the world. The earth was all about it where to choose; its +masters, falsely identifying patriotism with the Protectionism then +dominant, struck at both, and the Free Trade movement philosophised +itself into cosmopolitanism. Labour, like capital, showed a rapid +tendency to become international or rather supernational. "The workers," +proclaimed Marx, "have no fatherland." While this was the drift of ideas +in the economic sphere, that in the political was no more favourable. +Belgium seemed on the point of extinction, Italy was a mere geographical +expression, Hungary was abject and broken. In the narrower but even +more significant sphere of British colonial policy the passion for +centralisation had not yet been understood in all its folly. Downing +Street still functioned as the Dublin Castle of the Empire. The +possibility of the overseas possessions developing that rich, strong +individuality which characterises them to-day would have been dismissed +with horror. The colour and texture of men's thought on these subjects +has undergone a notable transformation. Cosmopolitanism of the old type +is a slain hallucination. Capital in our time is not content to be a +patriot, it is a Jingo. As to labour, if we turn to its politics we find +Herr Bebel declaring that the German socialist is first of all a German, +and Mr Ramsay MacDonald pledging his adherents to support any war +necessary for the assertion of English prestige. If we turn to its +theoretical sociology we find the national idea rehabilitated and +triumphant. + +Such intellectual reconstructions do not, as a rule, begin in England, +or find in English their characteristic formulæ. Mr Blatchford might +indeed be cited, but it is in the brilliant literature of German Social +Democracy that the most scientific expression of the new spirit is to be +sought. Truly Marx has been indeed translated. His abstract and +etiolated internationalism has been replaced by the warm humanity of +writers like, say, David or Pernerstorfer. The principle of nationality +is Vindicated by the latter in a noble passage. I quote it from +Sombart's "Socialism and the Social Movement." + + "Nationality in its highest form is ... a precious possession. It + is the highest expression of human civilisation in an individual + form, and mankind is the richer for its appearance. Our purpose is + not only to see to it that men shall be housed and fed and clothed + in a manner worthy of human beings, but also that they may become + humanised by participation in the culture of centuries, that they + may themselves possess culture and produce it. All culture is + national. It takes its rise in some special people, and reaches its + highest form in national character.... Socialism and the national + idea are thus not opposed to each other. Every attempt to weaken + the national idea is an attempt to lessen the precious possessions + of mankind.... Socialism wants to organise, and not disintegrate, + humanity. But in the organisms of mankind, not individuals, but + nations are the tissues, and if the whole organism is to remain + healthy it is necessary for the tissues to be healthy.... The + peoples, despite the changes they undergo, are everlasting, and + they add to their own greatness by helping the world upward. And + so we are at one and the same time good Socialists and good + Germans." + +This might almost seem to be a rhapsody, but every movement of +continental politics in recent times confirms and enforces its plain +truth. "The spirit of resurgent nationality," as Professor Bury of +Cambridge tells us, "has governed, as one of the most puissant forces, +the political course of the last century and is still unexhausted." It +has governed not only the West but the East; the twain have met in that +demand for a constitutional national State which in our day has flamed +up, a fire not to be put out, in Turkey, Persia, Egypt. But it is in +Imperial politics that the bouleversement has been most complete. When +critics now find fault with the structure of the Empire they complain +not that there is too much Downing Street in it, but that the residual +power of Downing Street-is not visible to the naked eye. To us Irish the +blindness of England to the meaning of her own colonial work is a +maddening miracle. A wit of the time met Goldsmith at dinner. The +novelist was a little more disconcerting than usual, a result, let us +charitably hope, of the excellence of the claret. Afterwards they asked +his fellow-diner what he thought of the author. "Well," he replied, "I +believe that that man wrote 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' and, let me tell +you, it takes a lot of believing." Similarly when we in Ireland learn +that Great Britain has founded on the principle of local autonomy an +Empire on which the sun never sets, we nerve ourselves to an Act of +Faith. It is not inappropriate to observe that a large part of the +"founding" was done by Irishmen. + +But the point of immediate interest lies in this. The foolishness of +England in Ireland finds an exact parallel, although on a smaller scale +and for a shorter period, in the early foolishness of England in her own +colonies. In both cases there is an attempt to suppress individuality +and initiative, to exploit, to bully, to Downing Street-ify. It was a +policy of Unionism, the sort of Unionism that linked the destiny of the +lady to that of the tiger. The fruits of it were a little bitter in the +eating. The colonies in which under the Home Rule regime "loyalty" has +blossomed like the rose, were in those days most distressingly disloyal. + +Cattle-driving and all manner of iniquities of that order in Canada; the +boycott adopted not as a class, but as a national, weapon in Cape +Colony; the Eureka stockade in Australia; Christian De Wet and the crack +of Mausers in the Transvaal--such were the propædeutics to the +establishment of freedom and the dawn of loyalty in the overseas +possessions. But in this field of government the gods gave England not +only a great pioneer, Lord Durham, but also the grace to listen to him. +His Canadian policy set a headline which has been faithfully and +fruitfully copied. Its success was irresistible. Let the "Cambridge +Modern History" tell the tale of before and after Home Rule in the +Dominion: + + "Provincial jealousies have dwindled to vanishing point; racial + antipathies no longer imperil the prosperity of the Dominion; + religious animosities have lost their mischievous power in a new + atmosphere of common justice and toleration. Canada, as the direct + outcome of Confederation, has grown strong, prosperous, energetic. + The unhappy divisions which prevailed at the beginning of the + nineteenth century, and which darkened with actual revolt and + bloodshed the dawn of the Victorian era, are now only a memory. The + links which bind the Dominion to Great Britain may on paper seem + slight, but they are resistless. Imperial Federation has still + great tasks to accomplish within our widely scattered Imperial + domains, but its success in Canada may be accepted as the pledge of + its triumph elsewhere. Canada is a nation within the Empire, and in + Kipling's phrase is 'daughter in her mother's house and mistress in + her own.'" + +This is the authentic harvest of freedom. + +The "unity" of the old regime which, in a Bismarckian phrase, was like +paper pasted over ever-widening cracks, was abandoned. The Separatist +programme triumphed. And the outcome? The sham unity of government has +been replaced by a real unity of interest, affection and cultural +affinity. We find administrators like Mr Lyttleton, former Tory +Secretary for the Colonies, engaged to-day not in suppressing but in +celebrating the "varied individuality" of the overseas possessions. As +for the political effects of the change, every English writer repeats of +the Colonies what Grattan, in other circumstances, said of the Irish: +Loyalty is their foible. There is indeed one notable flaw in the +colonial parallel. I have spoken as if the claim of the Colonies on foot +of the principle of nationality was comparable to that of Ireland. That +of course was not the case. They were at most nations in the making; she +was a nation made. Home Rule helped on their growth; in its benign +warmth Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa have developed +not only a political complexion characteristic of each but a literature, +an art and even a slang equally characteristic. Ireland, on the other +hand, has manifested throughout her whole history an amazing faculty of +assimilating and nationalising everything that came to her from without. + +The will to preserve her nationality motived her whole life, especially +in the modern period. The declared dream of Grattan was, as we have +seen, to transform a Protestant colony into an Irish nation. Wolfe Tone +confessed the same inspiration; Emmet's speech from the dock was that +and nothing else. It was the whole of Davis in thought, and of O'Connell +in action. Isaac Butt yielded to its fascination, and found for it the +watchword, Home Rule. It was formulated by Parnell in a speech the +capital passage of which forms the inscription on his monument. It +echoes and re-echoes through the resolutions of every meeting, and +constitutes for many orators their total stock of political ideas. It +provides the title of the Irish delegation to Parliament, and is +endorsed at General Election after General Election by a great and +unchanging majority. A people such as this is not to be exterminated. An +ideal such as this is not to be destroyed. Recognise the one, sever the +ligatures that check the free flow of blood through the veins of the +other, and enrich your federation of autonomous peoples with another +rich individuality. Imitate in Ireland your own wisdom in dealing with +the Colonies, and the same policy will bear the same harvest. For +justice given the Colonies gave you friendship, as for injustice +stubbornly upheld they had given you hatred. The analogy with Ireland is +complete so far as the cards have been played. The same human elements +are there, the same pride, the same anger, the same willingness to +forget anger. Why should the augury fail? + +I can hear in imagination the sniff of the unimaginative reader; I can +figure to myself his instant dismissal of all these considerations as +"sentiment." Let the word stand, coloured though it is with associations +that degrade it. But is "sentiment" to be ignored in the fixing of +constitutions? Ruskin asks a pertinent question. What is it after all +but "sentiment," he inquires, that prevents a man from killing his +grandmother in time of hunger? Sentiment is the most respectable thing +in human psychology. No one believes in it more thoroughly than your +reactionary Tory. But he wears his heart on his sleeve with a +difference. He is so greedily patriotic that he would keep all the +patriotism in the world to himself. That he should love his country is +natural and noble, a theme so high as to be worthy of Mr Kipling or even +Mr Alfred Austin himself. That we should love ours is a sort of middle +term between treason and insanity. It is as if a lover were to insist +that no poems should be written to any woman except _his_ mistress. It +is as if he were to put the Coercion Act in force against anyone found +shedding tears over the sufferings of any mother except _his_ mother. In +fact it is the sort of domineering thick-headedness that never fails to +produce disloyalty. + +The national idea, then, is the foundation of the "case for Home Rule." +It might indeed be styled the whole case, but this anthem of nationality +may be transposed into many keys. Translated into terms of ethics it +becomes that noble epigram of Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman's for which I +would exchange a whole library of Gladstonian eloquence: "Good +government is no substitute for self-government." In Ireland we have +enjoyed neither. Political subjection has mildewed our destiny, leaf and +stem. But were it not so, had we increased in wealth like Egypt, in +population like Poland, the vital argument for autonomy would be neither +weaker nor stronger. Rich or poor, a man must be master of his own fate. +Poor or rich, a nation must be captain of her own soul. In the suburban +road in which you live there are probably at least a hundred other +house-holds. Now if you were all, each suppressing his individuality, +to club together you could build in place of the brick-boxes in which +you live a magnificent phalanstery. There you could have more air for +your lungs and more art for your soul, a spacious and a gracious life, +cheaper washing, cheaper food, and a royal kitchen. But you will not do +it. Why? Because it profiteth a man nothing to gain the services of a +Paris _maître d'hôtel_ and to lose his own soul. In an attic fourteen +feet by seven, which he can call his own, a man has room to breathe; in +a Renaissance palace, controlled by a committee on which he is in a +permanent minority of one, he has no room to breathe. Home Rulers are +fond of phrasing their programme as a demand on the part of Ireland that +she shall control the management of her domestic affairs. The language +fits the facts like a glove. The difference between Unionism and Home +Rule is the difference between being compelled to live in an +ostentatious and lonely hotel and being permitted to live in a simple, +friendly house of one's own. + +Translated into terms of administration the gospel of autonomy becomes +the doctrine of "the man on the spot." That is the Eleven Rule of +Imperial Policy, and although it has sometimes been ridden to death, in +fact to murder, as in the Denshawai hangings, it is a sound rule. A man +who has gone to the trouble of being born, bred, and ordinarily +domiciled in, say, Kamskatcka is more likely to understand the affairs +of Kamskatcka than a man whose life oscillates daily like a pendulum +between Clapham and the Strand. The old natural philosophers accepted +the theory of _actio distans_, that is to say they assumed that a body +could act effectively where it was not. This was Unionism in science, +and needless to say it was wrong. In politics it is equally wrong, and +it has been repudiated everywhere except in Ireland. Physical vision is +limited in range; as the distance increases the vision declines in +clearness, becomes subject to illusion, finally ceases. Now you in +London, through mere limitations of human faculty, cannot see us in +Dublin. You are trying to govern Ireland in the fashion in which, +according to Wordsworth, all bad literature has been written, that is to +say, without your eye on the object. But it is time to have done with +this stern, long chase of the obvious. + +Translated into terms of economics the gospel of autonomy becomes the +doctrine of a "stake in the country." England has, indeed, a stake in +Ireland. She has the same interest in seeing Ireland prosperous that a +bootmaker has in learning from his farmer client that the crops are +good. Each country is in great measure the economic complement of the +other. But if the bootmaker were to insist on having his finger in the +farmer's pie, the pie, destined for the bootmaker's own appetite, would +not be improved. If he were to insist on applying to the living cow +those processes which he applies with such success to the dead leather, +the cow would suffer and ultimately there would be no boots. Generally +speaking, each of us improves his own business by declining to mind +anybody else's. Home Rule will give England precisely this chance of +sticking to her last. To Ireland it will come with both hands full of +new opportunities and new responsibilities. + +To realise that the national idea in Ireland arouses an emotion, at once +massive, intense, and enduring, is to understand many derivative +riddles. We are all familiar with the complaint that there is in Ireland +too much politics and too little business. Of course there is, and not +only too little business but too little literature, too little +philosophy, too little social effort, too little fun. We Nationalists +have grasped this better and proclaimed it more steadily than any +Unionist. There is as much truth in saying that life begins where +politics end, as in saying that love begins where love-making ends. +Constitutional freedom is not the fifth act of the social drama in +modern times, it is rather the prologue, or, better still, the theatre +in which other ideas that move men find an arena for their conflict. +Ireland, a little exhausted by her intense efforts of the last thirty +years, does assuredly need a rest-cure from agitation. But this healing +peace is itself a gift of autonomy. A tooth-ache concentrates the whole +mind on one particular emotion, which is a bad thing, and breeds +profanity, which is worse. But it is idle to tell a man with a +tooth-ache that what he needs in his life is less cursing and more +business. He cannot work effectively so long as he suffers; the only way +to peace is to cure the tooth-ache. And in order to get rid of politics +in Ireland, you must give Ireland Home Rule. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (I) + + +Ireland, as we have seen, has had the misfortune to provoke many worthy +writers to a sad debauch of sentimentalism. It has pleased their fancy +especially to picture her as a sphinx, mysterious, elusive, inscrutable. +It is impossible to govern her, declare these theorists, because it is +impossible to understand her. She is the _femme incomprise_ of modern +politics. Her temperament is a magnet for disaster, her soul a sanctuary +of inviolable secrets. So runs the rhapsody, and many of my own +countrymen have thought it good strategy to accept and exploit it. They +have this to urge, indeed, that failure to make oneself understood is +commonly regarded as a sign of the superior mind. Lord Rosebery, for +example, has told us that he himself, for all his honey-dropping tongue, +has never been properly understood. And Hegel, the great German +philosopher, who was so great a philosopher that we may without +impropriety mention his name even in the brilliant vicinage of the Earl +of Midlothian, used to sigh: "Alas! in the whole of my teaching career I +had but one student who understood my system, and he mis-understood it." +This is all very well in its way, and a climate of incomprehension may +suit orators and metaphysicians admirably; but it will not do for +politics. The party or people that fails to make its programme +understood is politically incompetent, and Ireland is assuredly safe +from any such imputation. She has her spiritual secrets, buried deep in +what we may call the subliminal consciousness of the race, and to the +disclosure of these secrets we may look with confidence for the +inspiration of a new literature. But in politics Ireland has no secrets. +All her cards are on the table, decipherable at the first glance. Her +political demand combines the lucidity of an invoice with the axiomatic +rectitude of the Ten Commandments. There is no doubt about what she +wants, and none about why she ought to have it. In that sense the case +for Home Rule is made, and this book, having justified its title, ought +to come to an end. But convention prescribes that about the nude contour +of principles there should be cast a certain drapery of details, and +such conventions are better obeyed. + +Where we are to begin is another matter. We are, as has been so often +suggested, in presence of a situation in which one cannot see the trees +for the forest. The principle of the government of Ireland is so +integrally wrong that it is difficult to signalise any one point in +which it is more wrong than it is in any other. A timber-chaser, that is +to say a pioneer for a lumber firm, in the Western States of America +once found himself out of spirits. He decided to go out of life, and +being thorough in his ways he left nothing to chance. He set fire to his +cabin, and, mounting the table, noosed his neck to a beam, drank a large +quantity of poison, and, as he kicked over the table, simultaneously +shot himself through the head and drew a razor across his throat. Later +on the doctor had to fill in the usual certificate. At "Cause of Death" +he paused, pondered, and at last wrote, "Causes too numerous to +specify." The fable possesses a certain suggestive value upon which we +need not enlarge. How, one may well ask, are we to itemise the retail +iniquities of a system of government which is itself a wholesale +iniquity? But since we must begin somewhere let us begin with the +Economics of Unionism. + +In this often-written, and perhaps over-written story there is one +feature of some little comfort. Whatever quarrel there may be as to +causes, the facts are not disputed. Pitt and his friends promised that +the Union would be followed by general prosperity, development of +manufacturers, and expansion of commerce. + + "Among the great and known defects of Ireland," he declared in a + typical statement, "one of the most prominent features is its want + of industry and of capital. How are these wants to be supplied but + by blending more closely with Ireland the industry and capital of + Great Britain?" + +It was a Witches' Promise making smooth the path to damnation. In every +point in which Pitt had prophesied white the moving finger of history +began, from the very day of the Union, to write black. The injury to the +whole economic tissue of Ireland was immediate, cumulative, in the end +crushing. + +We have at hand authoritative figures of the decline collected by +various Commissions and private inquirers. Let us note some of these as +summarised by Monsignor O'Riordan in his remarkable book, "Catholicism +and Progress": + + "Again, in 1800 there were 91 woollen manufacturers in Dublin and + 4938 hands employed; in 1840 there were only 12 manufacturers, and + 682 hands employed; in 1880, only 3 manufacturers in Dublin and + around it. In 1800 there were 56 blanket manufacturers in Kilkenny, + and 3000 hands employed; in 1840 there were 12 manufacturers and + 925 hands employed. In 1800 there were 900 hands employed on + ratteens and friezes in Roscrea; in 1840 the industry had + completely disappeared. In 1800 there were 1000 flannel looms in + County Wicklow; in 1840 there was not one. In 1800 there were 2500 + looms at work in Dublin for the manufacture of silk and poplin; in + 1840 there were only 250. In 1800 there were 27,000 cotton workers + in Belfast and around it; in 1840 there were only 12,000. In 1800 + there were 61,075 tradesmen in Dublin for the woollen, silk, and + cotton industries; in 1834 there were only 14,446, and of these + 4412 were idle, showing a decrease of 51,041 in the employed." + +There was, we must add, an increase in other directions. For instance, +whereas there had been only seven bankruptcies decreed in Dublin in 1799 +there were 125 in 1810. The number of insolvent houses grew in seven +years from 880 to 4719. These figures are not random but symptomatic. Mr +Pitt had promised to blend Ireland with the capital and industry of +Great Britain; he blended them as the edge of a tomahawk is blended with +the spattered brains of its victim. We have glanced at the condition of +manufacture. Lest it should be assumed that the tiller of land at least +had profited by the Napoleonic Wars, with their consequent high prices, +let me hasten to add that the Grey Commission, reporting in 1836, had to +inform the Government that 2,385,000 persons, nearly one-third of the +population, were "in great need of food." + + "Their habitations," the Report proceeds, "are wretched hovels; + several of the family sleep together on straw, or on the bare + ground, sometimes with a blanket, sometimes not even so much to + cover them. Their food commonly consists of dry potatoes; and with + these they are at times so scantily supplied as to be obliged to + stint themselves to one spare meal in the day.... They sometimes + get a herring or a little milk, but they never get meat except at + Christmas, Easter, and Shrovetide." + +But a truce to these dismal chronicles. The _post hoc_ may be taken as +established; was it a _propter hoc_? Was the Union the cause as well as +the antecedent of this decay? No economist, acquainted with the facts, +can fail to answer in the affirmative. The causal connection between two +realities could not be more manifest. Let us examine it very briefly. + +I begin of necessity with the principle of freedom, for freedom is the +dominating force in economic life. No instance can be cited of a modern +people of European civilisation that ever prospered while held +politically in subjection. + + "All history," writes Professor Marshall of Cambridge, the doyen of + Political Economy in England, "is full of the record of + inefficiency caused in varying degrees by slavery, serfdom, and + other forms of civil and political oppression and repression." + +The Act of Union was, as has been said, one of those spiritual outrages +which, in their reactions, are like lead poured into the veins. It +lowered the vital resources of Ireland. It made hope an absentee, and +enterprise an exile. That was its first-fruits of disaster. + +These commonplaces of the gospel of freedom "for which Hampden died in +the field and Sidney on the scaffold" will possibly appear to their +modern descendants mystical, sentimental, and remote from real life. For +there is no one in the world so ready as your modern Englishman to deny +that he is a man in order to prove that he is a business-man. +Fortunately we can establish for this strange being, who has thus +indecently stripped himself of humanity, and establish in very clear +and indisputable fashion the cash nexus between Unionism and decay. The +argument is simple. + +The Union came precisely in the period in which capital was beginning to +dominate the organisation of industry. The Union denuded Ireland of the +capital which would have enabled her to transform the technique of her +manufactures, and so maintain the ground won under Grattan's Parliament. +The channels through which this export of capital proceeded were +absenteeism and over-taxation. + +The first statement in this paragraph of plaint calls for no +elaboration. Arnold Toynbee took as the terminal dates of the Industrial +Revolution the years 1760 and 1830. The last generation of the +eighteenth century brought to birth the great inventions, but it was the +first generation of the nineteenth that founded on them large scale +production, and settled the structure of modern industry. Not without +profound disturbance and incalculable suffering was the new system +established in England; the story may be read in the pages of Marx, +Cunningham, Cooke Taylor, or any of the economic historians. But, for +all the blood and tears, it was established. Insulated from the +continental turmoil, served by her Titanic bondsmen coal and iron, +England was able to defeat the Titan, Napoleon. Now it is idle to deny +that this period would under any government have strained Ireland, as +the phrase goes, to the pin of her collar. But the Union made her task +impossible. Lord Castlereagh was quite right in pointing to the +accumulation of capital as the characteristic advantage of England. +Through centuries of political freedom that process had gone on without +interruption. Ireland, on the contrary, had been scientifically pillaged +by the application to her of the "colonial system" from 1663 to 1779; I +deliberately exclude the previous waste of war and confiscation. She had +but twenty years of commercial freedom, and, despite her brilliant +success in that period, she had not time to accumulate capital to any +great extent. But Grattan's Parliament had shown itself extraordinarily +astute and steady of purpose in its economic policy. Had its guidance +continued--conservative taxation, adroit bounties, and that close +scrutiny and eager discussion of the movements of industry which stands +recorded in its Journal--the manufactures of Ireland would have +weathered the storm. But the luck was as usual against her. Instead of +wise leadership from Dublin the gods decreed that she should have for +portion the hard indifference and savage taxation of Westminster. +Reduced to the position of a tributary nation, stripped of the capital +that would have served as a commissariat of advance in that crucial +struggle, she went down. + +I am not to make here the case for Ireland in respect of over-taxation. +It was made definitely in the Report of the Childers Commission, a +document which no Englishman reads, lest in coming to the light he +should have his sins too sharply rebuked. It has been developed and +clarified in many speeches and essays and in some books. To grasp it is +to find your road to Damascus on the Irish Question. But for the moment +we are concerned with but one aspect, namely, the export of capital from +Ireland as a result of the Union, and the economic reactions of that +process. Since we are to use moderation of speech and banish all +rhetoric from these pages, one is at a loss to characterise Union +arrangements and post-Union finance. Let it suffice to say that they +combined the moral outlook of Captain Kidd with the mathematical +technique of a super-bucket-shop. From the first Great Britain robbed +the Irish till; from the first she skimmed the cream off the Irish milk, +and appropriated it for her own nourishment. One has a sort of gloomy +pride in remembering that although cheated in all these transactions we +were not duped. Mr Foster, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons--in +those days the Speaker actually spoke, a whimsical Irish custom--tore +the cloak off Lord Castlereagh's strutting statesmanship, and laid bare +his real motives. Speaking on the first Union proposal in 1799 he said: + + "But the noble Lord has told us the real motives of this scheme of + Union, and I thank him for stating them so fairly. Ireland, he + says, must contribute to every war, and the Minister won't trust to + interest, affection, or connection for guiding her conduct. _He + must have her purse within his own grasp_. While three hundred men + hold it in Ireland he cannot put his hand into it, they are out of + his reach, but let a hundred of you carry it over and lay it at his + feet, and then he will have full and uncontrolled power." + +So it came about. Even before the Union Grattan's Parliament had, of its +own free will and out of an extravagant loyalty, run itself into debt +for the first time to help England against France. But, as Foster +indicated, the Irish members felt that they were coming to the end of +their resources. They were about to call a halt, and so the Union became +a necessary ingredient of Pitt's foreign policy. By it Ireland was +swept into the vortex of his anti-French hysteria, and of what Mr +Hartley Withers so properly styles his "reckless finance." In sixteen +years she was brought to the edge of bankruptcy. Between 1801 and 1817 +her funded debt was increased from £28,541,157 to £112,684,773, an +augmentation of nearly 300 per cent. In the first fifteen years +following the Union she paid in taxes £78,000,000 as against £31,000,000 +in the last fifteen years preceding the Union. After the amalgamation of +the Exchequers in 1817 the case becomes clearer. In 1819-20, for +instance, the revenue contributed by Ireland was £5,256,564, of which +only £1,564,880 was spent in Ireland, leaving a tribute for Great +Britain of £3,691,684. For 1829-30 the tribute was £4,156,576. + +Let us now inquire how things stood with regard to absenteeism. This had +existed before the Union'; indeed, if the curious reader will turn to +Johnson's "Dictionary" he will find it damned in a definition. But it +was enormously intensified by the shifting of the centre of gravity of +Irish politics, industry, and fashion from Dublin to London. The memoirs +of that day abound in references to an exodus which has left other and +more material evidence in those fallen and ravaged mansions which now +constitute the worst slums of our capital city. + +One figure may be cited by way of illustration. Before the Union "98 +Peers, and a proportionate number of wealthy Commoners" lived in Dublin. +The number of resident Peers in 1825 was twelve. At present, as I learn +from those who read the sixpenny illustrateds, there is one. But when +they abandoned Ireland they did not leave their rents behind. And it was +a time of rising rents; according to Toynbee they at least doubled +between 1790 and 1833. Precise figures are not easily arrived at, but Mr +D'Alton in his "History of the County Dublin," a book quite innocent of +politics, calculates that the absentee rental of Ireland was in 1804 not +less than £3,000,000, and in 1830 not less than £4,000,000, an +under-estimate. If we average these figures over the period we find that +during the first thirty years of Union, that is to say during the most +critical phase of the Industrial Revolution, not less than £105,000,000 +of Irish capital was "exported" from Ireland to Great Britain through +the channel of absenteeism. + +Averaging the figures of the taxation-tribute in similar fashion, and +taking the lowest estimates, I am unable to reach a less total than +£120,000,000 for the same period. In other words, the effect of the +Union was to withdraw from Ireland during the thirty years that settled +the economic structure of modern industry not less than _£_225,000,000. +Let me draw the argument together in words which I have used elsewhere, +and which others can no doubt easily better: + + "We have heard, in our day, a long-drawn denunciation of a Liberal + government on the score that it had, by predatory taxation, driven + English capital out of the country, and compromised the industrial + future of England. We have seen in our own day gilt-edged + securities, bank, insurance, railway, and brewery shares in Great + Britain, brought toppling down by a Tory waste of _£_250,000,000 on + the Boer War. We know that in economic history effects are, in a + notable way, cumulative; so clearly marked is the line of + continuity as to lead a great writer to declare that there is not a + nail in all England that could not be traced back to savings made + before the Norman Conquest. A hundred instances admonish us that, + in industrial life, nothing fails like failure. When we put all + these considerations together, and give them a concrete + application, can we doubt that in over-taxation and the withdrawal + of capital we have the prime _causa causans_ of the decay of + Ireland under the Union?" + +In this wise did Pitt "blend Ireland with the industry and capital of +Great Britain." Cupped by his finance she gave the venal blood of her +industry to strengthen the predominant partner, and to help him to +exclude for a time from these islands that pernicious French Democracy +in which all states and peoples have since found redemption. Such was +the first chapter in the Economics of Unionism. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (2) + + +If the reader cares to push forward the line of thought suggested in the +preceding pages and to submit it to a concrete test he can do so without +difficulty. He has but to compare the post-Union history of linen with +that of cotton. Linen in Ireland had been a perfect type of the +State-created, spoon-fed industry characteristic of the period of +mercantilism. Within certain limits--such as the steady resolve to +confine it, in point of religion, to Protestants, and, in point of +geography, to Ulster--it had behind it at the Union a century of +encouragement. It is calculated that between 1700 and 1800 it had +received bounties, English and Irish, totalling more than,£2,500,000. In +other words it had a chance to accumulate capital. Even linen declined +after the Union partly from the direct effects of that measure, partly +from the growing intensity of the Industrial Revolution. But the +capital accumulated, the commercial good name established under native +government carried the manufacturers through. These were able towards +1830 to introduce the new machinery and the new processes, and to +weather the tempest of competition. Cotton, on the other hand, was a +very recent arrival. It had developed very rapidly, and in 1800 gave +promise of supplanting linen. But the weight of capital told more and +more as changes in the technique of transportation and production +ushered in our modern world. Lacking the solid reserves of its rival, +involved in all the exactions that fall on a tributary nation, the +cotton manufacture of Ireland lost ground, lost heart, and disappeared. +But let us resume the parable. If the "business man" responds to +capital, he will certainly not be obtuse to the appeal of coal. In this +feeder of industry Ireland was geologically at a disadvantage, and it +was promised that the free trade with Great Britain inaugurated by the +Union would "blend" with her the resources of the latter country. Did +she obtain free trade in coal? Miss Murray, a Unionist, in her +"Commercial Relations between England and Ireland" tells the story in +part: + + "Coals again had hitherto been exported from Great Britain at a + duty of gd. per ton; this duty was to cease but the Irish import + duty on coal was to be made perpetual, and that at a time when all + coasting duties in England and Scotland had been abolished. Dublin + especially would suffer from this arrangement, for the duty there + on coals imported was is. 8-4/5d. per ton, while that in the rest + of Ireland was only 9-1/2d. This was because a local duty of 1s. + per ton existed in Dublin for the internal improvement of the city; + this local duty was blended by the Union arrangements with the + general duty on the article, and its perpetual continuance was thus + enforced. All this shows how little Irish affairs were understood + in England." + +But was it a failure of the English intellect or a lapse of the English +will? Except through the Platonic intuition which reduces all sin to +terms of ignorance I cannot accept the former explanation. What is +certain is that there was no lack of contemporary protest. There existed +in Dublin in 1828 a Society for the Improvement of Ireland, an active +body which included in its membership the Lord Mayor (a high Tory, of +course), Lord Cloncurry, and a long list of notable names such as +Latouche, Sinclair, Houghton, Leader, Grattan, Smith O'Brien, George +Moore, and Daniel O'Connell. In the year mentioned the Society appointed +a number of committees to report on the state of Irish agriculture, +commerce, and industry. One of these reports is full of information +touching the drain of capital from the country, and its consequent +decay, as registered by contemporaries; we shall learn from another how +things stood with regard to coal. At the time of the Union the Irish +Parliament granted a bounty of 2s. per ton on Irish coal carried +coastwise to Dublin, and levied a duty of 10-1/2d. per ton on coal +imported from Great Britain. The effect of the Union was to abolish the +bounty and double the levy on imports. Writing twenty-eight years later +the Committee summarise in a brief passage the disastrous effects of a +policy, so foolish and so unjust. The last sentence opens up sombre +vistas to any student of economic history: + + "Severe, however, as the operation of the coal duty in arresting + the progress of manufacture may have been in other parts of + Ireland, in Dublin, under the circumstances to which your Committee + are about to call the attention of the Society, it has produced all + the effects of actual prohibition, all the mischiefs of the most + rigorous exclusion. It is a singular circumstance that, in the + metropolis of the country, possessing local advantages in respect + to manufactures and facilities for trade with the interior, + superior, probably, to any other city or town in this portion of + the empire, with a population excessive as to the means of + employment, in a degree which probably has not a parallel in + Europe, _there is not a factory for the production of either silk, + linen, cotton, or woollen manufactures which is worked or propelled + by a steam engine_." + +The writers go on to ask for the repeal of the local duty on coal in +Dublin, and to suggest that the necessary revenue should be raised by a +duty on spirits. This course Belfast had been permitted to follow--one +of the numberless make-weights thrown into the scale so steadily on the +side of the Protestant North. In my part of the country the people used +to say of any very expert thief: "Why, he'd steal the fire out of your +grate." Under the Union arrangements Great Britain stole the fire out of +the grate of Ireland. And having so dealt with capital and coal the +predominant partner next proceeded by a logical development to muddle +transportation. + +The Drummond Commission, appointed in 1836 to consider the question of +railway construction in Ireland, issued a report in 1838 which +practically recommended public and not private enterprise as appropriate +"to accomplish so important a national object." What came after is best +related in the official terminology of the Scotter Commission of +1906-10: + + "This report was presented in July 1838, and early in the + following year a great public meeting, held in Dublin, passed a + resolution that inasmuch as an adequate system of railways could + not be constructed by private capital, the Government should be + urged to take the work into its own hands, thereby saving the cost + of Private Bill legislation. Promises were also made that the lands + necessary for railway construction would be given free of cost. + Similar resolutions were adopted at another meeting held about the + same time in the north of Ireland. In addition, an address to the + Queen was presented by a number of Irish Peers, headed by the Duke + of Leinster, praying that action might be taken on the Drummond + Commission Report." + +The government saw the light, and proceeded to sin against it. They +embodied the Dublin programme in resolutions which were adopted by the +House of Commons in March 1839, and they then abruptly abandoned the +whole business. The last chance was not yet lost. During the Great +Famine of 1847 the Opposition proposed to raise, £16,000,000 by State +loans for the construction of railways as relief works. A suggestion so +sane could not hope to pass. It was in fact rejected; the starving +peasants were set to dig large holes and fill them up again, and to +build bad roads leading nowhere. And instead of a national railway +system Ireland was given private enterprise with all its waste and all +its clash of interests. + +The two most conspicuous gifts of Unionism to Ireland have been, as all +the world knows, poverty and police. Soon after 1830, that is to say +when the first harvest of government from Westminster was ripe to the +sickle, Irish destitution had assumed what politicians call men-acing +proportions. One person in every three of the population never had any +other alimentary experience than the difference between hunger and +starvation. In these circumstances a Royal Commission was appointed to +consider the advisability of extending the English Poor Law to Ireland. +Their report is a pioneer document in the development of economic +thought. Just as the Railway Commission a few years later was to give +the watchword of the future, nationalisation, so the Poor Law Commission +gave within its province the watchword of the future, prevention before +relief. They pointed the contrast between the two countries. I quote the +words of the later Irish Poor Law Commission of 1903-6: + + "Having regard to the destitution and poverty that were prevalent + in Ireland owing to want of employment, the Royal Commissioners in + their Report of 1836 came to the conclusion that the English + workhouse system would be unsuitable for Ireland, because after + unchecked demoralisation by profuse out-door relief _in England, + the Work-house system was devised in order to make the lazy and + idle seek ordinary employment which could be got. The situation in + Ireland was, on the contrary, one in which the able-bodied and + healthy were willing and anxious to work for any wages, even for + twopence a day, but were unable to obtain such or any employment_." + +Ireland at the end of a generation of Unionism was suffering, as the +commissioners proceed to point out, not from over-population, but from +under-development. They tabled two sets of recommendations. The relief +programme advised compulsory provision for the sick, aged, infirm, +lunatics, and others incapable of work; in all essential matters it +anticipated in 1836 that Minority Report which to the England of 1912 +still seems extravagantly humane. The prevention programme outlined a +scheme for the development of Irish resources. Including, as it did, +demands for County Fiscal Boards, agricultural education, better +cottages for the labourers, drainage, reclamation, and changes in the +land system, it has been a sort of lucky bag into which British +ministers have been dipping without acknowledgment ever since. But the +report itself was, like the Railway Report, too sane and too Irish to +stand a chance. There was sent over from England a Mr Nicholls, who, +after a six weeks flutter through the country, devised the Poor Law +System under which we still labour. Mr Nicholls afterwards became Sir +George, and when he died it is probable that a statue was erected to +him. If that is so the inscription must always remain inadequate until +this is added: "Having understood all about Ireland in six weeks he gave +her, as the one thing needful to redeem her, the workhouse." + +But, of course, the capital exploit of the Economics of Unionism was its +dealing with the problem of land tenure. I shrink from inviting the +reader into the desert of selfishness and stupidity which constitutes +English policy, in this regard, from the Union to the triumph of the +Land League. Let him study it at large in Davitt's "Fall of Feudalism." +We are not concerned here to revive that calamitous pageant. Our +interest is of another kind, namely to signalise the malign influence +introduced into the agrarian struggle by government from Westminster as +against government from Dublin. Even had Grattan's Parliament remained, +the battle for the land would have had to go forward; for that +Parliament was an assembly controlled by landlords who, for the most +part, believed as strongly in the sacredness of rent as they did in the +sacredness of nationality. But by the Union the conflict was embittered +and befouled. The landlords invented their famous doctrine of +conditional loyalty. They bargained with Great Britain to the effect +that, if they were permitted to pillage their tenantry, they would in +return uphold and maintain British rule in Ireland. + +It was the old picture with which M. Paul-Dubois has acquainted us, that +of the "Garrison" kneeling to England on the necks of the Irish poor. In +this perversion, which under autonomy would have been impossible, we +find the explanation of the extreme savagery of Union land policy in +Ireland. Its extreme, its bat-eyed obtuseness is to be explained in +another way. Souchon in his introduction to the French edition of +Philippovich, the great Austrian economist, observes with great truth +that England has not even yet developed any sort of _Agrarpolitik_, that +is to say any systematic Economics of Agriculture. In the early +nineteenth century her own land problems were neglected, and her +political leaders were increasingly dominated by an economic gospel of +shopkeepers and urban manufacturers. Forced into the context of +agrarian life such a gospel was bound to manifest itself as one of folly +and disaster. + +If we put these two elements together we are enabled to understand why +the Union land policy in Ireland was such a portentous muddle and +scandal. In 1829 the question assumed a fresh urgency, in consequence of +the eviction campaign which followed the disfranchisement of the small +holders under Catholic Emancipation. That Irish opinion, which in an +Irish Parliament would have had its way, began to grapple with the +situation. + +Between 1829 and 1858 twenty-three Irish Land Reform Bills were +introduced in the House of Commons; every one was rejected. In the same +period thirty-five Coercion Bills were introduced; every one was passed. +So it began, so it continued, until at last Irish opinion did in some +measure prevail. The Westminster Parliament clapped the "agitators" into +prison, and while they were at work breaking stones stole their +programme.... But I have promised to spare the reader the detailed +hideousness of this Inferno, and this section must close without a word +said about that miserable triad, famine, eviction, and emigration. What +may be called the centre of relevancy lies elsewhere. We have been +concerned to show how Unionism, having wrecked the whole manufacturing +economy of Ireland, went on, at its worst, to wreck, at its best, to +refuse to save, its whole agricultural economy. + +But why recall all this "dead history"? For two reasons: first, because +it illustrates the fundamental wrongness of Unionism; secondly, because +it is not dead. + +On the first point no better authority can be found than Mr W.A.S. +Hewins, the intellect of Tariff Reform. The differences between England +and Ireland, he writes in his introduction to Miss Murray's book, are of +"an organic character." In that phrase is concentrated the whole biology +of Home Rule. Every organism must suffer and perish unless its external +circumstances echo its inner law of development. The sin of the Union +was that it imposed on Ireland from without a sort of spiked +strait-jacket which could have no effect but to squeeze the blood and +breath out of every interest in the country. What was meat to England +was poison to Ireland, and even honest Englishmen, hypnotised by the +economists of the day, were unable to perceive this plain truth. Let me +give another illustration. The capital exploit of Union Economics was, +as has been said, its dealing with the land question, but perhaps its +most pathetic fallacy was the policy with which it met the Great Famine. +Now the singular thing about this famine is that during it there was no +scarcity of food in Ireland; there was only a shortage of potatoes. + + "In 1847 alone," writes Mr Michael Davitt in his "Fall of + Feudalism," "food to the value of £44,958,000 sterling was grown in + Ireland according to the statistical returns for that year. But a + million of people died for want of food all the same." + +The explanation is obvious: the peasants grew potatoes to feed +themselves, they raised corn to pay their rents. A temporary suspension +of rent-payments and the closing of the ports would have saved the great +body of the people. But the logic of Unionism worked on other lines. The +government opened the ports, cheapened corn, and made rents harder to +pay. At the same time they passed a new Coercion Act, and reorganised +the police on its present basis to ensure that rents should be paid. To +the wisdom of this policy, history is able to call witnesses by the +million--unhappily however it has to call them from famine graveyards, +and the waste womb of the Atlantic. + +This essential wrongness of Unionism, so amply illustrated in every +year of its working, continues. But at least, our bluff Englishman +urges, the dead past can be suffered to bury those crimes and blunders +of Unionism which you have enumerated. Let us start with a clean slate. +Now, as will have been gathered from a previous chapter, we recognise in +this invitation an accent of soundness. We modern Home Rulers desire +above all to be loyal to the century in which we live. We are sick of +that caricature which depicts Ireland as the mad heroine of a sort of +perpetual suttee, in which all the interests of the present are +immolated on the funeral-pyre of the past. But let us come closer to +things. How do you clean a slate except by liquidating the debts of +which it keeps the record? The late Vicomte de Voguë wrote an admirable +novel, "Les Morts qui Parlent." The dead are always speaking; you cannot +stop their strong eloquence with a mouthful of clay. The "business man" +thinks no doubt that the Napoleonic War is no more than Hecuba to him, +or he to Hecuba. But he pays annual tribute to it, for he has to make +annual provision for the £600,000,000 which it added to the National +Debt. And just as Mr Pitt's foreign policy is in that respect a living +reality of our own time, so also, but in a much graver form, are the +past depredations and ineptitudes of Unionism living realities in the +present economy of Ireland. + +The ruling fallacy of the English mind on these matters consists in the +assumption that the mere repeal of an old oppression restores a people +to the _status quo ante_. In the case of Ireland the old oppressions +have not been repealed except in two or three points, but even if they +had been wholly cancelled it would be absurd to expect immediate +recovery from their effects. If you have been beating a man on the head +with a bludgeon for half an hour, and then leave off, there is no sense +in saying to him: "There, I have given over bludgeoning you. Why on +earth don't you get up, and skip about like me?" If you have been +robbing a man's till for ten years, and then decide--by the way you have +not yet decided--to leave off, there is no sense in saying to him: "Why +the devil are you always hard up? Look at me doing the same sort of +business as you on absolutely equal terms, and I'm able to keep two +motor-cars and six servants." But that is precisely what is said to us. +You are eternally expecting from Ireland new miracles of renaissance. +But although she does possess recuperative powers, hardly to be +paralleled, even she must have time to slough the corruptions of the +past. You cannot, as some Englishmen imagine, cancel six centuries +before breakfast. Your Penal Laws, for instance, have been long since +struck out of the Statute Book, but they have not yet been eliminated +from social habitudes or from certain areas of commercial life. + +You began to tax Ireland beyond her capacity in 1801, and you are still +overtaxing her. In the interval you withdraw from her economic life a +tribute of not less than £325,000,000. You broke her industrial +tradition, injured her credit, depressed her confidence. You forced upon +her a fiscal system devised to suit your needs in utter contempt of +hers. To clean that slate you must first, by some measure of +restitution, clean your conscience. And when that has been done you will +have to wait for the curative effects of time to undo the Economics of +Unionism. + +You suffered landlordism to devastate Ireland unchecked. The capital +that should have gone to enrich and develop the soil was squeezed out of +it in rack-rents, largely absentee. The whole agricultural economy of +the country was stricken with a sort of artificial anæmia. Then very +late in the day you enact in shreds and fragments a programme of reform +proposed half a century before by the leaders of the Irish people. +To-day rural Ireland is convalescent, but it is absurd to rate her if +she does not at once manifest all the activities of robust health. It is +even more absurd to expect her to glow with gratitude. + +You muddled our whole system of transportation; your muddle stands +to-day in all its ruinous largeness unamended, and, it may be, beyond +amendment. You muddled the Poor Law; and, in the workhouses which you +thrust upon us, 8000 children are year by year receiving on their lives +the brand of degradation. You marred education, perverting it into a +discipline of denationalisation, and that virus has not yet been +expelled. + +What economic, what intellectual problem in Ireland have you not marred +and muddled, England, my England (as the late Mr W.E. Henley used to +say)? You have worsened the maledictions of the Bible. The sins of +_your_ fathers will lie as a _damnosa hæreditas_, a damnable heritage, +upon the mortgaged shoulders of _our_ children. It is better, as Plato +taught, to suffer injustice than to inflict it. In the light of that +ethical principle you are long since judged and condemned. But with the +customary luck of England you are allowed what others were not allowed, +the opportunity of penitence and reform. The messengers of the new +gospel are at your doors, offering you in return for the plain rudiments +of justice not only forgiveness but friendship. It is for you to accept +or reject. We, the Irish, whom you have wronged, look to your decision +with interest rather than with concern. Why should we be concerned? Our +flag has been an Aaron's serpent to swallow yours. Your policies, your +ambitions, your administrations have passed by us like the transient and +embarrassed phantoms that they were. We remain. All the roads lead to +Rome, and all the years to retribution. This is your year; you have met +the messengers on your threshold. Your soul is in your own wardship. But +yet we cannot wholly separate your destiny from ours. Dedicated as we +are to the general progress of humanity and to all the generosities of +life, we await expectantly your election between the good and the evil +side. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE HALLUCINATION OF "ULSTER" + + +Ulster Unionism, in the leaders, is not so much a programme of ideas as +a demand for domination. In the rank and file it is largely a phenomenon +of hysteria. I do not know whether my readers have ever participated in +an agreeable game known as odd man out. Each player tosses a penny, and +whoever disagrees with the rest, showing a head to their tails or vice +versa, captures the pool. Such is in all essential particulars the +"Ulster Question." We find ourselves there in presence of a minority +which, on the sole ground that it is a minority, claims that in the +government of Ireland it shall be not merely secure but supreme. Sir +Edward Carson as odd man out (and I do not deny that he is odd enough +for anything) is to be Dictator of Ireland. If eighty-four Irish +constituencies declare for Home Rule, and nineteen against Home Rule, +then, according to the mathematics of Unionism, the Noes have it. In +their non-Euclidean geometry the part is always greater than the whole. +In their unnatural history the tail always wags the dog. On the plane of +politics it is not necessary to press the case against "Ulster" any +farther than that. Even majorities have their rights. If a plurality of +nine to two is not sufficient to determine policy and conduct business +in a modern nation, then there is no other choice except anarchy, or +rather an insane atomism. Not merely every party, but every household +and, in last resort, every individual will end as a Provisional +Government. Separatism of this type is a very ecstasy of nonsense, and +none of my readers will think so cheaply of his own intelligence as to +stay to discuss it. It is in other terms that we must handle the problem +of "Ulster." + +The existence in certain nooks and corners of Ireland of a democratic +vote hostile to Home Rule is, let us confess, a conundrum. But it is a +conundrum of psychology rather than of politics. It may seem rude to say +so, but Orangeism consists mainly of a settled hallucination and an +annual brainstorm. No one who has not been present at a Twelfth of July +procession can realise how completely all its manifestations belong to +the life of hysteria and not to that of reason. M. Paul-Dubois, whom we +may summon out of a cloud of witnesses, writes of them as "demagogic +orgies with a mixed inspiration of Freemasonry and the Salvation Army." +The Twelfth of July is, or rather was, for its fine furies are now much +abated, a savage carnival comparable only to the corroborees of certain +primitive tribes. + + "A monster procession," continues M. Paul-Dubois, "marches through + Belfast, as through every town and village of Orange Ulster, ending + up with a vast meeting at which the glories of William of Orange + and the reverses of James II. are celebrated in song.... Each + 'lodge' sends its delegation to the procession with banners and + drums. On the flags are various devices: 'Diamond Heroes,' 'True + Blues,' 'No Pope.' The participants give themselves over to + character dances, shouting out their favourite songs: 'The Boyne + Water' and 'Croppies Lie Down.' The chief part is played by the + drummers, the giants of each 'lodge,' who with bared arms beat + their drums with holy fury, their fists running with blood, until + the first drum breaks and many more after it, until in the evening + they fall half-dead in an excess of frenzy." + +Such is the laboratory in which the mind of Orange Ulster is prepared to +face the tasks of the twentieth century. Barbaric music, the ordinary +allowance of drum to fife being three to one, ritual dances, King +William on his white horse, the Scarlet Woman on her seven hills, a +grand parade of dead ideas and irrelevant ghosts called up in wild +speeches by clergymen and politicians--such is Orangeism in its full +heat of action. Can we, with this key to its intellectual history, be +really astonished that Shankhill Road should move all its life in a red +mist of superstition. The North of Ireland abounds in instances, trivial +and tragic, of this obsession. Here it is the case of the women of a +certain town who, in order to prevent their children from playing in a +dangerous swamp close by, have taught them that there are "wee Popes" in +it. There it is a case of man picked up, maimed and all but unconscious +after an accident, screwing up his lips to utter one last "To Hell with +the Pope!" before he dies. I remember listening in Court to the +examination of an old Orangeman who had been called as a witness to the +peaceable disposition of a friend of his. "What sort of man," asked the +counsel, "would you say Jamie Williamson is?" "A quiet, decent man." "Is +he the sort of man that would be likely to be breaking windows?" "No man +less likely." "Is he the sort of man that you would expect to find at +the head of a mob shouting, 'To Hell with the Pope'?" Witness, with +great emphasis: "No. Certainly not. Jamie was never any ways a +_religious_ man." These bewildering corruptions of sense and sanity +overwhelm you at every turn. Ask your neighbour offhand at a dinner in +Dublin: "What is so-and-so, by the way?" He will reply that so-and-so is +a doctor, or a government official, or a stockbroker, as it may happen. +Ask him the same question at a dinner in Belfast, and he will +automatically tell you that so-and-so is a Protestant or a "Papist." + +The plain truth is that it would be difficult to find anywhere a more +shameful exploitation, intellectual and economic, than that which has +been practised on the Ulster Orangeman by his feudal masters. Were I to +retort the abuse, with which my own creed is daily bespattered, I should +describe him further as the only victim of clerical obscurantism to be +found in Ireland. Herded behind the unbridged waters of the Boyne, he +has been forced to live in a very Tibet of intellectual isolation. +Whenever he moved in his thoughts a little towards that Ireland to +which, for all his separatism, he so inseparably belongs, the ring of +blockhouses, called Orange Lodges, was drawn tighter to strangle his +wanderings. Mr Robert Lynd in his "Home Life in Ireland," a book which +ought to have been mentioned earlier in these pages, relates the case +of a young man who was refused ordination in the Presbyterian Church +because he had permitted himself to doubt whether the Pope was in fact +anti-Christ. And he writes with melancholy truth: + + "If the Presbyterian clergy had loved Ireland as much as they have + hated Rome they could have made Ulster a home of intellectual + energy and spiritual buoyancy long ago. They have preferred to keep + Ulster dead to fine ideas rather than risk the appearance of a few + unsettling ideas among the rest." + +It has not been, one likes to think, a death, consummated and final, but +rather an interruption of consciousness from which recovery is possible. +Drugged with a poisonous essence, distilled from history for him by his +exploiters, the Orangeman of the people has lived in a world of +phantoms. In politics he has never in his whole career spoken for +himself. The Catholic peasant comes to articulate, personal speech in +Davitt; the national aristocracy in Parnell. The industrial worker +discovers within his own camp a multitude of captains. Even landlordism, +although it has produced no leader, has produced many able spokesmen. +Every other section in Ireland enriches public life with an interpreter +of its mind sprung from its own ranks. Orange Ulster alone has never yet +given to its own democracy a democratic leader. This is indeed the +cardinal misfortune, as well as the central secret, of Ulster Unionism. +The pivot on which it turns resides, not in the farms of Down or the +factories of Belfast, but in the Library of the Four Courts. Of the +nineteen representatives who speak for it in Parliament no fewer than +seven are King's Counsel. In the whole list there is not one delegate of +labour, nor one farmer. A party so constituted is bound to produce +prodigies of nonsense such as those associated with Sir Edward Carson. +The leaders of the orchestra openly despise the instruments on which +they play. For followers, reared in the tradition of hysteria depicted +above, no raw-head is thought to be too raw, and no bloody-bones too +bloody. And so we have King's Counsel, learned in the law, devising +Provisional Governments, and Privy Councillors wallowing in imaginative +treason. As for the Bishops, they will talk daggers as luridly as the +rest, but they will not even threaten to use any. And so does the pagan +rage, and the heathen prophesy vain things. + +That such a farce-tragedy can find a stage in the twentieth century is +pitiable. But it is not a serious political fact. It has the same +relation to reality that the cap-hunting exploits of Tartarin of +Tarascon had to the Franco-German war. It has been devised merely to +make flesh creep in certain tabernacles of fanaticism in the less +civilised parts of England and Scotland. So far as action goes it will +end in smoke, but not in gunpowder-smoke. There will no doubt be riots +in Belfast and Portadown, for which the ultimate responsibility will +rest on learned counsel of the King. But there have been riots before, +and the cause of Home Rule has survived all the blackguardism and +bloodshed. It is lamentable that ministers of the gospel of Christ and +leaders of public opinion should so inflame and exploit the +superstitions of ignorant men; but not by these methods will justice be +intimidated. + +And if "Ulster" does fight after all? In that event we must only +remember how sorry George Stephenson was for the cow. The military +traditions of the Protestant North are not very alarming. The +contribution of the Enniskilleners to the Battle of the Boyne appears to +have consisted in running away with great energy and discretion. Nor did +they, or their associates, in later years shed any great lustre even on +Imperial arms. I have never heard that the Connaught Rangers had many +recruits from the Shankhill Road, or the Dublin Fusiliers from +Portadown; consequently the present situation disgusts rather than +terrifies us. If rifle-levers ever click in rebellion against a Home +Rule government, duly established by statute under the authority of the +Crown, it will be astonishing to find that every bullet in Ireland is a +member of an Orange Lodge. If "Ulster" repudiates the arbitrament of +reason, and the verdict of a free ballot, she simply puts herself +outside the law. And she may be quite assured that the law, driven back +on its ultimate sanction of force, will very sharply and very amply +vindicate itself. + +But it is not courteous to the reader to detain him among such +unrealities as Sir Edward Carson's Civil War. Treason, that is to say +platform treason, is not so much an eccentricity as a habit of +Orangeism. It is a way they have in the Lodges, and their past history +supplies a corrective to their present outburst. Perhaps their most +notable exploit in armed loyalty was their attempt to dethrone, or +rather to defeat in succession to the throne, Queen Victoria. This is a +chapter in their history with regard to which they are far too modest +and reticent. + +But the leading case in recent years is of course the attitude of the +Lodges towards the Disestablishment of the Irish Episcopal Church in +1869. The records are singularly rich in what I may perhaps call +Carsonese. Dukes threatened to "fight as men alone can fight who have +the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other." Learned counsel of +the Queen covenanted to "seal their protest with their blood in +martyrdom and battle." Ministers of the gospel were all for kicking the +Crown into the Boyne, keeping their powder dry, shouldering Minié +rifles, and finally joining the lawyers in the red grave of martyrdom. + +An Ulster poet (a satirist one fears) wrote a famous invocation to the +statue of Mr Walker near Derry, beginning: + + "Come down out o' that, Mr Walker, + There's work to be done by-and-by, + And this is no time to stand glowerin' + Betwixt the bog-side and the sky." + +But Mr Walker did not come down: he remained on his safe pinnacle of +immortality. And of course there was no civil war. That period was wiser +than our own in one respect: nobody of any common sense thought of +spoiling such exquisite blague by taking it seriously. Its motive was +universally understood in Ireland. The orators of the movement never for +a moment dreamed of levying war on Mr Gladstone, but they were +determined to levy blackmail. They saw that they could bluff English +opinion into granting all manner of extravagant compensation for the +extinction of their privileges and their ascendancy, if only the Orange +drum was beaten loudly enough. It was a case of the more cry the more +wool. And in point of fact they succeeded. They obtained financial +arrangements of the most generous character, and, thereafter, the +battle-flags were furled. Within five years of Disestablishment the +Episcopalian Synod was praising it as the happiest event in the life of +that Church. The lawyers, being denied the martyrdom of the battlefield, +stolidly accepted that of promotion to the judicial bench, and a holy +silence descended on the divines. + +This strategy having succeeded so admirably in 1868 is repeated in 1912. +"Ulster" has not the least intention of raising war or the sinews of +war; her interest is in the sinews of peace. Although she does not hold +a winning card in her hand she hopes to scoop the pool by a superb +bluff. By menaces of rebellion she expects to be able to insist that +under Home Rule she shall continue encased in an impenetrable armour of +privileges, preferences, and safeguards. She is all the more likely to +succeed because of the tenderness of Nationalist Ireland in her regard. +Short of the absolute surrender by the majority of every shred of its +rights (which is, of course, what is demanded) there are very few +safeguards that we are not prepared to concede to the superstition, the +egotism, or even the actual greed of the Orangemen. But it may as well +be understood that we are not to be either duped or bullied. + +If the policy of Ulster Unionism is unreal there is no word in any +language that can describe the phantasmal nature of the grounds on which +it professes to fear national freedom. Home Rule, declare the orators, +will obviously mean Rome Rule. The _Ne Temere_ decree will de-legitimise +every Protestant in the country. The Dublin Parliament will tax every +"Ulster" industry out of existence. One is told that not only do many +people say, but that some people even believe things of this kind. But +then there are people who believe that they are made of Dresden china, +and will break if they knock against a chair. These latter are to be +found in lunatic asylums. It is indeed particularly worth noting that +when a man begins to see in the whole movement of the world a conspiracy +to oppress and injure him our first step is to inquire not into his +grievance but into his sanity. One finds the same difficulty in +discussing Irish politics in terms of the three hallucinations specified +that one finds in discussing, say, Rugby football with a Dresden-china +fellow-citizen. It is better not to make the attempt, but to substitute +a plain statement of obvious facts. + +In the first place, even if any policy of oppression were in our minds, +it is not in our power. The overlordship of the Imperial Parliament +remains in any scheme of Home Rule unimpaired, and any man damnified +because of his religion can appeal in last resort to the Imperial Army +and Navy. Shankhill Road is mathematically safe. After all there are in +England some forty millions of Protestants who, whatever their religious +temperature may be, will certainly decline to see Protestantism +penalised. The Protestants in Ireland have a million and a quarter, and +they make noise enough for twice the number. There are about three and a +quarter millions of Irish Catholics. History concedes to Catholic +Ireland the cleanest record in respect of religious tolerance to be +found anywhere in Europe. We never martyred a saint, and amid all the +witch-hunting devilries of Scotland and England we burned only one +witch, a namesake of my own. Deny or suppress all this. Imagine into +the eyes of every Catholic neighbour the slumbering but unquenched fires +of Smithfield. But be good enough to respect mathematics. Do not suggest +that the martial qualities induced by the two religions are so +dissimilar that two Catholics are capable of imposing Home Rule on +twenty-five Protestants. + +The suggestion that we shall overtax "Ulster" is even more captivating. +But how are we to do it? Of course we might schedule the sites given up +to Protestant church buildings as undeveloped land. Or we might issue +income-tax forms with an assessment printed on one side, and the decrees +of the Council of Trent on the other. Or we might insist on every orator +desirous of uttering that ennobling sentiment, "To Hell with the Pope!" +taking out a licence, and charge him a small fee. Positive treason, such +as the proclamation of Provisional Governments, would of course pay a +higher rate. All these would be most interesting experiments, and would +add a picturesque touch to the conventionality of modern administration. +But if we were to overtax sugar or coffee, corn or butter, flax or wool, +beer or spirits, land or houses, I fear that we should be beating +ourselves rather severely with our own sticks. Our revenge on "Ulster" +would be rather like that of Savage, the poet, who revenged himself on +a friend by sleeping out the whole of a December night on a bridge. The +whole suggestion is, of course, futile and fantastic. It is a bubble +that has been pricked, and by no one so thoroughly as by Lord Pirrie, +the head of Harland and Wolff, that is to say the leader of the +industrial North. + +The clamour of the exploiters of "Ulster" is motived on this point by +two considerations, the one an illusion, the other a reality. The +illusion, or rather the pretence, consists in representing the Unionists +as the sole holders of wealth in Ireland. It would be a sufficient +refutation of this view to quote those other passages in which the same +orators assert with equal eloquence that the Tory policy of land +purchase and resolute government from Westminster has brought enormous +prosperity to the rest of the country. On _per capita_ valuation the +highest northern county ranks only twelfth in Ireland. It is the +reality, however, that supplies the clue. While the masters of Orangeism +do not represent the wealth of Ireland they do certainly represent the +largest, or, at least, the most intense concentration of unearned +incomes. What they fear is not unjust but democratic taxation. They +cling to the Union as a bulwark against the reform movement which in +every modern state is resuming for society a small part of certain vast +fortunes which in their essence have been socially created. But even on +the plane of their own selfishness they are following a foolish line of +action. The Union did not save them from the Land Tax Budget, nor, as +regards the future, is salvation of the English Tories. Should they ever +return to power they will repeat their action respecting the Death +Duties. Having in Opposition denounced the land taxes with indecent +bitterness they will, when back in office, confirm and extend them. +"Ulster" had far better cast in her lot with Ireland. She will find an +Irish Assembly not only strikingly but, one might almost add, sinfully +conservative in matters of taxation. As to the conflict between the +agrarian and the manufacturing interests, that also exists in every +nation on the earth. But neither has any greater temptation to plan the +destruction of the other than a merchant has to murder his best +customer. + +There remains the weltering problem of mixed marriages and the _Ne +Temere_ decree. It is perhaps worth observing that marriages get mixed +in other countries as well as in Ireland. It grieves one that men should +differ as to the true religious interpretation of life. But they do in +fact differ, and wherever two human beings, holding strongly to +different faiths, fall in love there is tragic material. But they do in +fact fall in love. The theme recurs, with a thousand reverberations, in +the novel literature of England, France, and Germany. The situation +occurs also in Ireland. But I am bewildered to know in what way it is an +argument for or against Home Rule. Let us appeal once more to colonial +experience and practice. There is a Catholic majority in Canada and an +overwhelming Catholic majority in Quebec. The policy of the Catholic +Church towards mixed marriages is precisely the same there as in +Ireland. Does Protestantism demand that the constitutions of the +Dominion and the Province respectively shall be withdrawn? Since no such +claim is made we must conclude that the outcry on Orange platforms is +designed not to enforce a principle but to awaken all the slumbering +fires of prejudice. The _Ne Temere_ decree introduces no new departure. +Now, as always, the Catholic Church requires simply that her members +shall consecrate the supreme adventure of life with the Sacrament of +their fathers before the altar of their fathers. It is strange that the +Orangemen, believing as they do that the Pope is anti-Christ, should be +so annoyed at finding that the Pope teaches a doctrine different from +theirs on the subject of marriage. The Pope can inflict no spiritual +penalties on them since they are outside his flock. He can inflict no +civil penalties on anybody. There is undoubtedly in the matter of +divorce a sharp conflict between Catholic ideas and the practice and +opinion of Protestant countries. That exists, and will continue, under +every variation of government. It is an eternal antinomy. But whom does +it aggrieve? We Catholics voluntarily abjure the blessings of divorce, +but we should never dream of using the civil law to impose our +abnegation on those of another belief. If there is any doubt upon that +point it can very easily be removed. The civil law of marriage can be +conserved under one of the "safeguards." + +The truth is that in order to test our tolerance Orangeism proposes to +us a series of exercises which are a very delirium of intolerance. +"Sever yourselves," it says in effect to us, "from all allegiance to +that Italian Cardinal. Consign him, as Portadown does, to hell. Bait +your bishops. Deride the spiritual authority of your priests. Then shall +we know that you are men and masters of your own consciences. Elect a +Unionist Council in every county, a Unionist Corporation in Dublin, then +shall we know that you are brothers. Disown your dead leaders. Spit on +the grave of Emmet. Teach your children that every Fenian was a +murderer. Erase from your chronicles the name of Parnell. Then shall we +know that you are loyal." + +It has been occasionally urged by writers who prefer phrases to +actualities that Home Rule must wait on the conversion of "Ulster." +Therein the patient must minister to himself. Miracles of that order +cannot be accomplished from without. Great is Diana of the Ephesians, +and the servitude of tradition is at an end only when the hands that +fashioned the idols shatter them on the altars of a new nobleness. Let +us distinguish. The Orangeism which is merely an instrument of +exploitation and domination will not yield to reason. The Orangeism +which is an inherited hysteria will not yield to reason. It Bourbonises +too much. It lives in the past, learning nothing and forgetting nothing. +Argument runs off it like rain off a duck's back. These two types of +thought we must leave to the grace of God, and the education of the +accomplished fact. They represent a declining cause, and a decaying +party. The Lodges once mustered more than 200,000 members; they have +now less than 10,000. There is another kind of Orangeism, that which has +begun to think, and the Orangeism that has begun to think is already +converted. I said that Protestant "Ulster" had never given to its own +democracy a leader, but to say that is to forget John Mitchel. Master in +prose of a passion as intense as Carlyle's and far less cloudy, of an +irony not excelled by Swift, Mitchel flung into the tabernacles of his +own people during the Great Famine a sentence that meant not peace but a +sword. He taught them, as no one since, that Orangeism was merely a +weapon of exploitation. While the band played "The Boyne Water" and the +people cheered it, the landlords were picking the pockets of the +ecstatic crowd. + + "The Pope, we know, is the 'man of sin,'" wrote Mitchel, "and the + 'Antichrist,' and also, if you like, the 'mystery of iniquity,' and + all that, but he brings no ejectments in Ireland." + +Mitchel travelled too fast for co-religionists whose shoulders had not +yet slipped the burden of old superstitions. The élan of genius and the +call of freedom drew him out of the home of his fathers to consort with +Papists, rebels, and transported convicts. But his failure was the seed +of later success. In a few years the League of North and South was able +to unite Protestant and Catholic on the plain economic issue that +landlordism must go. That too failed, but the stream of democratic +thought had been merely driven underground to reappear further on in the +century. In the elections that shook the fortress of Toryism in Ulster +in the seventies Catholic priests marched at the head of processions +side by side with Grand Masters of Orange Lodges. In the first years of +the Land League, Michael Davitt was able to secure the enthusiastic +support of purely Orange meetings in Armagh. Still later, Mr T. W. +Russell, at the head of a democratic coalition, smashed the old +Ascendancy on the question of compulsory purchase, and Mr Lindsay +Crawford founded his Independent Order, a portent if not yet a power. So +much has been done in the country. But it is in the cities, those +workshops of the society of the future, that the change is most marked. +The new movement finds an apt epitome in the political career of Mr +Joseph Devlin. The workers of Belfast had been accustomed to see labour +problems treated by the old type of Unionist member of parliament either +with cowardice or with contempt. _Enfin Malesherbes vint_. At last a +man rose up out of their own class, although a Catholic and a +Nationalist. He spoke with an awakening eloquence, and he made good his +words. In every industrial struggle in that sweated city he interposed +his strong word to demand justice for the wage-earner. This was a new +sort of politics. It bore fruit where Ulster Unionism had been but a +barren fig-tree. The democracy of Belfast accepted their leader. They +gave him a majority of 16 in West Belfast in 1906 and in four years they +had multiplied it by forty. The Boyne was bridged, and everything that +has since happened has but added a new stay or girder to the strength of +the bridge. And not only labour but capital has passed across that +estranging river to firm ground of patriotism and national unity. Lord +Pirrie, the head of the greatest manufacturing enterprise in Belfast, is +an ardent Home Ruler. Business men, ministers of religion, even lawyers, +are thinking out things quietly beneath the surface. The new "Ulster" is +breaking its shell. Parties are forming on the basis of economic +realities, not on that of "religious" phantasms. + +As for the old "Ulster," it remains a problem not for the War Office, +but for the Department of Education. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MECHANICS OF HOME RULE + + +The inevitableness of Home Rule resides in the fact that it is, as one +might say, a biped among ideas. It marches to triumph on two feet, an +Irish and an Imperial foot. If there were in Ireland no demand whatever +for self-government it would, nevertheless, be necessary in the +interests of the Empire to force it on her. The human, or as some people +may prefer to call it, the sociological case for Home Rule, and the +historical case for it have already been outlined. We now turn to +consideration, of another order, derived from Political Mechanics, or +rather bearing on the mere mechanism of politics. Let us approach the +problem first from the Imperial side. + +On the whole, the most remarkable thing about the British Empire is that +there is no British Empire. We are in presence of the familiar +distinction between the raw material and the finished article. There +are, indeed, on the surface of the globe a number of self-governing +colonies, founded and peopled by men of Irish and English blood. In each +of these the United Kingdom is represented by a Governor whose whole +duty consists in being seen on formal occasions, but never heard in +counsel or rebuke. The only other connecting links are those of law and +finance. The Privy Council acts as a Court of Appeal in certain causes, +and Colonial Governments borrow money in the London market. These +communities widely seperated in geography and in temperament, have no +common fiscal policy, no common foreign policy, no common scheme of +defence, no common Council to discuss and decide Imperial affairs. Now +this may be a very wise arrangement, but you must not call it an Empire. +From the point of view of unity, if from no other, it presents an +unfavourable contrast to French Imperialism, under which all the oversea +colonies are represented in the Chamber of Deputies in Paris. In the +English plan the oversea colonies are unrelated atoms. You may say that +they afford all the materials for a grandiose federation; but if you +have flour in one bag, and raisins in another, and candied peel in +another, and suet in another you must not call them a Christmas pudding +until they have been mixed together and cooked. Those areas of the +globe, coloured red on the maps, may have all the resources requisite +for a great, self-sufficing, economic unit of a new order. Their peoples +may desire that new order. But until it is achieved you must remember +that the British Empire belongs to the region of dream and not to that +of fact. + +For many years now, apostles of reconstruction have been hammering out +the details of a scheme that shall unify the Empire on some sort of +Federal basis. For the new organism which they desire to create they +need a brain. Is this to be found in the Westminster Assembly, sometimes +loosely styled the "Imperial Parliament"? As things stand at present +such a suggestion is a mere counter-sense. That body has come to such a +pass as would seem to indicate the final bankruptcy of the governing +genius of England. All the penalties of political gluttony have +accumulated on it. Parliament, to put the truth a little brutally, has +broken down under a long debauch of over-feeding. Every day of every +session it bites off far more in the way of bills and estimates than it +even pretends to have time to chew. Results follow which it would be +indiscreet to express in terms of physiology. Tens of millions are +shovelled out of the Treasury by an offhand, undiscussed, perfunctory +resolution. The attempt to compress infinite issues in a space too +little has altered and, as some critics think, degraded the whole tenor +of public life. Parliament is no longer the Grand Inquest of the Nation, +at least not in the ancient and proper meaning of the words. The +declaration of Edmund Burke to the effect that a member has no right to +sacrifice his "unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened +conscience" to any set of men living may be echoed by the judges in our +day, but to anyone who knows the House of Commons it is a piece of pure +irony. Party discipline cracks every session a more compelling whip; and +our shepherded, regimented, and automatised representatives themselves +realise that, whatever more desirable status they may have attained, +they have certainly lost that of individual freedom. Out of their own +ranks a movement has arisen to put an end altogether to Party +government. This proposal I myself believe to be futile, but its very +futility testifies to the existence of an intolerable situation. All +this turns on the inadequacy of the time of the House of Commons to its +business. But the distribution of such time as there is, is a revel of +ineptitudes. It resembles the drawing of a schoolboy who has not yet +learned perspective. A stranger dropping into the Chamber will find it +spending two hours in helping to determine whether Russia is to have a +Czar, and the next four hours helping to determine whether Rathmines is +to have, let us say, a new sewer. The affairs of India, involving the +political welfare of three hundred millions of human beings, get one +day; Egypt, that test case in international ethics, has to be content +with a few scattered hours. And, despite all this, local questions are +not considered at sufficient length or with sufficient knowledge. The +parish pump is close enough to spoil St Stephen's as an Imperial +Council, and yet so far away as to destroy its effectiveness as an organ +of local government. + +Such an assembly is clearly unfitted to function as the cerebrum of +Empire. It must be relieved of burdens which in the complexity of modern +politics it is no longer able to bear. How is this to be done? In one +way and in one way only, by leaving local business to local bodies. But +that is Home Rule, or, as the learned, envisaging the idea from another +point of view, sometimes prefer to call it, Devolution. Through the +principle of autonomy, incompletely applied, the British Possessions +have so far evolved. Through the principle of autonomy, completely +applied, and in no other wise, can they evolve into an ordered system +worthy of the Imperial name. This is at first blush a singular +development. Here lie Ireland and England separated by a mountain of +misunderstanding. We Irish Nationalists have for a century been trying +to bore a tunnel through from one side. And suddenly we become aware of +the tapping of picks not our own, and encounter midway the tunnel which +the Party of Imperial Reconstruction have driven through from the other +side. Here are all the materials for a _tableau_. Justice falls on the +neck of expediency. Imperialism recognises in nationality no rebel but a +son of the house. Toryism rubs its eyes, and finds that it is Home Rule. + +But, sounded to its depths, this new current of thought appears not only +not eccentric but inevitable. Ample explanation is to be found in the +history of the Irish fight for self-government. On this subject there +has been in Ireland a marked evolution of ideas. O'Connell began by +demanding simple Repeal of the Union and the Restoration of Grattan's +Parliament. But by 1844 he had advanced towards a Federal programme. + +"Beside the local Parliament in Ireland having full and perfect local +authority," he writes in that year, "there should be, for questions of +Imperial concern, colonial, military, and naval, and of foreign alliance +and policy, a Congressional or Federal Parliament, in which Ireland +should have a fair share and proportion of representation and power." + +The proposed change of programme came in a questionable shape to a +suspicious time. It was not received with universal favour, and, to +avert dissension, it was represented as a mere _ballon d'essai_ and was +abandoned. O'Connell died, and Repeal and Federation alike were +swallowed up in the Great Famine. But time was to renew its urgency. The +essential facts, and the logic of the facts, remained unaltered. When +Isaac Butt came to formulate his scheme at the Home Rule Conference in +1873 he renewed the Federal proposal in terms almost verbally the same. +The Conference resolved: + + "That, in claiming these rights and privileges for our country, we + adopt the principle of a Federal arrangement, which would secure to + the Irish Parliament the right of legislating for and regulating + all matters relating to the internal affairs of Ireland, while + _leaving to the Imperial Parliament the power of dealing with all + questions affecting the Imperial and Government, legislation + regarding the colonies and other dependencies of the Crown, the + relations of the Empire with Foreign States, and all matters + appertaining to the defence and stability of the Empire at large; + as well as the power of granting and providing the supplies + necessary for Imperial purposes_." + +Parnell, who was a supreme master of the art of doing one thing at a +time, naturally laid the emphasis on Ireland. But when he was asked by +Mr Cecil Rhodes to agree to the retention of Irish representatives at +Westminster in the interests of Imperial Federation, he declared himself +in very definite terms: + + "It does not come so much within my province to express a full + opinion upon the larger question of Imperial federation, but I + agree with you that the continued Irish representation at + Westminster immensely facilitates such a step, while the contrary + provision in the Bill of 1886 would have been a bar. Undoubtedly + this is a matter which should be dealt with largely in accordance + with the opinion of the Colonies themselves, and if they should + desire to share in the cost of Imperial matters, as undoubtedly + they now do in the responsibility, and should express a wish for + representation at Westminster, I certainly think it should be + accorded to them, and that public opinion in these islands would + unanimously concur in the necessary constitutional modifications." + +That is, if you will, thinking Imperially. Mr Redmond stands where +Parnell stood. He claims for the Irish people "the legislative and +executive control of all purely Irish affairs." But he is altogether +friendly to a later and larger application of the principle of autonomy. + +But where, asks the triumphant critic not quite ingenuously, is the line +to be drawn between local and Imperial affairs? Problems far more +perplexed than this have been solved by the wit of man. The line was +drawn by O'Connell and Butt, by Parnell and Gladstone. It can be drawn +to meet the circumstances of to-day by men of goodwill, after discussion +and mutual adjustment. But why not postpone the case of Ireland until a +scheme of Home Rule all round either for the United Kingdom or for the +whole Empire has been worked out? We answer that Ireland comes first on +grounds both of ethics and of expediency. Through all the blackness of +dismal years we have laboured to preserve the twin ideas of nationality +and autonomy, and the labourer is worthy of his hire. But a Home Rule +assembly, functioning in Dublin, may well furnish the germ of a +reorganisation of the Empire. If so, let it be remembered that it was +not Mr Chamberlain but Daniel O'Connell who first in these countries +gave to Imperialism a definite and articulate form. In any event Home +Rule is the only remedy for the present congestion of St Stephen's. It +is the only tonic that can restore to English public life its old vigour +of independence. + +Such are the necessities and such is the future of the Empire merely as +a problem in what has been called Political Mechanics. We have now, from +the same point of view, to examine very cursorily the present government +of Ireland. The phrasing, let me interpose, is inaccurate. Ireland, in +our day, is not governed; it is only administered. A modern government, +if it wishes to be real, must above all else explain itself. For such +luxuries, so far as Ireland is concerned, there is no time in the House +of Commons. A modern government must exercise active control over every +department of public business. For such an effort there is, so far as +Ireland is concerned, no energy in the House of Commons. Once in a blue +moon it does of course become necessary to pass an Irish Bill, a +University or a Land Bill. The Party shepherds round up their flocks, +and, for a reluctant day or two, they have to feed sparely in +unaccustomed pastures. Or again, as in 1886, 1893, or 1912, Ireland +dominates British politics, and the English members descend on her with +a heavy flop of hatred or sympathy as it may happen. But at all other +times the Union Parliament abdicates, or at least it "governs" Ireland +as men are said sometimes to drive motor-cars, in a drowse. Three +days--or is it two?--are given to Irish Estimates, and on each of these +occasions the Chamber is as desolate as a grazing ranch in Meath. +Honourable members snatch at the opportunity of cultivating their souls +in the theatres, clubs, restaurants, and other centres of culture in +which London abounds. The Irish Party is compelled by the elemental +necessities of the situation to speak with one voice on matters +regarding which there would properly be at least two voices in an Irish +Parliament, precisely identical in personnel. Ulster Unionism presents a +similar solidarity. + +Whenever a point of any novelty is made, the Chief Secretary's secretary +slips over to one of the Irish Officials who on these occasions lie +ambushed at the back of the Speaker's chair, and returns with all the +elation of a honey-laden bee. His little burden of wisdom is gratefully +noted on the margin of the typewritten brief which has been already +prepared in Dublin by the Board under discussion, and, entrenched behind +this, the Right Honourable gentleman winds up the debate. Sometimes his +solemnity wrings laughter from men, sometimes his flippancy wrings +tears from the gods, but it does not in the least matter what he says. +The division bells ring; the absentees come trooping in, learn at the +door of the lobby, each from his respective Whip, whether his +spontaneous, independent judgment has made him a Yes! or a No! and vote +accordingly in the light of an unsullied conscience. The Irish +officials, with a sigh of relief or a shrug of contempt, collect their +hats and umbrellas, and retire to their hotels to erase from their minds +by slumber the babblings of a mis-spent evening. And the course of +administration in Ireland is as much affected by the whole proceedings +as the course of an 80 h.p. Mercédès is affected by a cabman's oath. + +So much for exclusively Irish affairs. When Ireland comes into some +"general" scheme of legislation the parody of government becomes if +possible more fantastic in character. Let me take just three +instances--Old Age Pensions, Insurance, and the Budget. In regard to the +first it was perhaps a matter of course that no attempt should be made +to allow for the difference in economic levels between Great Britain and +Ireland. This is the very principle of Unionism: to apply like methods +to things which are unlike. But in the calculation of details an +ignorance was exhibited which passed the bounds of decency. Mistakes of +five or six per cent are, in these complex affairs, not only to be +expected but almost to be desired; they help to depress ministerial +cocksureness. But in this case there was an error of 200 per cent, a +circumstance which incidentally established in the English mind a +pleasing legend of Irish dishonesty. The Insurance Bill was ushered in +with greater prudence. The "government," recognising its own inability +to lead opinion, had the grace to refrain from misleading it. No special +Irish memorandum was issued, and no attempt was made to adjust the +scheme to Irish social and economic conditions. But Budgets afford on +the whole the capital instance of what we may call legislation by +accident. The Act of Union solemnly prescribes the principles on which +these measures are to be framed, and points to the Chancellor of the +Exchequer as the trustee of Irish interests. But nobody of this +generation ever knew a Chancellor of the Exchequer who had even read the +Act of Union; Mr Lloyd George, on his own admission, had certainly not +read it in 1909. What has happened is very simple. The fulfilment of +treaty obligations required differential taxation, but administrative +convenience was best served by a uniform system of taxation. In the +struggle between the two, conscience was as usual defeated. The +Chancellor, according to the practice which has overridden the Act of +Union budgets for Great Britain, drags the schedule of taxes so fixed +through Ireland like a net, and counts the take. That, in the process, +the pledge of England should be broken, and her honour betrayed, is not +regarded by the best authorities as an objection or even as a relevant +fact. In the more sacred name of uniformity Ireland is swamped in the +Westminster Parliament like a fishing-smack in the wash of a great +merchantman. + +But let one illusion be buried. If Ireland does not govern herself it is +quite certain that the British Parliament does not govern her. Changing +the venue of inquiry from London to Dublin we find ourselves still in +regions of the fantastic. From the sober and unemotional pages of +"Whitaker's Almanack" one learns, to begin with, that "the government of +Ireland is semi-independent." The separatism of geography has in this +case triumphed. The _de facto_ rulers of Ireland in ordinary slack +times, and in the daily round of business, are the heads of the great +Departments. Some of these are not even nominally responsible to +Parliament. The Intermediate Board, for instance, has for thirty years +controlled secondary education, but it has never explained itself to +Parliament and, because of the source from which its funds are derived, +it is not open to criticism in Parliament. But none of the heads are +really responsible to any authority except their own iron-clad +consciences and the officials of the Treasury, with whom, for the sake +of appearances, they wage an unreal war. In theory, the Chief Secretary +answers to Parliament for the misdeeds of them all. In practice, this +fines itself down to reading typewritten sophistications in reply to +original questions, and improvising jokes, of a well-recognised pattern, +to turn the point of supplementary questions for forty minutes on one +day in the week during session. In its own internal economy the +government of Ireland is a form of Pantheism, with the Chief Secretary +as underlying principle. He is the source of everything, good and evil, +light and darkness, benignity and malignity, with the unfortunate result +that he is in perpetual contradiction with himself. As we know, the +equilibrium of modern governments is maintained by mutual strain between +the various ministers. Sometimes, as in the case of Lord Randolph +Churchill, a strong personality, moved by a new idea, tears the +structure to pieces. But the Chief Secretary knows no such limitations +from without. Theoretically, he may be produced to infinity in any +direction; he is all in every part. But, as a matter of fact, through +the mere necessity of filling so much space his control becomes rarefied +to an invisible vapour; he ends by becoming nothing in any part. With +its ultimate principle reduced to the status of a _Dieu fainéant_ +political Pantheism is transformed into political Atheism. Responsible +government is perceived not to exist in Ireland. Mr Barry O'Brien in his +admirable book, "Dublin Castle and the Irish People," confesses himself +unable to find a better characterisation of the whole system than is +contained in a well-known passage from "The Mikado." I make no apology +for conveying it from him. + + "One cannot help recalling the memory of Pooh-Bah, 'Lord + High-Everything-Else' of the Mikado of Japan. Who forgets the + memorable scene between him and Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, + on an occasion of supreme importance? + + _Ko-Ko_. Pooh-Bah, it seems that the festivities in connection with + my approaching marriage must last a week. I should like to do it + handsomely, and I want to consult you as to the amount I ought to + spend upon them. + + _Pooh-Bah_. Certainly. In which of my capacities? As First Lord of + the Treasury, Lord Chamberlain, Attorney-General, Chancellor of the + Exchequer, Privy Purse, or Private Secretary? + + _Ko-Ko_. Suppose we say as Private Secretary. + + _Pooh-Bah_. Speaking as your Private Secretary, I should say that + as the city will have to pay for it, don't stint yourself; do it + well. + + _Ko-Ko_. Exactly--as the city will have to pay for it. That is your + advice? + + _Pooh-Bah_. As Private Secretary. Of course you will understand + that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, I am bound to see that due + economy is observed. + + _Ko-Ko_. Oh, but you said just now, 'Don't stint yourself; do it + well.' + + _Pooh-Bah_. As Private Secretary. + + _Ko-Ko_. And now you say that due economy must be observed. + + _Pooh-Bah_. As Chancellor of the Exchequer. + + _Ko-Ko_. I see. Come over here where the Chancellor can't hear us. + _(They cross stage.)_ Now, as my Solicitor, how do you advise me to + deal with this difficulty? + + _Pooh-Bah_. Oh, as your Solicitor, I should have no hesitation in + saying chance it. + + _Ko-Ko_. Thank you _(shaking his head)_; I will. + + _Pooh-Bah_. If it were not that, as Lord Chief Justice, I am bound + to see that the law isn't violated. + + _Ko-Ko_. I see. Come over here where the Chief Justice can't hear + us. (_They cross the stage_.) Now, then, as First Lord of the + Treasury? + + _Pooh-Bah_. Of course, as First Lord of the Treasury, I could + propose a special vote that would cover all expenses if it were not + that, as leader of the Opposition, it would be my duty to resist + it, tooth and nail. Or, as Paymaster-General, I could so cook the + accounts that, as Lord High Auditor, I should never discover the + fraud. But then, as Archbishop of Jitipu, it would be my duty to + denounce my dishonesty, and give myself into my own custody as + Commissioner of Police." + +Under such arrangements as these the inevitable happens. The Chief +Secretary accepts his rôle. He is, no doubt, consoled to discover that +in one sphere, namely in that of patronage, his supremacy is effective. +He discovers further that he can hamstring certain obnoxious Acts, as Mr +Walter Long hamstrung the Land Act, by the issue of Regulations. The +rest of his official career depends on his politics. If a Tory, he +learns that the Irish Civil Service is a whispering gallery along which +his lightest word is carried to approving ears, and loyally acted upon. +Further "Ulster" expects law and order to be vindicated by the +occasional proclamation of Nationalist meetings, and batoning of +Nationalist skulls. And he absolutely must say from time to time in +public that the Irish Question in essence is not political but economic. +This is the whole duty of a Tory Chief Secretary. A Liberal Chief +Secretary functions on somewhat different lines. Administration presents +itself to him as a colossal heap of recalcitrant, wet sand out of which +he has to fashion a statue of fair-play. Having, with great labour, left +his personal impress on two or three handfuls, the weary Titan abandons +his impossible task. He falls back in good order on the House of +Commons, where his party majority enables him to pass an Irish Bill from +time to time. His spare time he divides between commending Dublin Castle +to the seven devils that made it, and praying for the advent of Home +Rule. + +In either case the sovereignty of Ireland relapses into the hands of the +permanent officials, that camarilla of Olympians. To the official lives +of these gentlemen, regarded as works of art, I raise my hat in +respectful envy. They have realised the vision of Lucretius. From the +secure remoteness of their ivory towers they look down unmoved on the +stormy and drifting tides below, and they enjoy the privilege, so rare +in Ireland, of knowing the causes of things. To the ordinary man their +political origins are shrouded in twilight. They seem to him to have +come like water, but unhappily it cannot be said that they go like wind. +While they are with us they are absolute, seen by nobody, felt by all +the world, the Manchu mandarins of the West. They have been attacked on +many foolish counts; let us in justice to them and ourselves be quite +clear as to what is wrong with them. Some people say that there are too +many Boards, but it is to be remembered that for every new function with +which we endow the State it must have a new organ. Others say that they +are over-staffed; but all government departments in the world are +over-staffed. Still others say that they are stupid and corrupt. As for +corruption, it certainly does exist under many discreet veils, but its +old glory is fading. Incompetent the great officials never were. A poet +tells us that there are only two people in the world who ever understand +a man--the woman who loves him, and the enemy who hates him best. In one +of these ways, if not in the other, Dublin Castle understands Ireland. +Did it not know what the people of Ireland want, it could not so +infallibly have maintained its tradition of giving them the opposite. +Other critics again find the deadly disease of the Boards to reside in +the fact that they are a bureaucracy. This diagnosis comes closer to the +truth, but it is not yet the truth. Bureaucracies of trained experts are +becoming more and not less necessary. What is really wrong with the +Castle is that it is a bureaucracy which has usurped the throne of the +nation. "In England," declared Mr Gladstone, "when the nation attends, +it can prevail." In Ireland, though it should attend seven days in the +week, it could never under present arrangements stamp the image of its +will on public policy. The real sin of the Castle regime is that it is a +sham, a rococo, a despotism painted to look like representative +government. To quote a radiant commonplace, the rich significance of +which few of us adequately grasp, it does not rest on the consent of the +governed. + + "From whatever point of view we envisage the English Government in + Ireland," writes Mr Paul-Dubois, "we are confronted with the same + appearance of constitutional forms masking a state of things which + is a compound of autocracy, oppression, and corruption." + +Such a system does not possess within itself the seed of continuance. +Disraeli announced, somewhat prematurely, the advent of an age in which +institutions that could not bear discussion would have to go. Matthew +Arnold yearned for a time in which the manifestly absurd would be +abandoned. In the flame of either dictum the present "government" of +Ireland shrivels to ashes, and affairs are ripe for the application of +both. Here, as in the Colonies, the people must enter into its heritage. +The days are for ever dead in which a nation could be ruled in daily +disregard of its history, its ideals, its definite programme. + +On the minutiae of administration I do not mean to touch. When the whole +spirit, atmosphere, and ethos are anti-moral it is idle to chronicle any +chance rectitude of detail. If a man is a murderer it is not much to his +credit to observe that he has triumphed over the primitive temptation to +eat peas with his knife. If a government is based on contempt for public +opinion, as its fundamental principle, no useful purpose is served by a +record of the occasions on which a policeman has been known to pass a +citizen in the street without beating him. But there is one further +confirmation of the view, here advanced, to omit which would be to +ignore the most significant fact of our time. Certain departments such +as the Congested Districts Board and the Department of Agriculture, +recent creations, have been freshened by the introduction of a +representative, non-official element. Others such as the Estates +Commission have been under the control of officials of a new type, able +men who do not conceal the fact that they believe in Ireland. All of +these new Boards have struck root in the national life to a depth never +reached by any of their predecessors. The lesson of this change is the +lesson of freedom. In the precise degree in which government trusts the +people will the people trust government. It remains to complete the +process by a scheme of autonomy that shall make every administrator a +trustee and executant of the will of the nation. + +There are other organs of "government" in Ireland of which the reader +may reasonably expect to hear something. He will permit me to discharge +my obligations by copying out certain paragraphs from an old note-book: + + "_Judges_.--It is a mistake to suppose that none of the Irish + Judges know any law. Our judiciary includes many masterly lawyers, + and many adroit men of the world. But all of them are political + appointments. Hence in ordinary cases a man will get clean justice. + But the moment politics flutter on the breeze, the masked battery + on the Bench is uncurtained to bellow forth anti-Nationalist + shrapnel. Irish Judges, in fact, are very like the horse in the + schoolboy's essay: 'The horse is a noble and useful quadruped, but, + when irritated, he ceases to do so." + + "_Police_.--The Royal Irish Constabulary was formerly an Army of + occupation. Now, owing to the all but complete disappearance of + crime, it is an Army of no occupation." + + "_Dublin Castle in general_.--Must be seen to be disbelieved." + +Since there does not exist a British Empire, it is necessary to invent +one. Since there does not exist an Irish government, in any modern and +intelligible sense of the word, it is necessary to invent one. The +common creative mould out of which both must be struck is the principle +of Home Rule. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AFTER HOME RULE + + +The advocates of Home Rule are invited to many ordeals by way of +verifying their good faith; perhaps the heaviest ordeal is that of +prophecy. Very well, people say, what are you going to do with Home Rule +when you get it? What will Irish politics be like in, say, 1920? If we +show embarrassment or offer conflicting answers, the querist is +persuaded that we are, as indeed he thought, vapouring sentimentalists, +not at all accustomed to live in a world of clear ideas and unyielding +facts. The demand, like many others made upon us, is unreal and +unreasonable. What are the English going to do with Home Rule when they +get it? What will German or Japanese or American politics be like in +1920? These are all what Matthew Arnold calls "undiscovered things." The +future resolutely declines to speak out of her turn. She has a trick of +keeping her secrets well, better than she keeps her promises. Professor +Dicey wrote a Unionist tract, very vehement and thunderous, in which he +sought to injure Home Rule by styling it a leap in the dark. But the +whole conduct of life, in its gravest and its lightest issues alike, is +a perpetual leap in the dark. Every change of public policy is a raid +across the frontiers of the unknown; or rather, as I prefer to put it, +every fundamental reform is essentially an Act of Faith in to-morrow, +and so it is with Home Rule. + +But while none of us can prophesy all of us can conjecture, and in this +case with a great deal of confidence. On the one hand, Ireland is a +country of very definite habits of thought; on the other, her immediate +problems are obvious. These two circumstances facilitate the process +which the learned describe as an attempt to produce the present curve of +evolution into the future. First, then, as to the temper of mind in +which an autonomous Ireland will face the world. The one clear certainty +is that it will not be rhetorical or Utopian. Of all the libels with +which we are pelted the most injurious to our repute is a kindly libel, +that which represents us as a nation of orators. To the primitive Tory +the Nationalist "agitator" appears in the guise of a stormy and +intractable fiend, with futility in his soul, and a College Green +peroration on his lips. The sources of this superstition are easily +traced. The English have created the noblest literature in the world, +and are candidly ashamed of the fact. In their view anybody who succeeds +in words must necessarily fail in business. The Irishman on the contrary +luxuriates, like the artist that he is, in that _splendor verborum_ +celebrated by Dante. If a speech has to be made he thinks that it should +be well made, and refuses altogether to accept hums and haws as a token +of genius. He expects an orator not merely to expound facts, but to +stimulate the vital forces of his audience. These contrary conceptions +of the relation of art to life have, throughout the Home Rule campaign, +clashed in the English mind much to our disadvantage. And there has been +another agent of confusion, more widely human in character. Every idea +strongly held and, on the other side, strongly challenged, kindles +spontaneously into passion, and every great cause has its poetry as well +as its dialetics. Men, forced to concentrate all their thought on one +reform, come to see it edged with strange, mystical colours. Let justice +only triumph in this one regard, and our keel will grate on the shore of +the Fortunate Islands, the Earthly Paradise. All the harshness of life +will be dulcified; we shall lie dreaming on golden sands, dipping full +goblets out of a sea that has been transmuted into lemonade. This, the +Utopian mood of humanity, is inextinguishable, and it has embroidered +the Home Rule idea in common with all others. Before the complexity of +modern economic organisation was as well understood as is now the case, +there is no doubt that certain sections of opinion in Ireland did regard +self-government as a sort of Aladdin's Lamp, capable of any miracle. The +necessity of pressing all the energy of the nation into one channel had +the effect of imposing on political life a simplicity which does not +belong to it. But all that is over and past. The Ireland of to-day does +not pay herself with words. She is safe from that reaction and +disillusionment which some prophets have discerned as the first harvest +of Home Rule, because she is already disillusioned. Looking into the +future we see no hope for rhetoricians; what we do see is a strong, +shrewd, indomitable people, at once clear-sighted and idealistic, going +about its business "in the light of day in the domain of reality." No +signs or wonders blaze out a trail for them. The past sags on their +shoulders and in their veins, a grievous burden and a grievous malady. +They make mistakes during their apprenticeship to freedom, for, as +Flaubert says, men have got to learn everything from eating to dying. +But a few years farther on we see the recuperative powers of the nation +once more triumphant. The past is at last dead enough to be buried, the +virus of oppression has been expelled. The creative impulse in industry, +literature, social habit, working in an atmosphere of freedom, has added +to the wealth of humanity not only an old nation renascent, but a new +and kindlier civilisation. In other words, political autonomy is to us +not the epilogue but the prologue to our national drama. It rings the +curtain up on that task to which all politics are merely instrumental, +namely the vindication of justice and the betterment of human life. + +From the first, the economic note will predominate in a Home Rule +assembly, not only in the sense in which so much can be said of every +country in the world, but in a very special sense. For the past decade +Ireland has been thinking in terms of woollens and linens, turnips and +fat cattle, eggs and butter, banks and railways. The conviction that the +country is under-developed, and in consequence under-populated, has been +growing both in area and in depth. With it there has been growing the +further conviction that poverty, in the midst of untapped resources, is +a national crime. The propagation of these two beliefs by journals of +the newer school such as _The Leader, Sinn Fein,_ and _The Irish +Homestead_ has leavened the whole mass of Irish life in our time. The +Industrial Development Associations, founded on them as basis, have long +ago "bridged the Boyne." At their annual Conferences Belfast sits side +by side with Cork, Derry with Dublin. It is not merely that the +manufacturers and traders have joined hands to advance a movement +beneficial to themselves; the best thought of every class in the country +has given enthusiastic support to the programme on grounds not of +personal interest but of national duty. We may therefore take it that +the watchword of the Second Empire, _Enrichissez-vous,_ will be the +watchword of a self-governing Ireland. What Parliament and the State can +do to forward that aim will naturally be a subject of controversy. To +Free Traders and Tariff Reformers, alike, the power that controls the +Customs' tariff of a country controls its economic destiny. Both would +seem bound to apply the logic of their respective gospels to Ireland. +But as it is not the aim of this book to anticipate the debates of next +year, but rather to explain the foundations of the Home Rule idea, we +may leave that burning question for the present untouched. Apart from it +we can anticipate the trend of policy in Ireland. The first great task +of a Home Rule Parliament would be above controversy; it would be +neither more nor less than a scientific exploration of the country. No +such Economic Survey has ever been made, and the results are lamentable. +There has been no mapping out of the soil areas from the point of view +of Agricultural Economics, and, for the lack of such impartial +information, the fundamental conflict between tillage and grazing goes +on in the dark. We know where coal is to be found in Ireland; we do not +know with any assurance where it is and where it is not profitably +workable. The same is true of granite, marble, and indeed all our +mineral resources. + +The woollen industry flourishes in one district and fails in another, to +all appearance as favourably situated; it seems capable of great +expansion and yet it does not expand greatly. What then are the +conditions of success? Here is a typical case that calls for scientific +analysis. One can pick at random a dozen such instances. Ireland, +admirably adapted to the production of meat, does not produce meat, but +only the raw material of it, store cattle. Is this state of things +immutable? Or is a remedy for it to be found, say, in a redistribution +of the incidence of local taxation so as to favour well-used land as +against ill-used land? Is the decline in the area under flax to be +applauded or deplored? Can Irish-grown wool be improved up to the +fineness of the Australian article? And so on, and so on. It is to be +noted that of the statistics which we do possess many of the most +important are, to say the least, involved in doubt. The Export and +Import figures are little better than volunteer estimates; there is no +compulsion to accuracy. As to the yield of crops, all that can be said +is that our present information is not as bad as it used to be. But +above all we have no comprehensive notion of the condition of the +people. Whenever there has been an inquiry into wages, cost of living, +or any other fundamental fact, Ireland has come in as a mere tail-piece +to a British volume. All this we must change. The first business of an +Irish Parliament will be to take stock; and this will be effected by the +establishment of a Commission of a new kind, representative of science, +industry, agriculture, and finance, acceptable and authoritative in the +eyes of the whole nation, and charged with the duty of ascertaining the +actual state of things in Ireland and the wisest line of economic +development. Such an undertaking will amount to a unification of Irish +life altogether without precedent. It will draw the great personalities +of industry for the first time into the central current of public +affairs. It will furnish them with a platform upon which they will have +to talk in terms of the plough, the loom, and the ledger, and not in +terms of the wolf-dog and the orange-lily, and will render fruitful for +the service of the country innumerable talents, now unknown or estranged +by political superstitions. It will do all that State action can do to +generate a boom in Irish enterprises, and to tempt Irish capital into +them in a more abundant stream. And the proceedings and conclusions of +such a body, circulated broadcast somewhat after the Washington plan, +will provide for all classes in the community a liberal education in +Economics. Will "Ulster" fight against such an attempt to increase its +prosperity? Will the shipbuilders, the spinners, and the weavers close +down their works in order to patronise Sir Edward Carson's performance +on a pop-gun? It is not probable. + +Work is the best remedy against such vapours, and an Ireland, occupied +in this fashion-with wealth-producing labour, will have no time for +civil war or "religious" riots. + +As for concrete projects, the Irish Parliament will not be able to +begin on a very ambitious scale. But there are two or three matters +which it must at once put in hand. There is, for instance, the drainage +of the Barrow and the Bann. These two rivers are in a remarkable degree +non-political and non-sectarian. Just as the rain falls on the just and +the unjust, so do their rain-swollen floods spoil with serene +impartiality Nationalist hay and Orange hay, Catholic oats and +Presbyterian oats. Will "Ulster" fight against an effort to check the +mischief? Then there is re-afforestation. As the result mainly of the +waste of war, Ireland, which ought to be a richly wooded country, is +very poor in that regard. In consequence of this, a climate, moister +than need be, distributes colds and consumption among the population, +without any religious test, and unchecked winds lodge the corn of all +denominations. Re-afforestation, as offering a profit certain but a +little remote, and promising a climatic advantage diffused over the +whole area of the country, is eminently a matter for public enterprise. +Are we to be denied the hope that fir, and spruce, and Austrian pine may +conceivably be lifted out of the plane of Party politics? Further, to +take instances at haphazard, the State, whatever else its economic +functions may be, will be one of the largest purchasers of commodities +in the country. It is thinkable that the Irish State may give its civil +servants Irish-made paper to write on in their offices. It may even so +arrange things that when Captain Craig comes to the House of Commons at +College Green he shall sit on an Irish-made bench, dine off a cloth of +Belfast linen, and be ruthlessly compelled to eat Meath beef, Dublin +potatoes, and Tipperary butter. In such horrible manifestations of Home +Rule I do not discern the material for a revolution. Again, it may be +proposed that in order to develop manufactures, municipalities and +county councils may be given power to remit local rates on newly +established factories for an initial period of, say, ten years. It may +occur to evil-minded people to increase the provision for technical +instruction in certain centres for the same end. The Irish State may +think it well to maintain agents in London, New York, and some of the +continental capitals with a view to widening the external market for +Irish products. I do not say that a Home Rule Parliament will do all +these things, but they are the sort of thing that it will do. And the +mere naked enumeration of them is sufficient to show that such an +Assembly will have ample matter of economic development upon which to +keep its teeth polished without devouring either priests or +Protestants. + +There are other urgent questions upon which unanimity exists even at +present, for example Poor Law Reform. I have outlined in an earlier +chapter the honourable record of Ireland in this regard. We were agreed +in 1836 that the workhouse should never have come; we are now agreed +that it must go. Whether in Antrim or in Clare, the same vicious system +has produced the same vicious results. Uniform experience has issued in +unanimous agreement as to the lines upon which reform ought to proceed. +At the same time there are differences as to detail, and the task of +fusing together various views and hammering out of them a workable Bill +will be an ideal task for a representative assembly. But it is difficult +to believe that the discussion will be, in all particulars, governed +either by the Council of Trent, or by the Westminster Confession. + +Then there is education. English public men have been brought up to +assume that in Ireland education must be a battleground inevitably, and +from the first. It would be a mere paradox to say that this question, +which sunders parties the world over as with a sword, will leave opinion +in Ireland inviolately unanimous. But our march to the field of +controversy will be over a non-controversial road. Union policy has left +us a rich inheritance of obvious evils. The position of the primary +teachers is unsatisfactory, that of the secondary teachers is +impossible. When we attempt improvement of both will "Ulster" fight? And +there is something even more human and poignant. The National Schools of +this country are in many cases no better than ramshackle barns. Unless +the teacher and the manager, out of their own pockets, mend the broken +glass, put plaster on the walls, and a fire in the grate, the children +have got to shiver and cough for it. Winter in Ireland, like the King in +constitutional theory, is above politics. When its frosts get at the +noses, and fingers, and sometimes the bare toes, of the children it +leaves them neither green nor orange but simply blue. Then again other +schools, especially in Belfast, are shamefully over-crowded. Classes are +held on the stairs, in the cloak-room, the hall, or the yard. For the +more fortunate, class-rooms are provided with an air-space per +individual only slightly less than that available in the Black Hole of +Calcutta. All over the country, children go to school breakfastless and +stupid with hunger, and the local authorities have no power to feed them +as in England, and in most European countries. Then again, even where +the physical conditions are reasonable, the programme lacks actuality. +It is unpractical, out of touch with the facts of life and locality, a +veritable castle hung absurdly in the air and not based on any solid +foundation. The view still lingers in high places that the business of +education is to break the spirit of a people, to put them down and not +to lift them up. In token of this, the teachers are denied the civil +rights of freemen. Now all these ineptitudes are contrary to the humane +tradition of Ireland. Go they must, but, when an Irish Parliament starts +to remove them, I cannot imagine Captain Craig, with a Union Jack +wrapped around his bosom, straddling like Apollyon across the path. The +Captain has far too much sense, and too much feeling in him. + +It will be observed that we are getting on. A nation so busy with +realities will have no time to waste on civil war. _Inter leges arma +silent_. But this is a mere outline sketch of the preliminary task of +the initial sessions of an Irish Parliament. Problems with a far heavier +fist will thunder at its doors, the problems of labour. The democratic +group in Ireland, that group which everywhere holds the commission of +the future, has long since declared that, to it, Home Rule would be a +barren counter-sense unless it meant the redemption of the back streets. +The Titanic conflict between what is called capital and what is called +labour, shaking the pillars of our modern Society, has not passed +Ireland by like the unregarded wind. We can no longer think of ourselves +as insulated from the world, immune from strikes, Socialists, and +Syndicalism. The problems of labour have got to be faced. But will they +be solved by a grapple between the Orange Lodges and the Ancient Order +of Hibernians? It is obvious that under their pressure the old order +must change, yielding place to a new. Every Trade Union has already +bridged the Boyne. Every strike has already torn the Orange Flag and the +Green Flag into two pieces, and stitched them together again after a new +and portentous pattern. + +What does it all come to? Simply this, that Ireland under Home Rule will +be most painfully like every other modern country of western +civilisation. Some Unionists think that, if they could only get rid of +the Irish Party, all would be for the best in the best of all possible +worlds. Why then are they not Home Rulers? For Home Rule will most +assuredly get rid of the Irish Party. It will shatter the old political +combinations like a waggon-load of dynamite. New groups will crystallise +about new principles. The future in Ireland belongs to no old fidelity: +it may belong to any new courage. + +Assuredly we must not seem to suggest that, in an autonomous Ireland, +public life will be all nougat, velvet, and soft music. There will be +conflicts, and vehement conflicts, for that is the way of the twentieth +century, and they will no doubt centre, for the most part, about +taxation and education. But the political forces of the country will +have moved into totally new formations. One foresees plainly a vertical +section of parties into Agrarian and Urban, a cross section into Labour +and Capitalistic. Each of these economic groupings is indefinitely +criss-crossed by an indefinite number of antagonisms, spiritual and +material. In a situation so complicated it is idle to speculate as to +the conditions of the future. A box of bricks so large, and so +multi-coloured, may be arranged and re-arranged in an infinity of +architectures. The one thing quite certain is that all the arrangements +will be new. In taxation, as I have suggested, a highly conservative +policy will prevail. In education the secularist programme, if advanced +at all, will be overwhelmed by a junction of Catholic and Protestant. +For religion, to the _anima naturaliter Christiana_, of Ireland is not +an argument but an intuition. It seems to us as reasonable to prepare +children for their moral life by excluding religion as to prepare them +for their physical life by removing the most important lobe of their +brains. + +The only other prognostication that appears to emerge is the probable +predominance in a Home Rule Ireland of the present Ulster Unionist +party. That group is likely, for many reasons, to retain its solidarity +after ours has been dissipated. Should that prove to be the case, +self-government will put the balance of power on almost all great +conflicts of opinion into the hands of Sir Edward Carson and his +successors. The "minority," adroitly handled, will exploit the majority +almost as effectively after Home Rule as before it. Captain Craig will +dictate terms to us not from the last ditch, but from a far more +agreeable and powerful position, the Treasury Bench. And we undertake +not to grumble, for these are the chances of freedom. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AN EPILOGUE ON "LOYALTY" + + +According to precedent, well-established if not wise, no discussion of +political Ireland must end without some observations on "loyalty." The +passion of the English people for assurances on this point is in curious +contrast with their own record. It is not rhetoric, but crude history, +to say that the title-deeds of English freedom are in great part written +in blood, and that the seal which gave validity to all the capital +documents was the seal of "treason." No other nation in the world has so +clearly recognised and so stoutly insisted that, in the ritual game of +loyalty, the first move is with governments. With that premised, the +difference between the two countries is very simple. England has +developed from within the type of government that her people want. She +expresses satisfaction with the fact. This is loyalty. Ireland, on the +contrary, has had forced on her from without a type of government which +her people emphatically do not want. She expresses dissatisfaction with +the fact. This is disloyalty. Loyalty, in brief, is the bloom on the +face of freedom, just as beauty is the bloom on the face of health. + +If we examine the methods by which England attained her very desirable +position we are further enlightened. It is a study admirably adapted to +inculcate liberty, not at all so well adapted to inculcate "loyalty." +The whole burden of English history is that, whenever these two +principles came in conflict, every man in England worth his salt was +disloyal even to the point of war. Whenever the old bottle was +recalcitrant to the new wine of freedom it was ignominiously scrapped. A +long effort has been made to keep Irish history out of our schools in +the interests of "loyalty." But it is English history that ought to be +kept out, for it is full of stuff much more perilous. You teach Irish +children the tale of Runnymede, covering with contempt the king of that +day, and heaping praise on the barons who shook their fists under his +nose. This is dangerous doctrine. It is doubly dangerous seeing that +these children will soon grow up to learn that the Great Charter, which +is held to justify all these tumultuous proceedings, has never even to +our own day been current law in Ireland. You introduce them to the Wars +of the Roses as a model of peaceful, constitutional development; to the +slaying of Edward II., Richard II., and I know not how many more as +object-lessons in the reverence which angry Englishmen accord to an +anointed king when they really dislike him. Later centuries show them +one Stuart beheaded outside his own palace, another dethroned and +banished in favour of a Dutch prince. Of romantic loyalty to the person +of a sovereign they find no trace or hint in the modern period. Lost +causes and setting suns, whatever appeal they may have made to Ireland, +do but rarely fire with their magical glimmer the raw daylight of the +English political mind. As for that more facile, after-dinner +attachment, in which it is charged that we do not join with sufficient +fervour, it seems to us always fulsome, and often mere hyprocrisy. In +the development of English ceremonial, "God Save the King!" gets to the +head of the toast-list only when the king has been thoroughly saved from +all the perils and temptations incidental to the possession of power. So +long as he claims any shred of initiative his English subjects continue +in a perpetual chafe and grumble of disloyalty; as soon as the Crown has +been rasped and sand-papered down to a decorative zero their loyalty +knows no bounds. + +The simple and honourable truth is that all through her history England +strove after national freedom, and declined to be quiet until she got +it. There could not be a better statement of the methods which she +employed than Mr Rudyard Kipling's: + + "Axe and torch and tumult, steel and gray-goose wing, + Wrung it, inch and ell, and all, slowly from the King." + +It is, of course, a pity that the liberty thus established was better +fitted for the home market than for export. But this does not affect the +fact that, at the end of the process, the English people were in the +saddle. But the Irish people are not in the saddle, they are under it. +Indeed, the capital sin of Dublin Castle is that it is a bureaucracy +which has seized upon the estate of the people. In Ireland, under its +_régime_, the nation has had as much to say to its own public policy as +a Durbar-elephant has to say to the future of India. There is just this +difference in favour of the elephant: at least he has riot to pay for +the embroidered palanquins, and the prodding-poles, of his riders. We +are all agreed that loyalty is a duty. It is the duty of every +government to be loyal to the welfare, the nobler traditions, the +deep-rooted ideals, the habit of thought of its people. It is the duty +of every government to be loyal to the idea of duty, and to that austere +justice through which the most ancient heavens abide fresh and strong. +And until these prime duties have been faithfully performed, no +government need expect and none can exact "loyalty" from its subjects. + +But it seems that we are compromised on other grounds. The inscription +on the Parnell Memorial is trumpeted about the constituencies with equal +energy by opponents wise and otherwise: + + "No man has a right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. + No man has a right to say to his country, 'Thus far shalt thou go + and no farther.' We have never attempted to fix the _ne plus ultra_ + to the progress of Ireland's nationhood, and we never shall." + +What the precise matter of offence may be one finds it difficult to +discover. Mr Balfour very properly characterises as the utterance of a +statesman, this passage in which Parnell declines to usurp the throne +and sceptre of Providence. But Mr Smith complains that it deprives Home +Rule of the note of "finality." With the suggestion that Home Rule is +not at all events the end of the world we are, of course, in warm +agreement. But if Mr Smith has entered public affairs in pursuit of +static formulæ for dynamic realities, if he wants things fixed and +frozen and final, he has come to the wrong world to gratify such +desires. And even if he were to go to the next, he would have to be very +careful in choosing his destination, for all the theologians tell us +that, in Heaven, personalities continue to grow and develop. In fact, if +anybody wants "finality," I am afraid that we can only recommend him to +go to Hell. As for the world, in which we live, it is a world of flux. +Physicists allow the earth a long road to travel before it tumbles into +dissolution, and seers and prophets of various kinds foretell an equally +long cycle of development for human nature, as we now know it. The fate +of all our present political combinations is doubtful, and no nation has +received absolute guarantees for its future. An All-Europe State with +its capital at London, a Federation of the World with its capital at +Dublin, a Chinese Empire with its capital at Paris--these are all +possibilities. Australia may be annexed by Japan, Canada by the United +States, or vice versa; South Africa may spread northwards until it +absorbs the Continent, or shrink southwards until it expires on the +point of the Cape. The Superman may, as I am informed, appear on the +stage of history at any moment, and make pie of everything. And not one +of these appalling possibilities disturbs Mr Smith in the least. But he +is going to vote against justice for Ireland unless we can promise him +that throughout all the æons, as yet unvouchsafed, and to the last +syllable of recorded time, her political destiny is going to be in all +details regulated by the Home Rule Bill of 1912. This is not an +intelligent attitude. + +Of course the real innuendo is that we in Ireland are burning to levy +war on Great Britain, and would welcome any foreign invasion to that +end. On these two points one is happy to be able to give assurances, or +rather to state intentions. As for foreign invasion, we have had quite +enough of it. It is easier to get invaders in than to get them out +again, and we have not spent seven hundred years in recovering Ireland +for ourselves in order to make a present of it to the Germans, or the +Russians, or the Man in the Moon, or any other foreign power whatever. +The present plan of governing Ireland in opposition to the will of her +people does indeed inevitably make that country the weak spot in the +defences of these islands, for such misgovernment produces discontent, +and discontent is the best ally of the invader. Alter that by Home Rule, +and your cause instantly becomes ours. Give the Irish nation an Irish +State to defend, and the task of an invader becomes very unenviable. As +for levying war on Great Britain, we have no inclination in that +direction. The best thought in Ireland has always preferred civilisation +to war, and we have no wealth to waste on expensive stupidities of any +kind. In addition we are handicapped on sea by the smallness of our +official navy which, so far as I can gather, consists of the +_Granuaile_, a pleasure-boat owned by the Congested Districts Board. In +land operations, we are still more seriously hampered by the +non-existence of our army. And although, in point of population, our +numerical inferiority is so trivial as one to ten, even this slight +disproportion may be regarded by an Irish Parliament as a fact not +unworthy of consideration. + +But we must not suffer ourselves to be detained any longer among these +unrealities. A Home Rule government will be loyal to the interests of +its people, and actual circumstances demand, for the behoof of Great +Britain and Ireland alike, an era of peace with honour, and friendship +founded on justice. The magnitude of the commercial relations between +the two countries is inadequately appreciated. Not merely is Great +Britain our best customer, but we are her best customer. The trade of +Great Britain with Ireland is larger than her trade with India, and +nearly twice as large as that with Canada or Australia. And while these +surprising figures are far from indicating the existence of a sound +economic structure in Ireland, none the less, the industrial expansion +that will follow Home Rule may be expected to alter the character rather +than to diminish the value of the goods interchanged. For if the +development of textile, leather, shipbuilding, and other manufactures +lessens the British import under these heads into Ireland, it will +increase that of coal, iron, steel, and machinery. And Ireland, without +trenching on the needs of her home market, is capable of much more +intensive exploitation as a food-exporting country. Economically the two +nations are joined in relations that ought to be relations of mutual +profit, were they not eternally poisoned by political oppression. With +this virus removed, the natural balance of the facts of nature will +spontaneously establish itself between the two countries. + +The true desire of all the loud trumpeters of "loyalty" is, as it +appears to me, of a very different order. What they really ask is that +Ireland should begin her career of autonomy with a formal act of +self-humiliation. She may enter the Council of Empire provided that she +enters on her knees, and leaves her history outside the door as a +shameful burden. This is not a demand that can be conceded, or that men +make on men. The open secret of Ireland is that Ireland is a nation. In +days rougher than ours, when a blind and tyrannous England sought to +drown the national faith of Ireland in her own blood as in a sea, there +arose among our fathers men who annulled that design. We cannot +undertake to cancel the names of these men from our calendar. We are no +more ashamed of them than the constitutional England of modern times is +ashamed of her Langtons and De Montforts, her Sidneys and Hampdens. Our +attitude in their regard goes beyond the reach of prose, and no adequate +poetry comes to my mind. The Irish poets have recently been so busy +compiling catalogues of crime, profanity, and mania for the Abbey +Theatre that they have not had time to attend to politics; and in +attempting to suggest the spirit that must inform the settlement between +Ireland and England, if out of it is to spring the authentic flower of +loyalty, I am reluctantly compelled to fall back on a weaker brother, +not of the craft: + + Bond, from the toil of hate we may not cease: + Free, we are free to be your friend. + But when you make your banquet, and we come, + Soldier with equal soldier must we sit, + Closing a battle, not forgetting it. + This mate and mother of valiant rebels dead + Must come with all her history or her head. + We keep the past for pride. + Nor war nor peace shall strike our poets dumb: + No rawest squad of all Death's volunteers, + No simplest man who died + To tear your flag down, in the bitter years, + But shall have praise, and three times thrice again, + When, at that table, men shall drink with men. + +As political poetry, this may be open to amendment; as poetic politics, +it is sound, decisive, and answerable. + + + + +THE END + +THE NORTHUMBERLAND PRESS, THORNTON STREET, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Open Secret of Ireland, by T. 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Kettle. + </title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Open Secret of Ireland, by T. M. Kettle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Open Secret of Ireland + +Author: T. M. Kettle + +Release Date: March 7, 2005 [EBook #15277] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OPEN SECRET OF IRELAND *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Charles Aldarondo and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + <h1> + <!-- Page -14 --><a name="Page_-14" id="Page_-14"></a> + <!-- Page -13 --><a name="Page_-13" id="Page_-13"></a>THE OPEN + SECRET OF IRELAND + </h1> + <h3> + <br /> + <br /> + By + </h3> + <h2> + T. M. KETTLE + </h2> + <p class="center"> + WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY J. E. REDMOND, M.P. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <br /> + <br /> + <p> + "Also it is a proverbe of olde date, 'The pride of Fraunce, the + treason of Inglande, and the warre of Irelande, shall never + have ende.' Which proverbe, touching the warre of Irelande, is + like alwaie to continue, without God sette in men's breasts to + find some new remedy that never was found before." + </p> + </div> + <p class="right"> + <i>State Papers</i>, Reign of Henry VIII. + </p> + <p class="center"> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + LONDON + </p> + <p class="center"> + W. J. HAM-SMITH + </p> + <p class="center"> + 1912 + </p> + <div> + <!-- Page -12 --><a name="Page_-12" id="Page_-12"></a> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <!-- Page -11 --><a name="Page_-11" id="Page_-11"></a>CONTENTS + </h2> + <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + <tr> + <td align='left' colspan='2'> + INTRODUCTION BY J. E. REDMOND, M.P. + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#INTRODUCTION">vii</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='left' colspan='2'> + PRELIMINARY. + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#PRELIMINARY">xi</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + CHAP. + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + I. + </td> + <td align='left'> + AN EXERCISE IN HUMILITY. + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_1">1</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + II. + </td> + <td align='left'> + HISTORY <i>(a) Coloured</i>. + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_17">17</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + III. + </td> + <td align='left'> + HISTORY <i>(b) Plain</i>. + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_31">31</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + IV. + </td> + <td align='left'> + THE OBVIOUSNESS OF HOME RULE. + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_47">47</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + V. + </td> + <td align='left'> + THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (1). + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_65">65</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + VI. + </td> + <td align='left'> + THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (2). + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_80">80</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + VII. + </td> + <td align='left'> + THE HALLUCINATION OF "ULSTER". + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_98">98</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + VIII. + </td> + <td align='left'> + THE MECHANICS OF HOME RULE. + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_120">120</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + IX. + </td> + <td align='left'> + AFTER HOME RULE. + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_144">144</a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align='right'> + X. + </td> + <td align='left'> + AN EPILOGUE ON "LOYALTY". + </td> + <td align='right'> + <a href="#Page_161">161</a> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a> + <!-- Page -9 --><a name="Page_-9" id="Page_-9"></a>INTRODUCTION + </h2> + <p> + The object of Mr Kettle, in writing this book, is, I take it, to + reveal to English readers what he not inaptly terms as "The Open + Secret of Ireland," in order to bring about a better + understanding between the two nations, and to smoothe the way to + a just and final settlement of their old-time differences. Any + work undertaken on such lines commends itself to a ready welcome + and a careful study, and I feel sure that both await Mr Kettle's + latest contribution to the literature of the Irish question. As + the son of one of the founders of the Land League, and as, for + some years, one of the most brilliant members of the Irish Party, + and, later, Professor in the School of Economics in the new + National University in Dublin, he has won his way to recognition + as an eloquent exponent of Irish national ideas; whilst the + novelty of his point of view, and the freshness, vigour, and pic + <!-- Page -8 --><a name="Page_-8" id="Page_-8"></a>turesque + attractiveness of his style ensure for his work a cordial + reception on its literary merits, apart from its political value. + </p> + <p> + Undoubtedly, one of the main sources of the Anglo-Irish + difficulty has been mutual misunderstanding, generating mutual + mistrust and hatred. But the root of the difficulty goes deeper. + It is to be sought in the system of misgovernment and oppression + which successive generations of British rulers have imposed upon + what, with cruel irony, British historians and statesmen have + been wont to call "the sister country." This is the real "open + secret" of Ireland, a secret that all who run may read, and the + effective bearing of which is: that tyranny begets hatred, and + that freedom and justice are the only sure foundations of + contentment and goodwill between nations. + </p> + <p> + During the past thirty years, and especially since 1886, when Mr + Gladstone threw the weight of his unrivalled genius and influence + into the scale in favour of justice to Ireland, a great deal has + been done to erase the bitter memories of the past, and to enable + the English and the Irish peoples to regard each other in the + light of <!-- Page -7 --><a name="Page_-7" id= + "Page_-7"></a>truth, and with a more just appreciation of what is + essential to the establishment of genuine and lasting friendly + relations between them. + </p> + <p> + But it would be idle to ignore the fact that, to a considerable + section of the English people, Ireland is still a country of + which they possess less knowledge than they do of the most + insignificant and remote of the many islands over which the + British flag floats. Mr Kettle's book ought to be of service in + dispelling this ignorance, and in enabling Englishmen to view the + Anglo-Irish question from the standpoint of an educated and + friendly Irish opinion. + </p> + <p> + The output of purely political literature on the Irish problem + has been increasing during the past few years, and there is room + for a book which aims at focussing attention upon some aspects of + it which the mere politician is apt to pass lightly over or to + ignore altogether. Like most of Mr Kettle's work, the book bears + the impress of his individuality, and, to many of his readers, + this will constitute much of its charm and merit. At the same + time, in order to prevent misunderstanding, it is necessary for + me to state that I do not commit myself to acceptance + <!-- Page -6 --><a name="Page_-6" id="Page_-6"></a>or endorsement + of everything which the book contains. I content myself with + stating, from personal experience, that nothing which Mr Kettle + writes about Ireland can fail to be worthy of notice by everyone + interested in the Home Rule controversy, and that I believe the + circulation of this volume will serve to stimulate thought about + Ireland, and so to hasten the advent of that brighter day when + the grant of full self-government to Ireland will reveal to + England the open secret of making Ireland her friend and + helpmate, the brightest jewel in her crown of Empire. + </p> + <p class="right"> + J. E. REDMOND. + </p> + <p> + <i>12th December, 1911</i>. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="PRELIMINARY" id="PRELIMINARY"></a> + <!-- Page -5 --><a name="Page_-5" id="Page_-5"></a>PRELIMINARY + </h2> + <p> + After an intermission of nearly twenty years Ireland once again + blocks the way. "Finally rejected" by the House of Commons and + the English electorate in 1886, "finally rejected" by the House + of Lords in 1893, the Home Rule idea has not only survived but + waxed stronger in the wilderness. Time and events have altered + its shape only to clothe it with a richer significance. + </p> + <p> + Will Great Britain decide wisely in the choice to which she is + now put? Naturally, I do not speak of the Parliamentary future of + the Home Rule Bill: that is safe. I have in mind rather that + profound moral settlement, that generous reconciliation which we + have seen in South Africa, and desire to see in Ireland. What of + it? Did reason and the candid vision of things, as they are, + control public affairs, there could be little doubt as to the + issue in this choice between <!-- Page -4 --><a name="Page_-4" + id="Page_-4"></a>friendship and hatred, between the formula of + freedom and that of domination. But, unhappily, we have no + assurance that Philip sober rather than Philip drunk will sign + the warrant. There exists in England, in respect of all things + Irish, a monstrous residuum of prejudice. It lies ambushed in the + blood even when it has been dismissed from the mind, and + constitutes the real peril of the situation. No effort will be + spared to reawaken it. The motto of militant Unionism has always + been: When in doubt throw mud. Such a programme naturally begets + a predilection for ditches, and when certain orators speak of the + "last ditch" they must be taken to mean that which has most mud + in it. The old methods are already once more in operation. The + wicked lying of previous campaigns no doubt cannot be repeated: + bigotry will make no further experiments in Pigottry. But a + resolute attempt, lavishly financed and directed by masters of + the art of defamation, will be made to blacken Ireland. Every + newspaper in every remotest country-town in England will be + deluged with syndicated venom. The shop-keeper will wrap up his + parcels in Orange <!-- Page -3 --><a name="Page_-3" id= + "Page_-3"></a>posters, and the working-man will, I hope, light + his pipe for years to come with pamphlets of the same clamant + colour. Irishmen, or at all events persons born in Ireland, will + be found to testify that they belong to a barbarous people which + has never ceased from barbarism, and that they are not fit to + govern themselves. Politicians who were never known to risk a + five-pound note in helping to develop Ireland will toss down + their fifties to help to defame her. Such is the outlook. Against + this campaign of malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness it is + the duty of every good citizen to say his word, and in the + following pages I say mine. This little book is not a compendium + of facts, and so does not trench on the province of Mr Stephen + Gwynn M.P.'s admirable "Case for Home Rule." It does not discuss + the details, financial or otherwise, of a statesmanlike + settlement. Such suggestions as I had to make I have already made + in "Home Rule Finance," and the reader will find much ampler + treatment of the whole subject in "The Framework of Home Rule," + by Mr Erskine Childers, and "Home Rule Problems," edited by Mr + Basil Williams. In general, my aim has <!-- Page -2 --><a name= + "Page_-2" id="Page_-2"></a>been to aid in humanising the Irish + Question. The interpretation of various aspects of it, here + offered, is intended to be not exhaustive but provocative, a mere + set of shorthand rubrics any one of which might have been + expanded into a chapter. Addressing the English reader with + complete candour, I have attempted to recommend to him that + method of approach, that mental attitude which alone can divest + him of his preconceptions, and put him in rapport with the true + spirit of the Ireland of actuality. To that end the various lines + of discussion converge:— + </p> + <p> + Chapter I is an outline of the pathology of the English mind in + Ireland. + </p> + <p> + Chapters II and III present the history of Ireland as the epic, + not of a futile and defeated, but of an indomitable and + victorious people. + </p> + <p> + Chapter IV exhibits the Home Rule idea as a fundamental law of + nature, human nature, and government. + </p> + <p> + Chapters V and VI contain a very brief account of the more + obvious economic crimes and blunders of Unionism. + </p> + <p> + Chapter VII discusses the queer ideas of " + <!-- Page -1 --><a name="Page_-1" id="Page_-1"></a>Ulster," and + the queer reasons for the survival of these ideas. + </p> + <p> + Chapter VIII demonstrates that, as a mere matter of political + technique, Home Rule must be conceded if any real government is + ever to exist again, whether in Great Britain, in Ireland, or in + the Empire. + </p> + <p> + Chapter IX dips into the future, and indicates that a Home Rule + Ireland will have so much interesting work to do as to have no + time for civil war or religious oppression. + </p> + <p> + Chapter X shows that everybody who values "loyalty" must of + necessity be a Home Ruler. + </p> + <p> + The only moral commended to the reader is that expressed by + Browning in a firm and inevitable line, which has been + disastrously forgotten in so many passages of English + history:— + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "It's fitter being sane than mad." + </p> + </div> + <p> + I have tried also to convey to him, with what success others must + judge, something of the "pride and passion" of Irish nationality. + That <!-- Page 0 --><a name="Page_0" id="Page_0"></a>is, in + truth, the dream that comes through the multitude of business. If + you think that Home Rule is a little thing which must be done in + a little way for little reasons, your feet are set on the path to + failure. Home Rule is one of those fundamental reforms that are + not achieved at all unless they are achieved greatly. + </p> + <p class="right"> + T.M.K. + </p> + <p> + <i>December, 1911</i>. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="THE_OPEN_SECRET_OF_IRELAND" id= + "THE_OPEN_SECRET_OF_IRELAND"></a><!-- Page 1 --><a name="Page_1" + id="Page_1"></a>THE OPEN SECRET OF IRELAND + </h2> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I + </h2> + <h3> + AN EXERCISE IN HUMILITY + </h3> + <p> + In order to understand Ireland we must begin by understanding + England. On no other terms will that complex of facts, memories, + and passions, which is called the Irish Question, yield up its + secret. "You have always been," said a Lady Clanricarde to some + English politician, "like a high wall standing between us and the + sun." The phrase lives. It reveals in a flashlight of genius the + historical relations of the two nations. It explains and + justifies the principle adopted as the basis of this discussion, + namely, that no examination of the Irish Problem is possible + without a prior examination of the English mind. It used to be + said that England dearly loved a Lord, a dictum which may have to + be modified in the light of recent <!-- Page 2 --><a name= + "Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>events. Far more than a Lord does the + typical Englishman love a Judge, and the thought of acting as a + Judge. Confronted with Ireland he says to himself: "Here are + these Irish people; some maintain that they are nice, others that + they are nasty, but everybody agrees that they are queer. Very + good. I will study them in a judicial spirit; I will weigh the + evidence dispassionately, and give my decision. When it comes to + action, I will play the honest broker between their contending + parties." Now this may be a very agreeable way of going about the + business, but it is fatally unreal. Great Britain comes into + court, she will be pained to hear, not as Judge but rather as + defendant. She comes to answer the charge that, having seized + Ireland as a "trustee of civilisation," she has, either through + incompetence or through dishonesty, betrayed her trust. We have a + habit, in everyday life, of excusing the eccentricities of a + friend or an enemy by the reflection that he is, after all, as + God made him. Ireland is politically as Great Britain made her. + Since the twelfth century, that is to say for a great part of the + Middle Ages and for the whole of the modern period, the mind of + England and not that of Ireland has been the dominant fact in + Irish history. + </p> + <p> + This state of things—a paradox in action— + <!-- Page 3 --><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>carries with it + certain metaphysical implications. The philosophers tell us that + all morality centres in the maxim that others are to be treated + as ends in themselves, and not as instruments to our ends. If + they are right, then we must picture Ireland as the victim of a + radical immoralism. We must think of her as a personality + violated in its ideals, and arrested in its development. And, + indeed, that is no bad way of thinking: it is the one formula + which summarises the whole of her experience. But the phrasing is + perhaps too high and absolute; and the decline and fall of Mr + Balfour are a terrible example to those of us who, being young, + might otherwise take metaphysics too solemnly. It will, + therefore, at this stage be enough to repeat that, in + contemplating the discontent and unrest which constitute the + Irish difficulty, Great Britain is contemplating the work of her + own hands, the creation of her own mind. For that reason we can + make no progress until we ascertain what sort of mind we have to + deal with. + </p> + <p> + I do not disguise from myself the extremely unpleasant nature of + this inquiry. It is as if a counsel were to open his address by + saying: "Gentlemen of the Jury, before discussing the facts of + the case I will examine briefly the mental flaws, gaps, kinks, + and distortions of you twelve <!-- Page 4 --><a name="Page_4" id= + "Page_4"></a>gentlemen." There is, however, this difference. In + the analysis upon which we are engaged the mental attitude of the + jury is not merely a fact in the case, it is the whole case. Let + me reinforce my weaker appeal by a passage from the wisest pen in + contemporary English letters, that of Mr Chesterton. There is in + his mere sanity a touch of magic so potent that, although + incapable of dullness, he has achieved authority, and although + convinced that faith is more romantic than doubt, or even sin, he + has got himself published and read. Summarising the "drift" of + Matthew Arnold, Mr Chesterton observes: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "The chief of his services may perhaps be stated thus, that he + discovered (for the modern English) the purely intellectual + importance of humility. He had none of that hot humility which + is the fascination of saints and good men. But he had a cold + humility which he had discovered to be a mere essential of the + intelligence." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Such a humility, purely hygienic in character, is for Englishmen + the beginning of wisdom on the Irish Question. It is the needle's + eye by which alone they can enter a city otherwise forbidden to + them. Let there be no misunderstanding. The attitude of mind + commended to <!-- Page 5 --><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>them + is not without its agreeable features. Closely scrutinised, it is + seen to be a sort of inverted vanity. The student begins by + studying himself, an exercise in self-appraisal which need not by + any means involve self-depreciation. What sort of a mind, then, + is the English mind? + </p> + <p> + If there is anything in regard to which the love of friends + corroborates the malice of enemies it is in ascribing to the + English an individualism, hard-shelled beyond all human parallel. + The Englishman's country is an impregnable island, his house is a + castle, his temperament is a suit of armour. The function common + to all three is to keep things out, and most admirably has he + used them to that end. At first, indeed, he let everybody in; he + had a perfect passion for being conquered, and Romans, Teutons, + Danes, and Normans in succession plucked and ate the apple of + England. But with the coming of age of that national + consciousness, the bonds of which have never been snapped, the + English entered on their lucky and courageous career of keeping + things out. They possess in London the only European capital that + has never in the modern period been captured by an invader. They + withstood the intellectual grandeur of Roman + <!-- Page 6 --><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>Law, and + developed their own medley of customs into the most eccentric and + most equitable system in the world. They kept out the Council of + Trent, and the Spanish Armada. They kept out the French + Revolution, and Napoleon. They kept out for a long time the + Kantian philosophy, Romanticism, Pessimism, Higher Criticism, + German music, French painting, and one knows not how many other + of the intellectual experiments that made life worth living, or + not worth living, to nineteenth-century Europe. Their insularity, + spiritual as well as geographical, has whetted the edge of a + thousand flouts and gibes. "Those stupid French!" exclaims the + sailor, as reported by De Morgan: "Why do they go on calling a + cabbage a <i>shoe</i> when they must know that it is a + <i>cabbage?</i>" This was in general the attitude of what Mr + Newbolt has styled the "Island Race" when on its travels. + Everybody has laughed at the comedy of it, but no one has + sufficiently applauded its success. The English tourist declined + to be at the trouble of speaking any foreign tongue whatsoever; + instantly every hotel and restaurant on the Continent was forced + to learn English. He refused to read their books; a Leipsic firm + at once started to publish his own, and sold him his six-shilling + Clapham novels in <!-- Page 7 --><a name="Page_7" id= + "Page_7"></a>Lucerne for two francs. He dismissed with + indignation the idea of breakfasting on a roll, and bacon and + eggs were added unto him. In short, by a straightforward policy + of studying nobody else, he compelled everybody else to study + him. + </p> + <p> + Now it is idle to deny this performance the applause which it + plainly deserves. The self-evolution of England, as it may + perhaps be called, in its economic, political, and literary life, + offers an admirable model of concentration and energy. Even where + it is a case of obtuseness to other civilisations, at least as + high but of a different type, the verdict cannot be wholly + unfavourable. The Kingdom of Earth is to the thick-skinned, and + bad manners have a distinct vital value. A man, too sensitive to + the rights and the charms of others, is in grave danger of + futility. Either he will become a dilettante, which is the French + way, or he will take to drink and mystical nihilism, a career + very popular in Russian fiction. Bad manners have indeed a + distinct ethical value. We all experience moods in which we + politely assent to the thing that is not, because of the fatigue + of fighting for the thing that is. A temperament such as has been + delineated is therefore, as human types go, an excellent type. + But it has its peculiar perils. <!-- Page 8 --><a name="Page_8" + id="Page_8"></a>To ignore the point of view of those in whose + country you eat, drink, sleep, and sight-see may breed only minor + discords, and after all you will pay for your manners in your + bill. But to ignore the point of view of those whose country you + govern may let loose a red torrent of tragedy. Such a temper of + mind may, at the first touch of resistance, transform your + stolid, laudable, laughable Englishman into the beastliest of + tyrants. It may drive him into a delirium of cruelty and + injustice. It may sweep away, in one ruin of war, wealth, + culture, and the whole fabric of civilisation. It may darken + counsel, and corrupt thought. In fact, it may give you something + very like the history of the English in Ireland. Now it is not + denied that most Englishmen believe the English mind to be + incapable of such excesses. This, they say, is the Russian in + Warsaw, the Austrian in Budapest, the Belgian in the Congo, the + blind fool-fury of the Seine. But it is not the English way. Nor + is it suggested that this illusion is sheer and mere hypocrisy. + It is simply an hallucination of jingoism. Take a trivial + instance in point. We have all read in the newspapers derisive + accounts of disorderly scenes in the French Chamber or the + Austrian Reichstag; we all know the complacent sigh with which + England is wont on <!-- Page 9 --><a name="Page_9" id= + "Page_9"></a>such occasions to thank God that she is not as one + of those. Does anybody think that this attitude will be at all + modified by recent occurrences at Westminster? By no means. Lord + Hugh Cecil, his gibbering and gesticulating quite forgotten, will + be assuring the House next year that the Irish are so deficient + in self-restraint as to be unfit for Home Rule. Mr Smith will be + deploring that intolerant temper which always impels a + Nationalist to shout down, and not to argue down an opponent. Mr + Walter Long will be vindicating the cause of law and order in one + sentence, and inciting "Ulster" to bloodshed in the next. This is + not hypocrisy, it is genius. It is also, by the way, the genesis + of the Irish Question. If anyone is disposed to underrate the mad + passions of which race hatred can slip the leash, let him recall + the crucial examples which we have had in our own time. We have + in our own time seen Great Britain inflamed by two + frenzies—against France, and against the Boer Republics. In + the history of public opinion there are no two chapters more + discreditable. In the days of Fashoda the Frenchman was a + degenerate <i>tigre-singe,</i> the sworn enemy of religion and + soap. He had contributed nothing to civilisation except a + loathsome science of sensuality, <!-- Page 10 --><a name= + "Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>and the taint of decay was in his + bones. In the days of Spion Kop the Boer was an unlaundered + savage, fit only to be a target for pig-stickers. His ignorance + seemed the most appalling thing in the world until one remembered + his hypocrisy and his cowardice. The newspaper which led the + campaign of denigration against France has come to another view. + Its proprietor now divides his time between signing £10,000 + cheques for triumphant French aviators, and delivering speeches + in which their nation is hailed as the pioneer of all great + ideas. As regards the Boers, the same reversal of the verdict of + ten years ago has taken place. The crowd which in 1900 asked only + for a sour appletree on which to hang General Botha, adopts him + in 1911 as the idol of the Coronation. At this progress towards + sanity we must all rejoice. But most of all we have to ask that + these two sinister pageants of race hatred shall not be suffered + to dissolve without leaving some wrack of wisdom behind. Writers + on psychology have made many studies of what they call the + collective illusion. This strange malady, which consists in all + the world seeing something which in fact does not exist, wrought + more potently on the mind of England than did reason and justice + in the Home Rule controversies of 1886 <!-- Page 11 --><a name= + "Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>and 1893. What has occurred may recur. + And since we are to speak here with all the candour of private + conversation I confess that I cannot devise or imagine any + specific against such a recurrence except an exercise in humility + of the kind suggested by Mr Chesterton. My own argument in that + direction is perhaps compromised by the fact that I am an + Irishman. Let us therefore fall back on other testimony. Out of + the cloud of witnesses let us choose two or three, and in the + first place M. Alfred Fouillée. M. Fouillée is a + Platonist—the last Platonist in Europe—and + consequently an amiable man. He is universally regarded as the + leader of philosophy in France, a position not in the least + shaken by Bergson's brief authority. In a charming and lucid + study of the "Psychology of the Peoples of Europe" Fouillée has + many pages that might serve for an introduction to the Irish + Question. The point of interest in his analysis is this: he + exhibits Irish history as a tragedy of character, a tragedy which + flows with sad, inevitable logic from a certain weakness which he + notes, not in the Irish, but in the English character. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "'In the eyes of the English,' says Taine who had studied them + so minutely, 'there is but one <!-- Page 12 --><a name= + "Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>reasonable civilisation, namely + their own. Every other way of living is that of inferior + beings, every other religion is extravagant.' So that, one + might add, the Englishman is doubly personal, first as an + individual and again as a member of the most highly + individualised of nations. The moment the national interest is + involved all dissensions cease, there is on the scene but one + single man, one single Englishman, who shrinks from no + expedient that may advance his ends. Morality for him reduces + itself to one precept: Safeguard at any cost the interest of + England." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Like all foreigners he takes Ireland as the one conspicuous and + flaming failure of England. In that instance she has muddled, as + usual, but she has not muddled through. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "The Anglo-Saxons, those great colonisers of far-off lands, + have in their own United Kingdom succeeded only in inflicting a + long martyrdom on Ireland. The insular situation of England had + for pendant the insular situation of Ireland; the two islands + lie there face to face. The English and the Irish, although + intellectually very much alike, have preserved different + characters. And this difference cannot be due essentially to + the racial element, for nearly half Ireland is Germanic. It is + due to traditions and customs developed by English oppression." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Having summarised the main lines of British policy in Ireland, he + concludes: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "It is not easy to detect here any sign of the 'superiority of + the<!-- Page 13 --><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a> + Anglo-Saxons.'" + </p> + </div> + <p> + With Fouillée we may associate Emile Boutmy. In his "Political + Psychology of the English" he declares that the haughty, + taciturn, solitary, unassimilative temperament of England, so + admirable from the point of view of self-development, shows its + worst side and comes to a malign florescence in the history of + Ireland. It explains why + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "the relations of Ireland with England have been, for so many + centuries, those of a captive with his jailer, those of a + victim with his torturer." + </p> + </div> + <p> + I pass over De Beaumont, Von Raumer, Perraud, Paul-Dubois, Filon, + Bonn. The considerations already adduced ought to be enough to + lead the English reader to certain conclusions which are + fundamental. For the sake of clearness they may be repeated in + all their nudity: + </p> + <p> + England has failed in Ireland. + </p> + <p> + Her failure has been due to defects of her own character, and + limitations of her outlook. The same defects which corrupted her + policy in the past distort her vision in the present. + </p> + <p> + Therefore, if she is to understand and to solve the Irish + Question, she must begin by <!-- Page 14 --><a name="Page_14" id= + "Page_14"></a>breaking the hard shell of her individualism, and + trying to think herself into the skin, the soul, and the ideals + of the Irish nation. + </p> + <p> + Now the English reader is after all human. If he has endured so + far the outrage on his most sacred prejudices perpetrated in this + chapter he must at this moment be hot with resentment. He must + feel as if, proposing to his imagination Pear de Melba, he had in + truth swallowed sand. Let me end with a more comfortable word. We + have seen that Irish history is what the dramatists call an + internal tragedy, the secular disclosure and slow working-out of + certain flaws in the English character. I am not to be understood + as ascribing horns to England and a halo to Ireland. We Irish are + not only imperfect but even modest; for every beam that we detect + in another eye we are willing to confess a mote in our own. The + English on the other hand have been not monsters or demons, but + men unstrung. + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span>"In tragic life, God wot, + <br /></span> <span>No villain need be, passions spin the plot; + <br /></span> <span>We are betrayed by what is false within." + <br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <p> + Least of all am I to be understood as ascribing to modern + Englishmen any sort of planned, aforethought malice in regard to + Ireland. It <!-- Page 15 --><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>is + what Bacon might have called a mere idol of the platform to + suppose that they are filled with a burning desire to oppress + Ireland. The dream of their lives is to ignore her, to eliminate + from their calculations this variable constant which sheds + bewilderment upon every problem. Could they but succeed in that, + a very Sabbath of peace would have dawned for them. The modern + Englishman is too much worried to plan the oppression of anybody. + "Did you ever," asked Lord Salisbury on a remembered occasion, + "have a boil on your neck?" To the Englishman of 1911—that + troubled man whose old self-sufficiency has in our own time been + shattered beyond repair by Boer rifles, German shipyards, French + aeroplanes—Ireland is the boil on the neck of his political + system. It is the one <i>péché de jeunesse</i> of his nation that + will not sleep in the grave of the past. Like the ghost in + "Hamlet" it pursues and plagues him without respite. Shunned on + the battlements it invades his most private chamber, or, finding + him in talk with friends, shames and scares him with subterranean + mutterings. Is there no way out of a situation so troublesome and + humiliating? + </p> + <p> + There is. Ireland cannot be ignored, but she can easily be + appeased. The boil is due to no <!-- Page 16 --><a name="Page_16" + id="Page_16"></a>natural and incurable condition. It is the + direct result of certain artificial ligatures and compressions; + remove these and it disappears. This spectre haunts the + conscience of England to incite her not to a deed of blood but to + a deed of justice; every wind is favourable and every omen. It + is, indeed, true that if she is to succeed, England must do + violence to certain prejudices which now afflict her like a + blindness; she must deal with us as a man with men. But is not + the Kingdom of Heaven taken by violence? + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><!-- Page 17 --><a name= + "Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + HISTORY + <br /> + <br /> + <i>(a) Coloured</i> + </h3> + <p> + Mendacity follows the flag. There never yet was an invader who + did not, in obedience to a kindly human instinct, lie abundantly + respecting the people whose country he had invaded. The reason is + very plain. In all ages men delight to acquire property by + expedients other than that of honest labour. In the period of + private war the most obvious alternative to working is fighting, + or hiring servants to fight; the sword is mightier than the + spade. If we add that an expedition into a foreign country offers + the additional advantages of escape from your exacting creditors, + and your still more exacting king, we have something very like + the economics of the Invasion of Anywhere in early feudal times. + Had the leaders of these invasions, or rather their clerkly + secretaries, written the plain <!-- Page 18 --><a name="Page_18" + id="Page_18"></a>tale of their doings they would have left some + such record as this: "There were we, a band of able-bodied, + daring, needy men. Our only trade was war; our only capital our + suits of armour, our swords and battle-axes. We heard that there + was good land and rich booty to be had in Anywhere; we went and + fought for it. Our opponents were brave men, too, but badly + organised. In some places we won. There we substituted our own + law for the queer sort of law under which these people had lived; + when they resisted too strongly we had, of course, no option but + to kill them. In other places we got mixed up completely by + alliances and marriages with the old stock, and lived most + agreeably with them. In others again the natives killed us, and + remained in possession. Such was the Invasion of Anywhere." + </p> + <p> + But (I had almost said unhappily) the invaders were not content + with having swords, they had also consciences. They were + Christians, and thought it necessary to justify themselves before + the High Court of Christian Europe. Consequently the clerks had + to write up the record in quite a different fashion. They + discovered that their bluff, hard-bitten, rather likeable + employers, scarcely one of whom could read or write, had really + invaded Anywhere as the <!-- Page 19 --><a name="Page_19" id= + "Page_19"></a>trustees of civilisation. Now it may be said in + general—and the observation extends to our own + time—that the moment an invader discovers that he is the + trustee of civilisation he is irretrievably lost to the truth. He + is forced by his own pose to become not an unprincipled liar, but + that much more disgusting object, a liar on principle. He is + bound, in order to legitimise his own position, to prove that + "the natives" are savages, living in a morass of nastiness and + ignorance. All facts must be adapted to this conclusion. The + clerks, having made this startling discovery, went on to + supplement it by the further discovery that their masters had + invaded Anywhere in order to please the Pope, and introduce true + religion. This second role completes the dedication of the + invaders on the altar of mendacity. It was Leo XIII. himself who, + with that charming humour of his, deprecated the attitude of + certain <i>a priori</i> historians who, said he, if they were + writing the Gospel story would, in their anxiety to please the + Pope, probably suppress the denial of Peter. + </p> + <p> + These things which might have happened anywhere did, in fact, + happen in Ireland. Out of the footprints of the invaders there + sprang up a legion of fictionists, professional cooks of history. + Beginning with Giraldus Cambrensis <!-- Page 20 --><a name= + "Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>they ought to have ended, but, as we + shall see, did not end with Froude. The significance of these + mercenaries of literature can hardly be exaggerated; it is not + too much to say that they found Ireland a nation, and left her a + question. It is not at all that they put on record the thing that + was not as regards the events of their own period. That might be + and has been amended by the labours of impartial scholarship. The + real crime of the fabulists lies in this, that their tainted + testimony constituted for honest Englishmen the only information + about Ireland easily obtainable. The average Englishman (that is + to say, the forty millions of him who do not read learned books + of any kind) comes to the consideration of contemporary Ireland + with a vision distorted almost beyond hope of cure. The treasured + lies of seven hundred years are in his heart to-day. For time + runs against the cause of truth as well as with it. Once create a + Frankenstein of race hatred, and he will gather strength in + going. The chronicler's fable of this century becomes the + accredited historical fact of the next. Give it what + billiard-players call "legs" enough and it will mature into a + tradition, a proverb, a spontaneous instinct. There is a whole + department of research concerned with the growth of myths, stage + by stage, <!-- Page 21 --><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>from + a little nebulous blotch into a peopled world of illusion. The + strange evolution there set forth finds an exact parallel in the + development of English opinion on Ireland. And, indeed, the more + you study "the Irish Question," as it is envisaged by the ruling + mind of Great Britain, the more conscious are you of moving in + the realm not of reason but of mythology. + </p> + <p> + All this will seem obvious even to the point of weariness. But it + is of interest as furnishing a clue to the English attitude + towards Irish history; I should rather say attitudes, for there + are two. The first is that of the Man of Feeling. His mode of + procedure recalls inevitably an exquisite story which is to be + found somewhere in Rousseau. During country walks, Jean Jacques + tells us, his father would suddenly say: "My son, we will speak + of your dear, dead mother." And Jean Jacques was expected to + reply: "Wait, then, a moment, my dear father. I will first search + for my handkerchief, for I perceive that we are going to weep." + In precisely such a mood of deliberate melancholy does the + sentimentalist address himself to the Confiscations and the Penal + Laws. He is ready to praise without stint any Irish leader who + happens to be sufficiently dead. He is ready to confess that all + his own British forerunners were abomin<!-- Page 22 --><a name= + "Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>able blackguards. He admits, not only + with candour but even with a certain enthusiastic remorse, that + England oppressed Ireland in every phase of their relations. Then + comes the conclusion. So terrible have been the sins of his + fathers that he feels bound to make restitution. And in order to + make restitution, to be kind and helpful and remedial, he must + retain the management of Irish affairs in his benevolent hands. + In order to expiate the crimes of the past he must repeat the + basal blunder that was the cause and source of them. For this + kind of sympathy we have only to say, in a somewhat vulgar + phrase, that we have no use whatever. The Englishman who + "sympathises" with Ireland is lost. + </p> + <p> + But the more general attitude differs widely from this. + Confronting us with a bluff and not unkindly demeanour, worthy of + the nation that invented cold baths as a tonic against all + spiritual anguish, the practical, modern Englishman speaks out + his mind in straight-flung words and few. "You fellows," he says, + "brood too much over the past. After all, this is the twentieth + century, not the twelfth. What does it matter whether my + ancestors murdered yours or not? Both would be dead now in any + event. What does it matter whether yours were the saints and + <!-- Page 23 --><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>men of letters + and mine the savages, or whether the boot was on the other leg? + That's all over and done with. Imitate me. Let bygones be + bygones." + </p> + <p> + Now this is, in some respects, the authentic voice of health. + Undoubtedly the most characteristic thing about the past is that + it is not present, and to lavish on it too tragic and intense a + devotion is to love death more than life. And yet our bluff + Englishman can learn in two words how it comes about that his + invitation represents a demand for the impossible. In the first + place, the bygones have not gone by. Our complaint is made not + against the crimes of his fathers, who are dead, but against the + crimes of himself and his fellows, who are alive. We denounce not + the repealed Penal Laws but the unrepealed Act of Union. If we + recall to the memory of England the systematic baseness of the + former, it is in order to remind her that she once thought them + right, and now confesses that they were cruelly wrong. We Irish + are realists, and we hold the problems of the present as of more + account than any agonies or tyrannies of the past. But our + realism has the human touch in it, and that constitutes the + second impossibility in the invitation tendered us. <i>Que + messieurs les assassins commencent!</i> The anti-Irish legend is + not dead nor <!-- Page 24 --><a name="Page_24" id= + "Page_24"></a>even sleeping, nor are the resources of calumny yet + exhausted. An instance is immediately at hand. I have, at this + moment, on my desk a volume lately issued—"The School + History of England." It is published by the Clarendon Press, + Oxford; Mr Rudyard Kipling contributes twenty-three pieces of + verse, and a Mr C. R. L. Fletcher, whose qualifications are not + stated, appears to be responsible for the prose. The book has + been praised in most of the papers, and it will no doubt go far. + This is the picture of the coming to Ireland of the + Cymro-Frankish adventurers which its pages will imprint on the + minds of the youth of England: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "One event of his reign (Henry II.'s) must not be forgotten, + his visit to Ireland in 1171-2. St Patrick, you may have heard, + had banished the snakes from that island, but he had not + succeeded in banishing the murderers and thieves who were worse + than many snakes. In spite of some few settlements of Danish + pirates and traders on the eastern coast, Ireland had remained + purely Celtic and purely a pasture country. All wealth was + reckoned in cows; Rome had never set foot there, so there was a + king for every day in the week, and the sole amusement of such + persons was to drive off each other's cows and to kill all who + resisted. In Henry II.'s time this had been going on for at + least seven hundred years, and during the seven + <!-- Page 25 --><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>hundred that + have followed much the same thing would have been going on, if + the English Government had not occasionally interfered." + </p> + </div> + <p> + The English whom Henry II. left behind him soon became "as wild + and barbarous as the Irishmen themselves." + </p> + <p> + Oxford, the home of so many other lost causes, apparently aspires + to be also the home of the lost cause of mendacity. The + forcible-feeble malice of Mr Fletcher calls for no serious + discussion; submit it to any continental scholar, to any honest + British scholar, and he will ask contemptuously, though perhaps + with a little stab of pain, how the name of Oxford comes to be + associated with such wicked absurdities. Every other reference to + Ireland is marked by the same scientific composure and balanced + judgment. And this document, inspired by race hatred, and + apparently designed to propagate race hatred, is offered to the + youth of these countries as an aid towards the consolidation of + the Empire. It is a case not merely of the poisoning of a well, + but of the poisoning of a great river at its source. The force of + cowardice can no farther go. So long as it goes thus far, so long + as the Froudes find Fletchers to echo them, Irishmen will + inevitably "brood over the <!-- Page 26 --><a name="Page_26" id= + "Page_26"></a>past." We do not share the cult of + ancestor-worship, but we hold the belief that the Irish nation, + like any other, is an organism endowed with a life in some sort + continuous and repetitive of its origins. To us it does matter + something whether our forerunners were turbulent savages, + destitute of all culture, or whether they were valiant, immature + men labouring through the twilight of their age towards that dawn + which does not yet flush our own horizon. But we are far from + wishing that dead centuries should be summoned back to wake old + bitterness that ought also to be dead. Hand history over to the + scholars, if you will; let it be marshalled as a multitudinous + and coloured pageant, to incite imaginations and inspire + literature. Such is our desire, but when we read the clotted + nonsense of persons like Mr Fletcher we can only repeat: <i>Que + messieurs les assassins commencent</i>! + </p> + <p> + For the purpose of this inquiry it is inevitable that some brief + account should be rendered of the past relations between England + and Ireland. The reader need not shrink back in alarm; it is not + proposed to lead him by the reluctant nose through the whole maze + and morass of Irish history. The past is of value to political + realists only in that residue of it which survives, namely, the + wisdom which it ought to have taught us. <!-- Page 27 --><a name= + "Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>Englishmen are invited to consider the + history of Ireland solely from that point of view. They are + prayed to purge themselves altogether of pity, indignation, and + remorse; these are emotions far too beneficent to waste on things + outside the ambit of our own immediate life. If they are wise + they will come to Irish history as to a school, and they will + learn one lesson that runs through it like the refrain of a + ballad. A very simple lesson it is, just this: Ireland cannot be + put down. Ireland always has her way in the end. If the opposite + view is widely held the explanation lies on the surface. Two + causes have co-operated to produce the illusion. Everybody agrees + that Great Britain has acted in a most blackguardly fashion + towards Ireland; everybody assumes that blackguardism always + succeeds in this world, therefore Ireland is a failure. The only + flaw in this syllogism is that it is in direct conflict with + every known fact. For the rest we have to thank or blame the + sentimentalism of Mr Matthew Arnold. His proud but futile Celts + who "went down to battle but always fell" have been mistaken for + the Irish of actual history. The truth is, of course, that the + phrase is in the grand manner of symbolism. When Ecclesiastes + laments that the eye is not filled with seeing nor the ear with + <!-- Page 28 --><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>hearing we do + not argue him deaf and blind; we take his words as a proclamation + of that famine and fierce appetite of the spirit which has + created all the higher religions. Ireland agrees with + Ecclesiastes. Perceiving that there is in matter no integral and + permanent reality she cannot be content with material victories; + her poets are subtle in what a French writer styles the + innuendoes by which the soul makes its enormous claims. The + formula of her aspiration has been admirably rendered by the late + Mrs Nora Chesson: + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span>"He follows after shadows when all your chase is done; + <br /></span> <span>He follows after shadows, the King of + Ireland's son." + <br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <p> + Were I to read the poem, of which these lines are the motif, to + certain genial Englishmen of my acquaintance they would observe + that the gentleman in question was a "queer cove, staying up late + at night and catching cold, and that no doubt there was a woman + in the case." But these are considerations a little remote from + the daily dust of politics. In the sense in which every life is a + failure, and the best life the worst failure, Ireland is a + failure. But in every other sense, in all that touches the + <!-- Page 29 --><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>fathomable + business of daylight, she has been a conspicuous success. + </p> + <p> + A certain type of fanaticism is naive enough to regard the + intercourse of England with Ireland as that of a superior with an + inferior race. This is the sanction invoked to legitimise every + adventure in invasion and colonisation. M. Jules Hormand, who has + attempted, in his recent book, "Domination et Colonisation," to + formulate a theory of the whole subject, touches bed-rock when he + writes: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "We must then accept as our point of departure the principle + that there is a hierarchy of races and of civilisations, and + that we belong to the higher race and civilisation.... The + essential legitimation of conquest is precisely this conviction + of our own superiority.... Nations which do not hold this + belief, because incapable of such sincerity towards themselves, + should not attempt to conquer others." + </p> + </div> + <p> + The late Lord Salisbury was grasping at such a justification when + he likened the Irish to Hottentots; it would be a justification + of a kind if it chanced to be validated by the facts. But it does + not. There is so much genuine humour in the comparison that, for + my part, I am unable to take offence at it. I look at the lathe + painted to look like iron, and I set over against him + <!-- Page 30 --><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>Parnell. That + is enough; the lathe is smashed to fragments amid the colossal + laughter of the gods. The truth is that in every shock and + conflict of Irish civilisation with English, it is the latter + that has given way. The obscuration of this obvious fact is + probably to be ascribed to the military successes of the Norman, + or rather the Cymro-Frankish invaders. If we were the higher race + why did we not put them out? Replying on the same plane of + thought we observe that if they were the higher race they would + have put us down. But a more detailed assignment of qualities + between the two peoples is possible. In general it may be said + that the two stood on much the same level of mentality, but that + they had specialised on different subjects, the Normans on war + and politics, the Irish on culture. Of the many writers who help + us to reconstruct the period we ought to signalise one, Mrs A.S. + Green, who to a rare scholarship adds something rarer, the genius + of common sense. This is not the place in which to recall the + whole substance of her "Making of Ireland and its Undoing" and + her "Irish Nationality"; but from borrowings thence and elsewhere + we can piece together a plain tale of that first chapter of the + Irish Question. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a> + <!-- Page 31 --><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>CHAPTER III + </h2> + <h3> + HISTORY + <br /> + <br /> + <i>(b) Plain</i> + </h3> + <p> + In those days war was the most lucrative industry open to a young + man of breeding, courage, and ability. Owners of capital regarded + it as a sound investment. What Professor Oman tells us of the + Normans in 1066 was equally true of them in 1169: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Duke William had undertaken his expedition not as a mere + feudal lord of the barons of Normandy but rather as the + managing director of a great joint-stock company for the + conquest of England, in which not only his own subjects but + hundreds of adventurers, poor and rich, from all parts of + Western Europe had taken shares." + </p> + </div> + <p> + The Normans, then, came to Ireland with their eyes on three + objects. In the first place, property. This was to be secured in + the case of each individual adventurer by the overthrow + <!-- Page 32 --><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>of some + individual Irish chieftain. It necessitated war in the shape of a + purely local, and indeed personal grapple. In the second place, + plunder. This was to be secured by raids, incursions, and + temporary alliances. In the third place, escape from the growing + power and exactions of the Crown. This was to be secured + geographically by migration to Ireland, and politically by + delaying, resolutely if discreetly, the extension in that country + of the over-lordship of the King. Herein lies the explanation of + the fact that for three and a half centuries the English + penetration into Ireland is a mere chaos of private appetites and + egotisms. The invaders, as we have said, were specialists in war, + and in the unification of states through war. This they had done + for England; this they failed to do for Ireland. The one + ingredient which, if dropped into the seething cauldron of her + life, must have produced the definite crystallisation of a new + nationality, complete in structure and function, was not + contributed. True, the Cymro-Franks proved themselves strong + enough in arms to maintain their foothold; if that physical test + is enough to establish their racial superiority then let us + salute Mr Jack Johnson as Zarathustra, the superman. But in their + one special and charac<!-- Page 33 --><a name="Page_33" id= + "Page_33"></a>teristic task they failed lamentably. Instead of + conquest and consolidation they gave us mere invasion and + disturbance. The disastrous role played by them has been unfolded + by many interpreters of history, by none with a more vivid + accuracy than we find in the pages of M. Paul-Dubois: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Had Ireland," he writes, "been left to herself she would, in + all human probability, have succeeded, notwithstanding her + decadence, in establishing political unity under a military + chief. Had the country been brought into peaceful contact with + continental civilisation, it must have advanced along the path + of modern progress. Even if it had been conquered by a powerful + nation, it would at least have participated in the progress of + the conquering power. But none of these things happened. + England, whose political and social development had been + hastened by the Norman Conquest, desired to extend her + influence to Ireland. 'She wished,' as Froude strangely tells + us, 'to complete the work of civilisation happily begun by the + Danes.' But in actual fact she only succeeded in trammelling + the development of Irish society, and maintaining in the + country an appalling condition of decadent stagnation, as the + result of three centuries and a half of intermittent invasions, + never followed by conquest." + </p> + </div> + <p> + On the other hand the triumph of Irish culture was easy and + absolute. Ireland, unvisited <!-- Page 34 --><a name="Page_34" + id="Page_34"></a>by the legions and the law of Rome, had evolved + a different vision of the life of men in community, or, in other + words, a different idea of the State. Put very briefly the + difference lay in this. The Romans and their inheritors organised + for purposes of war and order, the Irish for purposes of culture. + The one laid the emphasis on police, the other on poets. But for + a detailed exposition of the contrast I must send the reader to + Mrs Green's "Irish Nationality." In a world in which right is + little more than a secretion of might, in which, unless a strong + man armed keeps house, his enemies enter in, the weakness of the + Gaelic idea is obvious. But the Roman pattern too had a + characteristic vice which has led logically in our own time to a + monstrous and sinister growth of armaments. + </p> + <p> + To those who recognise in this deification of war the blackest + menace of our day the vision of a culture State is not without + charm. The shattering possibilities enfolded in it would have + fevered Nietzsche and fascinated Renan. But, be that as it may, + Ireland played Cleopatra to the Antony of the invaders. Some of + them, indeed, the "garrison" pure and simple, had all their + interests centred not only in resisting but in calumniating her. + But the majority <!-- Page 35 --><a name="Page_35" id= + "Page_35"></a>yielded gaily to her music, her poetry, her + sociability, that magical quality of hers which the Germans call + <i>Gemütlichkeit</i>. In a few centuries a new and enduring + phrase had designated them as more Irish than the Irish + themselves. So far as any superiority of civilisation manifests + itself in this first period it is altogether on the side of + Ireland. This power of assimilation has never decayed. There + never was a nation, not even the United States, that so subdued + and re-fashioned those who came to her shores, that so wrought + them into her own blood and tissue. The Norman baron is + transformed in a few generations into an Irish chieftain, and as + often as not into an Irish "rebel." The Jacobite planter of the + first decade of the seventeenth century is in the fifth decade + found in arms against Cromwell; the Cromwellian settler is + destined in turn to shed his blood for James II. and Catholicity. + Protestant colonists who, in the early eighteenth century, + enforce and defend the abominable Penal Laws, will in 1782 + demand, with drawn swords, that henceforth there shall be no + longer a Protestant colony but in its place an Irish nation. The + personal history of the captains of the Irish cause in modern + times is no less remarkable. O'Connell begins his public career + in the Yeomanry called out to put <!-- Page 36 --><a name= + "Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>down the insurrectionary movement of + Emmet. Isaac Butt comes first into note as the orator of the + Orange Party in Dublin. Parnell himself steps out of a Tory + milieu and tradition into the central tumult of agitation. Wave + after incoming wave of them, her conquerors were conquered. "Once + again," cried Parnell in the last public utterance of his life, + "I am come to cast myself into the deep sea of the love of my + people." In that deep sea a hundred diverse currents of blood + have met and mingled; they have lost their individual drift to + become part of the strong tide of national consciousness and + national unity. If Irish history is to be regarded as a test of + racial superiority then Ireland emerges with the crown and + garlands of victory. We came, we the invaders, to dominate, and + we remained to serve. For Ireland has signed us with the oil and + chrism of her human sacrament, and even though we should deny the + faith with our lips she would hold our hearts to the end. + </p> + <p> + But let us translate her triumph into more concrete speech. The + essential lesson of experience, then, is that no device, plan, or + policy adopted by England for the subjugation of Ireland has ever + been anything except an abject failure. And the positive of this + nega<!-- Page 37 --><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>tive is + that every claim that ever formed part of the national programme + of Ireland has won its way against all enmities. No plough to + which she ever put her hand has been turned back or stayed + eternally in mid-furrow. It does not matter what period you call + to the witness-box; the testimony is uniform and unvarying. Until + Tudor times, as has been noted, there cannot be said to have been + in any strict sense an English policy in Ireland; there was only + a scuffle of appetites. In so far as there was a policy it + consisted of sporadic murder for the one half, and for the other + of an attempt to prevent all intercourse that might lead to + amalgamation between the two peoples. The Statute of + Kilkenny—which is, all things considered, more important + than the Kilkenny cats though not so well known in + England—made it a capital offence for a settler to marry an + Irishwoman or to adopt the Irish language, law, or costume. The + Act no doubt provided a good many ruffians with legal and even + ecclesiastical fig-leaves with which to cover their ruffianism, + and promoted among the garrison such laudable objects as rape and + assassination. But as a breakwater between the two races it did + not fulfil expectation. The Statute was passed in 1367: and two + centuries later Henry <!-- Page 38 --><a name="Page_38" id= + "Page_38"></a>VIII. was forced to appoint as his Deputy the + famous Garrett Fitzgerald whose life was a militant denial of + every clause and letter of it. With the Tudors, after some + diplomatic preliminaries, a very clear and business-like policy + was developed. Seeing that the only sort of quiet Irishman known + to contemporary science was a dead Irishman, English Deputies and + Governors were instructed to pacify Ireland by slaughtering or + starving the entire population. The record of their conscientious + effort to obey these instructions may be studied in any writer of + the period, or in any historian, say Mr Froude. For Mr Froude, in + his pursuit of the picturesque, was always ready to resort to the + most extreme measures; he sometimes even went so far as to tell + the truth. The noblest and ablest English minds lent their aids. + Sir Walter Raleigh and Edmund Spenser were both rather + circumambulatory on paper; the work of each is 'a long monotone + broken by two or three exquisite immortalities. But they were + both as concise in action as an Elizabethan headsman. Sir Walter + helped Lord Grey, the recognised pattern in those days of the + Christian gentleman, to put to death seven hundred + prisoners-of-war at Smerwick. Spenser, being no soldier, leaned + rather to famine. In his <!-- Page 39 --><a name="Page_39" id= + "Page_39"></a>famous book he recommends the destruction of crops, + houses, cattle, and all necessaries of life so that the Irish + should "soon be compelled to devour each other." The + Commanders-in-Chief and the Deputies specialised in poison, as + became men whose wealth and learning enabled them to keep in + touch with the Italian Renaissance. Bluff, straightforward + troopers like Mountjoy, Malby, Wilmot, Bagenal, Chichester, and + the rest, not pretending to such refinements, did their best in + the way of hanging, stabbing, and burning. In those days as well + as ours the children had their Charter. "Nits," said the trustees + of civilisation, "will grow to lice." And so they tossed them on + the points of their swords, thus combining work with play, or fed + them on the roast corpses of their relatives, and afterwards + strangled them with tresses of their mother's hair. + </p> + <p> + I do not recall these facts in order to show that Elizabethan + policy was a riot of blackguardism. That is obvious, and it is + irrelevant. I mention them in order to show that the + blackguardism under review was an unrelieved failure. At one + time, indeed, it seemed to have succeeded. + </p> + <p> + "Ireland, brayed as in a mortar, to use Sir John Davies' phrase," + writes M. Paul-Dubois, "at last <!-- Page 40 --><a name="Page_40" + id="Page_40"></a>submitted. In the last years of the century half + the population had perished. Elizabeth reigned over corpses and + ashes. <i>Hibernia Pacata</i>—Ireland is 'pacified.'" + </p> + <hr style='width: 45%;' /> + <p> + The blunder discloses itself at a glance. Only half the + population had perished; there were still alive, according to the + most probable estimate, quite two hundred thousand Irishmen. The + next generation helps to illustrate not only the + indestructibility of Ireland, but her all but miraculous power of + recuperation. So abundant are the resources of his own vitality + that, as Dr Moritz Bonn declares, an Irish peasant can live where + a continental goat would starve. And not having read + Malthus—Mr Malthus at that time being even less readable + than since—the Irish remnant proceeded to develop anew into + a nation. In forty years it was marching behind that <i>beau + chevalier</i> Owen Roe O'Neill to battle and victory. O'Neill, a + general famous through Europe, the one man who might have + measured equal swords with Cromwell, was removed by poison, and + then came the massacres. In eleven years, Sir William Petty + assures us, 616,000 out of a total population of 1,466,000 + perished by the sword or by starvation. For the remainder the + policy of root and branch extermination was abandoned in favour + <!-- Page 41 --><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>of a policy of + State-aided migration and emigration. As an alternative to hell + the Irish were deported to Connaught or the Barbadoes. Henceforth + there were to be three provinces of loyal English, and one of + rebelly Irish. This again was not a radiant success. The + transformation of the Cromwellian settler has been indicated; if + you were to search for him to-day you would probably find him + President of the local branch of the United Irish League. The + story repeats itself period after period. The Penal Laws did not + protestantise Ireland. The eighteenth century may be said to mark + the lowest ebb of national life, but the tide was to turn. After + Aughrim and the Boyne, the new device of England was to sacrifice + everything to the "garrison." "Protestant Ireland," as Grattan + put it, "knelt to England on the necks of her countrymen." In one + aspect the garrison were tyrants; in another they were slaves. + They were at once oppressors and oppressed. There was a sort of + "deal" between them and the English Government by which the + public welfare was to be sacrificed to the English Government, + the Irish Catholics to the "garrison." A vile programme, but + subtle and adroit, it bore its unnatural fruit of legislation, + passed by the Westminster Parliament and the + <!-- Page 42 --><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>Dublin + Garrison Parliament alike, for the destruction of every + manufacturing and commercial interest in Ireland that was thought + to conflict with a similar interest in England. But another + debacle has to be chronicled. Out of the very baseness of this + regime a new patriotism was begotten. The garrison, awakening + abruptly to the fact that it had no country, determined to invent + one; and there was brought to birth that modern Ireland, + passionate for freedom, which has occupied the stage ever since. + In our own time it has knit, as a fractured limb knits, into one + tissue with the tradition of the Gaelic peasantry. Hanging and + burning, torture and oppression, poison and Penal Laws, bribes + and blackguardism so far from exterminating the Irish people + actually hammered them into a nation, one and indestructible, + proud of its past and confident of its future. + </p> + <p> + Take instances still more recent and particular—the + struggle for religious freedom or the struggle for the land. + Catholic emancipation is a leading case: obstinacy against + obstinacy, the No! of England against the Yes! of Ireland, and + the former sprawling in the ditch at the end of the tussle. "The + Law," ran the dictum of an eighteenth-century Lord Chancellor, + "does not suppose any such person to <!-- Page 43 --><a name= + "Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>exist as an Irish Roman Catholic." At + this moment a Catholic holds the seals and purse of the + Chancellorship. Never did ministers swallow their own stubborn + words more incontinently than did Peel and Wellington. So late as + 1828 Peel was loudly declaring that the continuance of these + bars, which excluded the Catholics from the acquisition of + political power, was necessary for the maintenance of the + Constitution and the safety of the Church, and Wellington was + echoing his words. A year later, utterly defeated by O'Connell, + Peel was introducing the Catholic Relief Bill in the Commons. + Wellington had it for his task to induce, or rather frighten the + king to assent. Ireland not only emancipated the Catholics, she + went on to emancipate the Dissenters, a service of freedom of + conscience which is too often forgotten. + </p> + <p> + The Tithe System was similarly declared to be part of the fabric + of the Constitution, to be upheld at the point of the bayonet. + Scythe in hand, the Irish peasant proclaimed that it must go. It + went. Still more fundamental was the existence of the Protestant + Established Church. To touch it was to lay hands on the Ark. + Orange orators threatened civil war; two hundred thousand + Ulstermen were to shoulder their <!-- Page 44 --><a name= + "Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>Minie Rifles, and not merely slaughter + the Catholics but even depose Queen Victoria. + </p> + <p> + Ireland said that the Establishment too must go; and, with the + echoed menace of Fenianism ringing in his ears, Mr Gladstone + hauled down the official blazon of Ascendancy. "Ulster" did not + fight. But the fierce struggle for the land affords the crucial + test. Landlordism of that most savage type which held for its + whole gospel that a man may do what he likes with his own was + conceived to be the very corner-stone of British rule in Ireland. + It controlled Parliament, the judiciary, the schools, the Press, + and possessed in the Royal Irish Constabulary an incomparable + watch-dog. It had resisted the criticism and attack loosened + against it by the scandal of the Great Famine. Then suddenly + Ireland took the business in hand. On a certain day in October + 1879, some thirty men met in a small hotel in Dublin and, under + the inspiration of Michael Davitt, founded the Land League. To + the programme then formulated, the expropriation of the landlords + at twenty years' purchase of their rents, England as usual said + No! The proposal was thundered against as confiscation, + communism, naked and shameful. To any student, with patience + sufficient for the task, the contemporary files of such + <!-- Page 45 --><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>journals as + the <i>Times</i> will furnish an exquisite chapter in the + literature of obtuseness. England sustained her No! with batons, + bullets, plank-beds, Coercion courts, and an occasional halter; + Ireland her Yes! with "agitation." Is it necessary to ask who + won? Is it necessary to trace step by step the complete surrender + of the last ditchers of those days? The fantastic and wicked + dreams of the agitators have in thirty years translated + themselves into Statute Law and solid fact. An English statesman + of the period, say Mr Balfour or Mr Wyndham, is fortunate if, + with a few odd rags pilfered from the Land League wardrobe, he + can conceal from history his utter poverty of ideas. + </p> + <p> + This, then, is the essential wisdom of Irish history: Ireland has + won all along the line. The Normans did not normanise her. The + Tudors did not exterminate her. She has undone the Confiscations, + and drawn a cancelling pen through the Penal Laws. The Act of + Union, so far from suppressing her individuality or overwhelming + it, has actually brought it to that full self-consciousness which + constitutes the coming of age of a nation. Tears, as we read in + Wordsworth, to human suffering are due; if there be anyone with + tears at command he may shed them, with great fitness, and with + <!-- Page 46 --><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>no profit at + all, over the long martyrdom of Ireland. But let him, at least if + he values facts, think twice before he goes on to apply to her + that other line which speaks of human hopes defeated and + overthrown. No other people in the world has held so staunchly to + its inner vision; none other has, with such fiery patience, + repelled the hostility of circumstances, and in the end reshaped + them after the desire of her heart. Hats off to success, + gentlemen! Your modern God may well be troubled at sight of this + enigmatic Ireland which at once despises him, and tumbles his + faithfullest worshippers in the sand of their own amphitheatre. + Yet, so it is. The Confederate General, seeing victory suddenly + snatched from his hands, and not for the first time, by Meagher's + Brigade, exclaimed in immortal profanity: "There comes that + damned Green Flag again!" I have often commended that phrase to + Englishmen as admirably expressive of the historical role and + record of Ireland in British Politics. The damned Green Flag + flutters again in their eyes, and if they will but listen to the + music that marches with it, they will find that the lamenting + fifes are dominated wholly by the drums of victory. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><!-- Page 47 --><a name= + "Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <h3> + THE OBVIOUSNESS OF HOME RULE + </h3> + <p> + Ireland, then, has made it her foible to be not only right but + irresistible in her past demands. What is it that she now claims, + and on what grounds? She claims the right to enter into + possession of her own soul. She claims the <i>toga virilis</i>, + and all the strengthening burdens of freedom. Now it is difficult + to represent such a demand in terms of argument. Liberty is no + mere conclusion of linked logic long-drawn out: it is an axiom, a + flaming avatar. The arguments by which it is defended are + important, but they bear to it much the same relation that a + table of the wave-lengths of various rays of light bears to the + immediate glory of a sunrise. There is another obstacle. + Self-government, like other spiritual realities, say love or + civilisation, is too vast, obvious, and natural to be easily + imprisoned in words. You are certainly in love; suppose you were + <!-- Page 48 --><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>suddenly asked + "to state the case" for love? You are probably civilised; suppose + you were suddenly asked "to state the case for civilisation"? So + it is with the Home Rule idea. To ask what is the gate of + entrance to it is like asking what was the gate of entrance to + hundred-gated Thebes. My friend, Mr Barry O'Brien, in lecturing + on Ireland, used to begin by recounting a very agreeable and + appropriate story. A prisoner on trial was asked whether he would + accept for his case the jury which had tried the last. He + objected very vehemently. "Well, but," said the Judge, "what is + the nature of your objection? Do you object to the panel or to + the array?" "Ah!" replied the traverser, "if you want to know, I + object to the whole damned business." That is approximately our + objection to the present system of government in Ireland. But let + me attempt to group under a series of somewhat arbitrary headings + the "case for Home Rule," that is to say, the case for applying + to Ireland the plain platitudes of constitutional freedom. + </p> + <p> + The whole matter roots in the fact of nationality. Nationality is + to political life what personality is to mental life, the + mainspring, namely, of the mechanism. The two principles of + organisation have this in common, that <!-- Page 49 --><a name= + "Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>although by, through, and for them the + entire pageant of our experience is unfolded, we are unable to + capture either of them in a precise formula. That I am a person I + know; but what is a person? That Ireland is a nation I know; but + what is a nation? "A community of memories and hopes," says + Anatole France; but that applies to a football club. Something + for which a man will die, says Mr T. M. Healy: but men will die + for strange reasons; there was a French poet who shot himself + because the trees were always green in the spring and never, for + a change, blue or red. A cultural unit, say the anthropologists; + an idea of the divine mind, declare Mazzini and the mystics' of + sociology. Each of these formulas possesses a certain relative + truth, but all of them together come short of the whole truth. + Nationality, which acts better perhaps than it argues, is one of + the great forces of nature and of human nature that have got to + be accepted. Nationality will out, and where it exists it will, + in spite of all resistance, strain fiercely to express itself in + some sort of autonomous government. + </p> + <p> + German romance depicts for us the misery and restlessness of a + man who had lost his shadow. Catholic theologians—if the + masters of a wisdom too high and too austere for these + <!-- Page 50 --><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>days may be + invoked—tell us that the departed soul, even though it be + in Paradise, hungers with a great desire for the Resurrection + that it may be restored to its life-long comrade, the body. + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span>"The crimson-throbbing glow + <br /></span> <span>Into its old abode aye pants to go." + <br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <p> + Look again at Ireland and you will discern, under all conflicts, + that unity of memory, of will, of material interest, of + temperamental atmosphere which knits men into a nation. You will + notice the presence of these characteristics, but it is an + absence, a void that will most impress you. You will see not a + body that has lost its shadow, but something more + sinister—a soul that has been sundered from its natural + body. She demands restoration. She sues out a <i>habeas + corpus</i> of a kind not elsewhere to be paralleled. That is the + "Irish Question." + </p> + <p> + You may not like this interpretation of things. It may seem to + you fantastic, nasty, perilous to all comfort. Life often does + make on the tender-hearted an impression of coarse violence; + life, nevertheless, always has its way. What other interpretation + is possible? Lancashire, to take any random contrast, is much + richer than Ireland in wealth and population; but Lancashire is + not a "Question." Lancashire is not <!-- Page 51 --><a name= + "Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>a "Question" because Lancashire is not + a nation. Ireland is a "Question" because Ireland is a nation. + Her fundamental claim is a claim for the constitutional + recognition of nationality. + </p> + <p> + We have seen that in almost every conflict between English and + Irish ideas the latter have had the justification of success. + This holds good also as regards our long insistence on + nationality as a principle of political organisation. In various + passages of the nineteenth century it seemed to be gravely + compromised. Capital, its mobility indefinitely increased by the + improved technique of exchange, became essentially a citizen of + the world. The earth was all about it where to choose; its + masters, falsely identifying patriotism with the Protectionism + then dominant, struck at both, and the Free Trade movement + philosophised itself into cosmopolitanism. Labour, like capital, + showed a rapid tendency to become international or rather + supernational. "The workers," proclaimed Marx, "have no + fatherland." While this was the drift of ideas in the economic + sphere, that in the political was no more favourable. Belgium + seemed on the point of extinction, Italy was a mere geographical + expression, Hungary was abject and broken. In the + <!-- Page 52 --><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>narrower but + even more significant sphere of British colonial policy the + passion for centralisation had not yet been understood in all its + folly. Downing Street still functioned as the Dublin Castle of + the Empire. The possibility of the overseas possessions + developing that rich, strong individuality which characterises + them to-day would have been dismissed with horror. The colour and + texture of men's thought on these subjects has undergone a + notable transformation. Cosmopolitanism of the old type is a + slain hallucination. Capital in our time is not content to be a + patriot, it is a Jingo. As to labour, if we turn to its politics + we find Herr Bebel declaring that the German socialist is first + of all a German, and Mr Ramsay MacDonald pledging his adherents + to support any war necessary for the assertion of English + prestige. If we turn to its theoretical sociology we find the + national idea rehabilitated and triumphant. + </p> + <p> + Such intellectual reconstructions do not, as a rule, begin in + England, or find in English their characteristic formulæ. Mr + Blatchford might indeed be cited, but it is in the brilliant + literature of German Social Democracy that the most scientific + expression of the new spirit is to be sought. Truly Marx has been + indeed <!-- Page 53 --><a name="Page_53" id= + "Page_53"></a>translated. His abstract and etiolated + internationalism has been replaced by the warm humanity of + writers like, say, David or Pernerstorfer. The principle of + nationality is Vindicated by the latter in a noble passage. I + quote it from Sombart's "Socialism and the Social Movement." + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Nationality in its highest form is ... a precious possession. + It is the highest expression of human civilisation in an + individual form, and mankind is the richer for its appearance. + Our purpose is not only to see to it that men shall be housed + and fed and clothed in a manner worthy of human beings, but + also that they may become humanised by participation in the + culture of centuries, that they may themselves possess culture + and produce it. All culture is national. It takes its rise in + some special people, and reaches its highest form in national + character.... Socialism and the national idea are thus not + opposed to each other. Every attempt to weaken the national + idea is an attempt to lessen the precious possessions of + mankind.... Socialism wants to organise, and not disintegrate, + humanity. But in the organisms of mankind, not individuals, but + nations are the tissues, and if the whole organism is to remain + healthy it is necessary for the tissues to be healthy.... The + peoples, despite the changes they undergo, are everlasting, and + they add to their own greatness by helping the world upward. + And <!-- Page 54 --><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>so we + are at one and the same time good Socialists and good Germans." + </p> + </div> + <p> + This might almost seem to be a rhapsody, but every movement of + continental politics in recent times confirms and enforces its + plain truth. "The spirit of resurgent nationality," as Professor + Bury of Cambridge tells us, "has governed, as one of the most + puissant forces, the political course of the last century and is + still unexhausted." It has governed not only the West but the + East; the twain have met in that demand for a constitutional + national State which in our day has flamed up, a fire not to be + put out, in Turkey, Persia, Egypt. But it is in Imperial politics + that the bouleversement has been most complete. When critics now + find fault with the structure of the Empire they complain not + that there is too much Downing Street in it, but that the + residual power of Downing Street-is not visible to the naked eye. + To us Irish the blindness of England to the meaning of her own + colonial work is a maddening miracle. A wit of the time met + Goldsmith at dinner. The novelist was a little more disconcerting + than usual, a result, let us charitably hope, of the excellence + of the claret. Afterwards they asked his fellow-diner what he + thought of the <!-- Page 55 --><a name="Page_55" id= + "Page_55"></a>author. "Well," he replied, "I believe that that + man wrote 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' and, let me tell you, it + takes a lot of believing." Similarly when we in Ireland learn + that Great Britain has founded on the principle of local autonomy + an Empire on which the sun never sets, we nerve ourselves to an + Act of Faith. It is not inappropriate to observe that a large + part of the "founding" was done by Irishmen. + </p> + <p> + But the point of immediate interest lies in this. The foolishness + of England in Ireland finds an exact parallel, although on a + smaller scale and for a shorter period, in the early foolishness + of England in her own colonies. In both cases there is an attempt + to suppress individuality and initiative, to exploit, to bully, + to Downing Street-ify. It was a policy of Unionism, the sort of + Unionism that linked the destiny of the lady to that of the + tiger. The fruits of it were a little bitter in the eating. The + colonies in which under the Home Rule regime "loyalty" has + blossomed like the rose, were in those days most distressingly + disloyal. + </p> + <p> + Cattle-driving and all manner of iniquities of that order in + Canada; the boycott adopted not as a class, but as a national, + weapon in Cape Colony; the Eureka stockade in Australia; + Christian De Wet and the crack of Mausers in the + <!-- Page 56 --><a name="Page_56" id= + "Page_56"></a>Transvaal—such were the propædeutics to the + establishment of freedom and the dawn of loyalty in the overseas + possessions. But in this field of government the gods gave + England not only a great pioneer, Lord Durham, but also the grace + to listen to him. His Canadian policy set a headline which has + been faithfully and fruitfully copied. Its success was + irresistible. Let the "Cambridge Modern History" tell the tale of + before and after Home Rule in the Dominion: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Provincial jealousies have dwindled to vanishing point; racial + antipathies no longer imperil the prosperity of the Dominion; + religious animosities have lost their mischievous power in a + new atmosphere of common justice and toleration. Canada, as the + direct outcome of Confederation, has grown strong, prosperous, + energetic. The unhappy divisions which prevailed at the + beginning of the nineteenth century, and which darkened with + actual revolt and bloodshed the dawn of the Victorian era, are + now only a memory. The links which bind the Dominion to Great + Britain may on paper seem slight, but they are resistless. + Imperial Federation has still great tasks to accomplish within + our widely scattered Imperial domains, but its success in + Canada may be accepted as the pledge of its triumph elsewhere. + Canada is a nation within the Empire, and in Kipling's phrase + is 'daughter in her mother's house and mistress in her own.'" + </p> + </div> + <p> + <!-- Page 57 --><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>This is the + authentic harvest of freedom. + </p> + <p> + The "unity" of the old regime which, in a Bismarckian phrase, was + like paper pasted over ever-widening cracks, was abandoned. The + Separatist programme triumphed. And the outcome? The sham unity + of government has been replaced by a real unity of interest, + affection and cultural affinity. We find administrators like Mr + Lyttleton, former Tory Secretary for the Colonies, engaged to-day + not in suppressing but in celebrating the "varied individuality" + of the overseas possessions. As for the political effects of the + change, every English writer repeats of the Colonies what + Grattan, in other circumstances, said of the Irish: Loyalty is + their foible. There is indeed one notable flaw in the colonial + parallel. I have spoken as if the claim of the Colonies on foot + of the principle of nationality was comparable to that of + Ireland. That of course was not the case. They were at most + nations in the making; she was a nation made. Home Rule helped on + their growth; in its benign warmth Australia, Canada, New + Zealand, and South Africa have developed not only a political + complexion characteristic of each but a literature, an art and + even a slang equally characteristic. Ireland, on the other hand, + has manifested throughout her whole history an + <!-- Page 58 --><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>amazing + faculty of assimilating and nationalising everything that came to + her from without. + </p> + <p> + The will to preserve her nationality motived her whole life, + especially in the modern period. The declared dream of Grattan + was, as we have seen, to transform a Protestant colony into an + Irish nation. Wolfe Tone confessed the same inspiration; Emmet's + speech from the dock was that and nothing else. It was the whole + of Davis in thought, and of O'Connell in action. Isaac Butt + yielded to its fascination, and found for it the watchword, Home + Rule. It was formulated by Parnell in a speech the capital + passage of which forms the inscription on his monument. It echoes + and re-echoes through the resolutions of every meeting, and + constitutes for many orators their total stock of political + ideas. It provides the title of the Irish delegation to + Parliament, and is endorsed at General Election after General + Election by a great and unchanging majority. A people such as + this is not to be exterminated. An ideal such as this is not to + be destroyed. Recognise the one, sever the ligatures that check + the free flow of blood through the veins of the other, and enrich + your federation of autonomous peoples with another rich + individuality. Imitate in Ireland your own wisdom in dealing with + the Colonies, and the <!-- Page 59 --><a name="Page_59" id= + "Page_59"></a>same policy will bear the same harvest. For justice + given the Colonies gave you friendship, as for injustice + stubbornly upheld they had given you hatred. The analogy with + Ireland is complete so far as the cards have been played. The + same human elements are there, the same pride, the same anger, + the same willingness to forget anger. Why should the augury fail? + </p> + <p> + I can hear in imagination the sniff of the unimaginative reader; + I can figure to myself his instant dismissal of all these + considerations as "sentiment." Let the word stand, coloured + though it is with associations that degrade it. But is + "sentiment" to be ignored in the fixing of constitutions? Ruskin + asks a pertinent question. What is it after all but "sentiment," + he inquires, that prevents a man from killing his grandmother in + time of hunger? Sentiment is the most respectable thing in human + psychology. No one believes in it more thoroughly than your + reactionary Tory. But he wears his heart on his sleeve with a + difference. He is so greedily patriotic that he would keep all + the patriotism in the world to himself. That he should love his + country is natural and noble, a theme so high as to be worthy of + Mr Kipling or even Mr Alfred Austin himself. That we should love + ours is a sort of middle term between treason + <!-- Page 60 --><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>and insanity. + It is as if a lover were to insist that no poems should be + written to any woman except <i>his</i> mistress. It is as if he + were to put the Coercion Act in force against anyone found + shedding tears over the sufferings of any mother except + <i>his</i> mother. In fact it is the sort of domineering + thick-headedness that never fails to produce disloyalty. + </p> + <p> + The national idea, then, is the foundation of the "case for Home + Rule." It might indeed be styled the whole case, but this anthem + of nationality may be transposed into many keys. Translated into + terms of ethics it becomes that noble epigram of Sir Henry + Campbell Bannerman's for which I would exchange a whole library + of Gladstonian eloquence: "Good government is no substitute for + self-government." In Ireland we have enjoyed neither. Political + subjection has mildewed our destiny, leaf and stem. But were it + not so, had we increased in wealth like Egypt, in population like + Poland, the vital argument for autonomy would be neither weaker + nor stronger. Rich or poor, a man must be master of his own fate. + Poor or rich, a nation must be captain of her own soul. In the + suburban road in which you live there are probably at least a + hundred other house-holds. Now if you were all, each suppressing + <!-- Page 61 --><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>his + individuality, to club together you could build in place of the + brick-boxes in which you live a magnificent phalanstery. There + you could have more air for your lungs and more art for your + soul, a spacious and a gracious life, cheaper washing, cheaper + food, and a royal kitchen. But you will not do it. Why? Because + it profiteth a man nothing to gain the services of a Paris + <i>maître d'hôtel</i> and to lose his own soul. In an attic + fourteen feet by seven, which he can call his own, a man has room + to breathe; in a Renaissance palace, controlled by a committee on + which he is in a permanent minority of one, he has no room to + breathe. Home Rulers are fond of phrasing their programme as a + demand on the part of Ireland that she shall control the + management of her domestic affairs. The language fits the facts + like a glove. The difference between Unionism and Home Rule is + the difference between being compelled to live in an ostentatious + and lonely hotel and being permitted to live in a simple, + friendly house of one's own. + </p> + <p> + Translated into terms of administration the gospel of autonomy + becomes the doctrine of "the man on the spot." That is the Eleven + Rule of Imperial Policy, and although it has sometimes been + ridden to death, in fact to murder, <!-- Page 62 --><a name= + "Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>as in the Denshawai hangings, it is a + sound rule. A man who has gone to the trouble of being born, + bred, and ordinarily domiciled in, say, Kamskatcka is more likely + to understand the affairs of Kamskatcka than a man whose life + oscillates daily like a pendulum between Clapham and the Strand. + The old natural philosophers accepted the theory of <i>actio + distans</i>, that is to say they assumed that a body could act + effectively where it was not. This was Unionism in science, and + needless to say it was wrong. In politics it is equally wrong, + and it has been repudiated everywhere except in Ireland. Physical + vision is limited in range; as the distance increases the vision + declines in clearness, becomes subject to illusion, finally + ceases. Now you in London, through mere limitations of human + faculty, cannot see us in Dublin. You are trying to govern + Ireland in the fashion in which, according to Wordsworth, all bad + literature has been written, that is to say, without your eye on + the object. But it is time to have done with this stern, long + chase of the obvious. + </p> + <p> + Translated into terms of economics the gospel of autonomy becomes + the doctrine of a "stake in the country." England has, indeed, a + stake in Ireland. She has the same interest + <!-- Page 63 --><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>in seeing + Ireland prosperous that a bootmaker has in learning from his + farmer client that the crops are good. Each country is in great + measure the economic complement of the other. But if the + bootmaker were to insist on having his finger in the farmer's + pie, the pie, destined for the bootmaker's own appetite, would + not be improved. If he were to insist on applying to the living + cow those processes which he applies with such success to the + dead leather, the cow would suffer and ultimately there would be + no boots. Generally speaking, each of us improves his own + business by declining to mind anybody else's. Home Rule will give + England precisely this chance of sticking to her last. To Ireland + it will come with both hands full of new opportunities and new + responsibilities. + </p> + <p> + To realise that the national idea in Ireland arouses an emotion, + at once massive, intense, and enduring, is to understand many + derivative riddles. We are all familiar with the complaint that + there is in Ireland too much politics and too little business. Of + course there is, and not only too little business but too little + literature, too little philosophy, too little social effort, too + little fun. We Nationalists have grasped this better and + proclaimed it more steadily than any Unionist. There is as much + truth in saying <!-- Page 64 --><a name="Page_64" id= + "Page_64"></a>that life begins where politics end, as in saying + that love begins where love-making ends. Constitutional freedom + is not the fifth act of the social drama in modern times, it is + rather the prologue, or, better still, the theatre in which other + ideas that move men find an arena for their conflict. Ireland, a + little exhausted by her intense efforts of the last thirty years, + does assuredly need a rest-cure from agitation. But this healing + peace is itself a gift of autonomy. A tooth-ache concentrates the + whole mind on one particular emotion, which is a bad thing, and + breeds profanity, which is worse. But it is idle to tell a man + with a tooth-ache that what he needs in his life is less cursing + and more business. He cannot work effectively so long as he + suffers; the only way to peace is to cure the tooth-ache. And in + order to get rid of politics in Ireland, you must give Ireland + Home Rule. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><!-- Page 65 --><a name= + "Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>CHAPTER V + </h2> + <h3> + THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (1) + </h3> + <p> + Ireland, as we have seen, has had the misfortune to provoke many + worthy writers to a sad debauch of sentimentalism. It has pleased + their fancy especially to picture her as a sphinx, mysterious, + elusive, inscrutable. It is impossible to govern her, declare + these theorists, because it is impossible to understand her. She + is the <i>femme incomprise</i> of modern politics. Her + temperament is a magnet for disaster, her soul a sanctuary of + inviolable secrets. So runs the rhapsody, and many of my own + countrymen have thought it good strategy to accept and exploit + it. They have this to urge, indeed, that failure to make oneself + understood is commonly regarded as a sign of the superior mind. + Lord Rosebery, for example, has told us that he himself, for all + his honey-dropping tongue, has never been properly understood. + And Hegel, the great German philosopher, who was so great a + philosopher that we may without <!-- Page 66 --><a name="Page_66" + id="Page_66"></a>impropriety mention his name even in the + brilliant vicinage of the Earl of Midlothian, used to sigh: + "Alas! in the whole of my teaching career I had but one student + who understood my system, and he mis-understood it." This is all + very well in its way, and a climate of incomprehension may suit + orators and metaphysicians admirably; but it will not do for + politics. The party or people that fails to make its programme + understood is politically incompetent, and Ireland is assuredly + safe from any such imputation. She has her spiritual secrets, + buried deep in what we may call the subliminal consciousness of + the race, and to the disclosure of these secrets we may look with + confidence for the inspiration of a new literature. But in + politics Ireland has no secrets. All her cards are on the table, + decipherable at the first glance. Her political demand combines + the lucidity of an invoice with the axiomatic rectitude of the + Ten Commandments. There is no doubt about what she wants, and + none about why she ought to have it. In that sense the case for + Home Rule is made, and this book, having justified its title, + ought to come to an end. But convention prescribes that about the + nude contour of principles there should be cast a certain drapery + of details, and such conventions are better obeyed. + </p> + <p> + <!-- Page 67 --><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>Where we are + to begin is another matter. We are, as has been so often + suggested, in presence of a situation in which one cannot see the + trees for the forest. The principle of the government of Ireland + is so integrally wrong that it is difficult to signalise any one + point in which it is more wrong than it is in any other. A + timber-chaser, that is to say a pioneer for a lumber firm, in the + Western States of America once found himself out of spirits. He + decided to go out of life, and being thorough in his ways he left + nothing to chance. He set fire to his cabin, and, mounting the + table, noosed his neck to a beam, drank a large quantity of + poison, and, as he kicked over the table, simultaneously shot + himself through the head and drew a razor across his throat. + Later on the doctor had to fill in the usual certificate. At + "Cause of Death" he paused, pondered, and at last wrote, "Causes + too numerous to specify." The fable possesses a certain + suggestive value upon which we need not enlarge. How, one may + well ask, are we to itemise the retail iniquities of a system of + government which is itself a wholesale iniquity? But since we + must begin somewhere let us begin with the Economics of Unionism. + </p> + <p> + In this often-written, and perhaps over-<!-- Page 68 --><a name= + "Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>written story there is one feature of + some little comfort. Whatever quarrel there may be as to causes, + the facts are not disputed. Pitt and his friends promised that + the Union would be followed by general prosperity, development of + manufacturers, and expansion of commerce. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Among the great and known defects of Ireland," he declared in + a typical statement, "one of the most prominent features is its + want of industry and of capital. How are these wants to be + supplied but by blending more closely with Ireland the industry + and capital of Great Britain?" + </p> + </div> + <p> + It was a Witches' Promise making smooth the path to damnation. In + every point in which Pitt had prophesied white the moving finger + of history began, from the very day of the Union, to write black. + The injury to the whole economic tissue of Ireland was immediate, + cumulative, in the end crushing. + </p> + <p> + We have at hand authoritative figures of the decline collected by + various Commissions and private inquirers. Let us note some of + these as summarised by Monsignor O'Riordan in his remarkable + book, "Catholicism and Progress": + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Again, in 1800 there were 91 woollen manufacturers in Dublin + and 4938 hands employed; in 1840 there were only 12 + manufacturers, and 682 <!-- Page 69 --><a name="Page_69" id= + "Page_69"></a>hands employed; in 1880, only 3 manufacturers in + Dublin and around it. In 1800 there were 56 blanket + manufacturers in Kilkenny, and 3000 hands employed; in 1840 + there were 12 manufacturers and 925 hands employed. In 1800 + there were 900 hands employed on ratteens and friezes in + Roscrea; in 1840 the industry had completely disappeared. In + 1800 there were 1000 flannel looms in County Wicklow; in 1840 + there was not one. In 1800 there were 2500 looms at work in + Dublin for the manufacture of silk and poplin; in 1840 there + were only 250. In 1800 there were 27,000 cotton workers in + Belfast and around it; in 1840 there were only 12,000. In 1800 + there were 61,075 tradesmen in Dublin for the woollen, silk, + and cotton industries; in 1834 there were only 14,446, and of + these 4412 were idle, showing a decrease of 51,041 in the + employed." + </p> + </div> + <p> + There was, we must add, an increase in other directions. For + instance, whereas there had been only seven bankruptcies decreed + in Dublin in 1799 there were 125 in 1810. The number of insolvent + houses grew in seven years from 880 to 4719. These figures are + not random but symptomatic. Mr Pitt had promised to blend Ireland + with the capital and industry of Great Britain; he blended them + as the edge of a tomahawk is blended with the spattered brains of + its victim. We have glanced at the condition of + <!-- Page 70 --><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>manufacture. + Lest it should be assumed that the tiller of land at least had + profited by the Napoleonic Wars, with their consequent high + prices, let me hasten to add that the Grey Commission, reporting + in 1836, had to inform the Government that 2,385,000 persons, + nearly one-third of the population, were "in great need of food." + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Their habitations," the Report proceeds, "are wretched hovels; + several of the family sleep together on straw, or on the bare + ground, sometimes with a blanket, sometimes not even so much to + cover them. Their food commonly consists of dry potatoes; and + with these they are at times so scantily supplied as to be + obliged to stint themselves to one spare meal in the day.... + They sometimes get a herring or a little milk, but they never + get meat except at Christmas, Easter, and Shrovetide." + </p> + </div> + <p> + But a truce to these dismal chronicles. The <i>post hoc</i> may + be taken as established; was it a <i>propter hoc</i>? Was the + Union the cause as well as the antecedent of this decay? No + economist, acquainted with the facts, can fail to answer in the + affirmative. The causal connection between two realities could + not be more manifest. Let us examine it very briefly. + </p> + <p> + I begin of necessity with the principle of + <!-- Page 71 --><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>freedom, for + freedom is the dominating force in economic life. No instance can + be cited of a modern people of European civilisation that ever + prospered while held politically in subjection. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "All history," writes Professor Marshall of Cambridge, the + doyen of Political Economy in England, "is full of the record + of inefficiency caused in varying degrees by slavery, serfdom, + and other forms of civil and political oppression and + repression." + </p> + </div> + <p> + The Act of Union was, as has been said, one of those spiritual + outrages which, in their reactions, are like lead poured into the + veins. It lowered the vital resources of Ireland. It made hope an + absentee, and enterprise an exile. That was its first-fruits of + disaster. + </p> + <p> + These commonplaces of the gospel of freedom "for which Hampden + died in the field and Sidney on the scaffold" will possibly + appear to their modern descendants mystical, sentimental, and + remote from real life. For there is no one in the world so ready + as your modern Englishman to deny that he is a man in order to + prove that he is a business-man. Fortunately we can establish for + this strange being, who has thus indecently stripped himself of + humanity, and <!-- Page 72 --><a name="Page_72" id= + "Page_72"></a>establish in very clear and indisputable fashion + the cash nexus between Unionism and decay. The argument is + simple. + </p> + <p> + The Union came precisely in the period in which capital was + beginning to dominate the organisation of industry. The Union + denuded Ireland of the capital which would have enabled her to + transform the technique of her manufactures, and so maintain the + ground won under Grattan's Parliament. The channels through which + this export of capital proceeded were absenteeism and + over-taxation. + </p> + <p> + The first statement in this paragraph of plaint calls for no + elaboration. Arnold Toynbee took as the terminal dates of the + Industrial Revolution the years 1760 and 1830. The last + generation of the eighteenth century brought to birth the great + inventions, but it was the first generation of the nineteenth + that founded on them large scale production, and settled the + structure of modern industry. Not without profound disturbance + and incalculable suffering was the new system established in + England; the story may be read in the pages of Marx, Cunningham, + Cooke Taylor, or any of the economic historians. But, for all the + blood and tears, it was established. Insulated from the + continental turmoil, served by her Titanic bondsmen coal + <!-- Page 73 --><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>and iron, + England was able to defeat the Titan, Napoleon. Now it is idle to + deny that this period would under any government have strained + Ireland, as the phrase goes, to the pin of her collar. But the + Union made her task impossible. Lord Castlereagh was quite right + in pointing to the accumulation of capital as the characteristic + advantage of England. Through centuries of political freedom that + process had gone on without interruption. Ireland, on the + contrary, had been scientifically pillaged by the application to + her of the "colonial system" from 1663 to 1779; I deliberately + exclude the previous waste of war and confiscation. She had but + twenty years of commercial freedom, and, despite her brilliant + success in that period, she had not time to accumulate capital to + any great extent. But Grattan's Parliament had shown itself + extraordinarily astute and steady of purpose in its economic + policy. Had its guidance continued—conservative taxation, + adroit bounties, and that close scrutiny and eager discussion of + the movements of industry which stands recorded in its + Journal—the manufactures of Ireland would have weathered + the storm. But the luck was as usual against her. Instead of wise + leadership from Dublin the gods decreed that she should have for + portion the hard <!-- Page 74 --><a name="Page_74" id= + "Page_74"></a>indifference and savage taxation of Westminster. + Reduced to the position of a tributary nation, stripped of the + capital that would have served as a commissariat of advance in + that crucial struggle, she went down. + </p> + <p> + I am not to make here the case for Ireland in respect of + over-taxation. It was made definitely in the Report of the + Childers Commission, a document which no Englishman reads, lest + in coming to the light he should have his sins too sharply + rebuked. It has been developed and clarified in many speeches and + essays and in some books. To grasp it is to find your road to + Damascus on the Irish Question. But for the moment we are + concerned with but one aspect, namely, the export of capital from + Ireland as a result of the Union, and the economic reactions of + that process. Since we are to use moderation of speech and banish + all rhetoric from these pages, one is at a loss to characterise + Union arrangements and post-Union finance. Let it suffice to say + that they combined the moral outlook of Captain Kidd with the + mathematical technique of a super-bucket-shop. From the first + Great Britain robbed the Irish till; from the first she skimmed + the cream off the Irish milk, and appropriated it for her own + nourishment. One has a sort of <!-- Page 75 --><a name="Page_75" + id="Page_75"></a>gloomy pride in remembering that although + cheated in all these transactions we were not duped. Mr Foster, + Speaker of the Irish House of Commons—in those days the + Speaker actually spoke, a whimsical Irish custom—tore the + cloak off Lord Castlereagh's strutting statesmanship, and laid + bare his real motives. Speaking on the first Union proposal in + 1799 he said: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "But the noble Lord has told us the real motives of this scheme + of Union, and I thank him for stating them so fairly. Ireland, + he says, must contribute to every war, and the Minister won't + trust to interest, affection, or connection for guiding her + conduct. <i>He must have her purse within his own grasp</i>. + While three hundred men hold it in Ireland he cannot put his + hand into it, they are out of his reach, but let a hundred of + you carry it over and lay it at his feet, and then he will have + full and uncontrolled power." + </p> + </div> + <p> + So it came about. Even before the Union Grattan's Parliament had, + of its own free will and out of an extravagant loyalty, run + itself into debt for the first time to help England against + France. But, as Foster indicated, the Irish members felt that + they were coming to the end of their resources. They were about + to call a halt, and so the Union became a necessary + <!-- Page 76 --><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>ingredient of + Pitt's foreign policy. By it Ireland was swept into the vortex of + his anti-French hysteria, and of what Mr Hartley Withers so + properly styles his "reckless finance." In sixteen years she was + brought to the edge of bankruptcy. Between 1801 and 1817 her + funded debt was increased from £28,541,157 to £112,684,773, an + augmentation of nearly 300 per cent. In the first fifteen years + following the Union she paid in taxes £78,000,000 as against + £31,000,000 in the last fifteen years preceding the Union. After + the amalgamation of the Exchequers in 1817 the case becomes + clearer. In 1819-20, for instance, the revenue contributed by + Ireland was £5,256,564, of which only £1,564,880 was spent in + Ireland, leaving a tribute for Great Britain of £3,691,684. For + 1829-30 the tribute was £4,156,576. + </p> + <p> + Let us now inquire how things stood with regard to absenteeism. + This had existed before the Union'; indeed, if the curious reader + will turn to Johnson's "Dictionary" he will find it damned in a + definition. But it was enormously intensified by the shifting of + the centre of gravity of Irish politics, industry, and fashion + from Dublin to London. The memoirs of that day abound in + references to an exodus which has left other and more material + evidence in those <!-- Page 77 --><a name="Page_77" id= + "Page_77"></a>fallen and ravaged mansions which now constitute + the worst slums of our capital city. + </p> + <p> + One figure may be cited by way of illustration. Before the Union + "98 Peers, and a proportionate number of wealthy Commoners" lived + in Dublin. The number of resident Peers in 1825 was twelve. At + present, as I learn from those who read the sixpenny + illustrateds, there is one. But when they abandoned Ireland they + did not leave their rents behind. And it was a time of rising + rents; according to Toynbee they at least doubled between 1790 + and 1833. Precise figures are not easily arrived at, but Mr + D'Alton in his "History of the County Dublin," a book quite + innocent of politics, calculates that the absentee rental of + Ireland was in 1804 not less than £3,000,000, and in 1830 not + less than £4,000,000, an under-estimate. If we average these + figures over the period we find that during the first thirty + years of Union, that is to say during the most critical phase of + the Industrial Revolution, not less than £105,000,000 of Irish + capital was "exported" from Ireland to Great Britain through the + channel of absenteeism. + </p> + <p> + Averaging the figures of the taxation-tribute in similar fashion, + and taking the lowest estimates, I am unable to reach a less + total than £120,000,000 for the same period. In other + <!-- Page 78 --><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>words, the + effect of the Union was to withdraw from Ireland during the + thirty years that settled the economic structure of modern + industry not less than <i>£</i>225,000,000. Let me draw the + argument together in words which I have used elsewhere, and which + others can no doubt easily better: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "We have heard, in our day, a long-drawn denunciation of a + Liberal government on the score that it had, by predatory + taxation, driven English capital out of the country, and + compromised the industrial future of England. We have seen in + our own day gilt-edged securities, bank, insurance, railway, + and brewery shares in Great Britain, brought toppling down by a + Tory waste of <i>£</i>250,000,000 on the Boer War. We know that + in economic history effects are, in a notable way, cumulative; + so clearly marked is the line of continuity as to lead a great + writer to declare that there is not a nail in all England that + could not be traced back to savings made before the Norman + Conquest. A hundred instances admonish us that, in industrial + life, nothing fails like failure. When we put all these + considerations together, and give them a concrete application, + can we doubt that in over-taxation and the withdrawal of + capital we have the prime <i>causa causans</i> of the decay of + Ireland under the Union?" + </p> + </div> + <p> + In this wise did Pitt "blend Ireland <!-- Page 79 --><a name= + "Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>with the industry and capital of Great + Britain." Cupped by his finance she gave the venal blood of her + industry to strengthen the predominant partner, and to help him + to exclude for a time from these islands that pernicious French + Democracy in which all states and peoples have since found + redemption. Such was the first chapter in the Economics of + Unionism. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><!-- Page 80 --><a name= + "Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <h3> + THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (2) + </h3> + <p> + If the reader cares to push forward the line of thought suggested + in the preceding pages and to submit it to a concrete test he can + do so without difficulty. He has but to compare the post-Union + history of linen with that of cotton. Linen in Ireland had been a + perfect type of the State-created, spoon-fed industry + characteristic of the period of mercantilism. Within certain + limits—such as the steady resolve to confine it, in point + of religion, to Protestants, and, in point of geography, to + Ulster—it had behind it at the Union a century of + encouragement. It is calculated that between 1700 and 1800 it had + received bounties, English and Irish, totalling more + than,£2,500,000. In other words it had a chance to accumulate + capital. Even linen declined after the Union partly from the + direct effects of that measure, partly from the growing intensity + of the Industrial Revolution. But the <!-- Page 81 --><a name= + "Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>capital accumulated, the commercial + good name established under native government carried the + manufacturers through. These were able towards 1830 to introduce + the new machinery and the new processes, and to weather the + tempest of competition. Cotton, on the other hand, was a very + recent arrival. It had developed very rapidly, and in 1800 gave + promise of supplanting linen. But the weight of capital told more + and more as changes in the technique of transportation and + production ushered in our modern world. Lacking the solid + reserves of its rival, involved in all the exactions that fall on + a tributary nation, the cotton manufacture of Ireland lost + ground, lost heart, and disappeared. But let us resume the + parable. If the "business man" responds to capital, he will + certainly not be obtuse to the appeal of coal. In this feeder of + industry Ireland was geologically at a disadvantage, and it was + promised that the free trade with Great Britain inaugurated by + the Union would "blend" with her the resources of the latter + country. Did she obtain free trade in coal? Miss Murray, a + Unionist, in her "Commercial Relations between England and + Ireland" tells the story in part: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Coals again had hitherto been exported from Great Britain at a + <!-- Page 82 --><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a> duty of gd. + per ton; this duty was to cease but the Irish import duty on + coal was to be made perpetual, and that at a time when all + coasting duties in England and Scotland had been abolished. + Dublin especially would suffer from this arrangement, for the + duty there on coals imported was is. 8-4/5d. per ton, while + that in the rest of Ireland was only 9-1/2d. This was because a + local duty of 1s. per ton existed in Dublin for the internal + improvement of the city; this local duty was blended by the + Union arrangements with the general duty on the article, and + its perpetual continuance was thus enforced. All this shows how + little Irish affairs were understood in England." + </p> + </div> + <p> + But was it a failure of the English intellect or a lapse of the + English will? Except through the Platonic intuition which reduces + all sin to terms of ignorance I cannot accept the former + explanation. What is certain is that there was no lack of + contemporary protest. There existed in Dublin in 1828 a Society + for the Improvement of Ireland, an active body which included in + its membership the Lord Mayor (a high Tory, of course), Lord + Cloncurry, and a long list of notable names such as Latouche, + Sinclair, Houghton, Leader, Grattan, Smith O'Brien, George Moore, + and Daniel O'Connell. In the year mentioned the Society appointed + a number of committees to <!-- Page 83 --><a name="Page_83" id= + "Page_83"></a>report on the state of Irish agriculture, commerce, + and industry. One of these reports is full of information + touching the drain of capital from the country, and its + consequent decay, as registered by contemporaries; we shall learn + from another how things stood with regard to coal. At the time of + the Union the Irish Parliament granted a bounty of 2s. per ton on + Irish coal carried coastwise to Dublin, and levied a duty of + 10-1/2d. per ton on coal imported from Great Britain. The effect + of the Union was to abolish the bounty and double the levy on + imports. Writing twenty-eight years later the Committee summarise + in a brief passage the disastrous effects of a policy, so foolish + and so unjust. The last sentence opens up sombre vistas to any + student of economic history: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Severe, however, as the operation of the coal duty in + arresting the progress of manufacture may have been in other + parts of Ireland, in Dublin, under the circumstances to which + your Committee are about to call the attention of the Society, + it has produced all the effects of actual prohibition, all the + mischiefs of the most rigorous exclusion. It is a singular + circumstance that, in the metropolis of the country, possessing + local advantages in respect to manufactures and facilities for + trade with the interior, superior, probably, to any other city + or <!-- Page 84 --><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>town in + this portion of the empire, with a population excessive as to + the means of employment, in a degree which probably has not a + parallel in Europe, <i>there is not a factory for the + production of either silk, linen, cotton, or woollen + manufactures which is worked or propelled by a steam + engine</i>." + </p> + </div> + <p> + The writers go on to ask for the repeal of the local duty on coal + in Dublin, and to suggest that the necessary revenue should be + raised by a duty on spirits. This course Belfast had been + permitted to follow—one of the numberless make-weights + thrown into the scale so steadily on the side of the Protestant + North. In my part of the country the people used to say of any + very expert thief: "Why, he'd steal the fire out of your grate." + Under the Union arrangements Great Britain stole the fire out of + the grate of Ireland. And having so dealt with capital and coal + the predominant partner next proceeded by a logical development + to muddle transportation. + </p> + <p> + The Drummond Commission, appointed in 1836 to consider the + question of railway construction in Ireland, issued a report in + 1838 which practically recommended public and not private + enterprise as appropriate "to accomplish so important a national + object." What came after is best related in the official + terminology of the Scotter Commission of 1906-10: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "This report was presented in July 1838, and early in the + <!-- Page 85 --><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a> following + year a great public meeting, held in Dublin, passed a + resolution that inasmuch as an adequate system of railways + could not be constructed by private capital, the Government + should be urged to take the work into its own hands, thereby + saving the cost of Private Bill legislation. Promises were also + made that the lands necessary for railway construction would be + given free of cost. Similar resolutions were adopted at another + meeting held about the same time in the north of Ireland. In + addition, an address to the Queen was presented by a number of + Irish Peers, headed by the Duke of Leinster, praying that + action might be taken on the Drummond Commission Report." + </p> + </div> + <p> + The government saw the light, and proceeded to sin against it. + They embodied the Dublin programme in resolutions which were + adopted by the House of Commons in March 1839, and they then + abruptly abandoned the whole business. The last chance was not + yet lost. During the Great Famine of 1847 the Opposition proposed + to raise, £16,000,000 by State loans for the construction of + railways as relief works. A suggestion so sane could not hope to + pass. It was in fact rejected; the starving peasants were set to + dig large holes and fill them up again, and to build bad roads + leading nowhere. And instead of a national railway + <!-- Page 86 --><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>system Ireland + was given private enterprise with all its waste and all its clash + of interests. + </p> + <p> + The two most conspicuous gifts of Unionism to Ireland have been, + as all the world knows, poverty and police. Soon after 1830, that + is to say when the first harvest of government from Westminster + was ripe to the sickle, Irish destitution had assumed what + politicians call men-acing proportions. One person in every three + of the population never had any other alimentary experience than + the difference between hunger and starvation. In these + circumstances a Royal Commission was appointed to consider the + advisability of extending the English Poor Law to Ireland. Their + report is a pioneer document in the development of economic + thought. Just as the Railway Commission a few years later was to + give the watchword of the future, nationalisation, so the Poor + Law Commission gave within its province the watchword of the + future, prevention before relief. They pointed the contrast + between the two countries. I quote the words of the later Irish + Poor Law Commission of 1903-6: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "Having regard to the destitution and poverty that were + prevalent in Ireland owing to want of employment, the Royal + Commissioners in their Report of 1836 came to the conclusion + that the <!-- Page 87 --><a name="Page_87" id= + "Page_87"></a>English workhouse system would be unsuitable for + Ireland, because after unchecked demoralisation by profuse + out-door relief <i>in England, the Work-house system was + devised in order to make the lazy and idle seek ordinary + employment which could be got. The situation in Ireland was, on + the contrary, one in which the able-bodied and healthy were + willing and anxious to work for any wages, even for twopence a + day, but were unable to obtain such or any employment</i>." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Ireland at the end of a generation of Unionism was suffering, as + the commissioners proceed to point out, not from over-population, + but from under-development. They tabled two sets of + recommendations. The relief programme advised compulsory + provision for the sick, aged, infirm, lunatics, and others + incapable of work; in all essential matters it anticipated in + 1836 that Minority Report which to the England of 1912 still + seems extravagantly humane. The prevention programme outlined a + scheme for the development of Irish resources. Including, as it + did, demands for County Fiscal Boards, agricultural education, + better cottages for the labourers, drainage, reclamation, and + changes in the land system, it has been a sort of lucky bag into + which British ministers have been dipping without acknowledgment + ever since. But the <!-- Page 88 --><a name="Page_88" id= + "Page_88"></a>report itself was, like the Railway Report, too + sane and too Irish to stand a chance. There was sent over from + England a Mr Nicholls, who, after a six weeks flutter through the + country, devised the Poor Law System under which we still labour. + Mr Nicholls afterwards became Sir George, and when he died it is + probable that a statue was erected to him. If that is so the + inscription must always remain inadequate until this is added: + "Having understood all about Ireland in six weeks he gave her, as + the one thing needful to redeem her, the workhouse." + </p> + <p> + But, of course, the capital exploit of the Economics of Unionism + was its dealing with the problem of land tenure. I shrink from + inviting the reader into the desert of selfishness and stupidity + which constitutes English policy, in this regard, from the Union + to the triumph of the Land League. Let him study it at large in + Davitt's "Fall of Feudalism." We are not concerned here to revive + that calamitous pageant. Our interest is of another kind, namely + to signalise the malign influence introduced into the agrarian + struggle by government from Westminster as against government + from Dublin. Even had Grattan's Parliament remained, the battle + for the land would have had to go forward; + <!-- Page 89 --><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>for that + Parliament was an assembly controlled by landlords who, for the + most part, believed as strongly in the sacredness of rent as they + did in the sacredness of nationality. But by the Union the + conflict was embittered and befouled. The landlords invented + their famous doctrine of conditional loyalty. They bargained with + Great Britain to the effect that, if they were permitted to + pillage their tenantry, they would in return uphold and maintain + British rule in Ireland. + </p> + <p> + It was the old picture with which M. Paul-Dubois has acquainted + us, that of the "Garrison" kneeling to England on the necks of + the Irish poor. In this perversion, which under autonomy would + have been impossible, we find the explanation of the extreme + savagery of Union land policy in Ireland. Its extreme, its + bat-eyed obtuseness is to be explained in another way. Souchon in + his introduction to the French edition of Philippovich, the great + Austrian economist, observes with great truth that England has + not even yet developed any sort of <i>Agrarpolitik</i>, that is + to say any systematic Economics of Agriculture. In the early + nineteenth century her own land problems were neglected, and her + political leaders were increasingly dominated by an economic + gospel of shopkeepers and urban manufacturers. Forced + <!-- Page 90 --><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>into the + context of agrarian life such a gospel was bound to manifest + itself as one of folly and disaster. + </p> + <p> + If we put these two elements together we are enabled to + understand why the Union land policy in Ireland was such a + portentous muddle and scandal. In 1829 the question assumed a + fresh urgency, in consequence of the eviction campaign which + followed the disfranchisement of the small holders under Catholic + Emancipation. That Irish opinion, which in an Irish Parliament + would have had its way, began to grapple with the situation. + </p> + <p> + Between 1829 and 1858 twenty-three Irish Land Reform Bills were + introduced in the House of Commons; every one was rejected. In + the same period thirty-five Coercion Bills were introduced; every + one was passed. So it began, so it continued, until at last Irish + opinion did in some measure prevail. The Westminster Parliament + clapped the "agitators" into prison, and while they were at work + breaking stones stole their programme.... But I have promised to + spare the reader the detailed hideousness of this Inferno, and + this section must close without a word said about that miserable + triad, famine, eviction, and emigration. What may be called the + centre of relevancy lies elsewhere. We <!-- Page 91 --><a name= + "Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>have been concerned to show how + Unionism, having wrecked the whole manufacturing economy of + Ireland, went on, at its worst, to wreck, at its best, to refuse + to save, its whole agricultural economy. + </p> + <p> + But why recall all this "dead history"? For two reasons: first, + because it illustrates the fundamental wrongness of Unionism; + secondly, because it is not dead. + </p> + <p> + On the first point no better authority can be found than Mr + W.A.S. Hewins, the intellect of Tariff Reform. The differences + between England and Ireland, he writes in his introduction to + Miss Murray's book, are of "an organic character." In that phrase + is concentrated the whole biology of Home Rule. Every organism + must suffer and perish unless its external circumstances echo its + inner law of development. The sin of the Union was that it + imposed on Ireland from without a sort of spiked strait-jacket + which could have no effect but to squeeze the blood and breath + out of every interest in the country. What was meat to England + was poison to Ireland, and even honest Englishmen, hypnotised by + the economists of the day, were unable to perceive this plain + truth. Let me give another illustration. The capital exploit of + Union Economics was, as has been said, its + <!-- Page 92 --><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>dealing with + the land question, but perhaps its most pathetic fallacy was the + policy with which it met the Great Famine. Now the singular thing + about this famine is that during it there was no scarcity of food + in Ireland; there was only a shortage of potatoes. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "In 1847 alone," writes Mr Michael Davitt in his "Fall of + Feudalism," "food to the value of £44,958,000 sterling was + grown in Ireland according to the statistical returns for that + year. But a million of people died for want of food all the + same." + </p> + </div> + <p> + The explanation is obvious: the peasants grew potatoes to feed + themselves, they raised corn to pay their rents. A temporary + suspension of rent-payments and the closing of the ports would + have saved the great body of the people. But the logic of + Unionism worked on other lines. The government opened the ports, + cheapened corn, and made rents harder to pay. At the same time + they passed a new Coercion Act, and reorganised the police on its + present basis to ensure that rents should be paid. To the wisdom + of this policy, history is able to call witnesses by the + million—unhappily however it has to call them from famine + graveyards, and the waste womb of the Atlantic. + </p> + <p> + <!-- Page 93 --><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>This essential + wrongness of Unionism, so amply illustrated in every year of its + working, continues. But at least, our bluff Englishman urges, the + dead past can be suffered to bury those crimes and blunders of + Unionism which you have enumerated. Let us start with a clean + slate. Now, as will have been gathered from a previous chapter, + we recognise in this invitation an accent of soundness. We modern + Home Rulers desire above all to be loyal to the century in which + we live. We are sick of that caricature which depicts Ireland as + the mad heroine of a sort of perpetual suttee, in which all the + interests of the present are immolated on the funeral-pyre of the + past. But let us come closer to things. How do you clean a slate + except by liquidating the debts of which it keeps the record? The + late Vicomte de Voguë wrote an admirable novel, "Les Morts qui + Parlent." The dead are always speaking; you cannot stop their + strong eloquence with a mouthful of clay. The "business man" + thinks no doubt that the Napoleonic War is no more than Hecuba to + him, or he to Hecuba. But he pays annual tribute to it, for he + has to make annual provision for the £600,000,000 which it added + to the National Debt. And just as Mr Pitt's foreign policy is in + that respect a living reality of our own time, so also, but in a + <!-- Page 94 --><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>much graver + form, are the past depredations and ineptitudes of Unionism + living realities in the present economy of Ireland. + </p> + <p> + The ruling fallacy of the English mind on these matters consists + in the assumption that the mere repeal of an old oppression + restores a people to the <i>status quo ante</i>. In the case of + Ireland the old oppressions have not been repealed except in two + or three points, but even if they had been wholly cancelled it + would be absurd to expect immediate recovery from their effects. + If you have been beating a man on the head with a bludgeon for + half an hour, and then leave off, there is no sense in saying to + him: "There, I have given over bludgeoning you. Why on earth + don't you get up, and skip about like me?" If you have been + robbing a man's till for ten years, and then decide—by the + way you have not yet decided—to leave off, there is no + sense in saying to him: "Why the devil are you always hard up? + Look at me doing the same sort of business as you on absolutely + equal terms, and I'm able to keep two motor-cars and six + servants." But that is precisely what is said to us. You are + eternally expecting from Ireland new miracles of renaissance. But + although she does possess recuperative powers, hardly to be + paralleled, even she must have time to slough + <!-- Page 95 --><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>the + corruptions of the past. You cannot, as some Englishmen imagine, + cancel six centuries before breakfast. Your Penal Laws, for + instance, have been long since struck out of the Statute Book, + but they have not yet been eliminated from social habitudes or + from certain areas of commercial life. + </p> + <p> + You began to tax Ireland beyond her capacity in 1801, and you are + still overtaxing her. In the interval you withdraw from her + economic life a tribute of not less than £325,000,000. You broke + her industrial tradition, injured her credit, depressed her + confidence. You forced upon her a fiscal system devised to suit + your needs in utter contempt of hers. To clean that slate you + must first, by some measure of restitution, clean your + conscience. And when that has been done you will have to wait for + the curative effects of time to undo the Economics of Unionism. + </p> + <p> + You suffered landlordism to devastate Ireland unchecked. The + capital that should have gone to enrich and develop the soil was + squeezed out of it in rack-rents, largely absentee. The whole + agricultural economy of the country was stricken with a sort of + artificial anæmia. Then very late in the day you enact in shreds + and fragments a programme of reform proposed half a century + <!-- Page 96 --><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>before by the + leaders of the Irish people. To-day rural Ireland is + convalescent, but it is absurd to rate her if she does not at + once manifest all the activities of robust health. It is even + more absurd to expect her to glow with gratitude. + </p> + <p> + You muddled our whole system of transportation; your muddle + stands to-day in all its ruinous largeness unamended, and, it may + be, beyond amendment. You muddled the Poor Law; and, in the + workhouses which you thrust upon us, 8000 children are year by + year receiving on their lives the brand of degradation. You + marred education, perverting it into a discipline of + denationalisation, and that virus has not yet been expelled. + </p> + <p> + What economic, what intellectual problem in Ireland have you not + marred and muddled, England, my England (as the late Mr W.E. + Henley used to say)? You have worsened the maledictions of the + Bible. The sins of <i>your</i> fathers will lie as a <i>damnosa + hæreditas</i>, a damnable heritage, upon the mortgaged shoulders + of <i>our</i> children. It is better, as Plato taught, to suffer + injustice than to inflict it. In the light of that ethical + principle you are long since judged and condemned. But with the + customary luck of England you are allowed + <!-- Page 97 --><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>what others + were not allowed, the opportunity of penitence and reform. The + messengers of the new gospel are at your doors, offering you in + return for the plain rudiments of justice not only forgiveness + but friendship. It is for you to accept or reject. We, the Irish, + whom you have wronged, look to your decision with interest rather + than with concern. Why should we be concerned? Our flag has been + an Aaron's serpent to swallow yours. Your policies, your + ambitions, your administrations have passed by us like the + transient and embarrassed phantoms that they were. We remain. All + the roads lead to Rome, and all the years to retribution. This is + your year; you have met the messengers on your threshold. Your + soul is in your own wardship. But yet we cannot wholly separate + your destiny from ours. Dedicated as we are to the general + progress of humanity and to all the generosities of life, we + await expectantly your election between the good and the evil + side. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a> + <!-- Page 98 --><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>CHAPTER VII + </h2> + <h3> + THE HALLUCINATION OF "ULSTER" + </h3> + <p> + Ulster Unionism, in the leaders, is not so much a programme of + ideas as a demand for domination. In the rank and file it is + largely a phenomenon of hysteria. I do not know whether my + readers have ever participated in an agreeable game known as odd + man out. Each player tosses a penny, and whoever disagrees with + the rest, showing a head to their tails or vice versa, captures + the pool. Such is in all essential particulars the "Ulster + Question." We find ourselves there in presence of a minority + which, on the sole ground that it is a minority, claims that in + the government of Ireland it shall be not merely secure but + supreme. Sir Edward Carson as odd man out (and I do not deny that + he is odd enough for anything) is to be Dictator of Ireland. If + eighty-four Irish constituencies declare for Home Rule, and + nineteen against Home Rule, then, according to the mathematics + <!-- Page 99 --><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>of Unionism, + the Noes have it. In their non-Euclidean geometry the part is + always greater than the whole. In their unnatural history the + tail always wags the dog. On the plane of politics it is not + necessary to press the case against "Ulster" any farther than + that. Even majorities have their rights. If a plurality of nine + to two is not sufficient to determine policy and conduct business + in a modern nation, then there is no other choice except anarchy, + or rather an insane atomism. Not merely every party, but every + household and, in last resort, every individual will end as a + Provisional Government. Separatism of this type is a very ecstasy + of nonsense, and none of my readers will think so cheaply of his + own intelligence as to stay to discuss it. It is in other terms + that we must handle the problem of "Ulster." + </p> + <p> + The existence in certain nooks and corners of Ireland of a + democratic vote hostile to Home Rule is, let us confess, a + conundrum. But it is a conundrum of psychology rather than of + politics. It may seem rude to say so, but Orangeism consists + mainly of a settled hallucination and an annual brainstorm. No + one who has not been present at a Twelfth of July procession can + realise how completely all its manifestations belong to the life + of hysteria and not to that <!-- Page 100 --><a name="Page_100" + id="Page_100"></a>of reason. M. Paul-Dubois, whom we may summon + out of a cloud of witnesses, writes of them as "demagogic orgies + with a mixed inspiration of Freemasonry and the Salvation Army." + The Twelfth of July is, or rather was, for its fine furies are + now much abated, a savage carnival comparable only to the + corroborees of certain primitive tribes. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "A monster procession," continues M. Paul-Dubois, "marches + through Belfast, as through every town and village of Orange + Ulster, ending up with a vast meeting at which the glories of + William of Orange and the reverses of James II. are celebrated + in song.... Each 'lodge' sends its delegation to the procession + with banners and drums. On the flags are various devices: + 'Diamond Heroes,' 'True Blues,' 'No Pope.' The participants + give themselves over to character dances, shouting out their + favourite songs: 'The Boyne Water' and 'Croppies Lie Down.' The + chief part is played by the drummers, the giants of each + 'lodge,' who with bared arms beat their drums with holy fury, + their fists running with blood, until the first drum breaks and + many more after it, until in the evening they fall half-dead in + an excess of frenzy." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Such is the laboratory in which the mind of Orange Ulster is + prepared to face the tasks of the twentieth century. Barbaric + music, the <!-- Page 101 --><a name="Page_101" id= + "Page_101"></a>ordinary allowance of drum to fife being three to + one, ritual dances, King William on his white horse, the Scarlet + Woman on her seven hills, a grand parade of dead ideas and + irrelevant ghosts called up in wild speeches by clergymen and + politicians—such is Orangeism in its full heat of action. + Can we, with this key to its intellectual history, be really + astonished that Shankhill Road should move all its life in a red + mist of superstition. The North of Ireland abounds in instances, + trivial and tragic, of this obsession. Here it is the case of the + women of a certain town who, in order to prevent their children + from playing in a dangerous swamp close by, have taught them that + there are "wee Popes" in it. There it is a case of man picked up, + maimed and all but unconscious after an accident, screwing up his + lips to utter one last "To Hell with the Pope!" before he dies. I + remember listening in Court to the examination of an old + Orangeman who had been called as a witness to the peaceable + disposition of a friend of his. "What sort of man," asked the + counsel, "would you say Jamie Williamson is?" "A quiet, decent + man." "Is he the sort of man that would be likely to be breaking + windows?" "No man less likely." "Is he the sort of man that you + would expect to find at the head of a mob shouting, 'To Hell + <!-- Page 102 --><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>with the + Pope'?" Witness, with great emphasis: "No. Certainly not. Jamie + was never any ways a <i>religious</i> man." These bewildering + corruptions of sense and sanity overwhelm you at every turn. Ask + your neighbour offhand at a dinner in Dublin: "What is so-and-so, + by the way?" He will reply that so-and-so is a doctor, or a + government official, or a stockbroker, as it may happen. Ask him + the same question at a dinner in Belfast, and he will + automatically tell you that so-and-so is a Protestant or a + "Papist." + </p> + <p> + The plain truth is that it would be difficult to find anywhere a + more shameful exploitation, intellectual and economic, than that + which has been practised on the Ulster Orangeman by his feudal + masters. Were I to retort the abuse, with which my own creed is + daily bespattered, I should describe him further as the only + victim of clerical obscurantism to be found in Ireland. Herded + behind the unbridged waters of the Boyne, he has been forced to + live in a very Tibet of intellectual isolation. Whenever he moved + in his thoughts a little towards that Ireland to which, for all + his separatism, he so inseparably belongs, the ring of + blockhouses, called Orange Lodges, was drawn tighter to strangle + his wanderings. Mr Robert Lynd in his "Home Life in Ireland," a + book which ought to have been mentioned earlier + <!-- Page 103 --><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>in these + pages, relates the case of a young man who was refused ordination + in the Presbyterian Church because he had permitted himself to + doubt whether the Pope was in fact anti-Christ. And he writes + with melancholy truth: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "If the Presbyterian clergy had loved Ireland as much as they + have hated Rome they could have made Ulster a home of + intellectual energy and spiritual buoyancy long ago. They have + preferred to keep Ulster dead to fine ideas rather than risk + the appearance of a few unsettling ideas among the rest." + </p> + </div> + <p> + It has not been, one likes to think, a death, consummated and + final, but rather an interruption of consciousness from which + recovery is possible. Drugged with a poisonous essence, distilled + from history for him by his exploiters, the Orangeman of the + people has lived in a world of phantoms. In politics he has never + in his whole career spoken for himself. The Catholic peasant + comes to articulate, personal speech in Davitt; the national + aristocracy in Parnell. The industrial worker discovers within + his own camp a multitude of captains. Even landlordism, although + it has produced no leader, has produced many able spokesmen. + Every other section in Ireland enriches public life with an + <!-- Page 104 --><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>interpreter + of its mind sprung from its own ranks. Orange Ulster alone has + never yet given to its own democracy a democratic leader. This is + indeed the cardinal misfortune, as well as the central secret, of + Ulster Unionism. The pivot on which it turns resides, not in the + farms of Down or the factories of Belfast, but in the Library of + the Four Courts. Of the nineteen representatives who speak for it + in Parliament no fewer than seven are King's Counsel. In the + whole list there is not one delegate of labour, nor one farmer. A + party so constituted is bound to produce prodigies of nonsense + such as those associated with Sir Edward Carson. The leaders of + the orchestra openly despise the instruments on which they play. + For followers, reared in the tradition of hysteria depicted + above, no raw-head is thought to be too raw, and no bloody-bones + too bloody. And so we have King's Counsel, learned in the law, + devising Provisional Governments, and Privy Councillors wallowing + in imaginative treason. As for the Bishops, they will talk + daggers as luridly as the rest, but they will not even threaten + to use any. And so does the pagan rage, and the heathen prophesy + vain things. + </p> + <p> + That such a farce-tragedy can find a stage in the twentieth + century is pitiable. But it is not a <!-- Page 105 --><a name= + "Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>serious political fact. It has the + same relation to reality that the cap-hunting exploits of + Tartarin of Tarascon had to the Franco-German war. It has been + devised merely to make flesh creep in certain tabernacles of + fanaticism in the less civilised parts of England and Scotland. + So far as action goes it will end in smoke, but not in + gunpowder-smoke. There will no doubt be riots in Belfast and + Portadown, for which the ultimate responsibility will rest on + learned counsel of the King. But there have been riots before, + and the cause of Home Rule has survived all the blackguardism and + bloodshed. It is lamentable that ministers of the gospel of + Christ and leaders of public opinion should so inflame and + exploit the superstitions of ignorant men; but not by these + methods will justice be intimidated. + </p> + <p> + And if "Ulster" does fight after all? In that event we must only + remember how sorry George Stephenson was for the cow. The + military traditions of the Protestant North are not very + alarming. The contribution of the Enniskilleners to the Battle of + the Boyne appears to have consisted in running away with great + energy and discretion. Nor did they, or their associates, in + later years shed any great lustre even on Imperial arms. I have + never heard that <!-- Page 106 --><a name="Page_106" id= + "Page_106"></a>the Connaught Rangers had many recruits from the + Shankhill Road, or the Dublin Fusiliers from Portadown; + consequently the present situation disgusts rather than terrifies + us. If rifle-levers ever click in rebellion against a Home Rule + government, duly established by statute under the authority of + the Crown, it will be astonishing to find that every bullet in + Ireland is a member of an Orange Lodge. If "Ulster" repudiates + the arbitrament of reason, and the verdict of a free ballot, she + simply puts herself outside the law. And she may be quite assured + that the law, driven back on its ultimate sanction of force, will + very sharply and very amply vindicate itself. + </p> + <p> + But it is not courteous to the reader to detain him among such + unrealities as Sir Edward Carson's Civil War. Treason, that is to + say platform treason, is not so much an eccentricity as a habit + of Orangeism. It is a way they have in the Lodges, and their past + history supplies a corrective to their present outburst. Perhaps + their most notable exploit in armed loyalty was their attempt to + dethrone, or rather to defeat in succession to the throne, Queen + Victoria. This is a chapter in their history with regard to which + they are far too modest and reticent. + </p> + <p> + But the leading case in recent years is of course the attitude of + the Lodges towards the <!-- Page 107 --><a name="Page_107" id= + "Page_107"></a>Disestablishment of the Irish Episcopal Church in + 1869. The records are singularly rich in what I may perhaps call + Carsonese. Dukes threatened to "fight as men alone can fight who + have the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other." Learned + counsel of the Queen covenanted to "seal their protest with their + blood in martyrdom and battle." Ministers of the gospel were all + for kicking the Crown into the Boyne, keeping their powder dry, + shouldering Minié rifles, and finally joining the lawyers in the + red grave of martyrdom. + </p> + <p> + An Ulster poet (a satirist one fears) wrote a famous invocation + to the statue of Mr Walker near Derry, beginning: + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span>"Come down out o' that, Mr Walker, + <br /></span> <span class="i2">There's work to be done + by-and-by, + <br /></span> <span>And this is no time to stand glowerin' + <br /></span> <span class="i2">Betwixt the bog-side and the + sky." + <br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <p> + But Mr Walker did not come down: he remained on his safe pinnacle + of immortality. And of course there was no civil war. That period + was wiser than our own in one respect: nobody of any common sense + thought of spoiling such exquisite blague by taking it seriously. + Its motive was universally understood in Ireland. The orators of + the movement never for a moment <!-- Page 108 --><a name= + "Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>dreamed of levying war on Mr + Gladstone, but they were determined to levy blackmail. They saw + that they could bluff English opinion into granting all manner of + extravagant compensation for the extinction of their privileges + and their ascendancy, if only the Orange drum was beaten loudly + enough. It was a case of the more cry the more wool. And in point + of fact they succeeded. They obtained financial arrangements of + the most generous character, and, thereafter, the battle-flags + were furled. Within five years of Disestablishment the + Episcopalian Synod was praising it as the happiest event in the + life of that Church. The lawyers, being denied the martyrdom of + the battlefield, stolidly accepted that of promotion to the + judicial bench, and a holy silence descended on the divines. + </p> + <p> + This strategy having succeeded so admirably in 1868 is repeated + in 1912. "Ulster" has not the least intention of raising war or + the sinews of war; her interest is in the sinews of peace. + Although she does not hold a winning card in her hand she hopes + to scoop the pool by a superb bluff. By menaces of rebellion she + expects to be able to insist that under Home Rule she shall + continue encased in an impenetrable armour of privileges, + preferences, and safeguards. She is all the more likely to + succeed because of the <!-- Page 109 --><a name="Page_109" id= + "Page_109"></a>tenderness of Nationalist Ireland in her regard. + Short of the absolute surrender by the majority of every shred of + its rights (which is, of course, what is demanded) there are very + few safeguards that we are not prepared to concede to the + superstition, the egotism, or even the actual greed of the + Orangemen. But it may as well be understood that we are not to be + either duped or bullied. + </p> + <p> + If the policy of Ulster Unionism is unreal there is no word in + any language that can describe the phantasmal nature of the + grounds on which it professes to fear national freedom. Home + Rule, declare the orators, will obviously mean Rome Rule. The + <i>Ne Temere</i> decree will de-legitimise every Protestant in + the country. The Dublin Parliament will tax every "Ulster" + industry out of existence. One is told that not only do many + people say, but that some people even believe things of this + kind. But then there are people who believe that they are made of + Dresden china, and will break if they knock against a chair. + These latter are to be found in lunatic asylums. It is indeed + particularly worth noting that when a man begins to see in the + whole movement of the world a conspiracy to oppress and injure + him our first step is to inquire not into his grievance but into + his sanity. One <!-- Page 110 --><a name="Page_110" id= + "Page_110"></a>finds the same difficulty in discussing Irish + politics in terms of the three hallucinations specified that one + finds in discussing, say, Rugby football with a Dresden-china + fellow-citizen. It is better not to make the attempt, but to + substitute a plain statement of obvious facts. + </p> + <p> + In the first place, even if any policy of oppression were in our + minds, it is not in our power. The overlordship of the Imperial + Parliament remains in any scheme of Home Rule unimpaired, and any + man damnified because of his religion can appeal in last resort + to the Imperial Army and Navy. Shankhill Road is mathematically + safe. After all there are in England some forty millions of + Protestants who, whatever their religious temperature may be, + will certainly decline to see Protestantism penalised. The + Protestants in Ireland have a million and a quarter, and they + make noise enough for twice the number. There are about three and + a quarter millions of Irish Catholics. History concedes to + Catholic Ireland the cleanest record in respect of religious + tolerance to be found anywhere in Europe. We never martyred a + saint, and amid all the witch-hunting devilries of Scotland and + England we burned only one witch, a namesake of my own. Deny or + suppress all this. <!-- Page 111 --><a name="Page_111" id= + "Page_111"></a>Imagine into the eyes of every Catholic neighbour + the slumbering but unquenched fires of Smithfield. But be good + enough to respect mathematics. Do not suggest that the martial + qualities induced by the two religions are so dissimilar that two + Catholics are capable of imposing Home Rule on twenty-five + Protestants. + </p> + <p> + The suggestion that we shall overtax "Ulster" is even more + captivating. But how are we to do it? Of course we might schedule + the sites given up to Protestant church buildings as undeveloped + land. Or we might issue income-tax forms with an assessment + printed on one side, and the decrees of the Council of Trent on + the other. Or we might insist on every orator desirous of + uttering that ennobling sentiment, "To Hell with the Pope!" + taking out a licence, and charge him a small fee. Positive + treason, such as the proclamation of Provisional Governments, + would of course pay a higher rate. All these would be most + interesting experiments, and would add a picturesque touch to the + conventionality of modern administration. But if we were to + overtax sugar or coffee, corn or butter, flax or wool, beer or + spirits, land or houses, I fear that we should be beating + ourselves rather severely with our own sticks. Our revenge on + "Ulster" would be rather like that <!-- Page 112 --><a name= + "Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>of Savage, the poet, who revenged + himself on a friend by sleeping out the whole of a December night + on a bridge. The whole suggestion is, of course, futile and + fantastic. It is a bubble that has been pricked, and by no one so + thoroughly as by Lord Pirrie, the head of Harland and Wolff, that + is to say the leader of the industrial North. + </p> + <p> + The clamour of the exploiters of "Ulster" is motived on this + point by two considerations, the one an illusion, the other a + reality. The illusion, or rather the pretence, consists in + representing the Unionists as the sole holders of wealth in + Ireland. It would be a sufficient refutation of this view to + quote those other passages in which the same orators assert with + equal eloquence that the Tory policy of land purchase and + resolute government from Westminster has brought enormous + prosperity to the rest of the country. On <i>per capita</i> + valuation the highest northern county ranks only twelfth in + Ireland. It is the reality, however, that supplies the clue. + While the masters of Orangeism do not represent the wealth of + Ireland they do certainly represent the largest, or, at least, + the most intense concentration of unearned incomes. What they + fear is not unjust but democratic taxation. They cling to the + Union <!-- Page 113 --><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>as a + bulwark against the reform movement which in every modern state + is resuming for society a small part of certain vast fortunes + which in their essence have been socially created. But even on + the plane of their own selfishness they are following a foolish + line of action. The Union did not save them from the Land Tax + Budget, nor, as regards the future, is salvation of the English + Tories. Should they ever return to power they will repeat their + action respecting the Death Duties. Having in Opposition + denounced the land taxes with indecent bitterness they will, when + back in office, confirm and extend them. "Ulster" had far better + cast in her lot with Ireland. She will find an Irish Assembly not + only strikingly but, one might almost add, sinfully conservative + in matters of taxation. As to the conflict between the agrarian + and the manufacturing interests, that also exists in every nation + on the earth. But neither has any greater temptation to plan the + destruction of the other than a merchant has to murder his best + customer. + </p> + <p> + There remains the weltering problem of mixed marriages and the + <i>Ne Temere</i> decree. It is perhaps worth observing that + marriages get mixed in other countries as well as in Ireland. It + grieves one that men should differ <!-- Page 114 --><a name= + "Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>as to the true religious + interpretation of life. But they do in fact differ, and wherever + two human beings, holding strongly to different faiths, fall in + love there is tragic material. But they do in fact fall in love. + The theme recurs, with a thousand reverberations, in the novel + literature of England, France, and Germany. The situation occurs + also in Ireland. But I am bewildered to know in what way it is an + argument for or against Home Rule. Let us appeal once more to + colonial experience and practice. There is a Catholic majority in + Canada and an overwhelming Catholic majority in Quebec. The + policy of the Catholic Church towards mixed marriages is + precisely the same there as in Ireland. Does Protestantism demand + that the constitutions of the Dominion and the Province + respectively shall be withdrawn? Since no such claim is made we + must conclude that the outcry on Orange platforms is designed not + to enforce a principle but to awaken all the slumbering fires of + prejudice. The <i>Ne Temere</i> decree introduces no new + departure. Now, as always, the Catholic Church requires simply + that her members shall consecrate the supreme adventure of life + with the Sacrament of their fathers before the altar of their + fathers. It is strange that the Orangemen, believing as they + <!-- Page 115 --><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>do that the + Pope is anti-Christ, should be so annoyed at finding that the + Pope teaches a doctrine different from theirs on the subject of + marriage. The Pope can inflict no spiritual penalties on them + since they are outside his flock. He can inflict no civil + penalties on anybody. There is undoubtedly in the matter of + divorce a sharp conflict between Catholic ideas and the practice + and opinion of Protestant countries. That exists, and will + continue, under every variation of government. It is an eternal + antinomy. But whom does it aggrieve? We Catholics voluntarily + abjure the blessings of divorce, but we should never dream of + using the civil law to impose our abnegation on those of another + belief. If there is any doubt upon that point it can very easily + be removed. The civil law of marriage can be conserved under one + of the "safeguards." + </p> + <p> + The truth is that in order to test our tolerance Orangeism + proposes to us a series of exercises which are a very delirium of + intolerance. "Sever yourselves," it says in effect to us, "from + all allegiance to that Italian Cardinal. Consign him, as + Portadown does, to hell. Bait your bishops. Deride the spiritual + authority of your priests. Then shall we know that you are men + and masters of your own <!-- Page 116 --><a name="Page_116" id= + "Page_116"></a>consciences. Elect a Unionist Council in every + county, a Unionist Corporation in Dublin, then shall we know that + you are brothers. Disown your dead leaders. Spit on the grave of + Emmet. Teach your children that every Fenian was a murderer. + Erase from your chronicles the name of Parnell. Then shall we + know that you are loyal." + </p> + <p> + It has been occasionally urged by writers who prefer phrases to + actualities that Home Rule must wait on the conversion of + "Ulster." Therein the patient must minister to himself. Miracles + of that order cannot be accomplished from without. Great is Diana + of the Ephesians, and the servitude of tradition is at an end + only when the hands that fashioned the idols shatter them on the + altars of a new nobleness. Let us distinguish. The Orangeism + which is merely an instrument of exploitation and domination will + not yield to reason. The Orangeism which is an inherited hysteria + will not yield to reason. It Bourbonises too much. It lives in + the past, learning nothing and forgetting nothing. Argument runs + off it like rain off a duck's back. These two types of thought we + must leave to the grace of God, and the education of the + accomplished fact. They represent a declining cause, and a + decaying party. The <!-- Page 117 --><a name="Page_117" id= + "Page_117"></a>Lodges once mustered more than 200,000 members; + they have now less than 10,000. There is another kind of + Orangeism, that which has begun to think, and the Orangeism that + has begun to think is already converted. I said that Protestant + "Ulster" had never given to its own democracy a leader, but to + say that is to forget John Mitchel. Master in prose of a passion + as intense as Carlyle's and far less cloudy, of an irony not + excelled by Swift, Mitchel flung into the tabernacles of his own + people during the Great Famine a sentence that meant not peace + but a sword. He taught them, as no one since, that Orangeism was + merely a weapon of exploitation. While the band played "The Boyne + Water" and the people cheered it, the landlords were picking the + pockets of the ecstatic crowd. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "The Pope, we know, is the 'man of sin,'" wrote Mitchel, "and + the 'Antichrist,' and also, if you like, the 'mystery of + iniquity,' and all that, but he brings no ejectments in + Ireland." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Mitchel travelled too fast for co-religionists whose shoulders + had not yet slipped the burden of old superstitions. The élan of + genius and the call of freedom drew him out of the home of his + fathers to consort with Papists, rebels, and transported + convicts. But his failure was <!-- Page 118 --><a name="Page_118" + id="Page_118"></a>the seed of later success. In a few years the + League of North and South was able to unite Protestant and + Catholic on the plain economic issue that landlordism must go. + That too failed, but the stream of democratic thought had been + merely driven underground to reappear further on in the century. + In the elections that shook the fortress of Toryism in Ulster in + the seventies Catholic priests marched at the head of processions + side by side with Grand Masters of Orange Lodges. In the first + years of the Land League, Michael Davitt was able to secure the + enthusiastic support of purely Orange meetings in Armagh. Still + later, Mr T. W. Russell, at the head of a democratic coalition, + smashed the old Ascendancy on the question of compulsory + purchase, and Mr Lindsay Crawford founded his Independent Order, + a portent if not yet a power. So much has been done in the + country. But it is in the cities, those workshops of the society + of the future, that the change is most marked. The new movement + finds an apt epitome in the political career of Mr Joseph Devlin. + The workers of Belfast had been accustomed to see labour problems + treated by the old type of Unionist member of parliament either + with cowardice or with contempt. <i>Enfin + <!-- Page 119 --><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>Malesherbes + vint</i>. At last a man rose up out of their own class, although + a Catholic and a Nationalist. He spoke with an awakening + eloquence, and he made good his words. In every industrial + struggle in that sweated city he interposed his strong word to + demand justice for the wage-earner. This was a new sort of + politics. It bore fruit where Ulster Unionism had been but a + barren fig-tree. The democracy of Belfast accepted their leader. + They gave him a majority of 16 in West Belfast in 1906 and in + four years they had multiplied it by forty. The Boyne was + bridged, and everything that has since happened has but added a + new stay or girder to the strength of the bridge. And not only + labour but capital has passed across that estranging river to + firm ground of patriotism and national unity. Lord Pirrie, the + head of the greatest manufacturing enterprise in Belfast, is an + ardent Home Ruler. Business men, ministers of religion, even + lawyers, are thinking out things quietly beneath the surface. The + new "Ulster" is breaking its shell. Parties are forming on the + basis of economic realities, not on that of "religious" + phantasms. + </p> + <p> + As for the old "Ulster," it remains a problem not for the War + Office, but for the Department of Education. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a> + <!-- Page 120 --><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>CHAPTER + VIII + </h2> + <h3> + THE MECHANICS OF HOME RULE + </h3> + <p> + The inevitableness of Home Rule resides in the fact that it is, + as one might say, a biped among ideas. It marches to triumph on + two feet, an Irish and an Imperial foot. If there were in Ireland + no demand whatever for self-government it would, nevertheless, be + necessary in the interests of the Empire to force it on her. The + human, or as some people may prefer to call it, the sociological + case for Home Rule, and the historical case for it have already + been outlined. We now turn to consideration, of another order, + derived from Political Mechanics, or rather bearing on the mere + mechanism of politics. Let us approach the problem first from the + Imperial side. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, the most remarkable thing about the British Empire + is that there is no British Empire. We are in presence of the + familiar distinction between the raw material and the + <!-- Page 121 --><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>finished + article. There are, indeed, on the surface of the globe a number + of self-governing colonies, founded and peopled by men of Irish + and English blood. In each of these the United Kingdom is + represented by a Governor whose whole duty consists in being seen + on formal occasions, but never heard in counsel or rebuke. The + only other connecting links are those of law and finance. The + Privy Council acts as a Court of Appeal in certain causes, and + Colonial Governments borrow money in the London market. These + communities widely seperated in geography and in temperament, + have no common fiscal policy, no common foreign policy, no common + scheme of defence, no common Council to discuss and decide + Imperial affairs. Now this may be a very wise arrangement, but + you must not call it an Empire. From the point of view of unity, + if from no other, it presents an unfavourable contrast to French + Imperialism, under which all the oversea colonies are represented + in the Chamber of Deputies in Paris. In the English plan the + oversea colonies are unrelated atoms. You may say that they + afford all the materials for a grandiose federation; but if you + have flour in one bag, and raisins in another, and candied peel + in another, and suet in another you must not call them a + Christmas <!-- Page 122 --><a name="Page_122" id= + "Page_122"></a>pudding until they have been mixed together and + cooked. Those areas of the globe, coloured red on the maps, may + have all the resources requisite for a great, self-sufficing, + economic unit of a new order. Their peoples may desire that new + order. But until it is achieved you must remember that the + British Empire belongs to the region of dream and not to that of + fact. + </p> + <p> + For many years now, apostles of reconstruction have been + hammering out the details of a scheme that shall unify the Empire + on some sort of Federal basis. For the new organism which they + desire to create they need a brain. Is this to be found in the + Westminster Assembly, sometimes loosely styled the "Imperial + Parliament"? As things stand at present such a suggestion is a + mere counter-sense. That body has come to such a pass as would + seem to indicate the final bankruptcy of the governing genius of + England. All the penalties of political gluttony have accumulated + on it. Parliament, to put the truth a little brutally, has broken + down under a long debauch of over-feeding. Every day of every + session it bites off far more in the way of bills and estimates + than it even pretends to have time to chew. Results follow which + it would be indiscreet to express in terms of physiology. Tens of + millions are shovelled out of the Treasury by + <!-- Page 123 --><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>an offhand, + undiscussed, perfunctory resolution. The attempt to compress + infinite issues in a space too little has altered and, as some + critics think, degraded the whole tenor of public life. + Parliament is no longer the Grand Inquest of the Nation, at least + not in the ancient and proper meaning of the words. The + declaration of Edmund Burke to the effect that a member has no + right to sacrifice his "unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, + his enlightened conscience" to any set of men living may be + echoed by the judges in our day, but to anyone who knows the + House of Commons it is a piece of pure irony. Party discipline + cracks every session a more compelling whip; and our shepherded, + regimented, and automatised representatives themselves realise + that, whatever more desirable status they may have attained, they + have certainly lost that of individual freedom. Out of their own + ranks a movement has arisen to put an end altogether to Party + government. This proposal I myself believe to be futile, but its + very futility testifies to the existence of an intolerable + situation. All this turns on the inadequacy of the time of the + House of Commons to its business. But the distribution of such + time as there is, is a revel of ineptitudes. It resembles the + drawing of a schoolboy who has not yet <!-- Page 124 --><a name= + "Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>learned perspective. A stranger + dropping into the Chamber will find it spending two hours in + helping to determine whether Russia is to have a Czar, and the + next four hours helping to determine whether Rathmines is to + have, let us say, a new sewer. The affairs of India, involving + the political welfare of three hundred millions of human beings, + get one day; Egypt, that test case in international ethics, has + to be content with a few scattered hours. And, despite all this, + local questions are not considered at sufficient length or with + sufficient knowledge. The parish pump is close enough to spoil St + Stephen's as an Imperial Council, and yet so far away as to + destroy its effectiveness as an organ of local government. + </p> + <p> + Such an assembly is clearly unfitted to function as the cerebrum + of Empire. It must be relieved of burdens which in the complexity + of modern politics it is no longer able to bear. How is this to + be done? In one way and in one way only, by leaving local + business to local bodies. But that is Home Rule, or, as the + learned, envisaging the idea from another point of view, + sometimes prefer to call it, Devolution. Through the principle of + autonomy, incompletely applied, the British Possessions have so + far evolved. Through the principle of autonomy, + <!-- Page 125 --><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>completely + applied, and in no other wise, can they evolve into an ordered + system worthy of the Imperial name. This is at first blush a + singular development. Here lie Ireland and England separated by a + mountain of misunderstanding. We Irish Nationalists have for a + century been trying to bore a tunnel through from one side. And + suddenly we become aware of the tapping of picks not our own, and + encounter midway the tunnel which the Party of Imperial + Reconstruction have driven through from the other side. Here are + all the materials for a <i>tableau</i>. Justice falls on the neck + of expediency. Imperialism recognises in nationality no rebel but + a son of the house. Toryism rubs its eyes, and finds that it is + Home Rule. + </p> + <p> + But, sounded to its depths, this new current of thought appears + not only not eccentric but inevitable. Ample explanation is to be + found in the history of the Irish fight for self-government. On + this subject there has been in Ireland a marked evolution of + ideas. O'Connell began by demanding simple Repeal of the Union + and the Restoration of Grattan's Parliament. But by 1844 he had + advanced towards a Federal programme. + </p> + <p> + "Beside the local Parliament in Ireland having + <!-- Page 126 --><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>full and + perfect local authority," he writes in that year, "there should + be, for questions of Imperial concern, colonial, military, and + naval, and of foreign alliance and policy, a Congressional or + Federal Parliament, in which Ireland should have a fair share and + proportion of representation and power." + </p> + <p> + The proposed change of programme came in a questionable shape to + a suspicious time. It was not received with universal favour, + and, to avert dissension, it was represented as a mere <i>ballon + d'essai</i> and was abandoned. O'Connell died, and Repeal and + Federation alike were swallowed up in the Great Famine. But time + was to renew its urgency. The essential facts, and the logic of + the facts, remained unaltered. When Isaac Butt came to formulate + his scheme at the Home Rule Conference in 1873 he renewed the + Federal proposal in terms almost verbally the same. The + Conference resolved: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "That, in claiming these rights and privileges for our country, + we adopt the principle of a Federal arrangement, which would + secure to the Irish Parliament the right of legislating for and + regulating all matters relating to the internal affairs of + Ireland, while <i>leaving to the Imperial Parliament the power + of dealing with all questions affecting the Imperial and + Government, legislation regarding the <!-- Page 127 --><a name= + "Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>colonies and other dependencies of + the Crown, the relations of the Empire with Foreign States, and + all matters appertaining to the defence and stability of the + Empire at large; as well as the power of granting and providing + the supplies necessary for Imperial purposes</i>." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Parnell, who was a supreme master of the art of doing one thing + at a time, naturally laid the emphasis on Ireland. But when he + was asked by Mr Cecil Rhodes to agree to the retention of Irish + representatives at Westminster in the interests of Imperial + Federation, he declared himself in very definite terms: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "It does not come so much within my province to express a full + opinion upon the larger question of Imperial federation, but I + agree with you that the continued Irish representation at + Westminster immensely facilitates such a step, while the + contrary provision in the Bill of 1886 would have been a bar. + Undoubtedly this is a matter which should be dealt with largely + in accordance with the opinion of the Colonies themselves, and + if they should desire to share in the cost of Imperial matters, + as undoubtedly they now do in the responsibility, and should + express a wish for representation at Westminster, I certainly + think it should be accorded to them, and that public opinion in + these islands would unanimously concur in the necessary + constitutional modifications." + </p> + </div> + <p> + <!-- Page 128 --><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>That is, if + you will, thinking Imperially. Mr Redmond stands where Parnell + stood. He claims for the Irish people "the legislative and + executive control of all purely Irish affairs." But he is + altogether friendly to a later and larger application of the + principle of autonomy. + </p> + <p> + But where, asks the triumphant critic not quite ingenuously, is + the line to be drawn between local and Imperial affairs? Problems + far more perplexed than this have been solved by the wit of man. + The line was drawn by O'Connell and Butt, by Parnell and + Gladstone. It can be drawn to meet the circumstances of to-day by + men of goodwill, after discussion and mutual adjustment. But why + not postpone the case of Ireland until a scheme of Home Rule all + round either for the United Kingdom or for the whole Empire has + been worked out? We answer that Ireland comes first on grounds + both of ethics and of expediency. Through all the blackness of + dismal years we have laboured to preserve the twin ideas of + nationality and autonomy, and the labourer is worthy of his hire. + But a Home Rule assembly, functioning in Dublin, may well furnish + the germ of a reorganisation of the Empire. If so, let it be + remembered that it was not Mr Chamberlain but Daniel O'Connell + who first in these countries gave to Imperialism a + <!-- Page 129 --><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>definite + and articulate form. In any event Home Rule is the only remedy + for the present congestion of St Stephen's. It is the only tonic + that can restore to English public life its old vigour of + independence. + </p> + <p> + Such are the necessities and such is the future of the Empire + merely as a problem in what has been called Political Mechanics. + We have now, from the same point of view, to examine very + cursorily the present government of Ireland. The phrasing, let me + interpose, is inaccurate. Ireland, in our day, is not governed; + it is only administered. A modern government, if it wishes to be + real, must above all else explain itself. For such luxuries, so + far as Ireland is concerned, there is no time in the House of + Commons. A modern government must exercise active control over + every department of public business. For such an effort there is, + so far as Ireland is concerned, no energy in the House of + Commons. Once in a blue moon it does of course become necessary + to pass an Irish Bill, a University or a Land Bill. The Party + shepherds round up their flocks, and, for a reluctant day or two, + they have to feed sparely in unaccustomed pastures. Or again, as + in 1886, 1893, or 1912, Ireland dominates British politics, and + the English members descend on <!-- Page 130 --><a name= + "Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>her with a heavy flop of hatred or + sympathy as it may happen. But at all other times the Union + Parliament abdicates, or at least it "governs" Ireland as men are + said sometimes to drive motor-cars, in a drowse. Three + days—or is it two?—are given to Irish Estimates, and + on each of these occasions the Chamber is as desolate as a + grazing ranch in Meath. Honourable members snatch at the + opportunity of cultivating their souls in the theatres, clubs, + restaurants, and other centres of culture in which London + abounds. The Irish Party is compelled by the elemental + necessities of the situation to speak with one voice on matters + regarding which there would properly be at least two voices in an + Irish Parliament, precisely identical in personnel. Ulster + Unionism presents a similar solidarity. + </p> + <p> + Whenever a point of any novelty is made, the Chief Secretary's + secretary slips over to one of the Irish Officials who on these + occasions lie ambushed at the back of the Speaker's chair, and + returns with all the elation of a honey-laden bee. His little + burden of wisdom is gratefully noted on the margin of the + typewritten brief which has been already prepared in Dublin by + the Board under discussion, and, entrenched behind this, the + Right Honourable gentleman winds up the debate. Sometimes his + solemnity <!-- Page 131 --><a name="Page_131" id= + "Page_131"></a>wrings laughter from men, sometimes his flippancy + wrings tears from the gods, but it does not in the least matter + what he says. The division bells ring; the absentees come + trooping in, learn at the door of the lobby, each from his + respective Whip, whether his spontaneous, independent judgment + has made him a Yes! or a No! and vote accordingly in the light of + an unsullied conscience. The Irish officials, with a sigh of + relief or a shrug of contempt, collect their hats and umbrellas, + and retire to their hotels to erase from their minds by slumber + the babblings of a mis-spent evening. And the course of + administration in Ireland is as much affected by the whole + proceedings as the course of an 80 h.p. Mercédès is affected by a + cabman's oath. + </p> + <p> + So much for exclusively Irish affairs. When Ireland comes into + some "general" scheme of legislation the parody of government + becomes if possible more fantastic in character. Let me take just + three instances—Old Age Pensions, Insurance, and the + Budget. In regard to the first it was perhaps a matter of course + that no attempt should be made to allow for the difference in + economic levels between Great Britain and Ireland. This is the + very principle of Unionism: to apply like methods to things which + <!-- Page 132 --><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>are unlike. + But in the calculation of details an ignorance was exhibited + which passed the bounds of decency. Mistakes of five or six per + cent are, in these complex affairs, not only to be expected but + almost to be desired; they help to depress ministerial + cocksureness. But in this case there was an error of 200 per + cent, a circumstance which incidentally established in the + English mind a pleasing legend of Irish dishonesty. The Insurance + Bill was ushered in with greater prudence. The "government," + recognising its own inability to lead opinion, had the grace to + refrain from misleading it. No special Irish memorandum was + issued, and no attempt was made to adjust the scheme to Irish + social and economic conditions. But Budgets afford on the whole + the capital instance of what we may call legislation by accident. + The Act of Union solemnly prescribes the principles on which + these measures are to be framed, and points to the Chancellor of + the Exchequer as the trustee of Irish interests. But nobody of + this generation ever knew a Chancellor of the Exchequer who had + even read the Act of Union; Mr Lloyd George, on his own + admission, had certainly not read it in 1909. What has happened + is very simple. The fulfilment of treaty obligations required + differential taxation, but <!-- Page 133 --><a name="Page_133" + id="Page_133"></a>administrative convenience was best served by a + uniform system of taxation. In the struggle between the two, + conscience was as usual defeated. The Chancellor, according to + the practice which has overridden the Act of Union budgets for + Great Britain, drags the schedule of taxes so fixed through + Ireland like a net, and counts the take. That, in the process, + the pledge of England should be broken, and her honour betrayed, + is not regarded by the best authorities as an objection or even + as a relevant fact. In the more sacred name of uniformity Ireland + is swamped in the Westminster Parliament like a fishing-smack in + the wash of a great merchantman. + </p> + <p> + But let one illusion be buried. If Ireland does not govern + herself it is quite certain that the British Parliament does not + govern her. Changing the venue of inquiry from London to Dublin + we find ourselves still in regions of the fantastic. From the + sober and unemotional pages of "Whitaker's Almanack" one learns, + to begin with, that "the government of Ireland is + semi-independent." The separatism of geography has in this case + triumphed. The <i>de facto</i> rulers of Ireland in ordinary + slack times, and in the daily round of business, are the heads of + the great Departments. Some of these are + <!-- Page 134 --><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>not even + nominally responsible to Parliament. The Intermediate Board, for + instance, has for thirty years controlled secondary education, + but it has never explained itself to Parliament and, because of + the source from which its funds are derived, it is not open to + criticism in Parliament. But none of the heads are really + responsible to any authority except their own iron-clad + consciences and the officials of the Treasury, with whom, for the + sake of appearances, they wage an unreal war. In theory, the + Chief Secretary answers to Parliament for the misdeeds of them + all. In practice, this fines itself down to reading typewritten + sophistications in reply to original questions, and improvising + jokes, of a well-recognised pattern, to turn the point of + supplementary questions for forty minutes on one day in the week + during session. In its own internal economy the government of + Ireland is a form of Pantheism, with the Chief Secretary as + underlying principle. He is the source of everything, good and + evil, light and darkness, benignity and malignity, with the + unfortunate result that he is in perpetual contradiction with + himself. As we know, the equilibrium of modern governments is + maintained by mutual strain between the various ministers. + Sometimes, as in the case of Lord Randolph Churchill, a + <!-- Page 135 --><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>strong + personality, moved by a new idea, tears the structure to pieces. + But the Chief Secretary knows no such limitations from without. + Theoretically, he may be produced to infinity in any direction; + he is all in every part. But, as a matter of fact, through the + mere necessity of filling so much space his control becomes + rarefied to an invisible vapour; he ends by becoming nothing in + any part. With its ultimate principle reduced to the status of a + <i>Dieu fainéant</i> political Pantheism is transformed into + political Atheism. Responsible government is perceived not to + exist in Ireland. Mr Barry O'Brien in his admirable book, "Dublin + Castle and the Irish People," confesses himself unable to find a + better characterisation of the whole system than is contained in + a well-known passage from "The Mikado." I make no apology for + conveying it from him. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "One cannot help recalling the memory of Pooh-Bah, 'Lord + High-Everything-Else' of the Mikado of Japan. Who forgets the + memorable scene between him and Ko-Ko, the Lord High + Executioner, on an occasion of supreme importance? + </p> + <p> + <i>Ko-Ko</i>. Pooh-Bah, it seems that the festivities in + connection with my approaching marriage must last a week. I + should like to do it handsomely, <!-- Page 136 --><a name= + "Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>and I want to consult you as to + the amount I ought to spend upon them. + </p> + <p> + <i>Pooh-Bah</i>. Certainly. In which of my capacities? As First + Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chamberlain, Attorney-General, + Chancellor of the Exchequer, Privy Purse, or Private Secretary? + </p> + <p> + <i>Ko-Ko</i>. Suppose we say as Private Secretary. + </p> + <p> + <i>Pooh-Bah</i>. Speaking as your Private Secretary, I should + say that as the city will have to pay for it, don't stint + yourself; do it well. + </p> + <p> + <i>Ko-Ko</i>. Exactly—as the city will have to pay for + it. That is your advice? + </p> + <p> + <i>Pooh-Bah</i>. As Private Secretary. Of course you will + understand that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, I am bound to + see that due economy is observed. + </p> + <p> + <i>Ko-Ko</i>. Oh, but you said just now, 'Don't stint yourself; + do it well.' + </p> + <p> + <i>Pooh-Bah</i>. As Private Secretary. + </p> + <p> + <i>Ko-Ko</i>. And now you say that due economy must be + observed. + </p> + <p> + <i>Pooh-Bah</i>. As Chancellor of the Exchequer. + </p> + <p> + <i>Ko-Ko</i>. I see. Come over here where the Chancellor can't + hear us. <i>(They cross stage.)</i> Now, as my Solicitor, how + do you advise me to deal with this difficulty? + </p> + <p> + <i>Pooh-Bah</i>. Oh, as your Solicitor, I should have no + hesitation in saying chance it. + </p> + <p> + <i>Ko-Ko</i>. Thank you <i>(shaking his head)</i>; I will. + </p> + <p> + <i>Pooh-Bah</i>. If it were not that, as Lord Chief + <!-- Page 137 --><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>Justice, + I am bound to see that the law isn't violated. + </p> + <p> + <i>Ko-Ko</i>. I see. Come over here where the Chief Justice + can't hear us. (<i>They cross the stage</i>.) Now, then, as + First Lord of the Treasury? + </p> + <p> + <i>Pooh-Bah</i>. Of course, as First Lord of the Treasury, I + could propose a special vote that would cover all expenses if + it were not that, as leader of the Opposition, it would be my + duty to resist it, tooth and nail. Or, as Paymaster-General, I + could so cook the accounts that, as Lord High Auditor, I should + never discover the fraud. But then, as Archbishop of Jitipu, it + would be my duty to denounce my dishonesty, and give myself + into my own custody as Commissioner of Police." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Under such arrangements as these the inevitable happens. The + Chief Secretary accepts his rôle. He is, no doubt, consoled to + discover that in one sphere, namely in that of patronage, his + supremacy is effective. He discovers further that he can + hamstring certain obnoxious Acts, as Mr Walter Long hamstrung the + Land Act, by the issue of Regulations. The rest of his official + career depends on his politics. If a Tory, he learns that the + Irish Civil Service is a whispering gallery along which his + lightest word is carried to approving ears, and loyally acted + upon. Further "Ulster" expects law and order to be vindicated by + the occasional proclamation <!-- Page 138 --><a name="Page_138" + id="Page_138"></a>of Nationalist meetings, and batoning of + Nationalist skulls. And he absolutely must say from time to time + in public that the Irish Question in essence is not political but + economic. This is the whole duty of a Tory Chief Secretary. A + Liberal Chief Secretary functions on somewhat different lines. + Administration presents itself to him as a colossal heap of + recalcitrant, wet sand out of which he has to fashion a statue of + fair-play. Having, with great labour, left his personal impress + on two or three handfuls, the weary Titan abandons his impossible + task. He falls back in good order on the House of Commons, where + his party majority enables him to pass an Irish Bill from time to + time. His spare time he divides between commending Dublin Castle + to the seven devils that made it, and praying for the advent of + Home Rule. + </p> + <p> + In either case the sovereignty of Ireland relapses into the hands + of the permanent officials, that camarilla of Olympians. To the + official lives of these gentlemen, regarded as works of art, I + raise my hat in respectful envy. They have realised the vision of + Lucretius. From the secure remoteness of their ivory towers they + look down unmoved on the stormy and drifting tides below, and + they enjoy the privilege, so rare in Ireland, of knowing the + <!-- Page 139 --><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>causes of + things. To the ordinary man their political origins are shrouded + in twilight. They seem to him to have come like water, but + unhappily it cannot be said that they go like wind. While they + are with us they are absolute, seen by nobody, felt by all the + world, the Manchu mandarins of the West. They have been attacked + on many foolish counts; let us in justice to them and ourselves + be quite clear as to what is wrong with them. Some people say + that there are too many Boards, but it is to be remembered that + for every new function with which we endow the State it must have + a new organ. Others say that they are over-staffed; but all + government departments in the world are over-staffed. Still + others say that they are stupid and corrupt. As for corruption, + it certainly does exist under many discreet veils, but its old + glory is fading. Incompetent the great officials never were. A + poet tells us that there are only two people in the world who + ever understand a man—the woman who loves him, and the + enemy who hates him best. In one of these ways, if not in the + other, Dublin Castle understands Ireland. Did it not know what + the people of Ireland want, it could not so infallibly have + maintained its tradition of giving them the opposite. Other + critics again find the deadly disease of the + <!-- Page 140 --><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>Boards to + reside in the fact that they are a bureaucracy. This diagnosis + comes closer to the truth, but it is not yet the truth. + Bureaucracies of trained experts are becoming more and not less + necessary. What is really wrong with the Castle is that it is a + bureaucracy which has usurped the throne of the nation. "In + England," declared Mr Gladstone, "when the nation attends, it can + prevail." In Ireland, though it should attend seven days in the + week, it could never under present arrangements stamp the image + of its will on public policy. The real sin of the Castle regime + is that it is a sham, a rococo, a despotism painted to look like + representative government. To quote a radiant commonplace, the + rich significance of which few of us adequately grasp, it does + not rest on the consent of the governed. + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "From whatever point of view we envisage the English Government + in Ireland," writes Mr Paul-Dubois, "we are confronted with the + same appearance of constitutional forms masking a state of + things which is a compound of autocracy, oppression, and + corruption." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Such a system does not possess within itself the seed of + continuance. Disraeli announced, somewhat prematurely, the advent + of an age in <!-- Page 141 --><a name="Page_141" id= + "Page_141"></a>which institutions that could not bear discussion + would have to go. Matthew Arnold yearned for a time in which the + manifestly absurd would be abandoned. In the flame of either + dictum the present "government" of Ireland shrivels to ashes, and + affairs are ripe for the application of both. Here, as in the + Colonies, the people must enter into its heritage. The days are + for ever dead in which a nation could be ruled in daily disregard + of its history, its ideals, its definite programme. + </p> + <p> + On the minutiae of administration I do not mean to touch. When + the whole spirit, atmosphere, and ethos are anti-moral it is idle + to chronicle any chance rectitude of detail. If a man is a + murderer it is not much to his credit to observe that he has + triumphed over the primitive temptation to eat peas with his + knife. If a government is based on contempt for public opinion, + as its fundamental principle, no useful purpose is served by a + record of the occasions on which a policeman has been known to + pass a citizen in the street without beating him. But there is + one further confirmation of the view, here advanced, to omit + which would be to ignore the most significant fact of our time. + Certain departments such as the Congested Districts Board and the + Department of Agriculture, <!-- Page 142 --><a name="Page_142" + id="Page_142"></a>recent creations, have been freshened by the + introduction of a representative, non-official element. Others + such as the Estates Commission have been under the control of + officials of a new type, able men who do not conceal the fact + that they believe in Ireland. All of these new Boards have struck + root in the national life to a depth never reached by any of + their predecessors. The lesson of this change is the lesson of + freedom. In the precise degree in which government trusts the + people will the people trust government. It remains to complete + the process by a scheme of autonomy that shall make every + administrator a trustee and executant of the will of the nation. + </p> + <p> + There are other organs of "government" in Ireland of which the + reader may reasonably expect to hear something. He will permit me + to discharge my obligations by copying out certain paragraphs + from an old note-book: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "<i>Judges</i>.—It is a mistake to suppose that none of + the Irish Judges know any law. Our judiciary includes many + masterly lawyers, and many adroit men of the world. But all of + them are political appointments. Hence in ordinary cases a man + will get clean justice. But the moment politics flutter on the + breeze, the masked battery on the Bench is uncurtained to + bellow forth anti-Nationalist shrapnel. Irish Judges, in fact, + are very like the horse <!-- Page 143 --><a name="Page_143" id= + "Page_143"></a>in the schoolboy's essay: 'The horse is a noble + and useful quadruped, but, when irritated, he ceases to do so." + </p> + <p> + "<i>Police</i>.—The Royal Irish Constabulary was formerly + an Army of occupation. Now, owing to the all but complete + disappearance of crime, it is an Army of no occupation." + </p> + <p> + "<i>Dublin Castle in general</i>.—Must be seen to be + disbelieved." + </p> + </div> + <p> + Since there does not exist a British Empire, it is necessary to + invent one. Since there does not exist an Irish government, in + any modern and intelligible sense of the word, it is necessary to + invent one. The common creative mould out of which both must be + struck is the principle of Home Rule. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a> + <!-- Page 144 --><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>CHAPTER IX + </h2> + <h3> + AFTER HOME RULE + </h3> + <p> + The advocates of Home Rule are invited to many ordeals by way of + verifying their good faith; perhaps the heaviest ordeal is that + of prophecy. Very well, people say, what are you going to do with + Home Rule when you get it? What will Irish politics be like in, + say, 1920? If we show embarrassment or offer conflicting answers, + the querist is persuaded that we are, as indeed he thought, + vapouring sentimentalists, not at all accustomed to live in a + world of clear ideas and unyielding facts. The demand, like many + others made upon us, is unreal and unreasonable. What are the + English going to do with Home Rule when they get it? What will + German or Japanese or American politics be like in 1920? These + are all what Matthew Arnold calls "undiscovered things." The + future resolutely declines to speak out of her turn. She has a + trick of keeping her secrets well, <!-- Page 145 --><a name= + "Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>better than she keeps her promises. + Professor Dicey wrote a Unionist tract, very vehement and + thunderous, in which he sought to injure Home Rule by styling it + a leap in the dark. But the whole conduct of life, in its gravest + and its lightest issues alike, is a perpetual leap in the dark. + Every change of public policy is a raid across the frontiers of + the unknown; or rather, as I prefer to put it, every fundamental + reform is essentially an Act of Faith in to-morrow, and so it is + with Home Rule. + </p> + <p> + But while none of us can prophesy all of us can conjecture, and + in this case with a great deal of confidence. On the one hand, + Ireland is a country of very definite habits of thought; on the + other, her immediate problems are obvious. These two + circumstances facilitate the process which the learned describe + as an attempt to produce the present curve of evolution into the + future. First, then, as to the temper of mind in which an + autonomous Ireland will face the world. The one clear certainty + is that it will not be rhetorical or Utopian. Of all the libels + with which we are pelted the most injurious to our repute is a + kindly libel, that which represents us as a nation of orators. To + the primitive Tory the Nationalist "agitator" appears in the + guise of a stormy and intractable fiend, with futility in + <!-- Page 146 --><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>his soul, + and a College Green peroration on his lips. The sources of this + superstition are easily traced. The English have created the + noblest literature in the world, and are candidly ashamed of the + fact. In their view anybody who succeeds in words must + necessarily fail in business. The Irishman on the contrary + luxuriates, like the artist that he is, in that <i>splendor + verborum</i> celebrated by Dante. If a speech has to be made he + thinks that it should be well made, and refuses altogether to + accept hums and haws as a token of genius. He expects an orator + not merely to expound facts, but to stimulate the vital forces of + his audience. These contrary conceptions of the relation of art + to life have, throughout the Home Rule campaign, clashed in the + English mind much to our disadvantage. And there has been another + agent of confusion, more widely human in character. Every idea + strongly held and, on the other side, strongly challenged, + kindles spontaneously into passion, and every great cause has its + poetry as well as its dialetics. Men, forced to concentrate all + their thought on one reform, come to see it edged with strange, + mystical colours. Let justice only triumph in this one regard, + and our keel will grate on the shore of the Fortunate Islands, + the Earthly Paradise. All the harshness of life will + <!-- Page 147 --><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>be + dulcified; we shall lie dreaming on golden sands, dipping full + goblets out of a sea that has been transmuted into lemonade. + This, the Utopian mood of humanity, is inextinguishable, and it + has embroidered the Home Rule idea in common with all others. + Before the complexity of modern economic organisation was as well + understood as is now the case, there is no doubt that certain + sections of opinion in Ireland did regard self-government as a + sort of Aladdin's Lamp, capable of any miracle. The necessity of + pressing all the energy of the nation into one channel had the + effect of imposing on political life a simplicity which does not + belong to it. But all that is over and past. The Ireland of + to-day does not pay herself with words. She is safe from that + reaction and disillusionment which some prophets have discerned + as the first harvest of Home Rule, because she is already + disillusioned. Looking into the future we see no hope for + rhetoricians; what we do see is a strong, shrewd, indomitable + people, at once clear-sighted and idealistic, going about its + business "in the light of day in the domain of reality." No signs + or wonders blaze out a trail for them. The past sags on their + shoulders and in their veins, a grievous burden and a grievous + malady. They make mistakes during their <!-- Page 148 --><a name= + "Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>apprenticeship to freedom, for, as + Flaubert says, men have got to learn everything from eating to + dying. But a few years farther on we see the recuperative powers + of the nation once more triumphant. The past is at last dead + enough to be buried, the virus of oppression has been expelled. + The creative impulse in industry, literature, social habit, + working in an atmosphere of freedom, has added to the wealth of + humanity not only an old nation renascent, but a new and kindlier + civilisation. In other words, political autonomy is to us not the + epilogue but the prologue to our national drama. It rings the + curtain up on that task to which all politics are merely + instrumental, namely the vindication of justice and the + betterment of human life. + </p> + <p> + From the first, the economic note will predominate in a Home Rule + assembly, not only in the sense in which so much can be said of + every country in the world, but in a very special sense. For the + past decade Ireland has been thinking in terms of woollens and + linens, turnips and fat cattle, eggs and butter, banks and + railways. The conviction that the country is under-developed, and + in consequence under-populated, has been growing both in area and + in depth. With it there has been growing the + <!-- Page 149 --><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>further + conviction that poverty, in the midst of untapped resources, is a + national crime. The propagation of these two beliefs by journals + of the newer school such as <i>The Leader, Sinn Fein,</i> and + <i>The Irish Homestead</i> has leavened the whole mass of Irish + life in our time. The Industrial Development Associations, + founded on them as basis, have long ago "bridged the Boyne." At + their annual Conferences Belfast sits side by side with Cork, + Derry with Dublin. It is not merely that the manufacturers and + traders have joined hands to advance a movement beneficial to + themselves; the best thought of every class in the country has + given enthusiastic support to the programme on grounds not of + personal interest but of national duty. We may therefore take it + that the watchword of the Second Empire, <i>Enrichissez-vous,</i> + will be the watchword of a self-governing Ireland. What + Parliament and the State can do to forward that aim will + naturally be a subject of controversy. To Free Traders and Tariff + Reformers, alike, the power that controls the Customs' tariff of + a country controls its economic destiny. Both would seem bound to + apply the logic of their respective gospels to Ireland. But as it + is not the aim of this book to anticipate the debates of next + year, but rather to explain the foundations + <!-- Page 150 --><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>of the Home + Rule idea, we may leave that burning question for the present + untouched. Apart from it we can anticipate the trend of policy in + Ireland. The first great task of a Home Rule Parliament would be + above controversy; it would be neither more nor less than a + scientific exploration of the country. No such Economic Survey + has ever been made, and the results are lamentable. There has + been no mapping out of the soil areas from the point of view of + Agricultural Economics, and, for the lack of such impartial + information, the fundamental conflict between tillage and grazing + goes on in the dark. We know where coal is to be found in + Ireland; we do not know with any assurance where it is and where + it is not profitably workable. The same is true of granite, + marble, and indeed all our mineral resources. + </p> + <p> + The woollen industry flourishes in one district and fails in + another, to all appearance as favourably situated; it seems + capable of great expansion and yet it does not expand greatly. + What then are the conditions of success? Here is a typical case + that calls for scientific analysis. One can pick at random a + dozen such instances. Ireland, admirably adapted to the + production of meat, does not produce meat, but only the raw + material of it, store cattle. Is this state of things + <!-- Page 151 --><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>immutable? + Or is a remedy for it to be found, say, in a redistribution of + the incidence of local taxation so as to favour well-used land as + against ill-used land? Is the decline in the area under flax to + be applauded or deplored? Can Irish-grown wool be improved up to + the fineness of the Australian article? And so on, and so on. It + is to be noted that of the statistics which we do possess many of + the most important are, to say the least, involved in doubt. The + Export and Import figures are little better than volunteer + estimates; there is no compulsion to accuracy. As to the yield of + crops, all that can be said is that our present information is + not as bad as it used to be. But above all we have no + comprehensive notion of the condition of the people. Whenever + there has been an inquiry into wages, cost of living, or any + other fundamental fact, Ireland has come in as a mere tail-piece + to a British volume. All this we must change. The first business + of an Irish Parliament will be to take stock; and this will be + effected by the establishment of a Commission of a new kind, + representative of science, industry, agriculture, and finance, + acceptable and authoritative in the eyes of the whole nation, and + charged with the duty of ascertaining the actual state of things + in Ireland and the <!-- Page 152 --><a name="Page_152" id= + "Page_152"></a>wisest line of economic development. Such an + undertaking will amount to a unification of Irish life altogether + without precedent. It will draw the great personalities of + industry for the first time into the central current of public + affairs. It will furnish them with a platform upon which they + will have to talk in terms of the plough, the loom, and the + ledger, and not in terms of the wolf-dog and the orange-lily, and + will render fruitful for the service of the country innumerable + talents, now unknown or estranged by political superstitions. It + will do all that State action can do to generate a boom in Irish + enterprises, and to tempt Irish capital into them in a more + abundant stream. And the proceedings and conclusions of such a + body, circulated broadcast somewhat after the Washington plan, + will provide for all classes in the community a liberal education + in Economics. Will "Ulster" fight against such an attempt to + increase its prosperity? Will the shipbuilders, the spinners, and + the weavers close down their works in order to patronise Sir + Edward Carson's performance on a pop-gun? It is not probable. + </p> + <p> + Work is the best remedy against such vapours, and an Ireland, + occupied in this fashion-with wealth-producing labour, will have + no time for civil war or "religious" riots. + </p> + <p> + <!-- Page 153 --><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>As for + concrete projects, the Irish Parliament will not be able to begin + on a very ambitious scale. But there are two or three matters + which it must at once put in hand. There is, for instance, the + drainage of the Barrow and the Bann. These two rivers are in a + remarkable degree non-political and non-sectarian. Just as the + rain falls on the just and the unjust, so do their rain-swollen + floods spoil with serene impartiality Nationalist hay and Orange + hay, Catholic oats and Presbyterian oats. Will "Ulster" fight + against an effort to check the mischief? Then there is + re-afforestation. As the result mainly of the waste of war, + Ireland, which ought to be a richly wooded country, is very poor + in that regard. In consequence of this, a climate, moister than + need be, distributes colds and consumption among the population, + without any religious test, and unchecked winds lodge the corn of + all denominations. Re-afforestation, as offering a profit certain + but a little remote, and promising a climatic advantage diffused + over the whole area of the country, is eminently a matter for + public enterprise. Are we to be denied the hope that fir, and + spruce, and Austrian pine may conceivably be lifted out of the + plane of Party politics? Further, to take instances at haphazard, + the State, whatever else its economic functions may + <!-- Page 154 --><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>be, will be + one of the largest purchasers of commodities in the country. It + is thinkable that the Irish State may give its civil servants + Irish-made paper to write on in their offices. It may even so + arrange things that when Captain Craig comes to the House of + Commons at College Green he shall sit on an Irish-made bench, + dine off a cloth of Belfast linen, and be ruthlessly compelled to + eat Meath beef, Dublin potatoes, and Tipperary butter. In such + horrible manifestations of Home Rule I do not discern the + material for a revolution. Again, it may be proposed that in + order to develop manufactures, municipalities and county councils + may be given power to remit local rates on newly established + factories for an initial period of, say, ten years. It may occur + to evil-minded people to increase the provision for technical + instruction in certain centres for the same end. The Irish State + may think it well to maintain agents in London, New York, and + some of the continental capitals with a view to widening the + external market for Irish products. I do not say that a Home Rule + Parliament will do all these things, but they are the sort of + thing that it will do. And the mere naked enumeration of them is + sufficient to show that such an Assembly will have ample matter + of economic development upon which to keep its + <!-- Page 155 --><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>teeth + polished without devouring either priests or Protestants. + </p> + <p> + There are other urgent questions upon which unanimity exists even + at present, for example Poor Law Reform. I have outlined in an + earlier chapter the honourable record of Ireland in this regard. + We were agreed in 1836 that the workhouse should never have come; + we are now agreed that it must go. Whether in Antrim or in Clare, + the same vicious system has produced the same vicious results. + Uniform experience has issued in unanimous agreement as to the + lines upon which reform ought to proceed. At the same time there + are differences as to detail, and the task of fusing together + various views and hammering out of them a workable Bill will be + an ideal task for a representative assembly. But it is difficult + to believe that the discussion will be, in all particulars, + governed either by the Council of Trent, or by the Westminster + Confession. + </p> + <p> + Then there is education. English public men have been brought up + to assume that in Ireland education must be a battleground + inevitably, and from the first. It would be a mere paradox to say + that this question, which sunders parties the world over as with + a sword, will leave opinion in Ireland inviolately unanimous. But + our <!-- Page 156 --><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>march + to the field of controversy will be over a non-controversial + road. Union policy has left us a rich inheritance of obvious + evils. The position of the primary teachers is unsatisfactory, + that of the secondary teachers is impossible. When we attempt + improvement of both will "Ulster" fight? And there is something + even more human and poignant. The National Schools of this + country are in many cases no better than ramshackle barns. Unless + the teacher and the manager, out of their own pockets, mend the + broken glass, put plaster on the walls, and a fire in the grate, + the children have got to shiver and cough for it. Winter in + Ireland, like the King in constitutional theory, is above + politics. When its frosts get at the noses, and fingers, and + sometimes the bare toes, of the children it leaves them neither + green nor orange but simply blue. Then again other schools, + especially in Belfast, are shamefully over-crowded. Classes are + held on the stairs, in the cloak-room, the hall, or the yard. For + the more fortunate, class-rooms are provided with an air-space + per individual only slightly less than that available in the + Black Hole of Calcutta. All over the country, children go to + school breakfastless and stupid with hunger, and the local + authorities have no power to feed them as in England, + <!-- Page 157 --><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>and in most + European countries. Then again, even where the physical + conditions are reasonable, the programme lacks actuality. It is + unpractical, out of touch with the facts of life and locality, a + veritable castle hung absurdly in the air and not based on any + solid foundation. The view still lingers in high places that the + business of education is to break the spirit of a people, to put + them down and not to lift them up. In token of this, the teachers + are denied the civil rights of freemen. Now all these ineptitudes + are contrary to the humane tradition of Ireland. Go they must, + but, when an Irish Parliament starts to remove them, I cannot + imagine Captain Craig, with a Union Jack wrapped around his + bosom, straddling like Apollyon across the path. The Captain has + far too much sense, and too much feeling in him. + </p> + <p> + It will be observed that we are getting on. A nation so busy with + realities will have no time to waste on civil war. <i>Inter leges + arma silent</i>. But this is a mere outline sketch of the + preliminary task of the initial sessions of an Irish Parliament. + Problems with a far heavier fist will thunder at its doors, the + problems of labour. The democratic group in Ireland, that group + which everywhere holds the commission of the + <!-- Page 158 --><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>future, has + long since declared that, to it, Home Rule would be a barren + counter-sense unless it meant the redemption of the back streets. + The Titanic conflict between what is called capital and what is + called labour, shaking the pillars of our modern Society, has not + passed Ireland by like the unregarded wind. We can no longer + think of ourselves as insulated from the world, immune from + strikes, Socialists, and Syndicalism. The problems of labour have + got to be faced. But will they be solved by a grapple between the + Orange Lodges and the Ancient Order of Hibernians? It is obvious + that under their pressure the old order must change, yielding + place to a new. Every Trade Union has already bridged the Boyne. + Every strike has already torn the Orange Flag and the Green Flag + into two pieces, and stitched them together again after a new and + portentous pattern. + </p> + <p> + What does it all come to? Simply this, that Ireland under Home + Rule will be most painfully like every other modern country of + western civilisation. Some Unionists think that, if they could + only get rid of the Irish Party, all would be for the best in the + best of all possible worlds. Why then are they not Home Rulers? + For Home Rule will most assuredly get rid of the + <!-- Page 159 --><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>Irish + Party. It will shatter the old political combinations like a + waggon-load of dynamite. New groups will crystallise about new + principles. The future in Ireland belongs to no old fidelity: it + may belong to any new courage. + </p> + <p> + Assuredly we must not seem to suggest that, in an autonomous + Ireland, public life will be all nougat, velvet, and soft music. + There will be conflicts, and vehement conflicts, for that is the + way of the twentieth century, and they will no doubt centre, for + the most part, about taxation and education. But the political + forces of the country will have moved into totally new + formations. One foresees plainly a vertical section of parties + into Agrarian and Urban, a cross section into Labour and + Capitalistic. Each of these economic groupings is indefinitely + criss-crossed by an indefinite number of antagonisms, spiritual + and material. In a situation so complicated it is idle to + speculate as to the conditions of the future. A box of bricks so + large, and so multi-coloured, may be arranged and re-arranged in + an infinity of architectures. The one thing quite certain is that + all the arrangements will be new. In taxation, as I have + suggested, a highly conservative policy will prevail. In + education the secularist programme, if advanced at all, will be + overwhelmed by a junction of Catholic and + <!-- Page 160 --><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>Protestant. + For religion, to the <i>anima naturaliter Christiana</i>, of + Ireland is not an argument but an intuition. It seems to us as + reasonable to prepare children for their moral life by excluding + religion as to prepare them for their physical life by removing + the most important lobe of their brains. + </p> + <p> + The only other prognostication that appears to emerge is the + probable predominance in a Home Rule Ireland of the present + Ulster Unionist party. That group is likely, for many reasons, to + retain its solidarity after ours has been dissipated. Should that + prove to be the case, self-government will put the balance of + power on almost all great conflicts of opinion into the hands of + Sir Edward Carson and his successors. The "minority," adroitly + handled, will exploit the majority almost as effectively after + Home Rule as before it. Captain Craig will dictate terms to us + not from the last ditch, but from a far more agreeable and + powerful position, the Treasury Bench. And we undertake not to + grumble, for these are the chances of freedom. + </p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2> + <a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><!-- Page 161 --><a name= + "Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>CHAPTER X + </h2> + <h3> + AN EPILOGUE ON "LOYALTY" + </h3> + <p> + According to precedent, well-established if not wise, no + discussion of political Ireland must end without some + observations on "loyalty." The passion of the English people for + assurances on this point is in curious contrast with their own + record. It is not rhetoric, but crude history, to say that the + title-deeds of English freedom are in great part written in + blood, and that the seal which gave validity to all the capital + documents was the seal of "treason." No other nation in the world + has so clearly recognised and so stoutly insisted that, in the + ritual game of loyalty, the first move is with governments. With + that premised, the difference between the two countries is very + simple. England has developed from within the type of government + that her people want. She expresses satisfaction with the fact. + This is loyalty. Ireland, on the contrary, has had forced on her + from without a type of government <!-- Page 162 --><a name= + "Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>which her people emphatically do not + want. She expresses dissatisfaction with the fact. This is + disloyalty. Loyalty, in brief, is the bloom on the face of + freedom, just as beauty is the bloom on the face of health. + </p> + <p> + If we examine the methods by which England attained her very + desirable position we are further enlightened. It is a study + admirably adapted to inculcate liberty, not at all so well + adapted to inculcate "loyalty." The whole burden of English + history is that, whenever these two principles came in conflict, + every man in England worth his salt was disloyal even to the + point of war. Whenever the old bottle was recalcitrant to the new + wine of freedom it was ignominiously scrapped. A long effort has + been made to keep Irish history out of our schools in the + interests of "loyalty." But it is English history that ought to + be kept out, for it is full of stuff much more perilous. You + teach Irish children the tale of Runnymede, covering with + contempt the king of that day, and heaping praise on the barons + who shook their fists under his nose. This is dangerous doctrine. + It is doubly dangerous seeing that these children will soon grow + up to learn that the Great Charter, which is held to justify all + these tumultuous proceedings, has never even to our own day been + <!-- Page 163 --><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>current law + in Ireland. You introduce them to the Wars of the Roses as a + model of peaceful, constitutional development; to the slaying of + Edward II., Richard II., and I know not how many more as + object-lessons in the reverence which angry Englishmen accord to + an anointed king when they really dislike him. Later centuries + show them one Stuart beheaded outside his own palace, another + dethroned and banished in favour of a Dutch prince. Of romantic + loyalty to the person of a sovereign they find no trace or hint + in the modern period. Lost causes and setting suns, whatever + appeal they may have made to Ireland, do but rarely fire with + their magical glimmer the raw daylight of the English political + mind. As for that more facile, after-dinner attachment, in which + it is charged that we do not join with sufficient fervour, it + seems to us always fulsome, and often mere hyprocrisy. In the + development of English ceremonial, "God Save the King!" gets to + the head of the toast-list only when the king has been thoroughly + saved from all the perils and temptations incidental to the + possession of power. So long as he claims any shred of initiative + his English subjects continue in a perpetual chafe and grumble of + disloyalty; as soon as the Crown has been rasped and sand-papered + down to <!-- Page 164 --><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>a + decorative zero their loyalty knows no bounds. + </p> + <p> + The simple and honourable truth is that all through her history + England strove after national freedom, and declined to be quiet + until she got it. There could not be a better statement of the + methods which she employed than Mr Rudyard Kipling's: + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span>"Axe and torch and tumult, steel and gray-goose wing, + <br /></span> <span>Wrung it, inch and ell, and all, slowly + from the King." + <br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <p> + It is, of course, a pity that the liberty thus established was + better fitted for the home market than for export. But this does + not affect the fact that, at the end of the process, the English + people were in the saddle. But the Irish people are not in the + saddle, they are under it. Indeed, the capital sin of Dublin + Castle is that it is a bureaucracy which has seized upon the + estate of the people. In Ireland, under its <i>régime</i>, the + nation has had as much to say to its own public policy as a + Durbar-elephant has to say to the future of India. There is just + this difference in favour of the elephant: at least he has riot + to pay for the embroidered palanquins, and the prodding-poles, of + his riders. We are all agreed that loyalty is a duty. It is the + duty of every government to <!-- Page 165 --><a name="Page_165" + id="Page_165"></a>be loyal to the welfare, the nobler traditions, + the deep-rooted ideals, the habit of thought of its people. It is + the duty of every government to be loyal to the idea of duty, and + to that austere justice through which the most ancient heavens + abide fresh and strong. And until these prime duties have been + faithfully performed, no government need expect and none can + exact "loyalty" from its subjects. + </p> + <p> + But it seems that we are compromised on other grounds. The + inscription on the Parnell Memorial is trumpeted about the + constituencies with equal energy by opponents wise and otherwise: + </p> + <div class="blockquot"> + <p> + "No man has a right to fix the boundary to the march of a + nation. No man has a right to say to his country, 'Thus far + shalt thou go and no farther.' We have never attempted to fix + the <i>ne plus ultra</i> to the progress of Ireland's + nationhood, and we never shall." + </p> + </div> + <p> + What the precise matter of offence may be one finds it difficult + to discover. Mr Balfour very properly characterises as the + utterance of a statesman, this passage in which Parnell declines + to usurp the throne and sceptre of Providence. But Mr Smith + complains that it deprives Home Rule of the note of "finality." + With the sugges<!-- Page 166 --><a name="Page_166" id= + "Page_166"></a>tion that Home Rule is not at all events the end + of the world we are, of course, in warm agreement. But if Mr + Smith has entered public affairs in pursuit of static formulæ for + dynamic realities, if he wants things fixed and frozen and final, + he has come to the wrong world to gratify such desires. And even + if he were to go to the next, he would have to be very careful in + choosing his destination, for all the theologians tell us that, + in Heaven, personalities continue to grow and develop. In fact, + if anybody wants "finality," I am afraid that we can only + recommend him to go to Hell. As for the world, in which we live, + it is a world of flux. Physicists allow the earth a long road to + travel before it tumbles into dissolution, and seers and prophets + of various kinds foretell an equally long cycle of development + for human nature, as we now know it. The fate of all our present + political combinations is doubtful, and no nation has received + absolute guarantees for its future. An All-Europe State with its + capital at London, a Federation of the World with its capital at + Dublin, a Chinese Empire with its capital at Paris—these + are all possibilities. Australia may be annexed by Japan, Canada + by the United States, or vice versa; South Africa may spread + northwards until it absorbs the Continent, + <!-- Page 167 --><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>or shrink + southwards until it expires on the point of the Cape. The + Superman may, as I am informed, appear on the stage of history at + any moment, and make pie of everything. And not one of these + appalling possibilities disturbs Mr Smith in the least. But he is + going to vote against justice for Ireland unless we can promise + him that throughout all the æons, as yet unvouchsafed, and to the + last syllable of recorded time, her political destiny is going to + be in all details regulated by the Home Rule Bill of 1912. This + is not an intelligent attitude. + </p> + <p> + Of course the real innuendo is that we in Ireland are burning to + levy war on Great Britain, and would welcome any foreign invasion + to that end. On these two points one is happy to be able to give + assurances, or rather to state intentions. As for foreign + invasion, we have had quite enough of it. It is easier to get + invaders in than to get them out again, and we have not spent + seven hundred years in recovering Ireland for ourselves in order + to make a present of it to the Germans, or the Russians, or the + Man in the Moon, or any other foreign power whatever. The present + plan of governing Ireland in opposition to the will of her people + does indeed inevitably make that country the weak spot in the + defences of these islands, for such misgovern + <!-- Page 168 --><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>ment + produces discontent, and discontent is the best ally of the + invader. Alter that by Home Rule, and your cause instantly + becomes ours. Give the Irish nation an Irish State to defend, and + the task of an invader becomes very unenviable. As for levying + war on Great Britain, we have no inclination in that direction. + The best thought in Ireland has always preferred civilisation to + war, and we have no wealth to waste on expensive stupidities of + any kind. In addition we are handicapped on sea by the smallness + of our official navy which, so far as I can gather, consists of + the <i>Granuaile</i>, a pleasure-boat owned by the Congested + Districts Board. In land operations, we are still more seriously + hampered by the non-existence of our army. And although, in point + of population, our numerical inferiority is so trivial as one to + ten, even this slight disproportion may be regarded by an Irish + Parliament as a fact not unworthy of consideration. + </p> + <p> + But we must not suffer ourselves to be detained any longer among + these unrealities. A Home Rule government will be loyal to the + interests of its people, and actual circumstances demand, for the + behoof of Great Britain and Ireland alike, an era of peace with + honour, and friendship founded on justice. The magnitude + <!-- Page 169 --><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>of the + commercial relations between the two countries is inadequately + appreciated. Not merely is Great Britain our best customer, but + we are her best customer. The trade of Great Britain with Ireland + is larger than her trade with India, and nearly twice as large as + that with Canada or Australia. And while these surprising figures + are far from indicating the existence of a sound economic + structure in Ireland, none the less, the industrial expansion + that will follow Home Rule may be expected to alter the character + rather than to diminish the value of the goods interchanged. For + if the development of textile, leather, shipbuilding, and other + manufactures lessens the British import under these heads into + Ireland, it will increase that of coal, iron, steel, and + machinery. And Ireland, without trenching on the needs of her + home market, is capable of much more intensive exploitation as a + food-exporting country. Economically the two nations are joined + in relations that ought to be relations of mutual profit, were + they not eternally poisoned by political oppression. With this + virus removed, the natural balance of the facts of nature will + spontaneously establish itself between the two countries. + </p> + <p> + The true desire of all the loud trumpeters of "loyalty" is, as it + appears to me, of a very <!-- Page 170 --><a name="Page_170" id= + "Page_170"></a>different order. What they really ask is that + Ireland should begin her career of autonomy with a formal act of + self-humiliation. She may enter the Council of Empire provided + that she enters on her knees, and leaves her history outside the + door as a shameful burden. This is not a demand that can be + conceded, or that men make on men. The open secret of Ireland is + that Ireland is a nation. In days rougher than ours, when a blind + and tyrannous England sought to drown the national faith of + Ireland in her own blood as in a sea, there arose among our + fathers men who annulled that design. We cannot undertake to + cancel the names of these men from our calendar. We are no more + ashamed of them than the constitutional England of modern times + is ashamed of her Langtons and De Montforts, her Sidneys and + Hampdens. Our attitude in their regard goes beyond the reach of + prose, and no adequate poetry comes to my mind. The Irish poets + have recently been so busy compiling catalogues of crime, + profanity, and mania for the Abbey Theatre that they have not had + time to attend to politics; and in attempting to suggest the + spirit that must inform the settlement between Ireland and + England, if out of it is to spring the authentic flower of + loyalty, I am reluctantly compelled <!-- Page 171 --><a name= + "Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>to fall back on a weaker brother, + not of the craft: + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span>Bond, from the toil of hate we may not cease: + <br /></span> <span>Free, we are free to be your friend. + <br /></span> <span>But when you make your banquet, and we + come, + <br /></span> <span>Soldier with equal soldier must we sit, + <br /></span> <span>Closing a battle, not forgetting it. + <br /></span> <span>This mate and mother of valiant rebels dead + <br /></span> <span>Must come with all her history or her head. + <br /></span> <span>We keep the past for pride. + <br /></span> <span>Nor war nor peace shall strike our poets + dumb: + <br /></span> <span>No rawest squad of all Death's volunteers, + <br /></span> <span>No simplest man who died + <br /></span> <span>To tear your flag down, in the bitter + years, + <br /></span> <span>But shall have praise, and three times + thrice again, + <br /></span> <span>When, at that table, men shall drink with + men. + <br /></span> + </div> + </div> + <p> + As political poetry, this may be open to amendment; as poetic + politics, it is sound, decisive, and answerable. + </p> + <p class="center"> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + THE END + </p> + <p class="center"> + THE NORTHUMBERLAND PRESS, THORNTON STREET, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE + </p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Open Secret of Ireland, by T. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Open Secret of Ireland + +Author: T. M. Kettle + +Release Date: March 7, 2005 [EBook #15277] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OPEN SECRET OF IRELAND *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Charles Aldarondo and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + +THE OPEN SECRET OF IRELAND + + + +By + +T. M. KETTLE + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY J. E. REDMOND, M.P. + + + + "Also it is a proverbe of olde date, 'The pride of Fraunce, the + treason of Inglande, and the warre of Irelande, shall never have + ende.' Which proverbe, touching the warre of Irelande, is like + alwaie to continue, without God sette in men's breasts to find some + new remedy that never was found before." + +_State Papers_, Reign of Henry VIII. + + + +LONDON + +W. J. HAM-SMITH + +1912 + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION BY J. E. REDMOND, M.P. vii +PRELIMINARY. xi + +CHAP. + I. AN EXERCISE IN HUMILITY. 1 + II. HISTORY _(a) Coloured_. 17 + III. HISTORY _(b) Plain_. 31 + IV. THE OBVIOUSNESS OF HOME RULE. 47 + V. THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (1). 65 + VI. THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (2). 80 + VII. THE HALLUCINATION OF "ULSTER". 98 +VIII. THE MECHANICS OF HOME RULE. 120 + IX. AFTER HOME RULE. 144 + X. AN EPILOGUE ON "LOYALTY". 161 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The object of Mr Kettle, in writing this book, is, I take it, to reveal +to English readers what he not inaptly terms as "The Open Secret of +Ireland," in order to bring about a better understanding between the two +nations, and to smoothe the way to a just and final settlement of their +old-time differences. Any work undertaken on such lines commends itself +to a ready welcome and a careful study, and I feel sure that both await +Mr Kettle's latest contribution to the literature of the Irish question. +As the son of one of the founders of the Land League, and as, for some +years, one of the most brilliant members of the Irish Party, and, later, +Professor in the School of Economics in the new National University in +Dublin, he has won his way to recognition as an eloquent exponent of +Irish national ideas; whilst the novelty of his point of view, and the +freshness, vigour, and picturesque attractiveness of his style ensure +for his work a cordial reception on its literary merits, apart from its +political value. + +Undoubtedly, one of the main sources of the Anglo-Irish difficulty has +been mutual misunderstanding, generating mutual mistrust and hatred. But +the root of the difficulty goes deeper. It is to be sought in the system +of misgovernment and oppression which successive generations of British +rulers have imposed upon what, with cruel irony, British historians and +statesmen have been wont to call "the sister country." This is the real +"open secret" of Ireland, a secret that all who run may read, and the +effective bearing of which is: that tyranny begets hatred, and that +freedom and justice are the only sure foundations of contentment and +goodwill between nations. + +During the past thirty years, and especially since 1886, when Mr +Gladstone threw the weight of his unrivalled genius and influence into +the scale in favour of justice to Ireland, a great deal has been done to +erase the bitter memories of the past, and to enable the English and the +Irish peoples to regard each other in the light of truth, and with a +more just appreciation of what is essential to the establishment of +genuine and lasting friendly relations between them. + +But it would be idle to ignore the fact that, to a considerable section +of the English people, Ireland is still a country of which they possess +less knowledge than they do of the most insignificant and remote of the +many islands over which the British flag floats. Mr Kettle's book ought +to be of service in dispelling this ignorance, and in enabling +Englishmen to view the Anglo-Irish question from the standpoint of an +educated and friendly Irish opinion. + +The output of purely political literature on the Irish problem has been +increasing during the past few years, and there is room for a book which +aims at focussing attention upon some aspects of it which the mere +politician is apt to pass lightly over or to ignore altogether. Like +most of Mr Kettle's work, the book bears the impress of his +individuality, and, to many of his readers, this will constitute much of +its charm and merit. At the same time, in order to prevent +misunderstanding, it is necessary for me to state that I do not commit +myself to acceptance or endorsement of everything which the book +contains. I content myself with stating, from personal experience, that +nothing which Mr Kettle writes about Ireland can fail to be worthy of +notice by everyone interested in the Home Rule controversy, and that I +believe the circulation of this volume will serve to stimulate thought +about Ireland, and so to hasten the advent of that brighter day when the +grant of full self-government to Ireland will reveal to England the open +secret of making Ireland her friend and helpmate, the brightest jewel in +her crown of Empire. + +J. E. REDMOND. + +_12th December, 1911_. + + + + +PRELIMINARY + + +After an intermission of nearly twenty years Ireland once again blocks +the way. "Finally rejected" by the House of Commons and the English +electorate in 1886, "finally rejected" by the House of Lords in 1893, +the Home Rule idea has not only survived but waxed stronger in the +wilderness. Time and events have altered its shape only to clothe it +with a richer significance. + +Will Great Britain decide wisely in the choice to which she is now put? +Naturally, I do not speak of the Parliamentary future of the Home Rule +Bill: that is safe. I have in mind rather that profound moral +settlement, that generous reconciliation which we have seen in South +Africa, and desire to see in Ireland. What of it? Did reason and the +candid vision of things, as they are, control public affairs, there +could be little doubt as to the issue in this choice between friendship +and hatred, between the formula of freedom and that of domination. But, +unhappily, we have no assurance that Philip sober rather than Philip +drunk will sign the warrant. There exists in England, in respect of all +things Irish, a monstrous residuum of prejudice. It lies ambushed in the +blood even when it has been dismissed from the mind, and constitutes the +real peril of the situation. No effort will be spared to reawaken it. +The motto of militant Unionism has always been: When in doubt throw mud. +Such a programme naturally begets a predilection for ditches, and when +certain orators speak of the "last ditch" they must be taken to mean +that which has most mud in it. The old methods are already once more in +operation. The wicked lying of previous campaigns no doubt cannot be +repeated: bigotry will make no further experiments in Pigottry. But a +resolute attempt, lavishly financed and directed by masters of the art +of defamation, will be made to blacken Ireland. Every newspaper in every +remotest country-town in England will be deluged with syndicated venom. +The shop-keeper will wrap up his parcels in Orange posters, and the +working-man will, I hope, light his pipe for years to come with +pamphlets of the same clamant colour. Irishmen, or at all events persons +born in Ireland, will be found to testify that they belong to a +barbarous people which has never ceased from barbarism, and that they +are not fit to govern themselves. Politicians who were never known to +risk a five-pound note in helping to develop Ireland will toss down +their fifties to help to defame her. Such is the outlook. Against this +campaign of malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness it is the duty of +every good citizen to say his word, and in the following pages I say +mine. This little book is not a compendium of facts, and so does not +trench on the province of Mr Stephen Gwynn M.P.'s admirable "Case for +Home Rule." It does not discuss the details, financial or otherwise, of +a statesmanlike settlement. Such suggestions as I had to make I have +already made in "Home Rule Finance," and the reader will find much +ampler treatment of the whole subject in "The Framework of Home Rule," +by Mr Erskine Childers, and "Home Rule Problems," edited by Mr Basil +Williams. In general, my aim has been to aid in humanising the Irish +Question. The interpretation of various aspects of it, here offered, is +intended to be not exhaustive but provocative, a mere set of shorthand +rubrics any one of which might have been expanded into a chapter. +Addressing the English reader with complete candour, I have attempted to +recommend to him that method of approach, that mental attitude which +alone can divest him of his preconceptions, and put him in rapport with +the true spirit of the Ireland of actuality. To that end the various +lines of discussion converge:-- + +Chapter I is an outline of the pathology of the English mind in Ireland. + +Chapters II and III present the history of Ireland as the epic, not of a +futile and defeated, but of an indomitable and victorious people. + +Chapter IV exhibits the Home Rule idea as a fundamental law of nature, +human nature, and government. + +Chapters V and VI contain a very brief account of the more obvious +economic crimes and blunders of Unionism. + +Chapter VII discusses the queer ideas of "Ulster," and the queer +reasons for the survival of these ideas. + +Chapter VIII demonstrates that, as a mere matter of political technique, +Home Rule must be conceded if any real government is ever to exist +again, whether in Great Britain, in Ireland, or in the Empire. + +Chapter IX dips into the future, and indicates that a Home Rule Ireland +will have so much interesting work to do as to have no time for civil +war or religious oppression. + +Chapter X shows that everybody who values "loyalty" must of necessity be +a Home Ruler. + +The only moral commended to the reader is that expressed by Browning in +a firm and inevitable line, which has been disastrously forgotten in so +many passages of English history:-- + + "It's fitter being sane than mad." + +I have tried also to convey to him, with what success others must judge, +something of the "pride and passion" of Irish nationality. That is, in +truth, the dream that comes through the multitude of business. If you +think that Home Rule is a little thing which must be done in a little +way for little reasons, your feet are set on the path to failure. Home +Rule is one of those fundamental reforms that are not achieved at all +unless they are achieved greatly. + +T.M.K. + +_December, 1911_. + + + + +THE OPEN SECRET OF IRELAND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +AN EXERCISE IN HUMILITY + + +In order to understand Ireland we must begin by understanding England. +On no other terms will that complex of facts, memories, and passions, +which is called the Irish Question, yield up its secret. "You have +always been," said a Lady Clanricarde to some English politician, "like +a high wall standing between us and the sun." The phrase lives. It +reveals in a flashlight of genius the historical relations of the two +nations. It explains and justifies the principle adopted as the basis of +this discussion, namely, that no examination of the Irish Problem is +possible without a prior examination of the English mind. It used to be +said that England dearly loved a Lord, a dictum which may have to be +modified in the light of recent events. Far more than a Lord does the +typical Englishman love a Judge, and the thought of acting as a Judge. +Confronted with Ireland he says to himself: "Here are these Irish +people; some maintain that they are nice, others that they are nasty, +but everybody agrees that they are queer. Very good. I will study them +in a judicial spirit; I will weigh the evidence dispassionately, and +give my decision. When it comes to action, I will play the honest broker +between their contending parties." Now this may be a very agreeable way +of going about the business, but it is fatally unreal. Great Britain +comes into court, she will be pained to hear, not as Judge but rather as +defendant. She comes to answer the charge that, having seized Ireland as +a "trustee of civilisation," she has, either through incompetence or +through dishonesty, betrayed her trust. We have a habit, in everyday +life, of excusing the eccentricities of a friend or an enemy by the +reflection that he is, after all, as God made him. Ireland is +politically as Great Britain made her. Since the twelfth century, that +is to say for a great part of the Middle Ages and for the whole of the +modern period, the mind of England and not that of Ireland has been the +dominant fact in Irish history. + +This state of things--a paradox in action--carries with it certain +metaphysical implications. The philosophers tell us that all morality +centres in the maxim that others are to be treated as ends in +themselves, and not as instruments to our ends. If they are right, then +we must picture Ireland as the victim of a radical immoralism. We must +think of her as a personality violated in its ideals, and arrested in +its development. And, indeed, that is no bad way of thinking: it is the +one formula which summarises the whole of her experience. But the +phrasing is perhaps too high and absolute; and the decline and fall of +Mr Balfour are a terrible example to those of us who, being young, might +otherwise take metaphysics too solemnly. It will, therefore, at this +stage be enough to repeat that, in contemplating the discontent and +unrest which constitute the Irish difficulty, Great Britain is +contemplating the work of her own hands, the creation of her own mind. +For that reason we can make no progress until we ascertain what sort of +mind we have to deal with. + +I do not disguise from myself the extremely unpleasant nature of this +inquiry. It is as if a counsel were to open his address by saying: +"Gentlemen of the Jury, before discussing the facts of the case I will +examine briefly the mental flaws, gaps, kinks, and distortions of you +twelve gentlemen." There is, however, this difference. In the analysis +upon which we are engaged the mental attitude of the jury is not merely +a fact in the case, it is the whole case. Let me reinforce my weaker +appeal by a passage from the wisest pen in contemporary English letters, +that of Mr Chesterton. There is in his mere sanity a touch of magic so +potent that, although incapable of dullness, he has achieved authority, +and although convinced that faith is more romantic than doubt, or even +sin, he has got himself published and read. Summarising the "drift" of +Matthew Arnold, Mr Chesterton observes: + + "The chief of his services may perhaps be stated thus, that he + discovered (for the modern English) the purely intellectual + importance of humility. He had none of that hot humility which is + the fascination of saints and good men. But he had a cold humility + which he had discovered to be a mere essential of the + intelligence." + +Such a humility, purely hygienic in character, is for Englishmen the +beginning of wisdom on the Irish Question. It is the needle's eye by +which alone they can enter a city otherwise forbidden to them. Let there +be no misunderstanding. The attitude of mind commended to them is not +without its agreeable features. Closely scrutinised, it is seen to be a +sort of inverted vanity. The student begins by studying himself, an +exercise in self-appraisal which need not by any means involve +self-depreciation. What sort of a mind, then, is the English mind? + +If there is anything in regard to which the love of friends corroborates +the malice of enemies it is in ascribing to the English an +individualism, hard-shelled beyond all human parallel. The Englishman's +country is an impregnable island, his house is a castle, his temperament +is a suit of armour. The function common to all three is to keep things +out, and most admirably has he used them to that end. At first, indeed, +he let everybody in; he had a perfect passion for being conquered, and +Romans, Teutons, Danes, and Normans in succession plucked and ate the +apple of England. But with the coming of age of that national +consciousness, the bonds of which have never been snapped, the English +entered on their lucky and courageous career of keeping things out. They +possess in London the only European capital that has never in the modern +period been captured by an invader. They withstood the intellectual +grandeur of Roman Law, and developed their own medley of customs into +the most eccentric and most equitable system in the world. They kept out +the Council of Trent, and the Spanish Armada. They kept out the French +Revolution, and Napoleon. They kept out for a long time the Kantian +philosophy, Romanticism, Pessimism, Higher Criticism, German music, +French painting, and one knows not how many other of the intellectual +experiments that made life worth living, or not worth living, to +nineteenth-century Europe. Their insularity, spiritual as well as +geographical, has whetted the edge of a thousand flouts and gibes. +"Those stupid French!" exclaims the sailor, as reported by De Morgan: +"Why do they go on calling a cabbage a _shoe_ when they must know that +it is a _cabbage?_" This was in general the attitude of what Mr Newbolt +has styled the "Island Race" when on its travels. Everybody has laughed +at the comedy of it, but no one has sufficiently applauded its success. +The English tourist declined to be at the trouble of speaking any +foreign tongue whatsoever; instantly every hotel and restaurant on the +Continent was forced to learn English. He refused to read their books; a +Leipsic firm at once started to publish his own, and sold him his +six-shilling Clapham novels in Lucerne for two francs. He dismissed +with indignation the idea of breakfasting on a roll, and bacon and eggs +were added unto him. In short, by a straightforward policy of studying +nobody else, he compelled everybody else to study him. + +Now it is idle to deny this performance the applause which it plainly +deserves. The self-evolution of England, as it may perhaps be called, in +its economic, political, and literary life, offers an admirable model of +concentration and energy. Even where it is a case of obtuseness to other +civilisations, at least as high but of a different type, the verdict +cannot be wholly unfavourable. The Kingdom of Earth is to the +thick-skinned, and bad manners have a distinct vital value. A man, too +sensitive to the rights and the charms of others, is in grave danger of +futility. Either he will become a dilettante, which is the French way, +or he will take to drink and mystical nihilism, a career very popular in +Russian fiction. Bad manners have indeed a distinct ethical value. We +all experience moods in which we politely assent to the thing that is +not, because of the fatigue of fighting for the thing that is. A +temperament such as has been delineated is therefore, as human types go, +an excellent type. But it has its peculiar perils. To ignore the point +of view of those in whose country you eat, drink, sleep, and sight-see +may breed only minor discords, and after all you will pay for your +manners in your bill. But to ignore the point of view of those whose +country you govern may let loose a red torrent of tragedy. Such a temper +of mind may, at the first touch of resistance, transform your stolid, +laudable, laughable Englishman into the beastliest of tyrants. It may +drive him into a delirium of cruelty and injustice. It may sweep away, +in one ruin of war, wealth, culture, and the whole fabric of +civilisation. It may darken counsel, and corrupt thought. In fact, it +may give you something very like the history of the English in Ireland. +Now it is not denied that most Englishmen believe the English mind to be +incapable of such excesses. This, they say, is the Russian in Warsaw, +the Austrian in Budapest, the Belgian in the Congo, the blind fool-fury +of the Seine. But it is not the English way. Nor is it suggested that +this illusion is sheer and mere hypocrisy. It is simply an hallucination +of jingoism. Take a trivial instance in point. We have all read in the +newspapers derisive accounts of disorderly scenes in the French Chamber +or the Austrian Reichstag; we all know the complacent sigh with which +England is wont on such occasions to thank God that she is not as one +of those. Does anybody think that this attitude will be at all modified +by recent occurrences at Westminster? By no means. Lord Hugh Cecil, his +gibbering and gesticulating quite forgotten, will be assuring the House +next year that the Irish are so deficient in self-restraint as to be +unfit for Home Rule. Mr Smith will be deploring that intolerant temper +which always impels a Nationalist to shout down, and not to argue down +an opponent. Mr Walter Long will be vindicating the cause of law and +order in one sentence, and inciting "Ulster" to bloodshed in the next. +This is not hypocrisy, it is genius. It is also, by the way, the genesis +of the Irish Question. If anyone is disposed to underrate the mad +passions of which race hatred can slip the leash, let him recall the +crucial examples which we have had in our own time. We have in our own +time seen Great Britain inflamed by two frenzies--against France, and +against the Boer Republics. In the history of public opinion there are +no two chapters more discreditable. In the days of Fashoda the Frenchman +was a degenerate _tigre-singe,_ the sworn enemy of religion and soap. He +had contributed nothing to civilisation except a loathsome science of +sensuality, and the taint of decay was in his bones. In the days of +Spion Kop the Boer was an unlaundered savage, fit only to be a target +for pig-stickers. His ignorance seemed the most appalling thing in the +world until one remembered his hypocrisy and his cowardice. The +newspaper which led the campaign of denigration against France has come +to another view. Its proprietor now divides his time between signing +L10,000 cheques for triumphant French aviators, and delivering speeches +in which their nation is hailed as the pioneer of all great ideas. As +regards the Boers, the same reversal of the verdict of ten years ago has +taken place. The crowd which in 1900 asked only for a sour appletree on +which to hang General Botha, adopts him in 1911 as the idol of the +Coronation. At this progress towards sanity we must all rejoice. But +most of all we have to ask that these two sinister pageants of race +hatred shall not be suffered to dissolve without leaving some wrack of +wisdom behind. Writers on psychology have made many studies of what they +call the collective illusion. This strange malady, which consists in all +the world seeing something which in fact does not exist, wrought more +potently on the mind of England than did reason and justice in the Home +Rule controversies of 1886 and 1893. What has occurred may recur. And +since we are to speak here with all the candour of private conversation +I confess that I cannot devise or imagine any specific against such a +recurrence except an exercise in humility of the kind suggested by Mr +Chesterton. My own argument in that direction is perhaps compromised by +the fact that I am an Irishman. Let us therefore fall back on other +testimony. Out of the cloud of witnesses let us choose two or three, and +in the first place M. Alfred Fouillee. M. Fouillee is a Platonist--the +last Platonist in Europe--and consequently an amiable man. He is +universally regarded as the leader of philosophy in France, a position +not in the least shaken by Bergson's brief authority. In a charming and +lucid study of the "Psychology of the Peoples of Europe" Fouillee has +many pages that might serve for an introduction to the Irish Question. +The point of interest in his analysis is this: he exhibits Irish history +as a tragedy of character, a tragedy which flows with sad, inevitable +logic from a certain weakness which he notes, not in the Irish, but in +the English character. + + "'In the eyes of the English,' says Taine who had studied them so + minutely, 'there is but one reasonable civilisation, namely their + own. Every other way of living is that of inferior beings, every + other religion is extravagant.' So that, one might add, the + Englishman is doubly personal, first as an individual and again as + a member of the most highly individualised of nations. The moment + the national interest is involved all dissensions cease, there is + on the scene but one single man, one single Englishman, who shrinks + from no expedient that may advance his ends. Morality for him + reduces itself to one precept: Safeguard at any cost the interest + of England." + +Like all foreigners he takes Ireland as the one conspicuous and flaming +failure of England. In that instance she has muddled, as usual, but she +has not muddled through. + + "The Anglo-Saxons, those great colonisers of far-off lands, have in + their own United Kingdom succeeded only in inflicting a long + martyrdom on Ireland. The insular situation of England had for + pendant the insular situation of Ireland; the two islands lie there + face to face. The English and the Irish, although intellectually + very much alike, have preserved different characters. And this + difference cannot be due essentially to the racial element, for + nearly half Ireland is Germanic. It is due to traditions and + customs developed by English oppression." + +Having summarised the main lines of British policy in Ireland, he +concludes: + + "It is not easy to detect here any sign of the 'superiority of the + Anglo-Saxons.'" + +With Fouillee we may associate Emile Boutmy. In his "Political +Psychology of the English" he declares that the haughty, taciturn, +solitary, unassimilative temperament of England, so admirable from the +point of view of self-development, shows its worst side and comes to a +malign florescence in the history of Ireland. It explains why + + "the relations of Ireland with England have been, for so many + centuries, those of a captive with his jailer, those of a victim + with his torturer." + +I pass over De Beaumont, Von Raumer, Perraud, Paul-Dubois, Filon, Bonn. +The considerations already adduced ought to be enough to lead the +English reader to certain conclusions which are fundamental. For the +sake of clearness they may be repeated in all their nudity: + +England has failed in Ireland. + +Her failure has been due to defects of her own character, and +limitations of her outlook. The same defects which corrupted her policy +in the past distort her vision in the present. + +Therefore, if she is to understand and to solve the Irish Question, she +must begin by breaking the hard shell of her individualism, and trying +to think herself into the skin, the soul, and the ideals of the Irish +nation. + +Now the English reader is after all human. If he has endured so far the +outrage on his most sacred prejudices perpetrated in this chapter he +must at this moment be hot with resentment. He must feel as if, +proposing to his imagination Pear de Melba, he had in truth swallowed +sand. Let me end with a more comfortable word. We have seen that Irish +history is what the dramatists call an internal tragedy, the secular +disclosure and slow working-out of certain flaws in the English +character. I am not to be understood as ascribing horns to England and a +halo to Ireland. We Irish are not only imperfect but even modest; for +every beam that we detect in another eye we are willing to confess a +mote in our own. The English on the other hand have been not monsters or +demons, but men unstrung. + + "In tragic life, God wot, + No villain need be, passions spin the plot; + We are betrayed by what is false within." + +Least of all am I to be understood as ascribing to modern Englishmen any +sort of planned, aforethought malice in regard to Ireland. It is what +Bacon might have called a mere idol of the platform to suppose that they +are filled with a burning desire to oppress Ireland. The dream of their +lives is to ignore her, to eliminate from their calculations this +variable constant which sheds bewilderment upon every problem. Could +they but succeed in that, a very Sabbath of peace would have dawned for +them. The modern Englishman is too much worried to plan the oppression +of anybody. "Did you ever," asked Lord Salisbury on a remembered +occasion, "have a boil on your neck?" To the Englishman of 1911--that +troubled man whose old self-sufficiency has in our own time been +shattered beyond repair by Boer rifles, German shipyards, French +aeroplanes--Ireland is the boil on the neck of his political system. It +is the one _peche de jeunesse_ of his nation that will not sleep in the +grave of the past. Like the ghost in "Hamlet" it pursues and plagues him +without respite. Shunned on the battlements it invades his most private +chamber, or, finding him in talk with friends, shames and scares him +with subterranean mutterings. Is there no way out of a situation so +troublesome and humiliating? + +There is. Ireland cannot be ignored, but she can easily be appeased. The +boil is due to no natural and incurable condition. It is the direct +result of certain artificial ligatures and compressions; remove these +and it disappears. This spectre haunts the conscience of England to +incite her not to a deed of blood but to a deed of justice; every wind +is favourable and every omen. It is, indeed, true that if she is to +succeed, England must do violence to certain prejudices which now +afflict her like a blindness; she must deal with us as a man with men. +But is not the Kingdom of Heaven taken by violence? + + + + +CHAPTER II + +HISTORY + +_(a) Coloured_ + + +Mendacity follows the flag. There never yet was an invader who did not, +in obedience to a kindly human instinct, lie abundantly respecting the +people whose country he had invaded. The reason is very plain. In all +ages men delight to acquire property by expedients other than that of +honest labour. In the period of private war the most obvious alternative +to working is fighting, or hiring servants to fight; the sword is +mightier than the spade. If we add that an expedition into a foreign +country offers the additional advantages of escape from your exacting +creditors, and your still more exacting king, we have something very +like the economics of the Invasion of Anywhere in early feudal times. +Had the leaders of these invasions, or rather their clerkly secretaries, +written the plain tale of their doings they would have left some such +record as this: "There were we, a band of able-bodied, daring, needy +men. Our only trade was war; our only capital our suits of armour, our +swords and battle-axes. We heard that there was good land and rich booty +to be had in Anywhere; we went and fought for it. Our opponents were +brave men, too, but badly organised. In some places we won. There we +substituted our own law for the queer sort of law under which these +people had lived; when they resisted too strongly we had, of course, no +option but to kill them. In other places we got mixed up completely by +alliances and marriages with the old stock, and lived most agreeably +with them. In others again the natives killed us, and remained in +possession. Such was the Invasion of Anywhere." + +But (I had almost said unhappily) the invaders were not content with +having swords, they had also consciences. They were Christians, and +thought it necessary to justify themselves before the High Court of +Christian Europe. Consequently the clerks had to write up the record in +quite a different fashion. They discovered that their bluff, +hard-bitten, rather likeable employers, scarcely one of whom could read +or write, had really invaded Anywhere as the trustees of civilisation. +Now it may be said in general--and the observation extends to our own +time--that the moment an invader discovers that he is the trustee of +civilisation he is irretrievably lost to the truth. He is forced by his +own pose to become not an unprincipled liar, but that much more +disgusting object, a liar on principle. He is bound, in order to +legitimise his own position, to prove that "the natives" are savages, +living in a morass of nastiness and ignorance. All facts must be adapted +to this conclusion. The clerks, having made this startling discovery, +went on to supplement it by the further discovery that their masters had +invaded Anywhere in order to please the Pope, and introduce true +religion. This second role completes the dedication of the invaders on +the altar of mendacity. It was Leo XIII. himself who, with that charming +humour of his, deprecated the attitude of certain _a priori_ historians +who, said he, if they were writing the Gospel story would, in their +anxiety to please the Pope, probably suppress the denial of Peter. + +These things which might have happened anywhere did, in fact, happen in +Ireland. Out of the footprints of the invaders there sprang up a legion +of fictionists, professional cooks of history. Beginning with Giraldus +Cambrensis they ought to have ended, but, as we shall see, did not end +with Froude. The significance of these mercenaries of literature can +hardly be exaggerated; it is not too much to say that they found Ireland +a nation, and left her a question. It is not at all that they put on +record the thing that was not as regards the events of their own period. +That might be and has been amended by the labours of impartial +scholarship. The real crime of the fabulists lies in this, that their +tainted testimony constituted for honest Englishmen the only information +about Ireland easily obtainable. The average Englishman (that is to say, +the forty millions of him who do not read learned books of any kind) +comes to the consideration of contemporary Ireland with a vision +distorted almost beyond hope of cure. The treasured lies of seven +hundred years are in his heart to-day. For time runs against the cause +of truth as well as with it. Once create a Frankenstein of race hatred, +and he will gather strength in going. The chronicler's fable of this +century becomes the accredited historical fact of the next. Give it what +billiard-players call "legs" enough and it will mature into a tradition, +a proverb, a spontaneous instinct. There is a whole department of +research concerned with the growth of myths, stage by stage, from a +little nebulous blotch into a peopled world of illusion. The strange +evolution there set forth finds an exact parallel in the development of +English opinion on Ireland. And, indeed, the more you study "the Irish +Question," as it is envisaged by the ruling mind of Great Britain, the +more conscious are you of moving in the realm not of reason but of +mythology. + +All this will seem obvious even to the point of weariness. But it is of +interest as furnishing a clue to the English attitude towards Irish +history; I should rather say attitudes, for there are two. The first is +that of the Man of Feeling. His mode of procedure recalls inevitably an +exquisite story which is to be found somewhere in Rousseau. During +country walks, Jean Jacques tells us, his father would suddenly say: "My +son, we will speak of your dear, dead mother." And Jean Jacques was +expected to reply: "Wait, then, a moment, my dear father. I will first +search for my handkerchief, for I perceive that we are going to weep." +In precisely such a mood of deliberate melancholy does the +sentimentalist address himself to the Confiscations and the Penal Laws. +He is ready to praise without stint any Irish leader who happens to be +sufficiently dead. He is ready to confess that all his own British +forerunners were abominable blackguards. He admits, not only with +candour but even with a certain enthusiastic remorse, that England +oppressed Ireland in every phase of their relations. Then comes the +conclusion. So terrible have been the sins of his fathers that he feels +bound to make restitution. And in order to make restitution, to be kind +and helpful and remedial, he must retain the management of Irish affairs +in his benevolent hands. In order to expiate the crimes of the past he +must repeat the basal blunder that was the cause and source of them. For +this kind of sympathy we have only to say, in a somewhat vulgar phrase, +that we have no use whatever. The Englishman who "sympathises" with +Ireland is lost. + +But the more general attitude differs widely from this. Confronting us +with a bluff and not unkindly demeanour, worthy of the nation that +invented cold baths as a tonic against all spiritual anguish, the +practical, modern Englishman speaks out his mind in straight-flung words +and few. "You fellows," he says, "brood too much over the past. After +all, this is the twentieth century, not the twelfth. What does it matter +whether my ancestors murdered yours or not? Both would be dead now in +any event. What does it matter whether yours were the saints and men of +letters and mine the savages, or whether the boot was on the other leg? +That's all over and done with. Imitate me. Let bygones be bygones." + +Now this is, in some respects, the authentic voice of health. +Undoubtedly the most characteristic thing about the past is that it is +not present, and to lavish on it too tragic and intense a devotion is to +love death more than life. And yet our bluff Englishman can learn in two +words how it comes about that his invitation represents a demand for the +impossible. In the first place, the bygones have not gone by. Our +complaint is made not against the crimes of his fathers, who are dead, +but against the crimes of himself and his fellows, who are alive. We +denounce not the repealed Penal Laws but the unrepealed Act of Union. If +we recall to the memory of England the systematic baseness of the +former, it is in order to remind her that she once thought them right, +and now confesses that they were cruelly wrong. We Irish are realists, +and we hold the problems of the present as of more account than any +agonies or tyrannies of the past. But our realism has the human touch in +it, and that constitutes the second impossibility in the invitation +tendered us. _Que messieurs les assassins commencent!_ The anti-Irish +legend is not dead nor even sleeping, nor are the resources of calumny +yet exhausted. An instance is immediately at hand. I have, at this +moment, on my desk a volume lately issued--"The School History of +England." It is published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford; Mr Rudyard +Kipling contributes twenty-three pieces of verse, and a Mr C. R. L. +Fletcher, whose qualifications are not stated, appears to be responsible +for the prose. The book has been praised in most of the papers, and it +will no doubt go far. This is the picture of the coming to Ireland of +the Cymro-Frankish adventurers which its pages will imprint on the minds +of the youth of England: + + "One event of his reign (Henry II.'s) must not be forgotten, his + visit to Ireland in 1171-2. St Patrick, you may have heard, had + banished the snakes from that island, but he had not succeeded in + banishing the murderers and thieves who were worse than many + snakes. In spite of some few settlements of Danish pirates and + traders on the eastern coast, Ireland had remained purely Celtic + and purely a pasture country. All wealth was reckoned in cows; Rome + had never set foot there, so there was a king for every day in the + week, and the sole amusement of such persons was to drive off each + other's cows and to kill all who resisted. In Henry II.'s time this + had been going on for at least seven hundred years, and during the + seven hundred that have followed much the same thing would have + been going on, if the English Government had not occasionally + interfered." + +The English whom Henry II. left behind him soon became "as wild and +barbarous as the Irishmen themselves." + +Oxford, the home of so many other lost causes, apparently aspires to be +also the home of the lost cause of mendacity. The forcible-feeble malice +of Mr Fletcher calls for no serious discussion; submit it to any +continental scholar, to any honest British scholar, and he will ask +contemptuously, though perhaps with a little stab of pain, how the name +of Oxford comes to be associated with such wicked absurdities. Every +other reference to Ireland is marked by the same scientific composure +and balanced judgment. And this document, inspired by race hatred, and +apparently designed to propagate race hatred, is offered to the youth of +these countries as an aid towards the consolidation of the Empire. It is +a case not merely of the poisoning of a well, but of the poisoning of a +great river at its source. The force of cowardice can no farther go. So +long as it goes thus far, so long as the Froudes find Fletchers to echo +them, Irishmen will inevitably "brood over the past." We do not share +the cult of ancestor-worship, but we hold the belief that the Irish +nation, like any other, is an organism endowed with a life in some sort +continuous and repetitive of its origins. To us it does matter something +whether our forerunners were turbulent savages, destitute of all +culture, or whether they were valiant, immature men labouring through +the twilight of their age towards that dawn which does not yet flush our +own horizon. But we are far from wishing that dead centuries should be +summoned back to wake old bitterness that ought also to be dead. Hand +history over to the scholars, if you will; let it be marshalled as a +multitudinous and coloured pageant, to incite imaginations and inspire +literature. Such is our desire, but when we read the clotted nonsense of +persons like Mr Fletcher we can only repeat: _Que messieurs les +assassins commencent_! + +For the purpose of this inquiry it is inevitable that some brief account +should be rendered of the past relations between England and Ireland. +The reader need not shrink back in alarm; it is not proposed to lead him +by the reluctant nose through the whole maze and morass of Irish +history. The past is of value to political realists only in that residue +of it which survives, namely, the wisdom which it ought to have taught +us. Englishmen are invited to consider the history of Ireland solely +from that point of view. They are prayed to purge themselves altogether +of pity, indignation, and remorse; these are emotions far too beneficent +to waste on things outside the ambit of our own immediate life. If they +are wise they will come to Irish history as to a school, and they will +learn one lesson that runs through it like the refrain of a ballad. A +very simple lesson it is, just this: Ireland cannot be put down. Ireland +always has her way in the end. If the opposite view is widely held the +explanation lies on the surface. Two causes have co-operated to produce +the illusion. Everybody agrees that Great Britain has acted in a most +blackguardly fashion towards Ireland; everybody assumes that +blackguardism always succeeds in this world, therefore Ireland is a +failure. The only flaw in this syllogism is that it is in direct +conflict with every known fact. For the rest we have to thank or blame +the sentimentalism of Mr Matthew Arnold. His proud but futile Celts who +"went down to battle but always fell" have been mistaken for the Irish +of actual history. The truth is, of course, that the phrase is in the +grand manner of symbolism. When Ecclesiastes laments that the eye is not +filled with seeing nor the ear with hearing we do not argue him deaf +and blind; we take his words as a proclamation of that famine and fierce +appetite of the spirit which has created all the higher religions. +Ireland agrees with Ecclesiastes. Perceiving that there is in matter no +integral and permanent reality she cannot be content with material +victories; her poets are subtle in what a French writer styles the +innuendoes by which the soul makes its enormous claims. The formula of +her aspiration has been admirably rendered by the late Mrs Nora Chesson: + + "He follows after shadows when all your chase is done; + He follows after shadows, the King of Ireland's son." + +Were I to read the poem, of which these lines are the motif, to certain +genial Englishmen of my acquaintance they would observe that the +gentleman in question was a "queer cove, staying up late at night and +catching cold, and that no doubt there was a woman in the case." But +these are considerations a little remote from the daily dust of +politics. In the sense in which every life is a failure, and the best +life the worst failure, Ireland is a failure. But in every other sense, +in all that touches the fathomable business of daylight, she has been a +conspicuous success. + +A certain type of fanaticism is naive enough to regard the intercourse +of England with Ireland as that of a superior with an inferior race. +This is the sanction invoked to legitimise every adventure in invasion +and colonisation. M. Jules Hormand, who has attempted, in his recent +book, "Domination et Colonisation," to formulate a theory of the whole +subject, touches bed-rock when he writes: + + "We must then accept as our point of departure the principle that + there is a hierarchy of races and of civilisations, and that we + belong to the higher race and civilisation.... The essential + legitimation of conquest is precisely this conviction of our own + superiority.... Nations which do not hold this belief, because + incapable of such sincerity towards themselves, should not attempt + to conquer others." + +The late Lord Salisbury was grasping at such a justification when he +likened the Irish to Hottentots; it would be a justification of a kind +if it chanced to be validated by the facts. But it does not. There is so +much genuine humour in the comparison that, for my part, I am unable to +take offence at it. I look at the lathe painted to look like iron, and I +set over against him Parnell. That is enough; the lathe is smashed to +fragments amid the colossal laughter of the gods. The truth is that in +every shock and conflict of Irish civilisation with English, it is the +latter that has given way. The obscuration of this obvious fact is +probably to be ascribed to the military successes of the Norman, or +rather the Cymro-Frankish invaders. If we were the higher race why did +we not put them out? Replying on the same plane of thought we observe +that if they were the higher race they would have put us down. But a +more detailed assignment of qualities between the two peoples is +possible. In general it may be said that the two stood on much the same +level of mentality, but that they had specialised on different subjects, +the Normans on war and politics, the Irish on culture. Of the many +writers who help us to reconstruct the period we ought to signalise one, +Mrs A.S. Green, who to a rare scholarship adds something rarer, the +genius of common sense. This is not the place in which to recall the +whole substance of her "Making of Ireland and its Undoing" and her +"Irish Nationality"; but from borrowings thence and elsewhere we can +piece together a plain tale of that first chapter of the Irish Question. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HISTORY + +_(b) Plain_ + + +In those days war was the most lucrative industry open to a young man of +breeding, courage, and ability. Owners of capital regarded it as a sound +investment. What Professor Oman tells us of the Normans in 1066 was +equally true of them in 1169: + + "Duke William had undertaken his expedition not as a mere feudal + lord of the barons of Normandy but rather as the managing director + of a great joint-stock company for the conquest of England, in + which not only his own subjects but hundreds of adventurers, poor + and rich, from all parts of Western Europe had taken shares." + +The Normans, then, came to Ireland with their eyes on three objects. In +the first place, property. This was to be secured in the case of each +individual adventurer by the overthrow of some individual Irish +chieftain. It necessitated war in the shape of a purely local, and +indeed personal grapple. In the second place, plunder. This was to be +secured by raids, incursions, and temporary alliances. In the third +place, escape from the growing power and exactions of the Crown. This +was to be secured geographically by migration to Ireland, and +politically by delaying, resolutely if discreetly, the extension in that +country of the over-lordship of the King. Herein lies the explanation of +the fact that for three and a half centuries the English penetration +into Ireland is a mere chaos of private appetites and egotisms. The +invaders, as we have said, were specialists in war, and in the +unification of states through war. This they had done for England; this +they failed to do for Ireland. The one ingredient which, if dropped into +the seething cauldron of her life, must have produced the definite +crystallisation of a new nationality, complete in structure and +function, was not contributed. True, the Cymro-Franks proved themselves +strong enough in arms to maintain their foothold; if that physical test +is enough to establish their racial superiority then let us salute Mr +Jack Johnson as Zarathustra, the superman. But in their one special and +characteristic task they failed lamentably. Instead of conquest and +consolidation they gave us mere invasion and disturbance. The disastrous +role played by them has been unfolded by many interpreters of history, +by none with a more vivid accuracy than we find in the pages of M. +Paul-Dubois: + + "Had Ireland," he writes, "been left to herself she would, in all + human probability, have succeeded, notwithstanding her decadence, + in establishing political unity under a military chief. Had the + country been brought into peaceful contact with continental + civilisation, it must have advanced along the path of modern + progress. Even if it had been conquered by a powerful nation, it + would at least have participated in the progress of the conquering + power. But none of these things happened. England, whose political + and social development had been hastened by the Norman Conquest, + desired to extend her influence to Ireland. 'She wished,' as Froude + strangely tells us, 'to complete the work of civilisation happily + begun by the Danes.' But in actual fact she only succeeded in + trammelling the development of Irish society, and maintaining in + the country an appalling condition of decadent stagnation, as the + result of three centuries and a half of intermittent invasions, + never followed by conquest." + +On the other hand the triumph of Irish culture was easy and absolute. +Ireland, unvisited by the legions and the law of Rome, had evolved a +different vision of the life of men in community, or, in other words, a +different idea of the State. Put very briefly the difference lay in +this. The Romans and their inheritors organised for purposes of war and +order, the Irish for purposes of culture. The one laid the emphasis on +police, the other on poets. But for a detailed exposition of the +contrast I must send the reader to Mrs Green's "Irish Nationality." In a +world in which right is little more than a secretion of might, in which, +unless a strong man armed keeps house, his enemies enter in, the +weakness of the Gaelic idea is obvious. But the Roman pattern too had a +characteristic vice which has led logically in our own time to a +monstrous and sinister growth of armaments. + +To those who recognise in this deification of war the blackest menace of +our day the vision of a culture State is not without charm. The +shattering possibilities enfolded in it would have fevered Nietzsche and +fascinated Renan. But, be that as it may, Ireland played Cleopatra to +the Antony of the invaders. Some of them, indeed, the "garrison" pure +and simple, had all their interests centred not only in resisting but in +calumniating her. But the majority yielded gaily to her music, her +poetry, her sociability, that magical quality of hers which the Germans +call _Gemuetlichkeit_. In a few centuries a new and enduring phrase had +designated them as more Irish than the Irish themselves. So far as any +superiority of civilisation manifests itself in this first period it is +altogether on the side of Ireland. This power of assimilation has never +decayed. There never was a nation, not even the United States, that so +subdued and re-fashioned those who came to her shores, that so wrought +them into her own blood and tissue. The Norman baron is transformed in a +few generations into an Irish chieftain, and as often as not into an +Irish "rebel." The Jacobite planter of the first decade of the +seventeenth century is in the fifth decade found in arms against +Cromwell; the Cromwellian settler is destined in turn to shed his blood +for James II. and Catholicity. Protestant colonists who, in the early +eighteenth century, enforce and defend the abominable Penal Laws, will +in 1782 demand, with drawn swords, that henceforth there shall be no +longer a Protestant colony but in its place an Irish nation. The +personal history of the captains of the Irish cause in modern times is +no less remarkable. O'Connell begins his public career in the Yeomanry +called out to put down the insurrectionary movement of Emmet. Isaac +Butt comes first into note as the orator of the Orange Party in Dublin. +Parnell himself steps out of a Tory milieu and tradition into the +central tumult of agitation. Wave after incoming wave of them, her +conquerors were conquered. "Once again," cried Parnell in the last +public utterance of his life, "I am come to cast myself into the deep +sea of the love of my people." In that deep sea a hundred diverse +currents of blood have met and mingled; they have lost their individual +drift to become part of the strong tide of national consciousness and +national unity. If Irish history is to be regarded as a test of racial +superiority then Ireland emerges with the crown and garlands of victory. +We came, we the invaders, to dominate, and we remained to serve. For +Ireland has signed us with the oil and chrism of her human sacrament, +and even though we should deny the faith with our lips she would hold +our hearts to the end. + +But let us translate her triumph into more concrete speech. The +essential lesson of experience, then, is that no device, plan, or policy +adopted by England for the subjugation of Ireland has ever been anything +except an abject failure. And the positive of this negative is that +every claim that ever formed part of the national programme of Ireland +has won its way against all enmities. No plough to which she ever put +her hand has been turned back or stayed eternally in mid-furrow. It does +not matter what period you call to the witness-box; the testimony is +uniform and unvarying. Until Tudor times, as has been noted, there +cannot be said to have been in any strict sense an English policy in +Ireland; there was only a scuffle of appetites. In so far as there was a +policy it consisted of sporadic murder for the one half, and for the +other of an attempt to prevent all intercourse that might lead to +amalgamation between the two peoples. The Statute of Kilkenny--which is, +all things considered, more important than the Kilkenny cats though not +so well known in England--made it a capital offence for a settler to +marry an Irishwoman or to adopt the Irish language, law, or costume. The +Act no doubt provided a good many ruffians with legal and even +ecclesiastical fig-leaves with which to cover their ruffianism, and +promoted among the garrison such laudable objects as rape and +assassination. But as a breakwater between the two races it did not +fulfil expectation. The Statute was passed in 1367: and two centuries +later Henry VIII. was forced to appoint as his Deputy the famous +Garrett Fitzgerald whose life was a militant denial of every clause and +letter of it. With the Tudors, after some diplomatic preliminaries, a +very clear and business-like policy was developed. Seeing that the only +sort of quiet Irishman known to contemporary science was a dead +Irishman, English Deputies and Governors were instructed to pacify +Ireland by slaughtering or starving the entire population. The record of +their conscientious effort to obey these instructions may be studied in +any writer of the period, or in any historian, say Mr Froude. For Mr +Froude, in his pursuit of the picturesque, was always ready to resort to +the most extreme measures; he sometimes even went so far as to tell the +truth. The noblest and ablest English minds lent their aids. Sir Walter +Raleigh and Edmund Spenser were both rather circumambulatory on paper; +the work of each is 'a long monotone broken by two or three exquisite +immortalities. But they were both as concise in action as an Elizabethan +headsman. Sir Walter helped Lord Grey, the recognised pattern in those +days of the Christian gentleman, to put to death seven hundred +prisoners-of-war at Smerwick. Spenser, being no soldier, leaned rather +to famine. In his famous book he recommends the destruction of crops, +houses, cattle, and all necessaries of life so that the Irish should +"soon be compelled to devour each other." The Commanders-in-Chief and +the Deputies specialised in poison, as became men whose wealth and +learning enabled them to keep in touch with the Italian Renaissance. +Bluff, straightforward troopers like Mountjoy, Malby, Wilmot, Bagenal, +Chichester, and the rest, not pretending to such refinements, did their +best in the way of hanging, stabbing, and burning. In those days as well +as ours the children had their Charter. "Nits," said the trustees of +civilisation, "will grow to lice." And so they tossed them on the points +of their swords, thus combining work with play, or fed them on the roast +corpses of their relatives, and afterwards strangled them with tresses +of their mother's hair. + +I do not recall these facts in order to show that Elizabethan policy was +a riot of blackguardism. That is obvious, and it is irrelevant. I +mention them in order to show that the blackguardism under review was an +unrelieved failure. At one time, indeed, it seemed to have succeeded. + +"Ireland, brayed as in a mortar, to use Sir John Davies' phrase," writes +M. Paul-Dubois, "at last submitted. In the last years of the century +half the population had perished. Elizabeth reigned over corpses and +ashes. _Hibernia Pacata_--Ireland is 'pacified.'" + + * * * * * + +The blunder discloses itself at a glance. Only half the population had +perished; there were still alive, according to the most probable +estimate, quite two hundred thousand Irishmen. The next generation helps +to illustrate not only the indestructibility of Ireland, but her all but +miraculous power of recuperation. So abundant are the resources of his +own vitality that, as Dr Moritz Bonn declares, an Irish peasant can live +where a continental goat would starve. And not having read Malthus--Mr +Malthus at that time being even less readable than since--the Irish +remnant proceeded to develop anew into a nation. In forty years it was +marching behind that _beau chevalier_ Owen Roe O'Neill to battle and +victory. O'Neill, a general famous through Europe, the one man who might +have measured equal swords with Cromwell, was removed by poison, and +then came the massacres. In eleven years, Sir William Petty assures us, +616,000 out of a total population of 1,466,000 perished by the sword or +by starvation. For the remainder the policy of root and branch +extermination was abandoned in favour of a policy of State-aided +migration and emigration. As an alternative to hell the Irish were +deported to Connaught or the Barbadoes. Henceforth there were to be +three provinces of loyal English, and one of rebelly Irish. This again +was not a radiant success. The transformation of the Cromwellian settler +has been indicated; if you were to search for him to-day you would +probably find him President of the local branch of the United Irish +League. The story repeats itself period after period. The Penal Laws did +not protestantise Ireland. The eighteenth century may be said to mark +the lowest ebb of national life, but the tide was to turn. After Aughrim +and the Boyne, the new device of England was to sacrifice everything to +the "garrison." "Protestant Ireland," as Grattan put it, "knelt to +England on the necks of her countrymen." In one aspect the garrison were +tyrants; in another they were slaves. They were at once oppressors and +oppressed. There was a sort of "deal" between them and the English +Government by which the public welfare was to be sacrificed to the +English Government, the Irish Catholics to the "garrison." A vile +programme, but subtle and adroit, it bore its unnatural fruit of +legislation, passed by the Westminster Parliament and the Dublin +Garrison Parliament alike, for the destruction of every manufacturing +and commercial interest in Ireland that was thought to conflict with a +similar interest in England. But another debacle has to be chronicled. +Out of the very baseness of this regime a new patriotism was begotten. +The garrison, awakening abruptly to the fact that it had no country, +determined to invent one; and there was brought to birth that modern +Ireland, passionate for freedom, which has occupied the stage ever +since. In our own time it has knit, as a fractured limb knits, into one +tissue with the tradition of the Gaelic peasantry. Hanging and burning, +torture and oppression, poison and Penal Laws, bribes and blackguardism +so far from exterminating the Irish people actually hammered them into a +nation, one and indestructible, proud of its past and confident of its +future. + +Take instances still more recent and particular--the struggle for +religious freedom or the struggle for the land. Catholic emancipation is +a leading case: obstinacy against obstinacy, the No! of England against +the Yes! of Ireland, and the former sprawling in the ditch at the end of +the tussle. "The Law," ran the dictum of an eighteenth-century Lord +Chancellor, "does not suppose any such person to exist as an Irish +Roman Catholic." At this moment a Catholic holds the seals and purse of +the Chancellorship. Never did ministers swallow their own stubborn words +more incontinently than did Peel and Wellington. So late as 1828 Peel +was loudly declaring that the continuance of these bars, which excluded +the Catholics from the acquisition of political power, was necessary for +the maintenance of the Constitution and the safety of the Church, and +Wellington was echoing his words. A year later, utterly defeated by +O'Connell, Peel was introducing the Catholic Relief Bill in the Commons. +Wellington had it for his task to induce, or rather frighten the king to +assent. Ireland not only emancipated the Catholics, she went on to +emancipate the Dissenters, a service of freedom of conscience which is +too often forgotten. + +The Tithe System was similarly declared to be part of the fabric of the +Constitution, to be upheld at the point of the bayonet. Scythe in hand, +the Irish peasant proclaimed that it must go. It went. Still more +fundamental was the existence of the Protestant Established Church. To +touch it was to lay hands on the Ark. Orange orators threatened civil +war; two hundred thousand Ulstermen were to shoulder their Minie +Rifles, and not merely slaughter the Catholics but even depose Queen +Victoria. + +Ireland said that the Establishment too must go; and, with the echoed +menace of Fenianism ringing in his ears, Mr Gladstone hauled down the +official blazon of Ascendancy. "Ulster" did not fight. But the fierce +struggle for the land affords the crucial test. Landlordism of that most +savage type which held for its whole gospel that a man may do what he +likes with his own was conceived to be the very corner-stone of British +rule in Ireland. It controlled Parliament, the judiciary, the schools, +the Press, and possessed in the Royal Irish Constabulary an incomparable +watch-dog. It had resisted the criticism and attack loosened against it +by the scandal of the Great Famine. Then suddenly Ireland took the +business in hand. On a certain day in October 1879, some thirty men met +in a small hotel in Dublin and, under the inspiration of Michael Davitt, +founded the Land League. To the programme then formulated, the +expropriation of the landlords at twenty years' purchase of their rents, +England as usual said No! The proposal was thundered against as +confiscation, communism, naked and shameful. To any student, with +patience sufficient for the task, the contemporary files of such +journals as the _Times_ will furnish an exquisite chapter in the +literature of obtuseness. England sustained her No! with batons, +bullets, plank-beds, Coercion courts, and an occasional halter; Ireland +her Yes! with "agitation." Is it necessary to ask who won? Is it +necessary to trace step by step the complete surrender of the last +ditchers of those days? The fantastic and wicked dreams of the agitators +have in thirty years translated themselves into Statute Law and solid +fact. An English statesman of the period, say Mr Balfour or Mr Wyndham, +is fortunate if, with a few odd rags pilfered from the Land League +wardrobe, he can conceal from history his utter poverty of ideas. + +This, then, is the essential wisdom of Irish history: Ireland has won +all along the line. The Normans did not normanise her. The Tudors did +not exterminate her. She has undone the Confiscations, and drawn a +cancelling pen through the Penal Laws. The Act of Union, so far from +suppressing her individuality or overwhelming it, has actually brought +it to that full self-consciousness which constitutes the coming of age +of a nation. Tears, as we read in Wordsworth, to human suffering are +due; if there be anyone with tears at command he may shed them, with +great fitness, and with no profit at all, over the long martyrdom of +Ireland. But let him, at least if he values facts, think twice before he +goes on to apply to her that other line which speaks of human hopes +defeated and overthrown. No other people in the world has held so +staunchly to its inner vision; none other has, with such fiery patience, +repelled the hostility of circumstances, and in the end reshaped them +after the desire of her heart. Hats off to success, gentlemen! Your +modern God may well be troubled at sight of this enigmatic Ireland which +at once despises him, and tumbles his faithfullest worshippers in the +sand of their own amphitheatre. Yet, so it is. The Confederate General, +seeing victory suddenly snatched from his hands, and not for the first +time, by Meagher's Brigade, exclaimed in immortal profanity: "There +comes that damned Green Flag again!" I have often commended that phrase +to Englishmen as admirably expressive of the historical role and record +of Ireland in British Politics. The damned Green Flag flutters again in +their eyes, and if they will but listen to the music that marches with +it, they will find that the lamenting fifes are dominated wholly by the +drums of victory. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE OBVIOUSNESS OF HOME RULE + + +Ireland, then, has made it her foible to be not only right but +irresistible in her past demands. What is it that she now claims, and on +what grounds? She claims the right to enter into possession of her own +soul. She claims the _toga virilis_, and all the strengthening burdens +of freedom. Now it is difficult to represent such a demand in terms of +argument. Liberty is no mere conclusion of linked logic long-drawn out: +it is an axiom, a flaming avatar. The arguments by which it is defended +are important, but they bear to it much the same relation that a table +of the wave-lengths of various rays of light bears to the immediate +glory of a sunrise. There is another obstacle. Self-government, like +other spiritual realities, say love or civilisation, is too vast, +obvious, and natural to be easily imprisoned in words. You are certainly +in love; suppose you were suddenly asked "to state the case" for love? +You are probably civilised; suppose you were suddenly asked "to state +the case for civilisation"? So it is with the Home Rule idea. To ask +what is the gate of entrance to it is like asking what was the gate of +entrance to hundred-gated Thebes. My friend, Mr Barry O'Brien, in +lecturing on Ireland, used to begin by recounting a very agreeable and +appropriate story. A prisoner on trial was asked whether he would accept +for his case the jury which had tried the last. He objected very +vehemently. "Well, but," said the Judge, "what is the nature of your +objection? Do you object to the panel or to the array?" "Ah!" replied +the traverser, "if you want to know, I object to the whole damned +business." That is approximately our objection to the present system of +government in Ireland. But let me attempt to group under a series of +somewhat arbitrary headings the "case for Home Rule," that is to say, +the case for applying to Ireland the plain platitudes of constitutional +freedom. + +The whole matter roots in the fact of nationality. Nationality is to +political life what personality is to mental life, the mainspring, +namely, of the mechanism. The two principles of organisation have this +in common, that although by, through, and for them the entire pageant +of our experience is unfolded, we are unable to capture either of them +in a precise formula. That I am a person I know; but what is a person? +That Ireland is a nation I know; but what is a nation? "A community of +memories and hopes," says Anatole France; but that applies to a football +club. Something for which a man will die, says Mr T. M. Healy: but men +will die for strange reasons; there was a French poet who shot himself +because the trees were always green in the spring and never, for a +change, blue or red. A cultural unit, say the anthropologists; an idea +of the divine mind, declare Mazzini and the mystics' of sociology. Each +of these formulas possesses a certain relative truth, but all of them +together come short of the whole truth. Nationality, which acts better +perhaps than it argues, is one of the great forces of nature and of +human nature that have got to be accepted. Nationality will out, and +where it exists it will, in spite of all resistance, strain fiercely to +express itself in some sort of autonomous government. + +German romance depicts for us the misery and restlessness of a man who +had lost his shadow. Catholic theologians--if the masters of a wisdom +too high and too austere for these days may be invoked--tell us that +the departed soul, even though it be in Paradise, hungers with a great +desire for the Resurrection that it may be restored to its life-long +comrade, the body. + + "The crimson-throbbing glow + Into its old abode aye pants to go." + +Look again at Ireland and you will discern, under all conflicts, that +unity of memory, of will, of material interest, of temperamental +atmosphere which knits men into a nation. You will notice the presence +of these characteristics, but it is an absence, a void that will most +impress you. You will see not a body that has lost its shadow, but +something more sinister--a soul that has been sundered from its natural +body. She demands restoration. She sues out a _habeas corpus_ of a kind +not elsewhere to be paralleled. That is the "Irish Question." + +You may not like this interpretation of things. It may seem to you +fantastic, nasty, perilous to all comfort. Life often does make on the +tender-hearted an impression of coarse violence; life, nevertheless, +always has its way. What other interpretation is possible? Lancashire, +to take any random contrast, is much richer than Ireland in wealth and +population; but Lancashire is not a "Question." Lancashire is not a +"Question" because Lancashire is not a nation. Ireland is a "Question" +because Ireland is a nation. Her fundamental claim is a claim for the +constitutional recognition of nationality. + +We have seen that in almost every conflict between English and Irish +ideas the latter have had the justification of success. This holds good +also as regards our long insistence on nationality as a principle of +political organisation. In various passages of the nineteenth century it +seemed to be gravely compromised. Capital, its mobility indefinitely +increased by the improved technique of exchange, became essentially a +citizen of the world. The earth was all about it where to choose; its +masters, falsely identifying patriotism with the Protectionism then +dominant, struck at both, and the Free Trade movement philosophised +itself into cosmopolitanism. Labour, like capital, showed a rapid +tendency to become international or rather supernational. "The workers," +proclaimed Marx, "have no fatherland." While this was the drift of ideas +in the economic sphere, that in the political was no more favourable. +Belgium seemed on the point of extinction, Italy was a mere geographical +expression, Hungary was abject and broken. In the narrower but even +more significant sphere of British colonial policy the passion for +centralisation had not yet been understood in all its folly. Downing +Street still functioned as the Dublin Castle of the Empire. The +possibility of the overseas possessions developing that rich, strong +individuality which characterises them to-day would have been dismissed +with horror. The colour and texture of men's thought on these subjects +has undergone a notable transformation. Cosmopolitanism of the old type +is a slain hallucination. Capital in our time is not content to be a +patriot, it is a Jingo. As to labour, if we turn to its politics we find +Herr Bebel declaring that the German socialist is first of all a German, +and Mr Ramsay MacDonald pledging his adherents to support any war +necessary for the assertion of English prestige. If we turn to its +theoretical sociology we find the national idea rehabilitated and +triumphant. + +Such intellectual reconstructions do not, as a rule, begin in England, +or find in English their characteristic formulae. Mr Blatchford might +indeed be cited, but it is in the brilliant literature of German Social +Democracy that the most scientific expression of the new spirit is to be +sought. Truly Marx has been indeed translated. His abstract and +etiolated internationalism has been replaced by the warm humanity of +writers like, say, David or Pernerstorfer. The principle of nationality +is Vindicated by the latter in a noble passage. I quote it from +Sombart's "Socialism and the Social Movement." + + "Nationality in its highest form is ... a precious possession. It + is the highest expression of human civilisation in an individual + form, and mankind is the richer for its appearance. Our purpose is + not only to see to it that men shall be housed and fed and clothed + in a manner worthy of human beings, but also that they may become + humanised by participation in the culture of centuries, that they + may themselves possess culture and produce it. All culture is + national. It takes its rise in some special people, and reaches its + highest form in national character.... Socialism and the national + idea are thus not opposed to each other. Every attempt to weaken + the national idea is an attempt to lessen the precious possessions + of mankind.... Socialism wants to organise, and not disintegrate, + humanity. But in the organisms of mankind, not individuals, but + nations are the tissues, and if the whole organism is to remain + healthy it is necessary for the tissues to be healthy.... The + peoples, despite the changes they undergo, are everlasting, and + they add to their own greatness by helping the world upward. And + so we are at one and the same time good Socialists and good + Germans." + +This might almost seem to be a rhapsody, but every movement of +continental politics in recent times confirms and enforces its plain +truth. "The spirit of resurgent nationality," as Professor Bury of +Cambridge tells us, "has governed, as one of the most puissant forces, +the political course of the last century and is still unexhausted." It +has governed not only the West but the East; the twain have met in that +demand for a constitutional national State which in our day has flamed +up, a fire not to be put out, in Turkey, Persia, Egypt. But it is in +Imperial politics that the bouleversement has been most complete. When +critics now find fault with the structure of the Empire they complain +not that there is too much Downing Street in it, but that the residual +power of Downing Street-is not visible to the naked eye. To us Irish the +blindness of England to the meaning of her own colonial work is a +maddening miracle. A wit of the time met Goldsmith at dinner. The +novelist was a little more disconcerting than usual, a result, let us +charitably hope, of the excellence of the claret. Afterwards they asked +his fellow-diner what he thought of the author. "Well," he replied, "I +believe that that man wrote 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' and, let me tell +you, it takes a lot of believing." Similarly when we in Ireland learn +that Great Britain has founded on the principle of local autonomy an +Empire on which the sun never sets, we nerve ourselves to an Act of +Faith. It is not inappropriate to observe that a large part of the +"founding" was done by Irishmen. + +But the point of immediate interest lies in this. The foolishness of +England in Ireland finds an exact parallel, although on a smaller scale +and for a shorter period, in the early foolishness of England in her own +colonies. In both cases there is an attempt to suppress individuality +and initiative, to exploit, to bully, to Downing Street-ify. It was a +policy of Unionism, the sort of Unionism that linked the destiny of the +lady to that of the tiger. The fruits of it were a little bitter in the +eating. The colonies in which under the Home Rule regime "loyalty" has +blossomed like the rose, were in those days most distressingly disloyal. + +Cattle-driving and all manner of iniquities of that order in Canada; the +boycott adopted not as a class, but as a national, weapon in Cape +Colony; the Eureka stockade in Australia; Christian De Wet and the crack +of Mausers in the Transvaal--such were the propaedeutics to the +establishment of freedom and the dawn of loyalty in the overseas +possessions. But in this field of government the gods gave England not +only a great pioneer, Lord Durham, but also the grace to listen to him. +His Canadian policy set a headline which has been faithfully and +fruitfully copied. Its success was irresistible. Let the "Cambridge +Modern History" tell the tale of before and after Home Rule in the +Dominion: + + "Provincial jealousies have dwindled to vanishing point; racial + antipathies no longer imperil the prosperity of the Dominion; + religious animosities have lost their mischievous power in a new + atmosphere of common justice and toleration. Canada, as the direct + outcome of Confederation, has grown strong, prosperous, energetic. + The unhappy divisions which prevailed at the beginning of the + nineteenth century, and which darkened with actual revolt and + bloodshed the dawn of the Victorian era, are now only a memory. The + links which bind the Dominion to Great Britain may on paper seem + slight, but they are resistless. Imperial Federation has still + great tasks to accomplish within our widely scattered Imperial + domains, but its success in Canada may be accepted as the pledge of + its triumph elsewhere. Canada is a nation within the Empire, and in + Kipling's phrase is 'daughter in her mother's house and mistress in + her own.'" + +This is the authentic harvest of freedom. + +The "unity" of the old regime which, in a Bismarckian phrase, was like +paper pasted over ever-widening cracks, was abandoned. The Separatist +programme triumphed. And the outcome? The sham unity of government has +been replaced by a real unity of interest, affection and cultural +affinity. We find administrators like Mr Lyttleton, former Tory +Secretary for the Colonies, engaged to-day not in suppressing but in +celebrating the "varied individuality" of the overseas possessions. As +for the political effects of the change, every English writer repeats of +the Colonies what Grattan, in other circumstances, said of the Irish: +Loyalty is their foible. There is indeed one notable flaw in the +colonial parallel. I have spoken as if the claim of the Colonies on foot +of the principle of nationality was comparable to that of Ireland. That +of course was not the case. They were at most nations in the making; she +was a nation made. Home Rule helped on their growth; in its benign +warmth Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa have developed +not only a political complexion characteristic of each but a literature, +an art and even a slang equally characteristic. Ireland, on the other +hand, has manifested throughout her whole history an amazing faculty of +assimilating and nationalising everything that came to her from without. + +The will to preserve her nationality motived her whole life, especially +in the modern period. The declared dream of Grattan was, as we have +seen, to transform a Protestant colony into an Irish nation. Wolfe Tone +confessed the same inspiration; Emmet's speech from the dock was that +and nothing else. It was the whole of Davis in thought, and of O'Connell +in action. Isaac Butt yielded to its fascination, and found for it the +watchword, Home Rule. It was formulated by Parnell in a speech the +capital passage of which forms the inscription on his monument. It +echoes and re-echoes through the resolutions of every meeting, and +constitutes for many orators their total stock of political ideas. It +provides the title of the Irish delegation to Parliament, and is +endorsed at General Election after General Election by a great and +unchanging majority. A people such as this is not to be exterminated. An +ideal such as this is not to be destroyed. Recognise the one, sever the +ligatures that check the free flow of blood through the veins of the +other, and enrich your federation of autonomous peoples with another +rich individuality. Imitate in Ireland your own wisdom in dealing with +the Colonies, and the same policy will bear the same harvest. For +justice given the Colonies gave you friendship, as for injustice +stubbornly upheld they had given you hatred. The analogy with Ireland is +complete so far as the cards have been played. The same human elements +are there, the same pride, the same anger, the same willingness to +forget anger. Why should the augury fail? + +I can hear in imagination the sniff of the unimaginative reader; I can +figure to myself his instant dismissal of all these considerations as +"sentiment." Let the word stand, coloured though it is with associations +that degrade it. But is "sentiment" to be ignored in the fixing of +constitutions? Ruskin asks a pertinent question. What is it after all +but "sentiment," he inquires, that prevents a man from killing his +grandmother in time of hunger? Sentiment is the most respectable thing +in human psychology. No one believes in it more thoroughly than your +reactionary Tory. But he wears his heart on his sleeve with a +difference. He is so greedily patriotic that he would keep all the +patriotism in the world to himself. That he should love his country is +natural and noble, a theme so high as to be worthy of Mr Kipling or even +Mr Alfred Austin himself. That we should love ours is a sort of middle +term between treason and insanity. It is as if a lover were to insist +that no poems should be written to any woman except _his_ mistress. It +is as if he were to put the Coercion Act in force against anyone found +shedding tears over the sufferings of any mother except _his_ mother. In +fact it is the sort of domineering thick-headedness that never fails to +produce disloyalty. + +The national idea, then, is the foundation of the "case for Home Rule." +It might indeed be styled the whole case, but this anthem of nationality +may be transposed into many keys. Translated into terms of ethics it +becomes that noble epigram of Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman's for which I +would exchange a whole library of Gladstonian eloquence: "Good +government is no substitute for self-government." In Ireland we have +enjoyed neither. Political subjection has mildewed our destiny, leaf and +stem. But were it not so, had we increased in wealth like Egypt, in +population like Poland, the vital argument for autonomy would be neither +weaker nor stronger. Rich or poor, a man must be master of his own fate. +Poor or rich, a nation must be captain of her own soul. In the suburban +road in which you live there are probably at least a hundred other +house-holds. Now if you were all, each suppressing his individuality, +to club together you could build in place of the brick-boxes in which +you live a magnificent phalanstery. There you could have more air for +your lungs and more art for your soul, a spacious and a gracious life, +cheaper washing, cheaper food, and a royal kitchen. But you will not do +it. Why? Because it profiteth a man nothing to gain the services of a +Paris _maitre d'hotel_ and to lose his own soul. In an attic fourteen +feet by seven, which he can call his own, a man has room to breathe; in +a Renaissance palace, controlled by a committee on which he is in a +permanent minority of one, he has no room to breathe. Home Rulers are +fond of phrasing their programme as a demand on the part of Ireland that +she shall control the management of her domestic affairs. The language +fits the facts like a glove. The difference between Unionism and Home +Rule is the difference between being compelled to live in an +ostentatious and lonely hotel and being permitted to live in a simple, +friendly house of one's own. + +Translated into terms of administration the gospel of autonomy becomes +the doctrine of "the man on the spot." That is the Eleven Rule of +Imperial Policy, and although it has sometimes been ridden to death, in +fact to murder, as in the Denshawai hangings, it is a sound rule. A man +who has gone to the trouble of being born, bred, and ordinarily +domiciled in, say, Kamskatcka is more likely to understand the affairs +of Kamskatcka than a man whose life oscillates daily like a pendulum +between Clapham and the Strand. The old natural philosophers accepted +the theory of _actio distans_, that is to say they assumed that a body +could act effectively where it was not. This was Unionism in science, +and needless to say it was wrong. In politics it is equally wrong, and +it has been repudiated everywhere except in Ireland. Physical vision is +limited in range; as the distance increases the vision declines in +clearness, becomes subject to illusion, finally ceases. Now you in +London, through mere limitations of human faculty, cannot see us in +Dublin. You are trying to govern Ireland in the fashion in which, +according to Wordsworth, all bad literature has been written, that is to +say, without your eye on the object. But it is time to have done with +this stern, long chase of the obvious. + +Translated into terms of economics the gospel of autonomy becomes the +doctrine of a "stake in the country." England has, indeed, a stake in +Ireland. She has the same interest in seeing Ireland prosperous that a +bootmaker has in learning from his farmer client that the crops are +good. Each country is in great measure the economic complement of the +other. But if the bootmaker were to insist on having his finger in the +farmer's pie, the pie, destined for the bootmaker's own appetite, would +not be improved. If he were to insist on applying to the living cow +those processes which he applies with such success to the dead leather, +the cow would suffer and ultimately there would be no boots. Generally +speaking, each of us improves his own business by declining to mind +anybody else's. Home Rule will give England precisely this chance of +sticking to her last. To Ireland it will come with both hands full of +new opportunities and new responsibilities. + +To realise that the national idea in Ireland arouses an emotion, at once +massive, intense, and enduring, is to understand many derivative +riddles. We are all familiar with the complaint that there is in Ireland +too much politics and too little business. Of course there is, and not +only too little business but too little literature, too little +philosophy, too little social effort, too little fun. We Nationalists +have grasped this better and proclaimed it more steadily than any +Unionist. There is as much truth in saying that life begins where +politics end, as in saying that love begins where love-making ends. +Constitutional freedom is not the fifth act of the social drama in +modern times, it is rather the prologue, or, better still, the theatre +in which other ideas that move men find an arena for their conflict. +Ireland, a little exhausted by her intense efforts of the last thirty +years, does assuredly need a rest-cure from agitation. But this healing +peace is itself a gift of autonomy. A tooth-ache concentrates the whole +mind on one particular emotion, which is a bad thing, and breeds +profanity, which is worse. But it is idle to tell a man with a +tooth-ache that what he needs in his life is less cursing and more +business. He cannot work effectively so long as he suffers; the only way +to peace is to cure the tooth-ache. And in order to get rid of politics +in Ireland, you must give Ireland Home Rule. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (I) + + +Ireland, as we have seen, has had the misfortune to provoke many worthy +writers to a sad debauch of sentimentalism. It has pleased their fancy +especially to picture her as a sphinx, mysterious, elusive, inscrutable. +It is impossible to govern her, declare these theorists, because it is +impossible to understand her. She is the _femme incomprise_ of modern +politics. Her temperament is a magnet for disaster, her soul a sanctuary +of inviolable secrets. So runs the rhapsody, and many of my own +countrymen have thought it good strategy to accept and exploit it. They +have this to urge, indeed, that failure to make oneself understood is +commonly regarded as a sign of the superior mind. Lord Rosebery, for +example, has told us that he himself, for all his honey-dropping tongue, +has never been properly understood. And Hegel, the great German +philosopher, who was so great a philosopher that we may without +impropriety mention his name even in the brilliant vicinage of the Earl +of Midlothian, used to sigh: "Alas! in the whole of my teaching career I +had but one student who understood my system, and he mis-understood it." +This is all very well in its way, and a climate of incomprehension may +suit orators and metaphysicians admirably; but it will not do for +politics. The party or people that fails to make its programme +understood is politically incompetent, and Ireland is assuredly safe +from any such imputation. She has her spiritual secrets, buried deep in +what we may call the subliminal consciousness of the race, and to the +disclosure of these secrets we may look with confidence for the +inspiration of a new literature. But in politics Ireland has no secrets. +All her cards are on the table, decipherable at the first glance. Her +political demand combines the lucidity of an invoice with the axiomatic +rectitude of the Ten Commandments. There is no doubt about what she +wants, and none about why she ought to have it. In that sense the case +for Home Rule is made, and this book, having justified its title, ought +to come to an end. But convention prescribes that about the nude contour +of principles there should be cast a certain drapery of details, and +such conventions are better obeyed. + +Where we are to begin is another matter. We are, as has been so often +suggested, in presence of a situation in which one cannot see the trees +for the forest. The principle of the government of Ireland is so +integrally wrong that it is difficult to signalise any one point in +which it is more wrong than it is in any other. A timber-chaser, that is +to say a pioneer for a lumber firm, in the Western States of America +once found himself out of spirits. He decided to go out of life, and +being thorough in his ways he left nothing to chance. He set fire to his +cabin, and, mounting the table, noosed his neck to a beam, drank a large +quantity of poison, and, as he kicked over the table, simultaneously +shot himself through the head and drew a razor across his throat. Later +on the doctor had to fill in the usual certificate. At "Cause of Death" +he paused, pondered, and at last wrote, "Causes too numerous to +specify." The fable possesses a certain suggestive value upon which we +need not enlarge. How, one may well ask, are we to itemise the retail +iniquities of a system of government which is itself a wholesale +iniquity? But since we must begin somewhere let us begin with the +Economics of Unionism. + +In this often-written, and perhaps over-written story there is one +feature of some little comfort. Whatever quarrel there may be as to +causes, the facts are not disputed. Pitt and his friends promised that +the Union would be followed by general prosperity, development of +manufacturers, and expansion of commerce. + + "Among the great and known defects of Ireland," he declared in a + typical statement, "one of the most prominent features is its want + of industry and of capital. How are these wants to be supplied but + by blending more closely with Ireland the industry and capital of + Great Britain?" + +It was a Witches' Promise making smooth the path to damnation. In every +point in which Pitt had prophesied white the moving finger of history +began, from the very day of the Union, to write black. The injury to the +whole economic tissue of Ireland was immediate, cumulative, in the end +crushing. + +We have at hand authoritative figures of the decline collected by +various Commissions and private inquirers. Let us note some of these as +summarised by Monsignor O'Riordan in his remarkable book, "Catholicism +and Progress": + + "Again, in 1800 there were 91 woollen manufacturers in Dublin and + 4938 hands employed; in 1840 there were only 12 manufacturers, and + 682 hands employed; in 1880, only 3 manufacturers in Dublin and + around it. In 1800 there were 56 blanket manufacturers in Kilkenny, + and 3000 hands employed; in 1840 there were 12 manufacturers and + 925 hands employed. In 1800 there were 900 hands employed on + ratteens and friezes in Roscrea; in 1840 the industry had + completely disappeared. In 1800 there were 1000 flannel looms in + County Wicklow; in 1840 there was not one. In 1800 there were 2500 + looms at work in Dublin for the manufacture of silk and poplin; in + 1840 there were only 250. In 1800 there were 27,000 cotton workers + in Belfast and around it; in 1840 there were only 12,000. In 1800 + there were 61,075 tradesmen in Dublin for the woollen, silk, and + cotton industries; in 1834 there were only 14,446, and of these + 4412 were idle, showing a decrease of 51,041 in the employed." + +There was, we must add, an increase in other directions. For instance, +whereas there had been only seven bankruptcies decreed in Dublin in 1799 +there were 125 in 1810. The number of insolvent houses grew in seven +years from 880 to 4719. These figures are not random but symptomatic. Mr +Pitt had promised to blend Ireland with the capital and industry of +Great Britain; he blended them as the edge of a tomahawk is blended with +the spattered brains of its victim. We have glanced at the condition of +manufacture. Lest it should be assumed that the tiller of land at least +had profited by the Napoleonic Wars, with their consequent high prices, +let me hasten to add that the Grey Commission, reporting in 1836, had to +inform the Government that 2,385,000 persons, nearly one-third of the +population, were "in great need of food." + + "Their habitations," the Report proceeds, "are wretched hovels; + several of the family sleep together on straw, or on the bare + ground, sometimes with a blanket, sometimes not even so much to + cover them. Their food commonly consists of dry potatoes; and with + these they are at times so scantily supplied as to be obliged to + stint themselves to one spare meal in the day.... They sometimes + get a herring or a little milk, but they never get meat except at + Christmas, Easter, and Shrovetide." + +But a truce to these dismal chronicles. The _post hoc_ may be taken as +established; was it a _propter hoc_? Was the Union the cause as well as +the antecedent of this decay? No economist, acquainted with the facts, +can fail to answer in the affirmative. The causal connection between two +realities could not be more manifest. Let us examine it very briefly. + +I begin of necessity with the principle of freedom, for freedom is the +dominating force in economic life. No instance can be cited of a modern +people of European civilisation that ever prospered while held +politically in subjection. + + "All history," writes Professor Marshall of Cambridge, the doyen of + Political Economy in England, "is full of the record of + inefficiency caused in varying degrees by slavery, serfdom, and + other forms of civil and political oppression and repression." + +The Act of Union was, as has been said, one of those spiritual outrages +which, in their reactions, are like lead poured into the veins. It +lowered the vital resources of Ireland. It made hope an absentee, and +enterprise an exile. That was its first-fruits of disaster. + +These commonplaces of the gospel of freedom "for which Hampden died in +the field and Sidney on the scaffold" will possibly appear to their +modern descendants mystical, sentimental, and remote from real life. For +there is no one in the world so ready as your modern Englishman to deny +that he is a man in order to prove that he is a business-man. +Fortunately we can establish for this strange being, who has thus +indecently stripped himself of humanity, and establish in very clear +and indisputable fashion the cash nexus between Unionism and decay. The +argument is simple. + +The Union came precisely in the period in which capital was beginning to +dominate the organisation of industry. The Union denuded Ireland of the +capital which would have enabled her to transform the technique of her +manufactures, and so maintain the ground won under Grattan's Parliament. +The channels through which this export of capital proceeded were +absenteeism and over-taxation. + +The first statement in this paragraph of plaint calls for no +elaboration. Arnold Toynbee took as the terminal dates of the Industrial +Revolution the years 1760 and 1830. The last generation of the +eighteenth century brought to birth the great inventions, but it was the +first generation of the nineteenth that founded on them large scale +production, and settled the structure of modern industry. Not without +profound disturbance and incalculable suffering was the new system +established in England; the story may be read in the pages of Marx, +Cunningham, Cooke Taylor, or any of the economic historians. But, for +all the blood and tears, it was established. Insulated from the +continental turmoil, served by her Titanic bondsmen coal and iron, +England was able to defeat the Titan, Napoleon. Now it is idle to deny +that this period would under any government have strained Ireland, as +the phrase goes, to the pin of her collar. But the Union made her task +impossible. Lord Castlereagh was quite right in pointing to the +accumulation of capital as the characteristic advantage of England. +Through centuries of political freedom that process had gone on without +interruption. Ireland, on the contrary, had been scientifically pillaged +by the application to her of the "colonial system" from 1663 to 1779; I +deliberately exclude the previous waste of war and confiscation. She had +but twenty years of commercial freedom, and, despite her brilliant +success in that period, she had not time to accumulate capital to any +great extent. But Grattan's Parliament had shown itself extraordinarily +astute and steady of purpose in its economic policy. Had its guidance +continued--conservative taxation, adroit bounties, and that close +scrutiny and eager discussion of the movements of industry which stands +recorded in its Journal--the manufactures of Ireland would have +weathered the storm. But the luck was as usual against her. Instead of +wise leadership from Dublin the gods decreed that she should have for +portion the hard indifference and savage taxation of Westminster. +Reduced to the position of a tributary nation, stripped of the capital +that would have served as a commissariat of advance in that crucial +struggle, she went down. + +I am not to make here the case for Ireland in respect of over-taxation. +It was made definitely in the Report of the Childers Commission, a +document which no Englishman reads, lest in coming to the light he +should have his sins too sharply rebuked. It has been developed and +clarified in many speeches and essays and in some books. To grasp it is +to find your road to Damascus on the Irish Question. But for the moment +we are concerned with but one aspect, namely, the export of capital from +Ireland as a result of the Union, and the economic reactions of that +process. Since we are to use moderation of speech and banish all +rhetoric from these pages, one is at a loss to characterise Union +arrangements and post-Union finance. Let it suffice to say that they +combined the moral outlook of Captain Kidd with the mathematical +technique of a super-bucket-shop. From the first Great Britain robbed +the Irish till; from the first she skimmed the cream off the Irish milk, +and appropriated it for her own nourishment. One has a sort of gloomy +pride in remembering that although cheated in all these transactions we +were not duped. Mr Foster, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons--in +those days the Speaker actually spoke, a whimsical Irish custom--tore +the cloak off Lord Castlereagh's strutting statesmanship, and laid bare +his real motives. Speaking on the first Union proposal in 1799 he said: + + "But the noble Lord has told us the real motives of this scheme of + Union, and I thank him for stating them so fairly. Ireland, he + says, must contribute to every war, and the Minister won't trust to + interest, affection, or connection for guiding her conduct. _He + must have her purse within his own grasp_. While three hundred men + hold it in Ireland he cannot put his hand into it, they are out of + his reach, but let a hundred of you carry it over and lay it at his + feet, and then he will have full and uncontrolled power." + +So it came about. Even before the Union Grattan's Parliament had, of its +own free will and out of an extravagant loyalty, run itself into debt +for the first time to help England against France. But, as Foster +indicated, the Irish members felt that they were coming to the end of +their resources. They were about to call a halt, and so the Union became +a necessary ingredient of Pitt's foreign policy. By it Ireland was +swept into the vortex of his anti-French hysteria, and of what Mr +Hartley Withers so properly styles his "reckless finance." In sixteen +years she was brought to the edge of bankruptcy. Between 1801 and 1817 +her funded debt was increased from L28,541,157 to L112,684,773, an +augmentation of nearly 300 per cent. In the first fifteen years +following the Union she paid in taxes L78,000,000 as against L31,000,000 +in the last fifteen years preceding the Union. After the amalgamation of +the Exchequers in 1817 the case becomes clearer. In 1819-20, for +instance, the revenue contributed by Ireland was L5,256,564, of which +only L1,564,880 was spent in Ireland, leaving a tribute for Great +Britain of L3,691,684. For 1829-30 the tribute was L4,156,576. + +Let us now inquire how things stood with regard to absenteeism. This had +existed before the Union'; indeed, if the curious reader will turn to +Johnson's "Dictionary" he will find it damned in a definition. But it +was enormously intensified by the shifting of the centre of gravity of +Irish politics, industry, and fashion from Dublin to London. The memoirs +of that day abound in references to an exodus which has left other and +more material evidence in those fallen and ravaged mansions which now +constitute the worst slums of our capital city. + +One figure may be cited by way of illustration. Before the Union "98 +Peers, and a proportionate number of wealthy Commoners" lived in Dublin. +The number of resident Peers in 1825 was twelve. At present, as I learn +from those who read the sixpenny illustrateds, there is one. But when +they abandoned Ireland they did not leave their rents behind. And it was +a time of rising rents; according to Toynbee they at least doubled +between 1790 and 1833. Precise figures are not easily arrived at, but Mr +D'Alton in his "History of the County Dublin," a book quite innocent of +politics, calculates that the absentee rental of Ireland was in 1804 not +less than L3,000,000, and in 1830 not less than L4,000,000, an +under-estimate. If we average these figures over the period we find that +during the first thirty years of Union, that is to say during the most +critical phase of the Industrial Revolution, not less than L105,000,000 +of Irish capital was "exported" from Ireland to Great Britain through +the channel of absenteeism. + +Averaging the figures of the taxation-tribute in similar fashion, and +taking the lowest estimates, I am unable to reach a less total than +L120,000,000 for the same period. In other words, the effect of the +Union was to withdraw from Ireland during the thirty years that settled +the economic structure of modern industry not less than _L_225,000,000. +Let me draw the argument together in words which I have used elsewhere, +and which others can no doubt easily better: + + "We have heard, in our day, a long-drawn denunciation of a Liberal + government on the score that it had, by predatory taxation, driven + English capital out of the country, and compromised the industrial + future of England. We have seen in our own day gilt-edged + securities, bank, insurance, railway, and brewery shares in Great + Britain, brought toppling down by a Tory waste of _L_250,000,000 on + the Boer War. We know that in economic history effects are, in a + notable way, cumulative; so clearly marked is the line of + continuity as to lead a great writer to declare that there is not a + nail in all England that could not be traced back to savings made + before the Norman Conquest. A hundred instances admonish us that, + in industrial life, nothing fails like failure. When we put all + these considerations together, and give them a concrete + application, can we doubt that in over-taxation and the withdrawal + of capital we have the prime _causa causans_ of the decay of + Ireland under the Union?" + +In this wise did Pitt "blend Ireland with the industry and capital of +Great Britain." Cupped by his finance she gave the venal blood of her +industry to strengthen the predominant partner, and to help him to +exclude for a time from these islands that pernicious French Democracy +in which all states and peoples have since found redemption. Such was +the first chapter in the Economics of Unionism. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE RAVAGES OF UNIONISM (2) + + +If the reader cares to push forward the line of thought suggested in the +preceding pages and to submit it to a concrete test he can do so without +difficulty. He has but to compare the post-Union history of linen with +that of cotton. Linen in Ireland had been a perfect type of the +State-created, spoon-fed industry characteristic of the period of +mercantilism. Within certain limits--such as the steady resolve to +confine it, in point of religion, to Protestants, and, in point of +geography, to Ulster--it had behind it at the Union a century of +encouragement. It is calculated that between 1700 and 1800 it had +received bounties, English and Irish, totalling more than,L2,500,000. In +other words it had a chance to accumulate capital. Even linen declined +after the Union partly from the direct effects of that measure, partly +from the growing intensity of the Industrial Revolution. But the +capital accumulated, the commercial good name established under native +government carried the manufacturers through. These were able towards +1830 to introduce the new machinery and the new processes, and to +weather the tempest of competition. Cotton, on the other hand, was a +very recent arrival. It had developed very rapidly, and in 1800 gave +promise of supplanting linen. But the weight of capital told more and +more as changes in the technique of transportation and production +ushered in our modern world. Lacking the solid reserves of its rival, +involved in all the exactions that fall on a tributary nation, the +cotton manufacture of Ireland lost ground, lost heart, and disappeared. +But let us resume the parable. If the "business man" responds to +capital, he will certainly not be obtuse to the appeal of coal. In this +feeder of industry Ireland was geologically at a disadvantage, and it +was promised that the free trade with Great Britain inaugurated by the +Union would "blend" with her the resources of the latter country. Did +she obtain free trade in coal? Miss Murray, a Unionist, in her +"Commercial Relations between England and Ireland" tells the story in +part: + + "Coals again had hitherto been exported from Great Britain at a + duty of gd. per ton; this duty was to cease but the Irish import + duty on coal was to be made perpetual, and that at a time when all + coasting duties in England and Scotland had been abolished. Dublin + especially would suffer from this arrangement, for the duty there + on coals imported was is. 8-4/5d. per ton, while that in the rest + of Ireland was only 9-1/2d. This was because a local duty of 1s. + per ton existed in Dublin for the internal improvement of the city; + this local duty was blended by the Union arrangements with the + general duty on the article, and its perpetual continuance was thus + enforced. All this shows how little Irish affairs were understood + in England." + +But was it a failure of the English intellect or a lapse of the English +will? Except through the Platonic intuition which reduces all sin to +terms of ignorance I cannot accept the former explanation. What is +certain is that there was no lack of contemporary protest. There existed +in Dublin in 1828 a Society for the Improvement of Ireland, an active +body which included in its membership the Lord Mayor (a high Tory, of +course), Lord Cloncurry, and a long list of notable names such as +Latouche, Sinclair, Houghton, Leader, Grattan, Smith O'Brien, George +Moore, and Daniel O'Connell. In the year mentioned the Society appointed +a number of committees to report on the state of Irish agriculture, +commerce, and industry. One of these reports is full of information +touching the drain of capital from the country, and its consequent +decay, as registered by contemporaries; we shall learn from another how +things stood with regard to coal. At the time of the Union the Irish +Parliament granted a bounty of 2s. per ton on Irish coal carried +coastwise to Dublin, and levied a duty of 10-1/2d. per ton on coal +imported from Great Britain. The effect of the Union was to abolish the +bounty and double the levy on imports. Writing twenty-eight years later +the Committee summarise in a brief passage the disastrous effects of a +policy, so foolish and so unjust. The last sentence opens up sombre +vistas to any student of economic history: + + "Severe, however, as the operation of the coal duty in arresting + the progress of manufacture may have been in other parts of + Ireland, in Dublin, under the circumstances to which your Committee + are about to call the attention of the Society, it has produced all + the effects of actual prohibition, all the mischiefs of the most + rigorous exclusion. It is a singular circumstance that, in the + metropolis of the country, possessing local advantages in respect + to manufactures and facilities for trade with the interior, + superior, probably, to any other city or town in this portion of + the empire, with a population excessive as to the means of + employment, in a degree which probably has not a parallel in + Europe, _there is not a factory for the production of either silk, + linen, cotton, or woollen manufactures which is worked or propelled + by a steam engine_." + +The writers go on to ask for the repeal of the local duty on coal in +Dublin, and to suggest that the necessary revenue should be raised by a +duty on spirits. This course Belfast had been permitted to follow--one +of the numberless make-weights thrown into the scale so steadily on the +side of the Protestant North. In my part of the country the people used +to say of any very expert thief: "Why, he'd steal the fire out of your +grate." Under the Union arrangements Great Britain stole the fire out of +the grate of Ireland. And having so dealt with capital and coal the +predominant partner next proceeded by a logical development to muddle +transportation. + +The Drummond Commission, appointed in 1836 to consider the question of +railway construction in Ireland, issued a report in 1838 which +practically recommended public and not private enterprise as appropriate +"to accomplish so important a national object." What came after is best +related in the official terminology of the Scotter Commission of +1906-10: + + "This report was presented in July 1838, and early in the + following year a great public meeting, held in Dublin, passed a + resolution that inasmuch as an adequate system of railways could + not be constructed by private capital, the Government should be + urged to take the work into its own hands, thereby saving the cost + of Private Bill legislation. Promises were also made that the lands + necessary for railway construction would be given free of cost. + Similar resolutions were adopted at another meeting held about the + same time in the north of Ireland. In addition, an address to the + Queen was presented by a number of Irish Peers, headed by the Duke + of Leinster, praying that action might be taken on the Drummond + Commission Report." + +The government saw the light, and proceeded to sin against it. They +embodied the Dublin programme in resolutions which were adopted by the +House of Commons in March 1839, and they then abruptly abandoned the +whole business. The last chance was not yet lost. During the Great +Famine of 1847 the Opposition proposed to raise, L16,000,000 by State +loans for the construction of railways as relief works. A suggestion so +sane could not hope to pass. It was in fact rejected; the starving +peasants were set to dig large holes and fill them up again, and to +build bad roads leading nowhere. And instead of a national railway +system Ireland was given private enterprise with all its waste and all +its clash of interests. + +The two most conspicuous gifts of Unionism to Ireland have been, as all +the world knows, poverty and police. Soon after 1830, that is to say +when the first harvest of government from Westminster was ripe to the +sickle, Irish destitution had assumed what politicians call men-acing +proportions. One person in every three of the population never had any +other alimentary experience than the difference between hunger and +starvation. In these circumstances a Royal Commission was appointed to +consider the advisability of extending the English Poor Law to Ireland. +Their report is a pioneer document in the development of economic +thought. Just as the Railway Commission a few years later was to give +the watchword of the future, nationalisation, so the Poor Law Commission +gave within its province the watchword of the future, prevention before +relief. They pointed the contrast between the two countries. I quote the +words of the later Irish Poor Law Commission of 1903-6: + + "Having regard to the destitution and poverty that were prevalent + in Ireland owing to want of employment, the Royal Commissioners in + their Report of 1836 came to the conclusion that the English + workhouse system would be unsuitable for Ireland, because after + unchecked demoralisation by profuse out-door relief _in England, + the Work-house system was devised in order to make the lazy and + idle seek ordinary employment which could be got. The situation in + Ireland was, on the contrary, one in which the able-bodied and + healthy were willing and anxious to work for any wages, even for + twopence a day, but were unable to obtain such or any employment_." + +Ireland at the end of a generation of Unionism was suffering, as the +commissioners proceed to point out, not from over-population, but from +under-development. They tabled two sets of recommendations. The relief +programme advised compulsory provision for the sick, aged, infirm, +lunatics, and others incapable of work; in all essential matters it +anticipated in 1836 that Minority Report which to the England of 1912 +still seems extravagantly humane. The prevention programme outlined a +scheme for the development of Irish resources. Including, as it did, +demands for County Fiscal Boards, agricultural education, better +cottages for the labourers, drainage, reclamation, and changes in the +land system, it has been a sort of lucky bag into which British +ministers have been dipping without acknowledgment ever since. But the +report itself was, like the Railway Report, too sane and too Irish to +stand a chance. There was sent over from England a Mr Nicholls, who, +after a six weeks flutter through the country, devised the Poor Law +System under which we still labour. Mr Nicholls afterwards became Sir +George, and when he died it is probable that a statue was erected to +him. If that is so the inscription must always remain inadequate until +this is added: "Having understood all about Ireland in six weeks he gave +her, as the one thing needful to redeem her, the workhouse." + +But, of course, the capital exploit of the Economics of Unionism was its +dealing with the problem of land tenure. I shrink from inviting the +reader into the desert of selfishness and stupidity which constitutes +English policy, in this regard, from the Union to the triumph of the +Land League. Let him study it at large in Davitt's "Fall of Feudalism." +We are not concerned here to revive that calamitous pageant. Our +interest is of another kind, namely to signalise the malign influence +introduced into the agrarian struggle by government from Westminster as +against government from Dublin. Even had Grattan's Parliament remained, +the battle for the land would have had to go forward; for that +Parliament was an assembly controlled by landlords who, for the most +part, believed as strongly in the sacredness of rent as they did in the +sacredness of nationality. But by the Union the conflict was embittered +and befouled. The landlords invented their famous doctrine of +conditional loyalty. They bargained with Great Britain to the effect +that, if they were permitted to pillage their tenantry, they would in +return uphold and maintain British rule in Ireland. + +It was the old picture with which M. Paul-Dubois has acquainted us, that +of the "Garrison" kneeling to England on the necks of the Irish poor. In +this perversion, which under autonomy would have been impossible, we +find the explanation of the extreme savagery of Union land policy in +Ireland. Its extreme, its bat-eyed obtuseness is to be explained in +another way. Souchon in his introduction to the French edition of +Philippovich, the great Austrian economist, observes with great truth +that England has not even yet developed any sort of _Agrarpolitik_, that +is to say any systematic Economics of Agriculture. In the early +nineteenth century her own land problems were neglected, and her +political leaders were increasingly dominated by an economic gospel of +shopkeepers and urban manufacturers. Forced into the context of +agrarian life such a gospel was bound to manifest itself as one of folly +and disaster. + +If we put these two elements together we are enabled to understand why +the Union land policy in Ireland was such a portentous muddle and +scandal. In 1829 the question assumed a fresh urgency, in consequence of +the eviction campaign which followed the disfranchisement of the small +holders under Catholic Emancipation. That Irish opinion, which in an +Irish Parliament would have had its way, began to grapple with the +situation. + +Between 1829 and 1858 twenty-three Irish Land Reform Bills were +introduced in the House of Commons; every one was rejected. In the same +period thirty-five Coercion Bills were introduced; every one was passed. +So it began, so it continued, until at last Irish opinion did in some +measure prevail. The Westminster Parliament clapped the "agitators" into +prison, and while they were at work breaking stones stole their +programme.... But I have promised to spare the reader the detailed +hideousness of this Inferno, and this section must close without a word +said about that miserable triad, famine, eviction, and emigration. What +may be called the centre of relevancy lies elsewhere. We have been +concerned to show how Unionism, having wrecked the whole manufacturing +economy of Ireland, went on, at its worst, to wreck, at its best, to +refuse to save, its whole agricultural economy. + +But why recall all this "dead history"? For two reasons: first, because +it illustrates the fundamental wrongness of Unionism; secondly, because +it is not dead. + +On the first point no better authority can be found than Mr W.A.S. +Hewins, the intellect of Tariff Reform. The differences between England +and Ireland, he writes in his introduction to Miss Murray's book, are of +"an organic character." In that phrase is concentrated the whole biology +of Home Rule. Every organism must suffer and perish unless its external +circumstances echo its inner law of development. The sin of the Union +was that it imposed on Ireland from without a sort of spiked +strait-jacket which could have no effect but to squeeze the blood and +breath out of every interest in the country. What was meat to England +was poison to Ireland, and even honest Englishmen, hypnotised by the +economists of the day, were unable to perceive this plain truth. Let me +give another illustration. The capital exploit of Union Economics was, +as has been said, its dealing with the land question, but perhaps its +most pathetic fallacy was the policy with which it met the Great Famine. +Now the singular thing about this famine is that during it there was no +scarcity of food in Ireland; there was only a shortage of potatoes. + + "In 1847 alone," writes Mr Michael Davitt in his "Fall of + Feudalism," "food to the value of L44,958,000 sterling was grown in + Ireland according to the statistical returns for that year. But a + million of people died for want of food all the same." + +The explanation is obvious: the peasants grew potatoes to feed +themselves, they raised corn to pay their rents. A temporary suspension +of rent-payments and the closing of the ports would have saved the great +body of the people. But the logic of Unionism worked on other lines. The +government opened the ports, cheapened corn, and made rents harder to +pay. At the same time they passed a new Coercion Act, and reorganised +the police on its present basis to ensure that rents should be paid. To +the wisdom of this policy, history is able to call witnesses by the +million--unhappily however it has to call them from famine graveyards, +and the waste womb of the Atlantic. + +This essential wrongness of Unionism, so amply illustrated in every +year of its working, continues. But at least, our bluff Englishman +urges, the dead past can be suffered to bury those crimes and blunders +of Unionism which you have enumerated. Let us start with a clean slate. +Now, as will have been gathered from a previous chapter, we recognise in +this invitation an accent of soundness. We modern Home Rulers desire +above all to be loyal to the century in which we live. We are sick of +that caricature which depicts Ireland as the mad heroine of a sort of +perpetual suttee, in which all the interests of the present are +immolated on the funeral-pyre of the past. But let us come closer to +things. How do you clean a slate except by liquidating the debts of +which it keeps the record? The late Vicomte de Vogue wrote an admirable +novel, "Les Morts qui Parlent." The dead are always speaking; you cannot +stop their strong eloquence with a mouthful of clay. The "business man" +thinks no doubt that the Napoleonic War is no more than Hecuba to him, +or he to Hecuba. But he pays annual tribute to it, for he has to make +annual provision for the L600,000,000 which it added to the National +Debt. And just as Mr Pitt's foreign policy is in that respect a living +reality of our own time, so also, but in a much graver form, are the +past depredations and ineptitudes of Unionism living realities in the +present economy of Ireland. + +The ruling fallacy of the English mind on these matters consists in the +assumption that the mere repeal of an old oppression restores a people +to the _status quo ante_. In the case of Ireland the old oppressions +have not been repealed except in two or three points, but even if they +had been wholly cancelled it would be absurd to expect immediate +recovery from their effects. If you have been beating a man on the head +with a bludgeon for half an hour, and then leave off, there is no sense +in saying to him: "There, I have given over bludgeoning you. Why on +earth don't you get up, and skip about like me?" If you have been +robbing a man's till for ten years, and then decide--by the way you have +not yet decided--to leave off, there is no sense in saying to him: "Why +the devil are you always hard up? Look at me doing the same sort of +business as you on absolutely equal terms, and I'm able to keep two +motor-cars and six servants." But that is precisely what is said to us. +You are eternally expecting from Ireland new miracles of renaissance. +But although she does possess recuperative powers, hardly to be +paralleled, even she must have time to slough the corruptions of the +past. You cannot, as some Englishmen imagine, cancel six centuries +before breakfast. Your Penal Laws, for instance, have been long since +struck out of the Statute Book, but they have not yet been eliminated +from social habitudes or from certain areas of commercial life. + +You began to tax Ireland beyond her capacity in 1801, and you are still +overtaxing her. In the interval you withdraw from her economic life a +tribute of not less than L325,000,000. You broke her industrial +tradition, injured her credit, depressed her confidence. You forced upon +her a fiscal system devised to suit your needs in utter contempt of +hers. To clean that slate you must first, by some measure of +restitution, clean your conscience. And when that has been done you will +have to wait for the curative effects of time to undo the Economics of +Unionism. + +You suffered landlordism to devastate Ireland unchecked. The capital +that should have gone to enrich and develop the soil was squeezed out of +it in rack-rents, largely absentee. The whole agricultural economy of +the country was stricken with a sort of artificial anaemia. Then very +late in the day you enact in shreds and fragments a programme of reform +proposed half a century before by the leaders of the Irish people. +To-day rural Ireland is convalescent, but it is absurd to rate her if +she does not at once manifest all the activities of robust health. It is +even more absurd to expect her to glow with gratitude. + +You muddled our whole system of transportation; your muddle stands +to-day in all its ruinous largeness unamended, and, it may be, beyond +amendment. You muddled the Poor Law; and, in the workhouses which you +thrust upon us, 8000 children are year by year receiving on their lives +the brand of degradation. You marred education, perverting it into a +discipline of denationalisation, and that virus has not yet been +expelled. + +What economic, what intellectual problem in Ireland have you not marred +and muddled, England, my England (as the late Mr W.E. Henley used to +say)? You have worsened the maledictions of the Bible. The sins of +_your_ fathers will lie as a _damnosa haereditas_, a damnable heritage, +upon the mortgaged shoulders of _our_ children. It is better, as Plato +taught, to suffer injustice than to inflict it. In the light of that +ethical principle you are long since judged and condemned. But with the +customary luck of England you are allowed what others were not allowed, +the opportunity of penitence and reform. The messengers of the new +gospel are at your doors, offering you in return for the plain rudiments +of justice not only forgiveness but friendship. It is for you to accept +or reject. We, the Irish, whom you have wronged, look to your decision +with interest rather than with concern. Why should we be concerned? Our +flag has been an Aaron's serpent to swallow yours. Your policies, your +ambitions, your administrations have passed by us like the transient and +embarrassed phantoms that they were. We remain. All the roads lead to +Rome, and all the years to retribution. This is your year; you have met +the messengers on your threshold. Your soul is in your own wardship. But +yet we cannot wholly separate your destiny from ours. Dedicated as we +are to the general progress of humanity and to all the generosities of +life, we await expectantly your election between the good and the evil +side. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE HALLUCINATION OF "ULSTER" + + +Ulster Unionism, in the leaders, is not so much a programme of ideas as +a demand for domination. In the rank and file it is largely a phenomenon +of hysteria. I do not know whether my readers have ever participated in +an agreeable game known as odd man out. Each player tosses a penny, and +whoever disagrees with the rest, showing a head to their tails or vice +versa, captures the pool. Such is in all essential particulars the +"Ulster Question." We find ourselves there in presence of a minority +which, on the sole ground that it is a minority, claims that in the +government of Ireland it shall be not merely secure but supreme. Sir +Edward Carson as odd man out (and I do not deny that he is odd enough +for anything) is to be Dictator of Ireland. If eighty-four Irish +constituencies declare for Home Rule, and nineteen against Home Rule, +then, according to the mathematics of Unionism, the Noes have it. In +their non-Euclidean geometry the part is always greater than the whole. +In their unnatural history the tail always wags the dog. On the plane of +politics it is not necessary to press the case against "Ulster" any +farther than that. Even majorities have their rights. If a plurality of +nine to two is not sufficient to determine policy and conduct business +in a modern nation, then there is no other choice except anarchy, or +rather an insane atomism. Not merely every party, but every household +and, in last resort, every individual will end as a Provisional +Government. Separatism of this type is a very ecstasy of nonsense, and +none of my readers will think so cheaply of his own intelligence as to +stay to discuss it. It is in other terms that we must handle the problem +of "Ulster." + +The existence in certain nooks and corners of Ireland of a democratic +vote hostile to Home Rule is, let us confess, a conundrum. But it is a +conundrum of psychology rather than of politics. It may seem rude to say +so, but Orangeism consists mainly of a settled hallucination and an +annual brainstorm. No one who has not been present at a Twelfth of July +procession can realise how completely all its manifestations belong to +the life of hysteria and not to that of reason. M. Paul-Dubois, whom we +may summon out of a cloud of witnesses, writes of them as "demagogic +orgies with a mixed inspiration of Freemasonry and the Salvation Army." +The Twelfth of July is, or rather was, for its fine furies are now much +abated, a savage carnival comparable only to the corroborees of certain +primitive tribes. + + "A monster procession," continues M. Paul-Dubois, "marches through + Belfast, as through every town and village of Orange Ulster, ending + up with a vast meeting at which the glories of William of Orange + and the reverses of James II. are celebrated in song.... Each + 'lodge' sends its delegation to the procession with banners and + drums. On the flags are various devices: 'Diamond Heroes,' 'True + Blues,' 'No Pope.' The participants give themselves over to + character dances, shouting out their favourite songs: 'The Boyne + Water' and 'Croppies Lie Down.' The chief part is played by the + drummers, the giants of each 'lodge,' who with bared arms beat + their drums with holy fury, their fists running with blood, until + the first drum breaks and many more after it, until in the evening + they fall half-dead in an excess of frenzy." + +Such is the laboratory in which the mind of Orange Ulster is prepared to +face the tasks of the twentieth century. Barbaric music, the ordinary +allowance of drum to fife being three to one, ritual dances, King +William on his white horse, the Scarlet Woman on her seven hills, a +grand parade of dead ideas and irrelevant ghosts called up in wild +speeches by clergymen and politicians--such is Orangeism in its full +heat of action. Can we, with this key to its intellectual history, be +really astonished that Shankhill Road should move all its life in a red +mist of superstition. The North of Ireland abounds in instances, trivial +and tragic, of this obsession. Here it is the case of the women of a +certain town who, in order to prevent their children from playing in a +dangerous swamp close by, have taught them that there are "wee Popes" in +it. There it is a case of man picked up, maimed and all but unconscious +after an accident, screwing up his lips to utter one last "To Hell with +the Pope!" before he dies. I remember listening in Court to the +examination of an old Orangeman who had been called as a witness to the +peaceable disposition of a friend of his. "What sort of man," asked the +counsel, "would you say Jamie Williamson is?" "A quiet, decent man." "Is +he the sort of man that would be likely to be breaking windows?" "No man +less likely." "Is he the sort of man that you would expect to find at +the head of a mob shouting, 'To Hell with the Pope'?" Witness, with +great emphasis: "No. Certainly not. Jamie was never any ways a +_religious_ man." These bewildering corruptions of sense and sanity +overwhelm you at every turn. Ask your neighbour offhand at a dinner in +Dublin: "What is so-and-so, by the way?" He will reply that so-and-so is +a doctor, or a government official, or a stockbroker, as it may happen. +Ask him the same question at a dinner in Belfast, and he will +automatically tell you that so-and-so is a Protestant or a "Papist." + +The plain truth is that it would be difficult to find anywhere a more +shameful exploitation, intellectual and economic, than that which has +been practised on the Ulster Orangeman by his feudal masters. Were I to +retort the abuse, with which my own creed is daily bespattered, I should +describe him further as the only victim of clerical obscurantism to be +found in Ireland. Herded behind the unbridged waters of the Boyne, he +has been forced to live in a very Tibet of intellectual isolation. +Whenever he moved in his thoughts a little towards that Ireland to +which, for all his separatism, he so inseparably belongs, the ring of +blockhouses, called Orange Lodges, was drawn tighter to strangle his +wanderings. Mr Robert Lynd in his "Home Life in Ireland," a book which +ought to have been mentioned earlier in these pages, relates the case +of a young man who was refused ordination in the Presbyterian Church +because he had permitted himself to doubt whether the Pope was in fact +anti-Christ. And he writes with melancholy truth: + + "If the Presbyterian clergy had loved Ireland as much as they have + hated Rome they could have made Ulster a home of intellectual + energy and spiritual buoyancy long ago. They have preferred to keep + Ulster dead to fine ideas rather than risk the appearance of a few + unsettling ideas among the rest." + +It has not been, one likes to think, a death, consummated and final, but +rather an interruption of consciousness from which recovery is possible. +Drugged with a poisonous essence, distilled from history for him by his +exploiters, the Orangeman of the people has lived in a world of +phantoms. In politics he has never in his whole career spoken for +himself. The Catholic peasant comes to articulate, personal speech in +Davitt; the national aristocracy in Parnell. The industrial worker +discovers within his own camp a multitude of captains. Even landlordism, +although it has produced no leader, has produced many able spokesmen. +Every other section in Ireland enriches public life with an interpreter +of its mind sprung from its own ranks. Orange Ulster alone has never yet +given to its own democracy a democratic leader. This is indeed the +cardinal misfortune, as well as the central secret, of Ulster Unionism. +The pivot on which it turns resides, not in the farms of Down or the +factories of Belfast, but in the Library of the Four Courts. Of the +nineteen representatives who speak for it in Parliament no fewer than +seven are King's Counsel. In the whole list there is not one delegate of +labour, nor one farmer. A party so constituted is bound to produce +prodigies of nonsense such as those associated with Sir Edward Carson. +The leaders of the orchestra openly despise the instruments on which +they play. For followers, reared in the tradition of hysteria depicted +above, no raw-head is thought to be too raw, and no bloody-bones too +bloody. And so we have King's Counsel, learned in the law, devising +Provisional Governments, and Privy Councillors wallowing in imaginative +treason. As for the Bishops, they will talk daggers as luridly as the +rest, but they will not even threaten to use any. And so does the pagan +rage, and the heathen prophesy vain things. + +That such a farce-tragedy can find a stage in the twentieth century is +pitiable. But it is not a serious political fact. It has the same +relation to reality that the cap-hunting exploits of Tartarin of +Tarascon had to the Franco-German war. It has been devised merely to +make flesh creep in certain tabernacles of fanaticism in the less +civilised parts of England and Scotland. So far as action goes it will +end in smoke, but not in gunpowder-smoke. There will no doubt be riots +in Belfast and Portadown, for which the ultimate responsibility will +rest on learned counsel of the King. But there have been riots before, +and the cause of Home Rule has survived all the blackguardism and +bloodshed. It is lamentable that ministers of the gospel of Christ and +leaders of public opinion should so inflame and exploit the +superstitions of ignorant men; but not by these methods will justice be +intimidated. + +And if "Ulster" does fight after all? In that event we must only +remember how sorry George Stephenson was for the cow. The military +traditions of the Protestant North are not very alarming. The +contribution of the Enniskilleners to the Battle of the Boyne appears to +have consisted in running away with great energy and discretion. Nor did +they, or their associates, in later years shed any great lustre even on +Imperial arms. I have never heard that the Connaught Rangers had many +recruits from the Shankhill Road, or the Dublin Fusiliers from +Portadown; consequently the present situation disgusts rather than +terrifies us. If rifle-levers ever click in rebellion against a Home +Rule government, duly established by statute under the authority of the +Crown, it will be astonishing to find that every bullet in Ireland is a +member of an Orange Lodge. If "Ulster" repudiates the arbitrament of +reason, and the verdict of a free ballot, she simply puts herself +outside the law. And she may be quite assured that the law, driven back +on its ultimate sanction of force, will very sharply and very amply +vindicate itself. + +But it is not courteous to the reader to detain him among such +unrealities as Sir Edward Carson's Civil War. Treason, that is to say +platform treason, is not so much an eccentricity as a habit of +Orangeism. It is a way they have in the Lodges, and their past history +supplies a corrective to their present outburst. Perhaps their most +notable exploit in armed loyalty was their attempt to dethrone, or +rather to defeat in succession to the throne, Queen Victoria. This is a +chapter in their history with regard to which they are far too modest +and reticent. + +But the leading case in recent years is of course the attitude of the +Lodges towards the Disestablishment of the Irish Episcopal Church in +1869. The records are singularly rich in what I may perhaps call +Carsonese. Dukes threatened to "fight as men alone can fight who have +the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other." Learned counsel of +the Queen covenanted to "seal their protest with their blood in +martyrdom and battle." Ministers of the gospel were all for kicking the +Crown into the Boyne, keeping their powder dry, shouldering Minie +rifles, and finally joining the lawyers in the red grave of martyrdom. + +An Ulster poet (a satirist one fears) wrote a famous invocation to the +statue of Mr Walker near Derry, beginning: + + "Come down out o' that, Mr Walker, + There's work to be done by-and-by, + And this is no time to stand glowerin' + Betwixt the bog-side and the sky." + +But Mr Walker did not come down: he remained on his safe pinnacle of +immortality. And of course there was no civil war. That period was wiser +than our own in one respect: nobody of any common sense thought of +spoiling such exquisite blague by taking it seriously. Its motive was +universally understood in Ireland. The orators of the movement never for +a moment dreamed of levying war on Mr Gladstone, but they were +determined to levy blackmail. They saw that they could bluff English +opinion into granting all manner of extravagant compensation for the +extinction of their privileges and their ascendancy, if only the Orange +drum was beaten loudly enough. It was a case of the more cry the more +wool. And in point of fact they succeeded. They obtained financial +arrangements of the most generous character, and, thereafter, the +battle-flags were furled. Within five years of Disestablishment the +Episcopalian Synod was praising it as the happiest event in the life of +that Church. The lawyers, being denied the martyrdom of the battlefield, +stolidly accepted that of promotion to the judicial bench, and a holy +silence descended on the divines. + +This strategy having succeeded so admirably in 1868 is repeated in 1912. +"Ulster" has not the least intention of raising war or the sinews of +war; her interest is in the sinews of peace. Although she does not hold +a winning card in her hand she hopes to scoop the pool by a superb +bluff. By menaces of rebellion she expects to be able to insist that +under Home Rule she shall continue encased in an impenetrable armour of +privileges, preferences, and safeguards. She is all the more likely to +succeed because of the tenderness of Nationalist Ireland in her regard. +Short of the absolute surrender by the majority of every shred of its +rights (which is, of course, what is demanded) there are very few +safeguards that we are not prepared to concede to the superstition, the +egotism, or even the actual greed of the Orangemen. But it may as well +be understood that we are not to be either duped or bullied. + +If the policy of Ulster Unionism is unreal there is no word in any +language that can describe the phantasmal nature of the grounds on which +it professes to fear national freedom. Home Rule, declare the orators, +will obviously mean Rome Rule. The _Ne Temere_ decree will de-legitimise +every Protestant in the country. The Dublin Parliament will tax every +"Ulster" industry out of existence. One is told that not only do many +people say, but that some people even believe things of this kind. But +then there are people who believe that they are made of Dresden china, +and will break if they knock against a chair. These latter are to be +found in lunatic asylums. It is indeed particularly worth noting that +when a man begins to see in the whole movement of the world a conspiracy +to oppress and injure him our first step is to inquire not into his +grievance but into his sanity. One finds the same difficulty in +discussing Irish politics in terms of the three hallucinations specified +that one finds in discussing, say, Rugby football with a Dresden-china +fellow-citizen. It is better not to make the attempt, but to substitute +a plain statement of obvious facts. + +In the first place, even if any policy of oppression were in our minds, +it is not in our power. The overlordship of the Imperial Parliament +remains in any scheme of Home Rule unimpaired, and any man damnified +because of his religion can appeal in last resort to the Imperial Army +and Navy. Shankhill Road is mathematically safe. After all there are in +England some forty millions of Protestants who, whatever their religious +temperature may be, will certainly decline to see Protestantism +penalised. The Protestants in Ireland have a million and a quarter, and +they make noise enough for twice the number. There are about three and a +quarter millions of Irish Catholics. History concedes to Catholic +Ireland the cleanest record in respect of religious tolerance to be +found anywhere in Europe. We never martyred a saint, and amid all the +witch-hunting devilries of Scotland and England we burned only one +witch, a namesake of my own. Deny or suppress all this. Imagine into +the eyes of every Catholic neighbour the slumbering but unquenched fires +of Smithfield. But be good enough to respect mathematics. Do not suggest +that the martial qualities induced by the two religions are so +dissimilar that two Catholics are capable of imposing Home Rule on +twenty-five Protestants. + +The suggestion that we shall overtax "Ulster" is even more captivating. +But how are we to do it? Of course we might schedule the sites given up +to Protestant church buildings as undeveloped land. Or we might issue +income-tax forms with an assessment printed on one side, and the decrees +of the Council of Trent on the other. Or we might insist on every orator +desirous of uttering that ennobling sentiment, "To Hell with the Pope!" +taking out a licence, and charge him a small fee. Positive treason, such +as the proclamation of Provisional Governments, would of course pay a +higher rate. All these would be most interesting experiments, and would +add a picturesque touch to the conventionality of modern administration. +But if we were to overtax sugar or coffee, corn or butter, flax or wool, +beer or spirits, land or houses, I fear that we should be beating +ourselves rather severely with our own sticks. Our revenge on "Ulster" +would be rather like that of Savage, the poet, who revenged himself on +a friend by sleeping out the whole of a December night on a bridge. The +whole suggestion is, of course, futile and fantastic. It is a bubble +that has been pricked, and by no one so thoroughly as by Lord Pirrie, +the head of Harland and Wolff, that is to say the leader of the +industrial North. + +The clamour of the exploiters of "Ulster" is motived on this point by +two considerations, the one an illusion, the other a reality. The +illusion, or rather the pretence, consists in representing the Unionists +as the sole holders of wealth in Ireland. It would be a sufficient +refutation of this view to quote those other passages in which the same +orators assert with equal eloquence that the Tory policy of land +purchase and resolute government from Westminster has brought enormous +prosperity to the rest of the country. On _per capita_ valuation the +highest northern county ranks only twelfth in Ireland. It is the +reality, however, that supplies the clue. While the masters of Orangeism +do not represent the wealth of Ireland they do certainly represent the +largest, or, at least, the most intense concentration of unearned +incomes. What they fear is not unjust but democratic taxation. They +cling to the Union as a bulwark against the reform movement which in +every modern state is resuming for society a small part of certain vast +fortunes which in their essence have been socially created. But even on +the plane of their own selfishness they are following a foolish line of +action. The Union did not save them from the Land Tax Budget, nor, as +regards the future, is salvation of the English Tories. Should they ever +return to power they will repeat their action respecting the Death +Duties. Having in Opposition denounced the land taxes with indecent +bitterness they will, when back in office, confirm and extend them. +"Ulster" had far better cast in her lot with Ireland. She will find an +Irish Assembly not only strikingly but, one might almost add, sinfully +conservative in matters of taxation. As to the conflict between the +agrarian and the manufacturing interests, that also exists in every +nation on the earth. But neither has any greater temptation to plan the +destruction of the other than a merchant has to murder his best +customer. + +There remains the weltering problem of mixed marriages and the _Ne +Temere_ decree. It is perhaps worth observing that marriages get mixed +in other countries as well as in Ireland. It grieves one that men should +differ as to the true religious interpretation of life. But they do in +fact differ, and wherever two human beings, holding strongly to +different faiths, fall in love there is tragic material. But they do in +fact fall in love. The theme recurs, with a thousand reverberations, in +the novel literature of England, France, and Germany. The situation +occurs also in Ireland. But I am bewildered to know in what way it is an +argument for or against Home Rule. Let us appeal once more to colonial +experience and practice. There is a Catholic majority in Canada and an +overwhelming Catholic majority in Quebec. The policy of the Catholic +Church towards mixed marriages is precisely the same there as in +Ireland. Does Protestantism demand that the constitutions of the +Dominion and the Province respectively shall be withdrawn? Since no such +claim is made we must conclude that the outcry on Orange platforms is +designed not to enforce a principle but to awaken all the slumbering +fires of prejudice. The _Ne Temere_ decree introduces no new departure. +Now, as always, the Catholic Church requires simply that her members +shall consecrate the supreme adventure of life with the Sacrament of +their fathers before the altar of their fathers. It is strange that the +Orangemen, believing as they do that the Pope is anti-Christ, should be +so annoyed at finding that the Pope teaches a doctrine different from +theirs on the subject of marriage. The Pope can inflict no spiritual +penalties on them since they are outside his flock. He can inflict no +civil penalties on anybody. There is undoubtedly in the matter of +divorce a sharp conflict between Catholic ideas and the practice and +opinion of Protestant countries. That exists, and will continue, under +every variation of government. It is an eternal antinomy. But whom does +it aggrieve? We Catholics voluntarily abjure the blessings of divorce, +but we should never dream of using the civil law to impose our +abnegation on those of another belief. If there is any doubt upon that +point it can very easily be removed. The civil law of marriage can be +conserved under one of the "safeguards." + +The truth is that in order to test our tolerance Orangeism proposes to +us a series of exercises which are a very delirium of intolerance. +"Sever yourselves," it says in effect to us, "from all allegiance to +that Italian Cardinal. Consign him, as Portadown does, to hell. Bait +your bishops. Deride the spiritual authority of your priests. Then shall +we know that you are men and masters of your own consciences. Elect a +Unionist Council in every county, a Unionist Corporation in Dublin, then +shall we know that you are brothers. Disown your dead leaders. Spit on +the grave of Emmet. Teach your children that every Fenian was a +murderer. Erase from your chronicles the name of Parnell. Then shall we +know that you are loyal." + +It has been occasionally urged by writers who prefer phrases to +actualities that Home Rule must wait on the conversion of "Ulster." +Therein the patient must minister to himself. Miracles of that order +cannot be accomplished from without. Great is Diana of the Ephesians, +and the servitude of tradition is at an end only when the hands that +fashioned the idols shatter them on the altars of a new nobleness. Let +us distinguish. The Orangeism which is merely an instrument of +exploitation and domination will not yield to reason. The Orangeism +which is an inherited hysteria will not yield to reason. It Bourbonises +too much. It lives in the past, learning nothing and forgetting nothing. +Argument runs off it like rain off a duck's back. These two types of +thought we must leave to the grace of God, and the education of the +accomplished fact. They represent a declining cause, and a decaying +party. The Lodges once mustered more than 200,000 members; they have +now less than 10,000. There is another kind of Orangeism, that which has +begun to think, and the Orangeism that has begun to think is already +converted. I said that Protestant "Ulster" had never given to its own +democracy a leader, but to say that is to forget John Mitchel. Master in +prose of a passion as intense as Carlyle's and far less cloudy, of an +irony not excelled by Swift, Mitchel flung into the tabernacles of his +own people during the Great Famine a sentence that meant not peace but a +sword. He taught them, as no one since, that Orangeism was merely a +weapon of exploitation. While the band played "The Boyne Water" and the +people cheered it, the landlords were picking the pockets of the +ecstatic crowd. + + "The Pope, we know, is the 'man of sin,'" wrote Mitchel, "and the + 'Antichrist,' and also, if you like, the 'mystery of iniquity,' and + all that, but he brings no ejectments in Ireland." + +Mitchel travelled too fast for co-religionists whose shoulders had not +yet slipped the burden of old superstitions. The elan of genius and the +call of freedom drew him out of the home of his fathers to consort with +Papists, rebels, and transported convicts. But his failure was the seed +of later success. In a few years the League of North and South was able +to unite Protestant and Catholic on the plain economic issue that +landlordism must go. That too failed, but the stream of democratic +thought had been merely driven underground to reappear further on in the +century. In the elections that shook the fortress of Toryism in Ulster +in the seventies Catholic priests marched at the head of processions +side by side with Grand Masters of Orange Lodges. In the first years of +the Land League, Michael Davitt was able to secure the enthusiastic +support of purely Orange meetings in Armagh. Still later, Mr T. W. +Russell, at the head of a democratic coalition, smashed the old +Ascendancy on the question of compulsory purchase, and Mr Lindsay +Crawford founded his Independent Order, a portent if not yet a power. So +much has been done in the country. But it is in the cities, those +workshops of the society of the future, that the change is most marked. +The new movement finds an apt epitome in the political career of Mr +Joseph Devlin. The workers of Belfast had been accustomed to see labour +problems treated by the old type of Unionist member of parliament either +with cowardice or with contempt. _Enfin Malesherbes vint_. At last a +man rose up out of their own class, although a Catholic and a +Nationalist. He spoke with an awakening eloquence, and he made good his +words. In every industrial struggle in that sweated city he interposed +his strong word to demand justice for the wage-earner. This was a new +sort of politics. It bore fruit where Ulster Unionism had been but a +barren fig-tree. The democracy of Belfast accepted their leader. They +gave him a majority of 16 in West Belfast in 1906 and in four years they +had multiplied it by forty. The Boyne was bridged, and everything that +has since happened has but added a new stay or girder to the strength of +the bridge. And not only labour but capital has passed across that +estranging river to firm ground of patriotism and national unity. Lord +Pirrie, the head of the greatest manufacturing enterprise in Belfast, is +an ardent Home Ruler. Business men, ministers of religion, even lawyers, +are thinking out things quietly beneath the surface. The new "Ulster" is +breaking its shell. Parties are forming on the basis of economic +realities, not on that of "religious" phantasms. + +As for the old "Ulster," it remains a problem not for the War Office, +but for the Department of Education. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MECHANICS OF HOME RULE + + +The inevitableness of Home Rule resides in the fact that it is, as one +might say, a biped among ideas. It marches to triumph on two feet, an +Irish and an Imperial foot. If there were in Ireland no demand whatever +for self-government it would, nevertheless, be necessary in the +interests of the Empire to force it on her. The human, or as some people +may prefer to call it, the sociological case for Home Rule, and the +historical case for it have already been outlined. We now turn to +consideration, of another order, derived from Political Mechanics, or +rather bearing on the mere mechanism of politics. Let us approach the +problem first from the Imperial side. + +On the whole, the most remarkable thing about the British Empire is that +there is no British Empire. We are in presence of the familiar +distinction between the raw material and the finished article. There +are, indeed, on the surface of the globe a number of self-governing +colonies, founded and peopled by men of Irish and English blood. In each +of these the United Kingdom is represented by a Governor whose whole +duty consists in being seen on formal occasions, but never heard in +counsel or rebuke. The only other connecting links are those of law and +finance. The Privy Council acts as a Court of Appeal in certain causes, +and Colonial Governments borrow money in the London market. These +communities widely seperated in geography and in temperament, have no +common fiscal policy, no common foreign policy, no common scheme of +defence, no common Council to discuss and decide Imperial affairs. Now +this may be a very wise arrangement, but you must not call it an Empire. +From the point of view of unity, if from no other, it presents an +unfavourable contrast to French Imperialism, under which all the oversea +colonies are represented in the Chamber of Deputies in Paris. In the +English plan the oversea colonies are unrelated atoms. You may say that +they afford all the materials for a grandiose federation; but if you +have flour in one bag, and raisins in another, and candied peel in +another, and suet in another you must not call them a Christmas pudding +until they have been mixed together and cooked. Those areas of the +globe, coloured red on the maps, may have all the resources requisite +for a great, self-sufficing, economic unit of a new order. Their peoples +may desire that new order. But until it is achieved you must remember +that the British Empire belongs to the region of dream and not to that +of fact. + +For many years now, apostles of reconstruction have been hammering out +the details of a scheme that shall unify the Empire on some sort of +Federal basis. For the new organism which they desire to create they +need a brain. Is this to be found in the Westminster Assembly, sometimes +loosely styled the "Imperial Parliament"? As things stand at present +such a suggestion is a mere counter-sense. That body has come to such a +pass as would seem to indicate the final bankruptcy of the governing +genius of England. All the penalties of political gluttony have +accumulated on it. Parliament, to put the truth a little brutally, has +broken down under a long debauch of over-feeding. Every day of every +session it bites off far more in the way of bills and estimates than it +even pretends to have time to chew. Results follow which it would be +indiscreet to express in terms of physiology. Tens of millions are +shovelled out of the Treasury by an offhand, undiscussed, perfunctory +resolution. The attempt to compress infinite issues in a space too +little has altered and, as some critics think, degraded the whole tenor +of public life. Parliament is no longer the Grand Inquest of the Nation, +at least not in the ancient and proper meaning of the words. The +declaration of Edmund Burke to the effect that a member has no right to +sacrifice his "unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened +conscience" to any set of men living may be echoed by the judges in our +day, but to anyone who knows the House of Commons it is a piece of pure +irony. Party discipline cracks every session a more compelling whip; and +our shepherded, regimented, and automatised representatives themselves +realise that, whatever more desirable status they may have attained, +they have certainly lost that of individual freedom. Out of their own +ranks a movement has arisen to put an end altogether to Party +government. This proposal I myself believe to be futile, but its very +futility testifies to the existence of an intolerable situation. All +this turns on the inadequacy of the time of the House of Commons to its +business. But the distribution of such time as there is, is a revel of +ineptitudes. It resembles the drawing of a schoolboy who has not yet +learned perspective. A stranger dropping into the Chamber will find it +spending two hours in helping to determine whether Russia is to have a +Czar, and the next four hours helping to determine whether Rathmines is +to have, let us say, a new sewer. The affairs of India, involving the +political welfare of three hundred millions of human beings, get one +day; Egypt, that test case in international ethics, has to be content +with a few scattered hours. And, despite all this, local questions are +not considered at sufficient length or with sufficient knowledge. The +parish pump is close enough to spoil St Stephen's as an Imperial +Council, and yet so far away as to destroy its effectiveness as an organ +of local government. + +Such an assembly is clearly unfitted to function as the cerebrum of +Empire. It must be relieved of burdens which in the complexity of modern +politics it is no longer able to bear. How is this to be done? In one +way and in one way only, by leaving local business to local bodies. But +that is Home Rule, or, as the learned, envisaging the idea from another +point of view, sometimes prefer to call it, Devolution. Through the +principle of autonomy, incompletely applied, the British Possessions +have so far evolved. Through the principle of autonomy, completely +applied, and in no other wise, can they evolve into an ordered system +worthy of the Imperial name. This is at first blush a singular +development. Here lie Ireland and England separated by a mountain of +misunderstanding. We Irish Nationalists have for a century been trying +to bore a tunnel through from one side. And suddenly we become aware of +the tapping of picks not our own, and encounter midway the tunnel which +the Party of Imperial Reconstruction have driven through from the other +side. Here are all the materials for a _tableau_. Justice falls on the +neck of expediency. Imperialism recognises in nationality no rebel but a +son of the house. Toryism rubs its eyes, and finds that it is Home Rule. + +But, sounded to its depths, this new current of thought appears not only +not eccentric but inevitable. Ample explanation is to be found in the +history of the Irish fight for self-government. On this subject there +has been in Ireland a marked evolution of ideas. O'Connell began by +demanding simple Repeal of the Union and the Restoration of Grattan's +Parliament. But by 1844 he had advanced towards a Federal programme. + +"Beside the local Parliament in Ireland having full and perfect local +authority," he writes in that year, "there should be, for questions of +Imperial concern, colonial, military, and naval, and of foreign alliance +and policy, a Congressional or Federal Parliament, in which Ireland +should have a fair share and proportion of representation and power." + +The proposed change of programme came in a questionable shape to a +suspicious time. It was not received with universal favour, and, to +avert dissension, it was represented as a mere _ballon d'essai_ and was +abandoned. O'Connell died, and Repeal and Federation alike were +swallowed up in the Great Famine. But time was to renew its urgency. The +essential facts, and the logic of the facts, remained unaltered. When +Isaac Butt came to formulate his scheme at the Home Rule Conference in +1873 he renewed the Federal proposal in terms almost verbally the same. +The Conference resolved: + + "That, in claiming these rights and privileges for our country, we + adopt the principle of a Federal arrangement, which would secure to + the Irish Parliament the right of legislating for and regulating + all matters relating to the internal affairs of Ireland, while + _leaving to the Imperial Parliament the power of dealing with all + questions affecting the Imperial and Government, legislation + regarding the colonies and other dependencies of the Crown, the + relations of the Empire with Foreign States, and all matters + appertaining to the defence and stability of the Empire at large; + as well as the power of granting and providing the supplies + necessary for Imperial purposes_." + +Parnell, who was a supreme master of the art of doing one thing at a +time, naturally laid the emphasis on Ireland. But when he was asked by +Mr Cecil Rhodes to agree to the retention of Irish representatives at +Westminster in the interests of Imperial Federation, he declared himself +in very definite terms: + + "It does not come so much within my province to express a full + opinion upon the larger question of Imperial federation, but I + agree with you that the continued Irish representation at + Westminster immensely facilitates such a step, while the contrary + provision in the Bill of 1886 would have been a bar. Undoubtedly + this is a matter which should be dealt with largely in accordance + with the opinion of the Colonies themselves, and if they should + desire to share in the cost of Imperial matters, as undoubtedly + they now do in the responsibility, and should express a wish for + representation at Westminster, I certainly think it should be + accorded to them, and that public opinion in these islands would + unanimously concur in the necessary constitutional modifications." + +That is, if you will, thinking Imperially. Mr Redmond stands where +Parnell stood. He claims for the Irish people "the legislative and +executive control of all purely Irish affairs." But he is altogether +friendly to a later and larger application of the principle of autonomy. + +But where, asks the triumphant critic not quite ingenuously, is the line +to be drawn between local and Imperial affairs? Problems far more +perplexed than this have been solved by the wit of man. The line was +drawn by O'Connell and Butt, by Parnell and Gladstone. It can be drawn +to meet the circumstances of to-day by men of goodwill, after discussion +and mutual adjustment. But why not postpone the case of Ireland until a +scheme of Home Rule all round either for the United Kingdom or for the +whole Empire has been worked out? We answer that Ireland comes first on +grounds both of ethics and of expediency. Through all the blackness of +dismal years we have laboured to preserve the twin ideas of nationality +and autonomy, and the labourer is worthy of his hire. But a Home Rule +assembly, functioning in Dublin, may well furnish the germ of a +reorganisation of the Empire. If so, let it be remembered that it was +not Mr Chamberlain but Daniel O'Connell who first in these countries +gave to Imperialism a definite and articulate form. In any event Home +Rule is the only remedy for the present congestion of St Stephen's. It +is the only tonic that can restore to English public life its old vigour +of independence. + +Such are the necessities and such is the future of the Empire merely as +a problem in what has been called Political Mechanics. We have now, from +the same point of view, to examine very cursorily the present government +of Ireland. The phrasing, let me interpose, is inaccurate. Ireland, in +our day, is not governed; it is only administered. A modern government, +if it wishes to be real, must above all else explain itself. For such +luxuries, so far as Ireland is concerned, there is no time in the House +of Commons. A modern government must exercise active control over every +department of public business. For such an effort there is, so far as +Ireland is concerned, no energy in the House of Commons. Once in a blue +moon it does of course become necessary to pass an Irish Bill, a +University or a Land Bill. The Party shepherds round up their flocks, +and, for a reluctant day or two, they have to feed sparely in +unaccustomed pastures. Or again, as in 1886, 1893, or 1912, Ireland +dominates British politics, and the English members descend on her with +a heavy flop of hatred or sympathy as it may happen. But at all other +times the Union Parliament abdicates, or at least it "governs" Ireland +as men are said sometimes to drive motor-cars, in a drowse. Three +days--or is it two?--are given to Irish Estimates, and on each of these +occasions the Chamber is as desolate as a grazing ranch in Meath. +Honourable members snatch at the opportunity of cultivating their souls +in the theatres, clubs, restaurants, and other centres of culture in +which London abounds. The Irish Party is compelled by the elemental +necessities of the situation to speak with one voice on matters +regarding which there would properly be at least two voices in an Irish +Parliament, precisely identical in personnel. Ulster Unionism presents a +similar solidarity. + +Whenever a point of any novelty is made, the Chief Secretary's secretary +slips over to one of the Irish Officials who on these occasions lie +ambushed at the back of the Speaker's chair, and returns with all the +elation of a honey-laden bee. His little burden of wisdom is gratefully +noted on the margin of the typewritten brief which has been already +prepared in Dublin by the Board under discussion, and, entrenched behind +this, the Right Honourable gentleman winds up the debate. Sometimes his +solemnity wrings laughter from men, sometimes his flippancy wrings +tears from the gods, but it does not in the least matter what he says. +The division bells ring; the absentees come trooping in, learn at the +door of the lobby, each from his respective Whip, whether his +spontaneous, independent judgment has made him a Yes! or a No! and vote +accordingly in the light of an unsullied conscience. The Irish +officials, with a sigh of relief or a shrug of contempt, collect their +hats and umbrellas, and retire to their hotels to erase from their minds +by slumber the babblings of a mis-spent evening. And the course of +administration in Ireland is as much affected by the whole proceedings +as the course of an 80 h.p. Mercedes is affected by a cabman's oath. + +So much for exclusively Irish affairs. When Ireland comes into some +"general" scheme of legislation the parody of government becomes if +possible more fantastic in character. Let me take just three +instances--Old Age Pensions, Insurance, and the Budget. In regard to the +first it was perhaps a matter of course that no attempt should be made +to allow for the difference in economic levels between Great Britain and +Ireland. This is the very principle of Unionism: to apply like methods +to things which are unlike. But in the calculation of details an +ignorance was exhibited which passed the bounds of decency. Mistakes of +five or six per cent are, in these complex affairs, not only to be +expected but almost to be desired; they help to depress ministerial +cocksureness. But in this case there was an error of 200 per cent, a +circumstance which incidentally established in the English mind a +pleasing legend of Irish dishonesty. The Insurance Bill was ushered in +with greater prudence. The "government," recognising its own inability +to lead opinion, had the grace to refrain from misleading it. No special +Irish memorandum was issued, and no attempt was made to adjust the +scheme to Irish social and economic conditions. But Budgets afford on +the whole the capital instance of what we may call legislation by +accident. The Act of Union solemnly prescribes the principles on which +these measures are to be framed, and points to the Chancellor of the +Exchequer as the trustee of Irish interests. But nobody of this +generation ever knew a Chancellor of the Exchequer who had even read the +Act of Union; Mr Lloyd George, on his own admission, had certainly not +read it in 1909. What has happened is very simple. The fulfilment of +treaty obligations required differential taxation, but administrative +convenience was best served by a uniform system of taxation. In the +struggle between the two, conscience was as usual defeated. The +Chancellor, according to the practice which has overridden the Act of +Union budgets for Great Britain, drags the schedule of taxes so fixed +through Ireland like a net, and counts the take. That, in the process, +the pledge of England should be broken, and her honour betrayed, is not +regarded by the best authorities as an objection or even as a relevant +fact. In the more sacred name of uniformity Ireland is swamped in the +Westminster Parliament like a fishing-smack in the wash of a great +merchantman. + +But let one illusion be buried. If Ireland does not govern herself it is +quite certain that the British Parliament does not govern her. Changing +the venue of inquiry from London to Dublin we find ourselves still in +regions of the fantastic. From the sober and unemotional pages of +"Whitaker's Almanack" one learns, to begin with, that "the government of +Ireland is semi-independent." The separatism of geography has in this +case triumphed. The _de facto_ rulers of Ireland in ordinary slack +times, and in the daily round of business, are the heads of the great +Departments. Some of these are not even nominally responsible to +Parliament. The Intermediate Board, for instance, has for thirty years +controlled secondary education, but it has never explained itself to +Parliament and, because of the source from which its funds are derived, +it is not open to criticism in Parliament. But none of the heads are +really responsible to any authority except their own iron-clad +consciences and the officials of the Treasury, with whom, for the sake +of appearances, they wage an unreal war. In theory, the Chief Secretary +answers to Parliament for the misdeeds of them all. In practice, this +fines itself down to reading typewritten sophistications in reply to +original questions, and improvising jokes, of a well-recognised pattern, +to turn the point of supplementary questions for forty minutes on one +day in the week during session. In its own internal economy the +government of Ireland is a form of Pantheism, with the Chief Secretary +as underlying principle. He is the source of everything, good and evil, +light and darkness, benignity and malignity, with the unfortunate result +that he is in perpetual contradiction with himself. As we know, the +equilibrium of modern governments is maintained by mutual strain between +the various ministers. Sometimes, as in the case of Lord Randolph +Churchill, a strong personality, moved by a new idea, tears the +structure to pieces. But the Chief Secretary knows no such limitations +from without. Theoretically, he may be produced to infinity in any +direction; he is all in every part. But, as a matter of fact, through +the mere necessity of filling so much space his control becomes rarefied +to an invisible vapour; he ends by becoming nothing in any part. With +its ultimate principle reduced to the status of a _Dieu faineant_ +political Pantheism is transformed into political Atheism. Responsible +government is perceived not to exist in Ireland. Mr Barry O'Brien in his +admirable book, "Dublin Castle and the Irish People," confesses himself +unable to find a better characterisation of the whole system than is +contained in a well-known passage from "The Mikado." I make no apology +for conveying it from him. + + "One cannot help recalling the memory of Pooh-Bah, 'Lord + High-Everything-Else' of the Mikado of Japan. Who forgets the + memorable scene between him and Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, + on an occasion of supreme importance? + + _Ko-Ko_. Pooh-Bah, it seems that the festivities in connection with + my approaching marriage must last a week. I should like to do it + handsomely, and I want to consult you as to the amount I ought to + spend upon them. + + _Pooh-Bah_. Certainly. In which of my capacities? As First Lord of + the Treasury, Lord Chamberlain, Attorney-General, Chancellor of the + Exchequer, Privy Purse, or Private Secretary? + + _Ko-Ko_. Suppose we say as Private Secretary. + + _Pooh-Bah_. Speaking as your Private Secretary, I should say that + as the city will have to pay for it, don't stint yourself; do it + well. + + _Ko-Ko_. Exactly--as the city will have to pay for it. That is your + advice? + + _Pooh-Bah_. As Private Secretary. Of course you will understand + that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, I am bound to see that due + economy is observed. + + _Ko-Ko_. Oh, but you said just now, 'Don't stint yourself; do it + well.' + + _Pooh-Bah_. As Private Secretary. + + _Ko-Ko_. And now you say that due economy must be observed. + + _Pooh-Bah_. As Chancellor of the Exchequer. + + _Ko-Ko_. I see. Come over here where the Chancellor can't hear us. + _(They cross stage.)_ Now, as my Solicitor, how do you advise me to + deal with this difficulty? + + _Pooh-Bah_. Oh, as your Solicitor, I should have no hesitation in + saying chance it. + + _Ko-Ko_. Thank you _(shaking his head)_; I will. + + _Pooh-Bah_. If it were not that, as Lord Chief Justice, I am bound + to see that the law isn't violated. + + _Ko-Ko_. I see. Come over here where the Chief Justice can't hear + us. (_They cross the stage_.) Now, then, as First Lord of the + Treasury? + + _Pooh-Bah_. Of course, as First Lord of the Treasury, I could + propose a special vote that would cover all expenses if it were not + that, as leader of the Opposition, it would be my duty to resist + it, tooth and nail. Or, as Paymaster-General, I could so cook the + accounts that, as Lord High Auditor, I should never discover the + fraud. But then, as Archbishop of Jitipu, it would be my duty to + denounce my dishonesty, and give myself into my own custody as + Commissioner of Police." + +Under such arrangements as these the inevitable happens. The Chief +Secretary accepts his role. He is, no doubt, consoled to discover that +in one sphere, namely in that of patronage, his supremacy is effective. +He discovers further that he can hamstring certain obnoxious Acts, as Mr +Walter Long hamstrung the Land Act, by the issue of Regulations. The +rest of his official career depends on his politics. If a Tory, he +learns that the Irish Civil Service is a whispering gallery along which +his lightest word is carried to approving ears, and loyally acted upon. +Further "Ulster" expects law and order to be vindicated by the +occasional proclamation of Nationalist meetings, and batoning of +Nationalist skulls. And he absolutely must say from time to time in +public that the Irish Question in essence is not political but economic. +This is the whole duty of a Tory Chief Secretary. A Liberal Chief +Secretary functions on somewhat different lines. Administration presents +itself to him as a colossal heap of recalcitrant, wet sand out of which +he has to fashion a statue of fair-play. Having, with great labour, left +his personal impress on two or three handfuls, the weary Titan abandons +his impossible task. He falls back in good order on the House of +Commons, where his party majority enables him to pass an Irish Bill from +time to time. His spare time he divides between commending Dublin Castle +to the seven devils that made it, and praying for the advent of Home +Rule. + +In either case the sovereignty of Ireland relapses into the hands of the +permanent officials, that camarilla of Olympians. To the official lives +of these gentlemen, regarded as works of art, I raise my hat in +respectful envy. They have realised the vision of Lucretius. From the +secure remoteness of their ivory towers they look down unmoved on the +stormy and drifting tides below, and they enjoy the privilege, so rare +in Ireland, of knowing the causes of things. To the ordinary man their +political origins are shrouded in twilight. They seem to him to have +come like water, but unhappily it cannot be said that they go like wind. +While they are with us they are absolute, seen by nobody, felt by all +the world, the Manchu mandarins of the West. They have been attacked on +many foolish counts; let us in justice to them and ourselves be quite +clear as to what is wrong with them. Some people say that there are too +many Boards, but it is to be remembered that for every new function with +which we endow the State it must have a new organ. Others say that they +are over-staffed; but all government departments in the world are +over-staffed. Still others say that they are stupid and corrupt. As for +corruption, it certainly does exist under many discreet veils, but its +old glory is fading. Incompetent the great officials never were. A poet +tells us that there are only two people in the world who ever understand +a man--the woman who loves him, and the enemy who hates him best. In one +of these ways, if not in the other, Dublin Castle understands Ireland. +Did it not know what the people of Ireland want, it could not so +infallibly have maintained its tradition of giving them the opposite. +Other critics again find the deadly disease of the Boards to reside in +the fact that they are a bureaucracy. This diagnosis comes closer to the +truth, but it is not yet the truth. Bureaucracies of trained experts are +becoming more and not less necessary. What is really wrong with the +Castle is that it is a bureaucracy which has usurped the throne of the +nation. "In England," declared Mr Gladstone, "when the nation attends, +it can prevail." In Ireland, though it should attend seven days in the +week, it could never under present arrangements stamp the image of its +will on public policy. The real sin of the Castle regime is that it is a +sham, a rococo, a despotism painted to look like representative +government. To quote a radiant commonplace, the rich significance of +which few of us adequately grasp, it does not rest on the consent of the +governed. + + "From whatever point of view we envisage the English Government in + Ireland," writes Mr Paul-Dubois, "we are confronted with the same + appearance of constitutional forms masking a state of things which + is a compound of autocracy, oppression, and corruption." + +Such a system does not possess within itself the seed of continuance. +Disraeli announced, somewhat prematurely, the advent of an age in which +institutions that could not bear discussion would have to go. Matthew +Arnold yearned for a time in which the manifestly absurd would be +abandoned. In the flame of either dictum the present "government" of +Ireland shrivels to ashes, and affairs are ripe for the application of +both. Here, as in the Colonies, the people must enter into its heritage. +The days are for ever dead in which a nation could be ruled in daily +disregard of its history, its ideals, its definite programme. + +On the minutiae of administration I do not mean to touch. When the whole +spirit, atmosphere, and ethos are anti-moral it is idle to chronicle any +chance rectitude of detail. If a man is a murderer it is not much to his +credit to observe that he has triumphed over the primitive temptation to +eat peas with his knife. If a government is based on contempt for public +opinion, as its fundamental principle, no useful purpose is served by a +record of the occasions on which a policeman has been known to pass a +citizen in the street without beating him. But there is one further +confirmation of the view, here advanced, to omit which would be to +ignore the most significant fact of our time. Certain departments such +as the Congested Districts Board and the Department of Agriculture, +recent creations, have been freshened by the introduction of a +representative, non-official element. Others such as the Estates +Commission have been under the control of officials of a new type, able +men who do not conceal the fact that they believe in Ireland. All of +these new Boards have struck root in the national life to a depth never +reached by any of their predecessors. The lesson of this change is the +lesson of freedom. In the precise degree in which government trusts the +people will the people trust government. It remains to complete the +process by a scheme of autonomy that shall make every administrator a +trustee and executant of the will of the nation. + +There are other organs of "government" in Ireland of which the reader +may reasonably expect to hear something. He will permit me to discharge +my obligations by copying out certain paragraphs from an old note-book: + + "_Judges_.--It is a mistake to suppose that none of the Irish + Judges know any law. Our judiciary includes many masterly lawyers, + and many adroit men of the world. But all of them are political + appointments. Hence in ordinary cases a man will get clean justice. + But the moment politics flutter on the breeze, the masked battery + on the Bench is uncurtained to bellow forth anti-Nationalist + shrapnel. Irish Judges, in fact, are very like the horse in the + schoolboy's essay: 'The horse is a noble and useful quadruped, but, + when irritated, he ceases to do so." + + "_Police_.--The Royal Irish Constabulary was formerly an Army of + occupation. Now, owing to the all but complete disappearance of + crime, it is an Army of no occupation." + + "_Dublin Castle in general_.--Must be seen to be disbelieved." + +Since there does not exist a British Empire, it is necessary to invent +one. Since there does not exist an Irish government, in any modern and +intelligible sense of the word, it is necessary to invent one. The +common creative mould out of which both must be struck is the principle +of Home Rule. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AFTER HOME RULE + + +The advocates of Home Rule are invited to many ordeals by way of +verifying their good faith; perhaps the heaviest ordeal is that of +prophecy. Very well, people say, what are you going to do with Home Rule +when you get it? What will Irish politics be like in, say, 1920? If we +show embarrassment or offer conflicting answers, the querist is +persuaded that we are, as indeed he thought, vapouring sentimentalists, +not at all accustomed to live in a world of clear ideas and unyielding +facts. The demand, like many others made upon us, is unreal and +unreasonable. What are the English going to do with Home Rule when they +get it? What will German or Japanese or American politics be like in +1920? These are all what Matthew Arnold calls "undiscovered things." The +future resolutely declines to speak out of her turn. She has a trick of +keeping her secrets well, better than she keeps her promises. Professor +Dicey wrote a Unionist tract, very vehement and thunderous, in which he +sought to injure Home Rule by styling it a leap in the dark. But the +whole conduct of life, in its gravest and its lightest issues alike, is +a perpetual leap in the dark. Every change of public policy is a raid +across the frontiers of the unknown; or rather, as I prefer to put it, +every fundamental reform is essentially an Act of Faith in to-morrow, +and so it is with Home Rule. + +But while none of us can prophesy all of us can conjecture, and in this +case with a great deal of confidence. On the one hand, Ireland is a +country of very definite habits of thought; on the other, her immediate +problems are obvious. These two circumstances facilitate the process +which the learned describe as an attempt to produce the present curve of +evolution into the future. First, then, as to the temper of mind in +which an autonomous Ireland will face the world. The one clear certainty +is that it will not be rhetorical or Utopian. Of all the libels with +which we are pelted the most injurious to our repute is a kindly libel, +that which represents us as a nation of orators. To the primitive Tory +the Nationalist "agitator" appears in the guise of a stormy and +intractable fiend, with futility in his soul, and a College Green +peroration on his lips. The sources of this superstition are easily +traced. The English have created the noblest literature in the world, +and are candidly ashamed of the fact. In their view anybody who succeeds +in words must necessarily fail in business. The Irishman on the contrary +luxuriates, like the artist that he is, in that _splendor verborum_ +celebrated by Dante. If a speech has to be made he thinks that it should +be well made, and refuses altogether to accept hums and haws as a token +of genius. He expects an orator not merely to expound facts, but to +stimulate the vital forces of his audience. These contrary conceptions +of the relation of art to life have, throughout the Home Rule campaign, +clashed in the English mind much to our disadvantage. And there has been +another agent of confusion, more widely human in character. Every idea +strongly held and, on the other side, strongly challenged, kindles +spontaneously into passion, and every great cause has its poetry as well +as its dialetics. Men, forced to concentrate all their thought on one +reform, come to see it edged with strange, mystical colours. Let justice +only triumph in this one regard, and our keel will grate on the shore of +the Fortunate Islands, the Earthly Paradise. All the harshness of life +will be dulcified; we shall lie dreaming on golden sands, dipping full +goblets out of a sea that has been transmuted into lemonade. This, the +Utopian mood of humanity, is inextinguishable, and it has embroidered +the Home Rule idea in common with all others. Before the complexity of +modern economic organisation was as well understood as is now the case, +there is no doubt that certain sections of opinion in Ireland did regard +self-government as a sort of Aladdin's Lamp, capable of any miracle. The +necessity of pressing all the energy of the nation into one channel had +the effect of imposing on political life a simplicity which does not +belong to it. But all that is over and past. The Ireland of to-day does +not pay herself with words. She is safe from that reaction and +disillusionment which some prophets have discerned as the first harvest +of Home Rule, because she is already disillusioned. Looking into the +future we see no hope for rhetoricians; what we do see is a strong, +shrewd, indomitable people, at once clear-sighted and idealistic, going +about its business "in the light of day in the domain of reality." No +signs or wonders blaze out a trail for them. The past sags on their +shoulders and in their veins, a grievous burden and a grievous malady. +They make mistakes during their apprenticeship to freedom, for, as +Flaubert says, men have got to learn everything from eating to dying. +But a few years farther on we see the recuperative powers of the nation +once more triumphant. The past is at last dead enough to be buried, the +virus of oppression has been expelled. The creative impulse in industry, +literature, social habit, working in an atmosphere of freedom, has added +to the wealth of humanity not only an old nation renascent, but a new +and kindlier civilisation. In other words, political autonomy is to us +not the epilogue but the prologue to our national drama. It rings the +curtain up on that task to which all politics are merely instrumental, +namely the vindication of justice and the betterment of human life. + +From the first, the economic note will predominate in a Home Rule +assembly, not only in the sense in which so much can be said of every +country in the world, but in a very special sense. For the past decade +Ireland has been thinking in terms of woollens and linens, turnips and +fat cattle, eggs and butter, banks and railways. The conviction that the +country is under-developed, and in consequence under-populated, has been +growing both in area and in depth. With it there has been growing the +further conviction that poverty, in the midst of untapped resources, is +a national crime. The propagation of these two beliefs by journals of +the newer school such as _The Leader, Sinn Fein,_ and _The Irish +Homestead_ has leavened the whole mass of Irish life in our time. The +Industrial Development Associations, founded on them as basis, have long +ago "bridged the Boyne." At their annual Conferences Belfast sits side +by side with Cork, Derry with Dublin. It is not merely that the +manufacturers and traders have joined hands to advance a movement +beneficial to themselves; the best thought of every class in the country +has given enthusiastic support to the programme on grounds not of +personal interest but of national duty. We may therefore take it that +the watchword of the Second Empire, _Enrichissez-vous,_ will be the +watchword of a self-governing Ireland. What Parliament and the State can +do to forward that aim will naturally be a subject of controversy. To +Free Traders and Tariff Reformers, alike, the power that controls the +Customs' tariff of a country controls its economic destiny. Both would +seem bound to apply the logic of their respective gospels to Ireland. +But as it is not the aim of this book to anticipate the debates of next +year, but rather to explain the foundations of the Home Rule idea, we +may leave that burning question for the present untouched. Apart from it +we can anticipate the trend of policy in Ireland. The first great task +of a Home Rule Parliament would be above controversy; it would be +neither more nor less than a scientific exploration of the country. No +such Economic Survey has ever been made, and the results are lamentable. +There has been no mapping out of the soil areas from the point of view +of Agricultural Economics, and, for the lack of such impartial +information, the fundamental conflict between tillage and grazing goes +on in the dark. We know where coal is to be found in Ireland; we do not +know with any assurance where it is and where it is not profitably +workable. The same is true of granite, marble, and indeed all our +mineral resources. + +The woollen industry flourishes in one district and fails in another, to +all appearance as favourably situated; it seems capable of great +expansion and yet it does not expand greatly. What then are the +conditions of success? Here is a typical case that calls for scientific +analysis. One can pick at random a dozen such instances. Ireland, +admirably adapted to the production of meat, does not produce meat, but +only the raw material of it, store cattle. Is this state of things +immutable? Or is a remedy for it to be found, say, in a redistribution +of the incidence of local taxation so as to favour well-used land as +against ill-used land? Is the decline in the area under flax to be +applauded or deplored? Can Irish-grown wool be improved up to the +fineness of the Australian article? And so on, and so on. It is to be +noted that of the statistics which we do possess many of the most +important are, to say the least, involved in doubt. The Export and +Import figures are little better than volunteer estimates; there is no +compulsion to accuracy. As to the yield of crops, all that can be said +is that our present information is not as bad as it used to be. But +above all we have no comprehensive notion of the condition of the +people. Whenever there has been an inquiry into wages, cost of living, +or any other fundamental fact, Ireland has come in as a mere tail-piece +to a British volume. All this we must change. The first business of an +Irish Parliament will be to take stock; and this will be effected by the +establishment of a Commission of a new kind, representative of science, +industry, agriculture, and finance, acceptable and authoritative in the +eyes of the whole nation, and charged with the duty of ascertaining the +actual state of things in Ireland and the wisest line of economic +development. Such an undertaking will amount to a unification of Irish +life altogether without precedent. It will draw the great personalities +of industry for the first time into the central current of public +affairs. It will furnish them with a platform upon which they will have +to talk in terms of the plough, the loom, and the ledger, and not in +terms of the wolf-dog and the orange-lily, and will render fruitful for +the service of the country innumerable talents, now unknown or estranged +by political superstitions. It will do all that State action can do to +generate a boom in Irish enterprises, and to tempt Irish capital into +them in a more abundant stream. And the proceedings and conclusions of +such a body, circulated broadcast somewhat after the Washington plan, +will provide for all classes in the community a liberal education in +Economics. Will "Ulster" fight against such an attempt to increase its +prosperity? Will the shipbuilders, the spinners, and the weavers close +down their works in order to patronise Sir Edward Carson's performance +on a pop-gun? It is not probable. + +Work is the best remedy against such vapours, and an Ireland, occupied +in this fashion-with wealth-producing labour, will have no time for +civil war or "religious" riots. + +As for concrete projects, the Irish Parliament will not be able to +begin on a very ambitious scale. But there are two or three matters +which it must at once put in hand. There is, for instance, the drainage +of the Barrow and the Bann. These two rivers are in a remarkable degree +non-political and non-sectarian. Just as the rain falls on the just and +the unjust, so do their rain-swollen floods spoil with serene +impartiality Nationalist hay and Orange hay, Catholic oats and +Presbyterian oats. Will "Ulster" fight against an effort to check the +mischief? Then there is re-afforestation. As the result mainly of the +waste of war, Ireland, which ought to be a richly wooded country, is +very poor in that regard. In consequence of this, a climate, moister +than need be, distributes colds and consumption among the population, +without any religious test, and unchecked winds lodge the corn of all +denominations. Re-afforestation, as offering a profit certain but a +little remote, and promising a climatic advantage diffused over the +whole area of the country, is eminently a matter for public enterprise. +Are we to be denied the hope that fir, and spruce, and Austrian pine may +conceivably be lifted out of the plane of Party politics? Further, to +take instances at haphazard, the State, whatever else its economic +functions may be, will be one of the largest purchasers of commodities +in the country. It is thinkable that the Irish State may give its civil +servants Irish-made paper to write on in their offices. It may even so +arrange things that when Captain Craig comes to the House of Commons at +College Green he shall sit on an Irish-made bench, dine off a cloth of +Belfast linen, and be ruthlessly compelled to eat Meath beef, Dublin +potatoes, and Tipperary butter. In such horrible manifestations of Home +Rule I do not discern the material for a revolution. Again, it may be +proposed that in order to develop manufactures, municipalities and +county councils may be given power to remit local rates on newly +established factories for an initial period of, say, ten years. It may +occur to evil-minded people to increase the provision for technical +instruction in certain centres for the same end. The Irish State may +think it well to maintain agents in London, New York, and some of the +continental capitals with a view to widening the external market for +Irish products. I do not say that a Home Rule Parliament will do all +these things, but they are the sort of thing that it will do. And the +mere naked enumeration of them is sufficient to show that such an +Assembly will have ample matter of economic development upon which to +keep its teeth polished without devouring either priests or +Protestants. + +There are other urgent questions upon which unanimity exists even at +present, for example Poor Law Reform. I have outlined in an earlier +chapter the honourable record of Ireland in this regard. We were agreed +in 1836 that the workhouse should never have come; we are now agreed +that it must go. Whether in Antrim or in Clare, the same vicious system +has produced the same vicious results. Uniform experience has issued in +unanimous agreement as to the lines upon which reform ought to proceed. +At the same time there are differences as to detail, and the task of +fusing together various views and hammering out of them a workable Bill +will be an ideal task for a representative assembly. But it is difficult +to believe that the discussion will be, in all particulars, governed +either by the Council of Trent, or by the Westminster Confession. + +Then there is education. English public men have been brought up to +assume that in Ireland education must be a battleground inevitably, and +from the first. It would be a mere paradox to say that this question, +which sunders parties the world over as with a sword, will leave opinion +in Ireland inviolately unanimous. But our march to the field of +controversy will be over a non-controversial road. Union policy has left +us a rich inheritance of obvious evils. The position of the primary +teachers is unsatisfactory, that of the secondary teachers is +impossible. When we attempt improvement of both will "Ulster" fight? And +there is something even more human and poignant. The National Schools of +this country are in many cases no better than ramshackle barns. Unless +the teacher and the manager, out of their own pockets, mend the broken +glass, put plaster on the walls, and a fire in the grate, the children +have got to shiver and cough for it. Winter in Ireland, like the King in +constitutional theory, is above politics. When its frosts get at the +noses, and fingers, and sometimes the bare toes, of the children it +leaves them neither green nor orange but simply blue. Then again other +schools, especially in Belfast, are shamefully over-crowded. Classes are +held on the stairs, in the cloak-room, the hall, or the yard. For the +more fortunate, class-rooms are provided with an air-space per +individual only slightly less than that available in the Black Hole of +Calcutta. All over the country, children go to school breakfastless and +stupid with hunger, and the local authorities have no power to feed them +as in England, and in most European countries. Then again, even where +the physical conditions are reasonable, the programme lacks actuality. +It is unpractical, out of touch with the facts of life and locality, a +veritable castle hung absurdly in the air and not based on any solid +foundation. The view still lingers in high places that the business of +education is to break the spirit of a people, to put them down and not +to lift them up. In token of this, the teachers are denied the civil +rights of freemen. Now all these ineptitudes are contrary to the humane +tradition of Ireland. Go they must, but, when an Irish Parliament starts +to remove them, I cannot imagine Captain Craig, with a Union Jack +wrapped around his bosom, straddling like Apollyon across the path. The +Captain has far too much sense, and too much feeling in him. + +It will be observed that we are getting on. A nation so busy with +realities will have no time to waste on civil war. _Inter leges arma +silent_. But this is a mere outline sketch of the preliminary task of +the initial sessions of an Irish Parliament. Problems with a far heavier +fist will thunder at its doors, the problems of labour. The democratic +group in Ireland, that group which everywhere holds the commission of +the future, has long since declared that, to it, Home Rule would be a +barren counter-sense unless it meant the redemption of the back streets. +The Titanic conflict between what is called capital and what is called +labour, shaking the pillars of our modern Society, has not passed +Ireland by like the unregarded wind. We can no longer think of ourselves +as insulated from the world, immune from strikes, Socialists, and +Syndicalism. The problems of labour have got to be faced. But will they +be solved by a grapple between the Orange Lodges and the Ancient Order +of Hibernians? It is obvious that under their pressure the old order +must change, yielding place to a new. Every Trade Union has already +bridged the Boyne. Every strike has already torn the Orange Flag and the +Green Flag into two pieces, and stitched them together again after a new +and portentous pattern. + +What does it all come to? Simply this, that Ireland under Home Rule will +be most painfully like every other modern country of western +civilisation. Some Unionists think that, if they could only get rid of +the Irish Party, all would be for the best in the best of all possible +worlds. Why then are they not Home Rulers? For Home Rule will most +assuredly get rid of the Irish Party. It will shatter the old political +combinations like a waggon-load of dynamite. New groups will crystallise +about new principles. The future in Ireland belongs to no old fidelity: +it may belong to any new courage. + +Assuredly we must not seem to suggest that, in an autonomous Ireland, +public life will be all nougat, velvet, and soft music. There will be +conflicts, and vehement conflicts, for that is the way of the twentieth +century, and they will no doubt centre, for the most part, about +taxation and education. But the political forces of the country will +have moved into totally new formations. One foresees plainly a vertical +section of parties into Agrarian and Urban, a cross section into Labour +and Capitalistic. Each of these economic groupings is indefinitely +criss-crossed by an indefinite number of antagonisms, spiritual and +material. In a situation so complicated it is idle to speculate as to +the conditions of the future. A box of bricks so large, and so +multi-coloured, may be arranged and re-arranged in an infinity of +architectures. The one thing quite certain is that all the arrangements +will be new. In taxation, as I have suggested, a highly conservative +policy will prevail. In education the secularist programme, if advanced +at all, will be overwhelmed by a junction of Catholic and Protestant. +For religion, to the _anima naturaliter Christiana_, of Ireland is not +an argument but an intuition. It seems to us as reasonable to prepare +children for their moral life by excluding religion as to prepare them +for their physical life by removing the most important lobe of their +brains. + +The only other prognostication that appears to emerge is the probable +predominance in a Home Rule Ireland of the present Ulster Unionist +party. That group is likely, for many reasons, to retain its solidarity +after ours has been dissipated. Should that prove to be the case, +self-government will put the balance of power on almost all great +conflicts of opinion into the hands of Sir Edward Carson and his +successors. The "minority," adroitly handled, will exploit the majority +almost as effectively after Home Rule as before it. Captain Craig will +dictate terms to us not from the last ditch, but from a far more +agreeable and powerful position, the Treasury Bench. And we undertake +not to grumble, for these are the chances of freedom. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AN EPILOGUE ON "LOYALTY" + + +According to precedent, well-established if not wise, no discussion of +political Ireland must end without some observations on "loyalty." The +passion of the English people for assurances on this point is in curious +contrast with their own record. It is not rhetoric, but crude history, +to say that the title-deeds of English freedom are in great part written +in blood, and that the seal which gave validity to all the capital +documents was the seal of "treason." No other nation in the world has so +clearly recognised and so stoutly insisted that, in the ritual game of +loyalty, the first move is with governments. With that premised, the +difference between the two countries is very simple. England has +developed from within the type of government that her people want. She +expresses satisfaction with the fact. This is loyalty. Ireland, on the +contrary, has had forced on her from without a type of government which +her people emphatically do not want. She expresses dissatisfaction with +the fact. This is disloyalty. Loyalty, in brief, is the bloom on the +face of freedom, just as beauty is the bloom on the face of health. + +If we examine the methods by which England attained her very desirable +position we are further enlightened. It is a study admirably adapted to +inculcate liberty, not at all so well adapted to inculcate "loyalty." +The whole burden of English history is that, whenever these two +principles came in conflict, every man in England worth his salt was +disloyal even to the point of war. Whenever the old bottle was +recalcitrant to the new wine of freedom it was ignominiously scrapped. A +long effort has been made to keep Irish history out of our schools in +the interests of "loyalty." But it is English history that ought to be +kept out, for it is full of stuff much more perilous. You teach Irish +children the tale of Runnymede, covering with contempt the king of that +day, and heaping praise on the barons who shook their fists under his +nose. This is dangerous doctrine. It is doubly dangerous seeing that +these children will soon grow up to learn that the Great Charter, which +is held to justify all these tumultuous proceedings, has never even to +our own day been current law in Ireland. You introduce them to the Wars +of the Roses as a model of peaceful, constitutional development; to the +slaying of Edward II., Richard II., and I know not how many more as +object-lessons in the reverence which angry Englishmen accord to an +anointed king when they really dislike him. Later centuries show them +one Stuart beheaded outside his own palace, another dethroned and +banished in favour of a Dutch prince. Of romantic loyalty to the person +of a sovereign they find no trace or hint in the modern period. Lost +causes and setting suns, whatever appeal they may have made to Ireland, +do but rarely fire with their magical glimmer the raw daylight of the +English political mind. As for that more facile, after-dinner +attachment, in which it is charged that we do not join with sufficient +fervour, it seems to us always fulsome, and often mere hyprocrisy. In +the development of English ceremonial, "God Save the King!" gets to the +head of the toast-list only when the king has been thoroughly saved from +all the perils and temptations incidental to the possession of power. So +long as he claims any shred of initiative his English subjects continue +in a perpetual chafe and grumble of disloyalty; as soon as the Crown has +been rasped and sand-papered down to a decorative zero their loyalty +knows no bounds. + +The simple and honourable truth is that all through her history England +strove after national freedom, and declined to be quiet until she got +it. There could not be a better statement of the methods which she +employed than Mr Rudyard Kipling's: + + "Axe and torch and tumult, steel and gray-goose wing, + Wrung it, inch and ell, and all, slowly from the King." + +It is, of course, a pity that the liberty thus established was better +fitted for the home market than for export. But this does not affect the +fact that, at the end of the process, the English people were in the +saddle. But the Irish people are not in the saddle, they are under it. +Indeed, the capital sin of Dublin Castle is that it is a bureaucracy +which has seized upon the estate of the people. In Ireland, under its +_regime_, the nation has had as much to say to its own public policy as +a Durbar-elephant has to say to the future of India. There is just this +difference in favour of the elephant: at least he has riot to pay for +the embroidered palanquins, and the prodding-poles, of his riders. We +are all agreed that loyalty is a duty. It is the duty of every +government to be loyal to the welfare, the nobler traditions, the +deep-rooted ideals, the habit of thought of its people. It is the duty +of every government to be loyal to the idea of duty, and to that austere +justice through which the most ancient heavens abide fresh and strong. +And until these prime duties have been faithfully performed, no +government need expect and none can exact "loyalty" from its subjects. + +But it seems that we are compromised on other grounds. The inscription +on the Parnell Memorial is trumpeted about the constituencies with equal +energy by opponents wise and otherwise: + + "No man has a right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. + No man has a right to say to his country, 'Thus far shalt thou go + and no farther.' We have never attempted to fix the _ne plus ultra_ + to the progress of Ireland's nationhood, and we never shall." + +What the precise matter of offence may be one finds it difficult to +discover. Mr Balfour very properly characterises as the utterance of a +statesman, this passage in which Parnell declines to usurp the throne +and sceptre of Providence. But Mr Smith complains that it deprives Home +Rule of the note of "finality." With the suggestion that Home Rule is +not at all events the end of the world we are, of course, in warm +agreement. But if Mr Smith has entered public affairs in pursuit of +static formulae for dynamic realities, if he wants things fixed and +frozen and final, he has come to the wrong world to gratify such +desires. And even if he were to go to the next, he would have to be very +careful in choosing his destination, for all the theologians tell us +that, in Heaven, personalities continue to grow and develop. In fact, if +anybody wants "finality," I am afraid that we can only recommend him to +go to Hell. As for the world, in which we live, it is a world of flux. +Physicists allow the earth a long road to travel before it tumbles into +dissolution, and seers and prophets of various kinds foretell an equally +long cycle of development for human nature, as we now know it. The fate +of all our present political combinations is doubtful, and no nation has +received absolute guarantees for its future. An All-Europe State with +its capital at London, a Federation of the World with its capital at +Dublin, a Chinese Empire with its capital at Paris--these are all +possibilities. Australia may be annexed by Japan, Canada by the United +States, or vice versa; South Africa may spread northwards until it +absorbs the Continent, or shrink southwards until it expires on the +point of the Cape. The Superman may, as I am informed, appear on the +stage of history at any moment, and make pie of everything. And not one +of these appalling possibilities disturbs Mr Smith in the least. But he +is going to vote against justice for Ireland unless we can promise him +that throughout all the aeons, as yet unvouchsafed, and to the last +syllable of recorded time, her political destiny is going to be in all +details regulated by the Home Rule Bill of 1912. This is not an +intelligent attitude. + +Of course the real innuendo is that we in Ireland are burning to levy +war on Great Britain, and would welcome any foreign invasion to that +end. On these two points one is happy to be able to give assurances, or +rather to state intentions. As for foreign invasion, we have had quite +enough of it. It is easier to get invaders in than to get them out +again, and we have not spent seven hundred years in recovering Ireland +for ourselves in order to make a present of it to the Germans, or the +Russians, or the Man in the Moon, or any other foreign power whatever. +The present plan of governing Ireland in opposition to the will of her +people does indeed inevitably make that country the weak spot in the +defences of these islands, for such misgovernment produces discontent, +and discontent is the best ally of the invader. Alter that by Home Rule, +and your cause instantly becomes ours. Give the Irish nation an Irish +State to defend, and the task of an invader becomes very unenviable. As +for levying war on Great Britain, we have no inclination in that +direction. The best thought in Ireland has always preferred civilisation +to war, and we have no wealth to waste on expensive stupidities of any +kind. In addition we are handicapped on sea by the smallness of our +official navy which, so far as I can gather, consists of the +_Granuaile_, a pleasure-boat owned by the Congested Districts Board. In +land operations, we are still more seriously hampered by the +non-existence of our army. And although, in point of population, our +numerical inferiority is so trivial as one to ten, even this slight +disproportion may be regarded by an Irish Parliament as a fact not +unworthy of consideration. + +But we must not suffer ourselves to be detained any longer among these +unrealities. A Home Rule government will be loyal to the interests of +its people, and actual circumstances demand, for the behoof of Great +Britain and Ireland alike, an era of peace with honour, and friendship +founded on justice. The magnitude of the commercial relations between +the two countries is inadequately appreciated. Not merely is Great +Britain our best customer, but we are her best customer. The trade of +Great Britain with Ireland is larger than her trade with India, and +nearly twice as large as that with Canada or Australia. And while these +surprising figures are far from indicating the existence of a sound +economic structure in Ireland, none the less, the industrial expansion +that will follow Home Rule may be expected to alter the character rather +than to diminish the value of the goods interchanged. For if the +development of textile, leather, shipbuilding, and other manufactures +lessens the British import under these heads into Ireland, it will +increase that of coal, iron, steel, and machinery. And Ireland, without +trenching on the needs of her home market, is capable of much more +intensive exploitation as a food-exporting country. Economically the two +nations are joined in relations that ought to be relations of mutual +profit, were they not eternally poisoned by political oppression. With +this virus removed, the natural balance of the facts of nature will +spontaneously establish itself between the two countries. + +The true desire of all the loud trumpeters of "loyalty" is, as it +appears to me, of a very different order. What they really ask is that +Ireland should begin her career of autonomy with a formal act of +self-humiliation. She may enter the Council of Empire provided that she +enters on her knees, and leaves her history outside the door as a +shameful burden. This is not a demand that can be conceded, or that men +make on men. The open secret of Ireland is that Ireland is a nation. In +days rougher than ours, when a blind and tyrannous England sought to +drown the national faith of Ireland in her own blood as in a sea, there +arose among our fathers men who annulled that design. We cannot +undertake to cancel the names of these men from our calendar. We are no +more ashamed of them than the constitutional England of modern times is +ashamed of her Langtons and De Montforts, her Sidneys and Hampdens. Our +attitude in their regard goes beyond the reach of prose, and no adequate +poetry comes to my mind. The Irish poets have recently been so busy +compiling catalogues of crime, profanity, and mania for the Abbey +Theatre that they have not had time to attend to politics; and in +attempting to suggest the spirit that must inform the settlement between +Ireland and England, if out of it is to spring the authentic flower of +loyalty, I am reluctantly compelled to fall back on a weaker brother, +not of the craft: + + Bond, from the toil of hate we may not cease: + Free, we are free to be your friend. + But when you make your banquet, and we come, + Soldier with equal soldier must we sit, + Closing a battle, not forgetting it. + This mate and mother of valiant rebels dead + Must come with all her history or her head. + We keep the past for pride. + Nor war nor peace shall strike our poets dumb: + No rawest squad of all Death's volunteers, + No simplest man who died + To tear your flag down, in the bitter years, + But shall have praise, and three times thrice again, + When, at that table, men shall drink with men. + +As political poetry, this may be open to amendment; as poetic politics, +it is sound, decisive, and answerable. + + + + +THE END + +THE NORTHUMBERLAND PRESS, THORNTON STREET, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Open Secret of Ireland, by T. 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