Volume Ii Part 15 (2/2)

'Nevertheless, in the heart of every Irishman there is a pa.s.sionate desire for freedom which has taught her sons to lead heroic lives and to die heroic deaths. Think of Emmet, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and many others, whose names will live in immortal song.'

'By all means. They had much to complain of-though they sought a remedy the wrong way, and suffered in consequence. The Ireland of their day was bad enough; but the Ireland of to-day is different.'

'Different indeed,' said the priest proudly. 'Now we are a united people; we have the great American nation on our side.'

'Shall I tell you what an American lady said to me the other day, as I saw her off in a Cunarder for New York?' asked Mr. Wentworth.

'If you like, sir.'

'”Pray, Mr. Wentworth,” she said, leaning over the s.h.i.+p's side, as I was getting into the tug-”pray don't send us any more Irish.”'

'That may be, sir. We all know ladies have their whims and aversions as well as other people. But you don't seem fond of the Irish.'

'On the contrary, I admire them much. I envy them their ingenuity, their humour, their enthusiasm, their power of oratory, their pluck and spirit.

I only wish them better led. A real union of English and Irish would, I believe, make us the first nation in the world.'

'Then, you don't think much of our leaders?'

'Oh yes I do. They are clever men-far cleverer than our average M.P.'s-but they have put the people on the wrong scent. It is not justice Ireland wants. England and Scotland are quite ready to accord her that. The people of England have been the warmest friends of Ireland from the first. Indeed, she has had more justice done to her than England and Scotland. Her farmers have rights denied to ours; her representatives occupy almost entirely the attention of Parliament. Your leaders only play with the people, and make the wrongs of Ireland a stepping-stone for themselves to place and power. What Ireland wants now is a little peace. The people are dying of political delirium tremens.

Said an Irish hotel-keeper to me one day, ”What Ireland wants is more industry. Farmers' sons won't work. They prefer instead to go to fairs and races and public meetings. Irishmen won't invest in any Irish enterprise, and if they do it is always a job they make of it.” I myself have known when Englishmen have gone to Ireland to establish manufactures to keep the people employed, that the foremen have been shot and the manufactories closed. You must have known something of the same kind, Father O'Bourke.'

'It may be that there are difficulties between Irishmen and Saxon masters, and that these difficulties may have occasionally led to bloodshed and loss of life. We are a hot-headed people. We have besides the wrongs of many long centuries to remember. You recollect Sir Walter Raleigh, Mr. Wentworth?'

'Blessings on his sacred head, I do! Did he not teach us to grow potatoes and smoke tobacco? I'd forgive a man a good deal in consideration of such lasting benefits.'

'Please recollect he was one of the English who accompanied Lord Grey to the South of Ireland, and took part in the attack on a great castle there. All the inmates were slaughtered. A few women, some of them pregnant, were hanged. A servant of Saunders, an Irish gentleman, and a priest were hanged, also. The bodies, six hundred in all, were stripped and laid out upon the sands-”as gallant, goodly personages,” said Grey, ”as were ever beheld.” Was not that murderous work?'

'It was indeed,' said Wentworth sadly. 'But why treasure up such deeds of blood done ages ago? It is not Christian. The Bible tells us to forgive our enemies.'

'But it is human nature. We Irishmen have long memories. Such things can never be forgotten or forgiven.'

'There I think you're wrong. Besides, in the case you refer to the victims were chiefly foreigners, who had no business there, who had come merely for the sake of fighting. What was done in barbarous times would not be permitted now. Let us strive to be better friends. You Irishmen come to England and we welcome you at the bar, on the press, in trade, in the army or navy, or the public service. I will go further still. It is a shame that when a bridge is to be built over the Shannon you have to come to London. You ought to manage your own local affairs. But England is an empire, and high-spirited, intelligent Irishmen would rather take part in Imperial politics than s.h.i.+ne in a local Parliament. Home Rule will not satisfy the natural aspirations of an Irishman of talent. I met an old Dutch naval captain at Flus.h.i.+ng who complained to me one day bitterly of the hards.h.i.+p of his lot. When he was born Holland was a part of France; now Holland was independent, and he was a citizen of a little princ.i.p.ality rather than of a great empire. It will be so with the Irishman of the future-or an Irishman in search of a career.'

'But, sir, is not a desire for Ireland's nationality a reasonable one?'

'Undoubtedly; but Ireland never was a nation. It was always torn with dissension; with leaders and lords ready to kill each other, only kept from doing so by England. No one would rejoice to see Ireland a nation more than I, but that is a dream of which I despair.'

'But Home Rule will make Ireland a nation.'

'How can you say that, sir?' said Wentworth indignantly. 'It is in the Protestant north that the strength of Ireland lies; it is there you meet intelligence and industry and wealth; it is there you see what Ireland might become. In all other parts of Ireland, what do you see but wretchedness and poverty? There is a permanent line of separation which not even Home Rule can obliterate.'

'You are very outspoken, Mr. Wentworth-more so than is politic, I fear,'

said the reverend Father, with a bitter smile. 'We have many Irish voters in this borough, and I fear they will be unable to give you their support; and Irish support is a matter of some consequence. In many borough elections they can turn the scale.'

'Alas! I am quite aware of that; but I hold my opinion, nevertheless.

The demand for an Irish Parliament independent of an Imperial one will come to the front, the Liberal Party will find themselves compelled to support it-'

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