Ireland Under English Rule

as he understands it, can never, through the mercy of God, exist again in Ireland; that it has even ceased to be an issue in the country since the disestablishment of the English State Church in Ireland; and that public opinion, of the majority of all in every Christian country, is to-day opposed to any religious ascendancy, as he would have it. Let him realize that he is not entitled longer to special rights and that from his standpoint he cannot raise an issue on premises which have been dead and untenable for over one hundred years. The Orangeman of to-day is generally a man of education, position and wealth and, if he could forget his imaginary grievances and direct his time, talents and means to the gaining of peace and prosperity for his country, by which all would be equally benefited, even his past record might in time be forgotten by a people who are naturally forgiving.

The reader seeking to obtain the truth is not to judge hastily that the Work is written in a partisan spirit but is asked to lay aside all prejudice and finally base a judgment on the evidence presented, which is by no means exhaustive. No praise will be found for England's course in Ireland, from the fact that in truth nothing can be stated to her credit. No instance can be cited showing that England's purpose had ever been an unselfish one in seeking by any measure to benefit the Irish people as a whole; and the recital of her failures has been as cheerless as the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

Most difficult and dreary has been my task, undertaken in the desire to state truthfully the condition of affairs in Ireland. The voidless waste of the past could be accepted by the investigator with more hopefulness for the future, if an indication could be found showing that England had gained in Ireland any practical knowledge by experience or could appreciate the efficacy of conciliation.

English statesmen seem to lose all astuteness, while in charge of the government, by their seeming inability to recognize the inevitable in time to adapt themselves to

circumstances. In the government of Ireland they seem stupidly conservative and opposed to all change, unless England alone is to be benefited.

The settled policy for governing the country is to keep the people in a constant state of exasperation. The spirit of conciliation is unknown to the English official in Ireland. The excessive number of troops and constabulary force in the country are chiefly employed to create disorder, to furnish testimony when necessary by perjury and for packing the jury box. Justice in Ireland is unknown wherever political bias and religious bigotry on the part of the official can be associated with its administration. Those who hold office at the pleasure of the Government have no more efficient means for exhibiting their loyalty. Nothing is more certain than the occurrence of a forced outbreak in Ireland whenever the Government wishes to divert the attention of the English people or to provide for the maintenance of troops returning after the close of some war; and the necessity for their presence in Ireland is created that the Irish people may be taxed for their support. Every other nation acts from self-interest and from motives of policy but England in her government of Ireland has but one resource -that of coercion.

After years of delay in finding a publisher, and at the time this Work was about to be printed, England suddenly changed her policy of coercion, which it was foreseen she would inflict upon the Irish people after the war with the Boers, and introduced into Parliament a land bill which it is claimed will restore prosperity to the country and will unite the Irish people as a contented and loyal portion of the British Empire.

Under these circumstances, the question was presented as to the existing need or propriety for publishing this Work. With an intimate knowledge of the relations which have existed for centuries between England and Ireland, the writer

could not believe that the time for the millennium had been reached, as a consequence of the only liberal effort England has ever made to advance the interest of the whole Irish people. The necessity for her own preservation which forced England to advocate the measure will not now be considered. The uncertainty as to what extent the bill may be amended in Parliament so as to materially lessen its benefit to the Irish people prevents any judgment, for England has never yet undertaken to grant any apparent concession to Ireland without interpolating somewhere a saving clause which in application lessened the full benefit expected. Moreover, England has never hesitated, in dealing with a weaker Power, to violate any pledge when it was to her advantage and she had recuperated sufficiently to enforce her will. The knowledge of this fact is not calculated to excite a belief that the hatred and selfish prejudice which has existed so long can be so suddenly obliterated. Thanks should be given to God for any benefit to Ireland and, in the absence of enthusiasm as to England's sincerity, the Irish people must accept little by little until England has been forced to make restitution in full. Even were Ireland on the eve of the greatest degree of prosperity due to England's fullest appreciation of her past treatment, and were the latter actuated by the sincerest desire to make the fullest atonement, the history of Ireland's suffering should not be suppressed.

In consequence of England's penal laws and her policy in the management of the national schools, the Irish people and their descendants in this country are most ignorant of the extent, beyond all other people, to which they have cause to be proud of the past history of their country. With the effort now being made throughout the world, wherever the Irish people have been scattered, to rekindle the national spirit by reviving a knowledge of the Irish as a spoken language, and with the study of Ireland's grand history and traditions which must follow, the necessity becomes all the greater that even the most humble effort to teach should be accepted, for its worth as a contribution

towards advancing the reviving interest in Irish matters. A movement which must accomplish so much towards educating the people of Irish blood to respect themselves the more from the fact of their Irish origin, and a knowledge of the truth as to what does justly exist to the credit of the Irish race, will eventually command the respect of all nations.

The diary of Thos. Addis Emmet, to be found in the Appendix, is an important historical contribution towards elucidating a period of Irish history which has been obscure. It was written after Mr. Emmet's release from prison, when he resided in Paris as the secret agent of the republican movement in Ireland, which was sustained by some of the leaders who had escaped identification with the outbreak in 1798. This diary was first printed in 1898 in a Work' issued in so 'limited an edition that it may be truthfully stated it is now placed within reach of the public for the first time. 1 The Emmet Family, etc.