scrap of paper seems merely one more instance of what outsiders have long regarded as British hypocrisy-the psychologists might give it another name. As if the England of the Treaty of Limerick and the Home Rule Bill had anything to learn from Germany! . . . It is easy to sympathise with idealists. The Sinn Feiners foresaw, as even Redmond should have foreseen, that the Government intended to repudiate the Act that they put on the Statute Book. They took action accordingly. I remember," he continued, "A. saying to some of his colleagues a couple of years ago,' We'll have no secret treaties. They are always betrayed to the Government. We'll carry our arms in public, as Carson's men do, and they can't touch us because they won't touch Carson.' I shrugged my shoulders at this piece of academic logic from a historian, contradicted as it was by all the facts of Irish history. Since then Carson has been going on from strength to strength." In that last sentence lies the sting of the whole question. The Irishman who has a knowledge of past history has no trust in the word of the Anglo-Scot, and he is justified. The cargo of Mausers had been described by the Minister as an unparalleled outrage, and it was so. But now Mr Redmond has served his turn, the war has rendered his support unnecessary, and the outrage was far surpassed by the appointment of Sir Edward Carson, first, as Attorney General, then as head of the Admiralty, then one of the inner War Council. As he was advanced in honour, Mr F. E. Smith, the Englishman, his adjutant in Ulster for the arming of covenanted rebels, was made Attorney General. At last the desire of the Ulster Rump was attained. The Irish, seeing no hope, were provoked into rebellion. The Nationalist party turned over almost in a body to Sinn Fein, Sir Roger Casement brought over the second instalment of the promised German army, and Sir F. E. Smith prosecuting him, he was justly hung. Says Mr John Dillon, the present leader of the Irish moderate Nationalist party, "Mr Redmond had faced misunderstanding and calumny in his endeavour to conciliate the Irish and British people, and had English Ministers been honourable men and stood by him and imitated his statesmanship, Ireland to-day, instead of being an embarrassment to England, would have been a source of strength and support. But English Ministers were false to their honour and to their pledges, and they betrayed Mr Redmond, while he was faithful and loyal, and they were now reaping a bitter harvest of their misdeeds." I have given the Irish view of very staid and severely wellbalanced Irishmen. Now let me give my own as the view of a Protestant Englishman. One evil of the Ulster faction at Westminster is that it keeps up in Ireland the most evil political influence of the Papacy, which could die at once if an Irish Parliament sat in Dublin. The Pope holds the same position to the Irish people as the King of Norway held to the Western Scot in the thirteenth century, a beneficent power kindly asking for its dues, a perpetual contrast to the tyranny of the nearer ruler. But that is a small matter compared to the main reason for a peaceful settlement. Untravelled Englishmen are unaware of the deep contempt with which, except for a few "Anglo-Saxons" mostly of German birth in Rhode Island or New York, the Englishman's pledged word is regarded the world over for his treatment of the Irish nation. I speak as an Englishman; I am not concerned for Ireland; the lesser nations are always oppressed by the greater; I have a diminished respect for the Irish politician who for the good of Ireland helped the English dissenter to wreck and ruin the ancient Welsh Church. But does not every man with an elementary power of thought see that when we go to the Council Table of Europe to protest for Belgium, Serbia, Poland, Montenegro, and Armenia, the value of our influence will be wholly destroyed by the fact that we are still holding down by main force the Irish, who for five centuries past we have ruined and persecuted. We may persuade ourselves in England and Scotland that the repression of Irish ideals and of Irish national life is right and just, and that we are justified in regarding the Home Rule Bill as a "scrap of paper." paper." But do not forget that there is no man of sense outside the British Isles who has anything but contempt for those who so deceive themselves. Ireland, to her sorrow, stood outside the early Crusades; to her sorrow and to ours she stands outside this Crusade against the Turk and the German, races far lower in morals than the Saracens against whom the nations fought in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. But at least let us go to the Conference with clean hands, otherwise we betray, not only Ireland, but all the smaller nationalities who are dependent for their freedom on the influence of our national ideals. March 1918. INDEX Agriculture.-In Tacitus' Germania, 32, 33, 35, 36; beginnings of, Alienation. Of property among the Slavs, 122-4; early powers of, very Breach of Faith.—Of the English to the Irish, 434–7, 439–41. Capital. (See Cattle)-The turning over of, 450; more required for Cattle. The currency and capital in early days, 31, 79, 88; the primary The Loan of.-As symbol of superiority, 83; an extreme example, Chattels.-Ancient rules as to, 142, 163, 164; in Finland to-day, 166; Chief.-Tacitus' account of, 27; Ogaire, 82, 88, 494; personal ties, Church.-Roman, an influence for change, 53; its effects on England, The Tribal.-In Ireland a community within a community, 400; Coyne and Livery.-What it was, 114; closely regulated by unwritten Currency.-Payments made in kind in early days, 113; change in the Dogs.-Trespass by, in Irish law, 102; danger of madness among, 179; Easements, 125, 126, 135-7, 261, 262, 495-7. England.-Effect of change of commercial route on, 16; suited for corn- Eric, The.-Payment for torts in Germania, 30, 31, 34, 35; Earl of Europe.-Condition of, in time of Henry II., 14; change in society of, in Famine.-Illustration of effect of, 47, 48; danger of, 179; in Ireland, Farming. In Western Scotland, 231; difficulties of communal, 232; Fencing.-Required much timber, 198, 247; in Wales and Ireland, 248, Flanders.-Connection with England, 361-2; woollen manufactures of, Folkmoot or General Assembly, of Tacitus, 27; in Ireland, Isle of Fosterage, 107-11; not peculiar to Ireland, 108; illustrations of, 107-9; rules relating to, 109, 110; used by English settlers, 111; Gavelkind, 130; example of division under, 147-9; where found, 153; Group family. The sept clan or tribe-the unit of society in Tacitus' Hostages.-The giving of, 317, 318, 321, 322. Hunting. On waste, 180-7, 195-7; close time for, 185-6; the wild Ideal.-Of a nation, 2; sums up the moral tendencies, 3; illustrations Inheritance. By group family, dies out under feudal custom, 125; Ireland. And the society described by Tacitus, 395; in 1154, 16; |