CHAPTER XV._Is Ulster Right?

THE DANGER TO THE EMPIRE OF ANY FORM OF HOME RULE. THE QUESTIONS

ANSWERED.

In the last chapter I explained how hopelessly unworkable is the

particular scheme of Home Rule which is contained in the present

Bill. I now proceed to show why Home Rule in any form must lead to

disaster--primarily to Ireland, ultimately to the Empire.

Politicians who, like ostriches, possess the happy faculty of shutting

their eyes to unpleasant facts, may say that there is only one nation

in Ireland; but everyone who knows the country is quite aware that

there are two, which may be held together as part of the United

Kingdom, but which can no more be forced into one nation than

Belgium and Holland could be forced to combine as the Kingdom of the

Netherlands. And whatever cross-currents there may be, the great line

of cleavage is religion. Of course I am aware of the violent efforts

that have been made ever since the commencement of the Nationalist

agitation to prove that this is not so. Thus Parnell, addressing an

English audience, explained that religion had nothing to do with the

movement, and as evidence stated that he was the leader of it though

not merely a Protestant but a member of the Protestant Synod and a

parochial nominator for his own parish. Of course everyone in Ireland

knew perfectly well that he was only a Protestant in the sense that

Garibaldi was a Roman Catholic--he had been baptised as such in

infancy; and that he was not a member of the synod or a parochial

nominator, and never had been one; but the statement was good enough

to deceive his Nonconformist hearers. That Protestant Home Rulers

exist is not denied. But the numbers are so small that it is evident

that they are the rare exceptions that prove the rule. The very

anxiety with which, when a Protestant Home Ruler can be discovered

he is put forward, and the fact of his being a Protestant Home Ruler

referred to again and again, shows what a rare bird he is. To mention

one instance amongst many; a Protestant Home Ruler has recently

been speaking on platforms in England explaining that he came in a

representative capacity in order to testify to the people of England

that the Irish Protestants were now in favour of Home Rule. He did

not mention the fact that in the district where he resided there

were about 1,000 Protestants and he was the only Home Ruler amongst

them--in fact, nearly all the rest had signed a Petition against the

Bill. And when we come to examine who these Protestant Home Rulers

are, about whom so much has been said, we find first that there is in

this as in every other movement, a very small number of faddists, who

like to go against their own party; secondly a few who though they

still call themselves Protestants have to all intents and purposes

abandoned their religion, and therefore cannot fairly be reckoned;

thirdly, a few who hold appointments from which they would be

dismissed if they did not conform; fourthly, some who say openly that

Home Rule is coming and that whatever their private opinions may be it

is the wisest policy to worship the rising sun (bearing in mind that

Mr. Dillon has promised that when the Nationalists attain their end

they will remember who were their friends and who their enemies, and

deal out rewards and punishments accordingly); and fifthly, those who

have accepted what future historians will describe as bribes. For the

present Government have showered down Peerages, Knighthoods of

various orders, Lieutenancies of Counties, Deputy-Lieutenancies and

Commissions of the Peace--not to speak of salaried offices both

in Ireland and elsewhere--on Protestants who would consent to turn

Nationalists, in a manner which makes it absurd to talk any more about

bribery at the time of the Union. And yet with all this the Protestant

Home Rulers are such an extremely small body that they may be

disregarded. And indeed it is hard to see how an earnest, consistent

and logically-minded Protestant can be a Nationalist; for loyalty to

the King is a part of his creed; and, in the words of a Nationalist

organ, the _Midland Tribune_, "If a man be a Nationalist he must _ipso

facto_ be a Disloyalist, for Irish Nationalism and loyalty to the

throne of England could not be synonymous."

On the other hand, a large proportion of the educated Roman Catholics,

the men who have a real stake in the country, are Unionists. Some

of them, however earnest they may be in their religion, dread the

domination of a political priesthood; others dread still more the

union of the Church with anarchism. As has already been shown,

they refuse to join the United Irish League; some in the north have

actually subscribed the Ulster Covenant; many others have signed

petitions against Home Rule throughout the country; and a still larger

number have stated that they would gladly do so if they did not fear

the consequences. It is probably therefore correct to say that

the number of Unionists in Ireland decidedly exceeds the number of

Protestants; in other words, less than three-fourths of the population

are Nationalists, and more than one-fourth (perhaps about one-third)

are Unionists. And more than that; if we are to test the reality of

a movement, we must look not merely at numbers but at other matters.

Violent language may be used; but the fact remains as I have

previously stated that even if the Nationalists are taken as being

only two-thirds of the population, their annual subscriptions to the

cause do not amount to anything like a penny per head and that the

agitation could not last for six months if it were not kept alive

by contributions from America and the Colonies. But though the

Nationalist movement has not brought about a Union between the Orange

and the Green, it has caused two other Unions to be formed which will

have an important influence on the future history of the country. In

the first place it has revived, or cemented, the Union which, as we

have seen, existed at former periods of Irish history, but which has

existed in no other country in the world--the Union between the

Black and the Red. That a Union between two forces so essentially

antagonistic as Ultramontanism and Jacobinism will be permanent, one

can hardly suppose; whether the clericals, if they succeed in crushing

the heretics, will afterwards be able to turn and crush the anarchists

with whom they have been in alliance, and then reign supreme; or

whether, as happened in France at the end of the eighteenth century

and in Portugal recently, the anarchists who have grown up within

the bosom of the Church will prove to be a more deadly foe to the

clericals than the heretics ever were--it is impossible to say; but

neither prospect seems very cheerful.

In the second place, the Nationalist movement has drawn all the

Protestant bodies together as nothing else could. Episcopalians,

Presbyterians and Methodists have all joined hands in the defence of

their common liberties. The Nationalists have left no stone unturned

in their efforts to prove that the northern Protestants are disloyal.

They have succeeded in finding one speech that was made by an excited

orator (not a leader) forty-four years ago, to the effect that the

Disestablishment of the Church might result in the Queen's Crown being

kicked into the Boyne. As this is the only instance they can rake up,

it has been quoted in the House of Commons and elsewhere again

and again; and Mr. Birrell (whose knowledge of Ireland seems to be

entirely derived from Nationalist speeches) has recently elaborated

it by saying that when the Church was going to be disestablished

"they used to declare" that the Queen's Crown would be kicked into the

Boyne, and yet their threats came to nothing and therefore the

result of Home Rule will be the same. The fact was that the Church

establishment was the last relic of Protestant Ascendancy; and as

I have already shown, that meant Anglican ascendancy in which

Presbyterianism did not participate; hence, when the agitation for

Disestablishment arose, though some few Presbyterians greatly disliked

it, their opposition as a whole was lukewarm. But when in 1886 Home

Rule became a question of practical politics, they rose up against it

as one man; in 1893, when the second Home Rule Bill was introduced and

actually passed the House of Commons, they commenced organising their

Volunteer army to resist it, if necessary, by force of arms; and

they are just as keen to-day as they were twenty years ago. They are

certainly not disloyal; the republican spirit which permeated

their ancestors in the eighteenth century has long since died out

completely. Sir Walter Scott said that if he had lived at the time of

the Union between Scotland and England, he would have fought against

it; but, living a century later and seeing the benefit that it had

been to his country, his feelings were all on the other side. That is

what the Presbyterians of Ulster say to-day. They point to the way in

which Ulster has, under the Union, been able to develop itself; with

no richer soil, no better climate, and no greater natural advantages

than other parts of Ireland, the energy, ability, and true patriotism

of the people have enabled them to establish and encourage commerce

and manufactures which have brought wealth and prosperity to Ulster

whilst the other Provinces have been stationary or retrograde. There

cannot be a better instance of the different spirit which animates the

two communities than the history of the linen industry. Michael Davitt

bitterly described it as "Not an Irish, but an Orange industry." And

from his point of view, he was quite right; for it is practically

confined to Ulster. In that Province it has during the nineteenth

century developed so steadily that the annual export now exceeds

£15,000,000 in value and more than 70,000 hands are employed in the

mills. Not long ago, a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire

whether it was not possible to grow flax in the south and west, and

if so why it was not done. The Commission made careful enquiries, and

reported that in both Munster and Connaught efforts had been made to

establish the industry (notably by the late Lord Bandon, one of the

much-abused landlord class, who had let land for the purpose at a

nominal charge, obtained seed and brought experts from the north

to instruct the people); that it had been proved that both soil and

climate were quite as well adapted for it as in Ulster; but that after

a few years the buyers refused any longer to purchase the flax as it

was so carelessly and badly prepared that it was valueless; and so

the industry had died out. In both south and west the people expressed

their readiness to revive it if a large grant were made to them by the

Government, but not otherwise.

Then again we may take the growth of the cities. It seems hard now to

realise that one reason why the people of Dublin opposed the Union was

because they feared lest, when their city ceased to be the capital,

Cork might grow into a great industrial centre and surpass it. Cork

has remained stationary ever since; Belfast, then an insignificant

country town, has become a city of 400,000 inhabitants, and the

customs from it alone are more than double those from all the rest of

Ireland put together. And what is true of Belfast is true also on a

smaller scale of all the other towns north of the Boyne.

This remarkable contrast between the progress of the north-east and

the stagnation of the rest of the country is no new thing. It has been

observed ever since the Union. So long ago as 1832 the Report of the

Commission on the linen manufacture of Ireland contained the following

words:--

"Political and religious animosities and dissensions, and

increasing agitation first for one object and then for

another have so destroyed confidence and shaken the bonds of

society--undermined men's principles and estranged

neighbour from neighbour, friend from friend, and class

from class--that, in lieu of observing any common effort

to ameliorate the condition of the people, we find every

proposition for this object, emanate from which party it may,

received with distrust by the other; maligned, perverted and

destroyed, to gratify the political purposes of a faction....

The comparative prosperity enjoyed by that portion of Ireland

where tranquillity ordinarily prevails, such as the Counties

Down, Antrim, and Derry, testify the capabilities of Ireland

to work out her own regeneration, when freed of the disturbing

causes which have so long impeded her progress in civilization

and improvement. We find there a population hardy, healthy and

employed; capital fast flowing into the district; new sources

of employment daily developing themselves; a people well

disposed alike to the government and institutions of their

country; and not distrustful and jealous of their superiors.

Contrast the social condition of these people with such

pictures as we have presented to us from other districts."

This energetic, self-reliant and prosperous community now see before

their eyes what the practical working of government by the League is.

They see it generally in the condition of the country, and especially

in the Dublin Convention of 1909, the narrow-minded administration of

the Local Government Act wherever the power of the League prevails,

and the insecurity for life and property in the west; they know also

that a Home Rule Government must mean increased taxation (as the

Nationalists themselves confess) which will probably--in fact, one may

almost say must certainly, as no other source is available--be thrown

on the Ulster manufactures; is it not therefore a matter of life and

death to them to resist it to the uttermost?

But as I have said, the great line of cleavage is religion. Here I

know that I shall be accused of "Orange bigotry." But I am not afraid

of the charge; first because I do not happen to be an Orangeman; and

secondly because I regard bigotry as the outcome of ignorance and

prejudice, and consider therefore that a calm examination of the

evidence is the very antithesis of bigotry. In order to make this

examination I desire in the first place to avoid the mistake that

Grattan made in judging the probabilities of the future from the

opinions of personal friends whom I like and respect, but who, as I

know (and regret to think), possess no influence whatever. I consider

that there are other data--such as works of authority, the action

of the public bodies, statements by men in prominent positions,

and articles in leading journals--from which it is safer to form

an estimate. The Ulstermen are content that the country should be

governed, as far as religion is concerned, on modern principles--that

is to say, in much the same way that England, Australia and New

Zealand are governed to-day. The Nationalists, whatever they may

say in England or the Colonies, have never in Ireland from the

commencement of the movement attempted to deny that their object is

to see Ireland governed on principles which are totally different

and which the Ulstermen detest. As long ago as 1886, the _Freeman's

Journal_, the leading Nationalist organ, said:--

"We contend that the good government of Ireland by England

is impossible ... the one people has not only accepted but

retained with inviolable constancy the Christian faith;

the other has not only rejected it, but has been for three

centuries the leader of the great apostasy, and is at this day

the principal obstacle to the conversion of the world."

And as recently as December 1912, Professor Nolan of Maynooth,

addressing the Roman Catholic students at the Belfast University,

said:--

"Humanly speaking, we are on the eve of Home Rule. We shall

have a free hand in the future. Let us use it well. This is

a Catholic country, and if we do not govern it on Catholic

lines, according to Catholic ideals, and to safe-guard

Catholic interests, it will be all the worse for the country

and all the worse for us. We have now a momentous opportunity

of changing the whole course of Irish history."

Then another of their papers, the _Rosary_, has said: "We have

played the game of tolerance until the game is played out"; and has

prophesied that under Home Rule the Church will become an irresistible

engine before whom all opposition must go down. And whatever the

educated laity may desire, no one who knows Ireland can doubt that

it is the clerical faction that will be all-powerful. The leading

ecclesiastics are trained at the Gregorian University at Rome; and

one of the Professors at that institution, in a work published in 1901

with the special approval of Pope Leo XIII, enunciated the doctrine

that it is the duty of a Christian State to put to death heretics

who have been condemned by the Ecclesiastical Court. Of course no one

supposes that such a thing will ever take place in Ireland; but what

the Ulstermen object to is putting themselves under the rule of

men who have been trained in such principles and believe them to be

approved by an infallible authority.

In 1904 some foreign merchants at Barcelona wished to build a church

for themselves. Republican feeling is so strong in the municipality

that permission was obtained without difficulty. But the bishop

at once protested and appealed to the King. The King wrote back a

sympathetic letter expressing his deep regret that he was unable to

prevent this fresh attack on the Catholic faith.

We are constantly being told that the tolerance and liberality shown

by the majority in Quebec is sufficient of itself to prove how foolish

are the apprehensions felt by the minority in Ireland. Well, I will

quote from a journal which cannot be accused of Protestant bias,

the _Irish Independent_, one of the leading organs of the

Nationalist-clerical party in Ireland:--

"(From our own Correspondent.)

"Montreal, Thursday.

"In connection with the celebration of the anniversary of

Wolfe's victory and death, which takes place in September,

prominent members of the Anglican Church have inaugurated a

movement for the erection of a Wolfe Memorial Chapel on

the Plains of Abraham. The organisers of the movement hope

ultimately to secure the transfer of the General's remains to

the chapel for interment on the scene of his victory.

"The population being largely French-Canadian Catholics, the

Catholic Church organ of Quebec strongly protests against

the erection of an Anglican chapel in the heart of a Catholic

district."

Now if this conduct on the part of the Roman Catholic authorities is

quite right at Barcelona and Quebec, why is it "Orange bigotry"

to suggest that the same people may act in the same way at Cork or

Galway?

Again, in 1910, a remarkable volume was published, written by Mrs.

Hugh Fraser, the sister of the novelist, Marion Crawford, entitled "A

Diplomat's Wife in Many Lands." The authoress was a very able woman,

who had travelled much and mixed in cultured society wherever she had

been; her book was highly reviewed by various English Magazines. She

tells the story of a child of Jewish parents living at Rome in the

days of Pope Pius IX, who was secretly baptized in infancy by a nurse,

and at the age of seven was forcibly taken from his parents and placed

in a Convent School. She explains that not only was this quite right,

but that such a course is inevitable in every country in which the

Church has power; and that the feelings of the heretic mother whose

child is taken from her are a fair subject of ridicule on the part of

good Catholics. Can Irish Protestants be accused of bigotry when they

contend that these writers mean what they say? English Nonconformists

argue that they ought to wait until the time comes and then either

fight or leave the country; but the Irish Protestants reply that it

is more sensible to take steps beforehand to ward off the danger. And

whether they are right or wrong, the fact remains that those are their

ideas, and that is their determination; and this is the situation

which must be faced if Home Rule is forced upon the people of Ulster.

By a striking coincidence, two meetings have recently been held on the

same day--the 16th of May 1913--which form an apt illustration of

the position adopted by the two parties. The first was a great

demonstration of Unionists at Belfast, organised in order to make a

further protest against the Bill and to perfect the organisation for

opposing it by force, if the necessity arises; the second was a large

meeting of the United Irish League at Mullingar. The Chairman, Mr.

Ginnell, M.P. (who has gained prominence and popularity by his skill

in arranging cattle-drives), said that the chief cause of the pressure

last session was to get the Home Rule Bill through its first stage. It

was still called a Home Rule Bill, though differing widely from

what most of them always understood by Home Rule. Deeply though he

regretted the Bill's defects and limitations, still he thought almost

any Parliament in Ireland was worth accepting--first, because it was

in some sense a recognition of the right to govern themselves; and

secondly, because even a crippled Parliament would give them fresh

leverage for complete freedom. No one could be silly enough to suppose

that an intelligent Ireland, having any sort of a Parliament of its

own, would be prevented by any promise given now by place-hunters,

from using that Parliament for true national purposes.

That no army which the Ulstermen can form will be able to stand

against British troops supported by cavalry and artillery is evident;

but it seems almost past belief that England should be ready to

plunge the country into civil war; or that British troops should march

out--with bands playing "Bloody England, we hate you still," or some

other inspiring Nationalist air--to shoot down Ulstermen who will come

to meet them waving the Union Jack and shouting "God save the King."

And if they do--what then? Lord Wolseley, when Commander-in-Chief in

Ireland in 1893, pointed out the probable effect on the British Army

in a letter to the Duke of Cambridge:--

"If ever our troops are brought into collision with the

loyalists of Ulster, and blood is shed, it will shake the

whole foundations upon which our army rests to such an extent

that I feel that our Army will never be the same again. Many

officers will resign to join Ulster, and there will be such

a host of retired officers in the Ulster ranks that men who

would stand by the Government no matter what it did, will be

worse than half-hearted in all they do. No army could stand

such a strain upon it."

And then England, having crushed her natural allies in Ulster, will

hand over the Government of Ireland to a party whose avowed object

is to break up the Empire and form a separate Republic. Dangers and

difficulties arose even when the independent legislature of Ireland

was in the hands of men who were loyal and patriotic in the noblest

sense of the term, and when there were in every district a certain

number of educated gentlemen of position who (as we have seen) were

always ready to risk their lives and fortunes for the defence of the

realm; what will happen when the loyal minority have been shot down,

driven out of the country, or forced into bitter hostility to the

Government who have betrayed and deserted them? As Lecky wrote years

ago:--

"It is scarcely possible to over-estimate the danger

that would arise if the vast moral legislative, and even

administrative powers which every separate legislature must

necessarily possess, were exercised in any near and vital

part of the British Empire, by men who were disloyal to its

interests. To place the government of a country by a voluntary

and deliberate act in the hands of dishonest and disloyal men,

is perhaps the greatest crime that a public man can commit:

a crime which, in proportion to the strength and soundness of

national morality, must consign those who are guilty of it to

undying infamy."

If English people are so blind that they cannot perceive this,

foreigners, whose vision is clearer, have warned them. Bismarck said

that England, by granting Home Rule to Ireland, would dig its own

grave; and Admiral Mahan has recently written:--

"It is impossible for a military man or a statesman to look

at the map and not perceive that the ambition of the Irish

separatists, if realised, would be even more threatening to

the national life of Great Britain than the secession of the

South was to the American Union.

"The legislative supremacy of the British Parliament against

the assertion of which the American Colonists revolted

and which to-day would be found intolerable in Canada and

Australia cannot be yielded in the case of an island, where

independent action might very well be attended with fatal

consequences to its partner. The instrument for such action,

in the shape of an independent Parliament, could not be safely

trusted even to avowed friends."

So then, having reviewed the evidence as calmly and dispassionately as

I can, I answer the two questions which I propounded at the outset of

the enquiry--That the real objects of the Nationalists are the

total separation of Ireland from England and the establishment of an

Independent Republic; and that the men of Ulster in resisting them

to the uttermost are not merely justified on the ground of

self-preservation, but are in reality fighting for the cause of the

Empire.

NOTE.

The following Report of the Annual Pilgrimage in memory of Wolfe Tone,

which took place on the 22nd of June last, and the article in the

_Leinster Leader_ (a prominent Nationalist journal) will show how

closely the Nationalists of to-day follow in the footsteps of Wolfe

Tone.

THE MEMORY OF WOLFE TONE.

ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO BODENSTOWN.

(_From our Reporter_.)

On Sunday last the annual pilgrimage to the grave of Theobald Wolfe

Tone took place to Bodenstown churchyard. This year the numbers who

attended exceeded those of last year, about a thousand coming from

Dublin and another contingent from Tullamore, Clare, and Athlone. The

procession formed outside Sallins station was a most imposing one,

being made up of St. James' Brass Band and the Lorcan O'Toole Pipers'

Band and the Athlone Pipers' Band, the National Boy Scouts, the

Daughters of Erin, and members of the Wolfe Tone Memorial Clubs.

At the graveside demonstration, Mr. Thos. J. Clarke presided and said

it was a gratifying thing that numbers of their fellow-countrymen were

to-day swinging back to the old fighting line and taking pride in the

old Fenian principles. He introduced Mr. P.H. Pearse, B.A.

Mr. Pearse then came forward and delivered an eloquent and impressive

oration, first speaking in Irish. Speaking in English, he said they

had come to the holiest place in Ireland, holier to them than that

sacred spot where Patrick sleeps in Down. Patrick brought them life,

but Wolfe Tone died for them. Though many had testified in death

to the truth of Ireland's claim to Nationhood, Wolfe Tone was the

greatest of all that had made that testimony; he was the greatest of

Ireland's dead. They stood in the holiest place in Ireland, for what

spot of the Nation's soil could be holier than the spot in which the

greatest of her dead lay buried. He found it difficult to speak in

that place, and he knew they all partook of his emotion. There were

no strangers there for they were all in a sense own brothers to Tone

(hear, hear). They shared his faith, his hope still unrealised and

his great love. They had come there that day not merely to salute this

noble dust and to pay their homage to the noble spirit of Tone, but

to renew their adhesion to the faith of Tone and to express their

full acceptance of the gospel of which Tone had given such a clear

definition. That gospel had been taught before him by English-speaking

men, uttered half-articulately by Shan O'Neill, expressed in some

passionate metaphor by Geoffrey Keating, and hinted at by Swift in

some bitter jibe, but it was stated definitely and emphatically by

Wolfe Tone and it did not need to be ever again stated anew for any

new generation. Tone was great in mind, but he was still greater in

spirit. He had the clear vision of the prophet; he saw things as they

were and saw things as they would be. They owed more to this dead man

than they should be ever able to repay him by making pilgrimages to

his grave or building the stateliest monuments in the streets of

his city. They owed it to him that there was such a thing as Irish

Nationalism; to his memory and the memory of '98 they owed it that

there was any manhood left in Ireland (hear, hear). The soul of

Wolfe Tone was like a burning flame, a flame so pure, so ardent, so

generous, that to come into communion with it was as a new optimism

and regeneration. Let them try in some way to get into contact with

the spirit of Tone and possess themselves of its ardour. If they could

do that it would be a good thing for them and their country, because

they would carry away with them a new life from that place of death

and there would be a new resurrection of patriotic grace in their

souls (hear, hear). Let them think of Tone; think of his boyhood

and young manhood in Dublin and in Kildare; think of his adventurous

spirit and plans, think of his glorious failure at the bar, and his

healthy contempt for what he called a foolish wig and gown, think how

the call of Ireland came to him; think how he obeyed that call; think

how he put virility into the Catholic movement; think how this heretic

toiled to make freemen of Catholic helots (applause). Think how he

grew to love the real and historic Irish nation, and then there came

to him that clear conception that there must be in Ireland not three

nations but one; that Protestant and Dissenter must close in amity

with Catholic, and Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter must unite to

achieve freedom for all (applause). Let them consider the sacrifices

Tone had made; he had to leave so much. Never was there a man who was

so richly endowed as he was, he had so much love in his warm heart. He

(speaker) would rather have known Tone than any other man of whom he

ever read or heard. He never read of any one man who had more in him

of the heroic stuff than Tone had; how gaily and gallantly he had set

about the doing of a mighty thing. He (speaker) had always loved the

very name of Thomas Russell because Tone so loved him. To be Tone's

friend! What a privilege! for Tone had for his friends an immense

love, an immense charity. He had such love for his wife and children!

But such was the destiny of the heroes of their nation; they had

to stifle in their hearts all that love and that sweet music and to

follow only the faint voice that called them to the battlefield or to

the harder death at the foot of the gibbet. Tone heard that voice and

obeyed it and from his grave to-day he was calling on them and they

were there to answer his voice; and they pledged themselves to

carry out his programme to abolish the connection with England,

the never-failing source of political evils and to establish

the independence of their country, to abolish the memory of past

dissensions, and to replace for the denominations of Protestant,

Catholic and Dissenter, the common name of Irishman (applause).

In that programme was to be found the whole philosophy of Irish

Nationality; that programme included the philosophy of the Gaelic

League and of later prophets, and it was to that programme they

pledged their adhesion; they pledged it now at the graveside of Tone;

they pledged themselves to follow in the steps of Tone, never to rest

by day or night until this be accomplished, until Ireland be free

(applause); fighting on, not in despondency, but in great joy as Tone

fought; prizing it above all privileges, and hoping for the victory in

their own day. And if it should be granted to them in this generation

to complete the work that Tone's generation left unaccomplished! But

if that was not their destiny, they should fight on still, hoping

still, self-sacrificing still, knowing as they must know that causes

like this did not lose for ever, and that men like Tone did not die in

vain (applause).

The address having concluded, wreaths were placed on the grave by the

National Boy Scouts and the Inghanite Na h-Eireann.

During the afternoon an aeridheacht was held in an adjoining field at

which music, songs and recitations were contributed, and a thoroughly

enjoyable Irish-Ireland evening was spent.

AT THE GRAVE OF WOLFE TONE.

The lifework of Theobald Wolfe Tone, for the subversion of English

Government in Ireland, and the supreme sacrifice he made in the mighty

effort to erect in its stead an independent Ireland free from all

foreign denomination and control, was fittingly commemorated on Sunday

last, when the annual pilgrimage took place to Bodenstown Churchyard,

where all that is mortal of the great patriot lie buried. The

pilgrimage this year was worthy of the cause and the man, and afforded

some object lessons in what might be accomplished by a cultivation of

those principles of discipline and devotion to duty, in the pursuit

of a glorious ideal, which Tone taught and adhered to throughout his

adventurous and brilliant career. The well-ordered procession,

the ready obedience to the commands of the marshals, the intense

earnestness of the multitude, and the display made by the youths--the

national boy scouts--their military bearing, and the bands and banners

which interspersed the procession as it marched from Sallins to

Bodenstown was a spectacle which pleased the eye and stirred the

emotions. Everything in connection with the pilgrimage was carried out

with a close attention to detail, and military-like precision which

must have been very acceptable to the great patriot in whose honour

it was organised, were he but permitted to gaze from the great Unknown

upon this practical demonstration of the perpetuation of the spirit

which animated him and his time, in the struggle against English

misrule, and the love and veneration in which he is still held, after

the lapse of the century and more that has passed since he made the

final sacrifice of his life in the cause of freedom. Tone done to

death did not die in vain. The truth of this was evident in the

character of the pilgrimage on Sunday last, when all that is best and

purest in patriotism in the land assembled at his graveside, to renew

fealty to the aims and ideals for which he suffered and died, and to

hear the gospel of Irish nationality preached and expounded as he knew

and inculcated it in his day. A fusion of forces, and the cultivation

of a spirit and bond of brotherhood and friendship amongst Irishmen

in the common cause, were his methods to attain the great ideal of

a separate and distinct nationality, for then, as to-day, the chief

obstacle to freedom and nationhood was not so much English domination

in itself, as want of cohesion, faction, and the disruption caused

by alien traditions and teachings. This was the prevailing spirit of

Sunday's commemoration, and as the great mass of people filed past in

orderly array and knelt, prayed, and laid wreaths on the lonely grave,

the solemnity and impressiveness of the occasion was intensified.

In the suppressed murmurs, and silent gaze on the tomb of the mighty

dead, one could recognise the eagerness and the hope for another Tone

to arise to complete the work which he promoted, and vindicate the

purity of the motives which moved men like the leaders of '98 to do

and dare for all, and to "substitute the common name of Irishman

for Catholic, Protestant, and Dissenter." The promoters, too, were

fortunate in their choice of orator for the occasion. Mr. P.H. Pearse

did full justice to the occasion, and in language, beautiful and

impressive, pictured the man and his movements and the lessons to be

drawn by us to-day from the lifework of leaders in thought and action

like Tone. Close and consistent adhesion to principles of patriotism

and a readiness of self-sacrifice in the pursuit of those principles,

were his distinguishing characteristics all through life, and if we in

our time would emulate the example of Tone and his times, we must also

be ready when the call came to meet any demand made upon us for the

promotion of our national welfare. The orator of the day rightly, in

our opinion, described that hallowed spot in Bodenstown as one of the

holiest places in Ireland to-day, from the nationalist standpoint,

holding as it does the ashes of the man who, without friends, money or

influence to help him, and by sheer force of character, intensity of

purpose and earnestness, prevailed upon the greatest emperor-general

the world has ever seen Napoleon Bonaparte, to make a descent on

Ireland, in order to aid our starved, tortured, and persecuted people

to shake off the shackles that kept them in slavery, and elevate

Ireland once more to the dignity of full, free, and untrammelled

nationhood. We are all familiar with the events following this great

effort of Tone's, and the dark chapters that closed a glorious career.

All that is mortal of Tone is in the keeping of Kildare, and it is

a trust that we feel sure is not alone felt to be a high honour,

but which cannot fail to keep the cultivation of a high standard of

nationality before the people in whose midst repose the remains of one

of Ireland's greatest sons. Ireland, from the centre to the sea,

was represented in Sunday's great gathering to commemorate the

achievements of Wolfe Tone, and the occasion was honoured first by

the large and representative character of the throng, secondly by the

decorum observed all through the day's proceedings, and thirdly, by

the regularity and precision which attended the entire arrangements.

There was just one other feature which must have been very gratifying

to those identified with the organisation of the pilgrimage,

namely: the large proportion of ladies and young people, coming long

distances, who made up the gathering. And they were by no means the

least enthusiastic of the throng. This enthusiasm amongst our young

people is one of the most encouraging and promising signs of the

times, serving as it does to demonstrate the undying spirit of Irish

nationality, and the perpetuation of those principles to which Tone

devoted his time, talents, and eventually made the supreme sacrifice

of his life in having inculcated amongst his people. It is a glorious

legacy, and one that has ever been cherished with veneration for the

men who left it. He died a martyr to the cause he espoused, but his

memory and the cause live. The living blaze he and his co-workers, in

the cause of Irish freedom, kindled has never been completely stamped

out, and it still smoulders, and has occasionally burst into flame

only to be temporarily extinguished in the blood and tears of our

bravest and best who never forgot the teachings of Tone. And now, when

the sky is bright once more, and every circumstance portends the dawn

of a new era, full of hope and promise for the ultimate realisation

of those ideals for which thousands of our race have sacrificed their

lives, the spark of nationality which, even since Tone's death, has

repeatedly leaped into flame, still glows fitfully to remind us that

come what may it remains undying and unquenchable, a beacon to light

us on the path to freedom should disappointment and dashed hopes again

darken the outlook.

INDEX

Abjuration, oath of, 51.

Absentees, 65, 138, 139.

Acton, Lord, 37.

Adrian, Pope, 13.

Agrarian outrages, 152, 196-202, 210-215.

Agriculture, Department of, 161, 163.

Alexander, Pope, 14.

Alfred the Great, 9.

American War of Independence, 63, 72, 73, 83.

Anglican Church in Ireland, 27, 28, 60, 143, 144, 236.

Anne, Queen, 63.

Arkins, P., 210, 211.

Arklow, battle of, 109.

Armagh, Bishop of, 7.

Ashbourne Act, 159.

Ashtown, Lord, 203, 204.

Asquith, Rt. Hon. H.H., 129, 207.

Athenry founded by Normans, 17.

Balfour, Rt. Hon. Arthur J., 156, 160, 164.

Balfour, Rt. Hon. Gerald, 168.

Baltimore, Lord, 38.

Bandon, Lord, 238.

Bannatyne, Mr., 214.

Barcelona, Church at, 243, 244.

Belfast, growth of, 239;

meeting at, 245;

persons employed by Corporation of, 174, 175;

University, 176, 193, 205.

Berkeley, Bishop, 120.

Biggar, J.G., 145.

Birrell, Rt. Hon. Augustine, Chief Secretary, 160, 167, 173,

174, 197, 198, 200-205, 211, 216, 236.

Bismarck, Prince, 248.

Blake, W., 198.

"Board of Erin," 184.

Boers, Nationalist sympathy with, 170.

Borromeo, San Carlo, 54.

Bossuet, 54.

Bounties granted by Irish Parliament, 80.

Boy Scouts, 193.

Boycotting, 86, 148, 149, 153.

Boyne, battle of the, 48.

Brady, J., 145, 146.

Brian Boroo, 8, 9, 19.

Bright, John, 154, 159.

Brook, 57.

Browne estate, 168.

Bruce, Edward, invasion by, 19, 26, 91.

Bruce, King Robert, 17, 19, 26.

Bryce, Rt. Hon. James, Chief Secretary, 194, 195, 197.

Bulls, Papal, 13-15.

Burke, Mr., Under Secretary, murder of, 146, 153.

Busby, Mr., 157.

Butt, Isaac, advocates Home Rule, 145.

Carey, James, 145.

Carlow, rebellion in, 109.

"Carrion Crows," 202.

Castlebar, capture of by the French, 112.

Castledawson outrage, 216, 217.

Castlereagh, Lord, 126, 128.

Catholic University Medical School, 176.

Cattle driving, 167, 195-202.

Cavan, raid by septs of, 7.

Cavendish, murder of Lord F., 146, 153.

Celts, 5-14, 20, 23, 24, 31.

Charlemont, Lord, 93.

Charles I, 40-42.

Charles II, 44.

Chicago Convention, 155.

Childers, Erskine, 222.

Church, Celtic. See Celts of Ireland.

See Anglican Church.

Churchill, Rt. Hon. Winston, 209.

Clan-na-gael, 147, 185.

Clare, state of, in 1912, 210-214.

Clare, Lord, 81, 84, 85, 111.

Clerkenwell explosion, 143.

Clontarf, battle of, 9.

"Coalition Ministry," 208.

"Coigne and livery," 11.

College of Surgeons, Dublin, 176.

Condon, O'Meagher, 96, 184, 185.

Confiscations, 30, 42, 43, 57, 150.

Congested Districts Board, 164-168.

Connaught, Celtic raids into, 7;

lands in, given to rebels, 42;

rebellion in, 112.

Conolly, Mr., 215.

Convention in Dublin in 1909, 206, 207, 240.

Cooke, Mr., Under Secretary, 111.

Co-operative Credit Banks, 162, 163.

Co-operative Farming Societies, 161-163.

Cork, Medical School at, 176;

persons employed by County Council of, 175.

Corn Laws, repeal of the, 136.

Cornwallis, Lord, 123, 129.

County Councils, 168-178, 191, 193.

Covenant, Ulster. See Ulster Covenant.

Cowper Commission, 149.

Crewe, Lord, 201.

Crimes Act of 1887, 157, 158, 194.

Crimes Prevention Act, 153, 157.

Croke, Archbishop, 144, 156.

Cromwell and Cromwellians, 38, 42, 44, 57, 66, 67, 106.

Crosbie, Mr., 216.

Curley, D., 145, 146.

_Daily News_, 200.

Daly, J., 195.

Danes, 8, 9, 13.

Davies, Sir, J., 5.

Davitt, Michael, 145, 167, 238.

Declaratory Act of George I, 74, 229.

Defenders, 87.

Department of Agriculture, 161, 163.

Derry, siege of, 47.

Desmond rebellion, 34.

Devlin, J., 96, 146, 182.

Devoy, J., 94, 146.

Dicey, Professor A.V., 228.

Dillon, John, 97, 156, 184, 234.

Dillon estate, 165.

Disestablishment of the Irish Church, 143, 144, 236.

Dispensary doctors, appointment of, 176, 177.

District Councils, 161, 168, 178.

Down, Celtic raid into, 7.

Dublin, founded by Danes, 8, 9;

Bishopric of, 8, 9;

Henry II at, 16;

Simnel crowned at, 22;

rebellion in neighbourhood of, 104, 109;

Convention at, in 1909, 206, 207, 240.

Dudley, Lord, 166.

"Dynamite Party," 147.

Edward III, 20.

Edward VI, 29, 31.

Eighty Club, 162.

Elizabeth, Queen, 4, 27, 28, 33, 48, 91.

Emancipation, Roman Catholic, 134.

Emigration, 139, 140.

Emmett, R., 95, 132, 182.

Endowment of R.C. Church proposed, 134.

Ersefied Normans, 18, 20.

Esmonde, Dr., 105.

Exchequers, amalgamation of, 135.

"Fair rents," 150.

Famine. See Potato famine.

Fenianism, 142, 144, 145, 147.

Feudal system, 14, 26.

Firbolgs, 5.

FitzGerald rebellion, 25, 27, 31.

FitzGibbon, J., 167, 171.

Fitzpatrick, case of Mrs., 210, 211.

Fiudir, 11.

Flax. See Linen.

"Flight of the Earls," 36.

Ford, Patrick, 146, 152, 154, 155.

Forster, Rt. Hon. W.E., Chief Secretary, 148.

Foster, Speaker, 126.

France, persecution in, 30, 37, 38, 45-48;

war with, 72, 73;

religious thought in, 76;

revolution in, 87, 101, 236;

invasions by, 91, 92, 111, 112.

Franklin, Benjamin, 73.

Fraser, Mrs. Hugh, 244.

_Freeman's Journal_, 170, 241.

_Frontier Sentinel_, 2.

Gaelic League, 186-193.

Galway, founded by Normans, 17;

Medical School at, 176;

persons employed by County Council of, 175;

state of, in 1912, 215.

Games, English, forbidden, 193.

Gaughran, Bishop, 4.

Gavelkind, 11, 12.

General Council of County Councils, 172, 173, 186.

George III, 68.

Germany, persecution in, 37, 38;

Nationalist hopes of aid from, 93, 98, 99.

Ginnell, L., 196, 245.

Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W.E., 6, 95, 143, 148, 150, 152-155,

179.

Grand juries, 178.

Grattan, 74-77, 93, 100, 120, 126.

"Grievances from Ireland," 203.

Gwynn, Stephen, 174.

Habeus Corpus, suppression of, 69.

Henry II, 14, 15, 20, 36.

Henry VII, 22.

Henry VIII, 24, 26, 28, 29.

Hibernians, Ancient Order of, 184, 216.

Hobhouse, Rt. Hon. C.E., 208.

Hobson, B., 98.

Holland, intended invasion from, 101, 102.

Home Rule, 145, 155.

Home Rule Bill, of 1886, 154;

of 1893, 179, 221;

of 1912, 208, 218-231, 245.

Huguenots, 30, 45, 47, 55.

Hyde, Dr. Douglas, 97.

Incumbered Estates Act, 138, 150.

Independence of Ireland real object of Nationalists, 173,181,

182, 185, 186, 241, 242, 246-248.

And see Republic.

Ingram, Dr. Dunbar on the Union, 118-129.

Insurance Act, 1911, 185.

"Invincibles," the, 147.

Irish Agricultural Organization Society, 161, 162.

Irish brigade in France, 92.

_Irish Freedom_, 94.

_Irish Independent_, 243.

Irish language, 186-193.

_Irish Review_, 188.

Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 145, 147.

"Irish services," 227.

Jacobinism, 87, 89, 101, 236.

James I, 38, 40.

James II, 43, 44, 47, 49-51.

Jews, persecution of the, 58.

Kabyles, 55.

Kenny, Mr. Justice, 197.

Kettle, A.J., 183.

Kettle, T.M., 97.

Kickham, 95.

Kildare, church burnt at, 7;

rebellion in, 105.

Kilkenny, founded by Normans, 17;

statutes of, 20;

rebellion in, 109.

Killala, French landing at, 111.

Killaloe, R.C. Bishop of, 212-214.

Kiltimagh case, 177.

King, title of, taken by Henry VIII, 27.

Kings, Celtic, of Ireland, 10.

King's County, plantation of, 29, 30;

persons employed by County Council of, 175.

Labourer's Cottages Act, 160, 161.

Lalor, J.F., 141, 142, 153, 172.

Land Acts from 1870 to 1887, 140, 150-152, 159.

Land Court, 150, 197.

Land League, 147, 148, 152, 181, 182.

Land Purchase Acts, 158, 159.

Land tenure, tribal, 6;

primogeniture, 11, 12;

gavelkind, 11, 12;

in the 18th century, 65, 66.

Laws of England, attempted introduction of, 18;

made binding in Ireland, 22.

Lecky, Dr. W.E.H., 41, 44, 110, 117, 130, 247.

_Leinster Leader_, 95, 249.

Leitrim, raid by septs of, 7.

Leo XIII, Pope, 242.

Light Railways Act, 160.

Limerick, founded by Danes, 8;

Scotch invasion of, 19;

church windows broken at, 216.

Linen industry, 62, 63, 238, 239.

Local Government Act, 1898, 168-178, 180, 240.

Loise, persecution in the, 28.

Louis XIV, 43, 45-48, 53.

Louis XVI, 101, 102.

MacAlpine, Kennett, 9.

McBride, Major, 98, 99.

MacDonnell, Lord, 166.

McKenna, Thomas, 79, 126.

McNicholas, Rev. J.T., 85.

MacSeamus, T., 188.

Magdeburg, sacking of, 42.

Magistrates, appointment of, 179, 180.

Magnus, Sir P., 205.

Mahan, Admiral, 248.

"Manchester Martyrs," 96-98, 144, 145, 192.

Maori customary claims, 39.

Marriage, law of R.C. Church as to, 85.

Maryborough, 30.

Maryland, 38.

Mayo County Council, 170.

Maunsell, R., 214.

Maynooth, foundation of, 88, 204.

Metropolitan Police Act, 157.

"Middlemen," 65.

_Midland Tribune_, 234.

Mitchell, J., 95, 97, 142.

"Molly Maguires," 184.

Morley, Rt. Hon. John, Chief Secretary, 165, 179.

Mountcashel, Lord, 53.

Munster, raid by men of, 7.

Murphy, Father Michael, 109.

Mutiny Act, 74.

Nantes, revocation of Edict of, 30, 38, 45-48.

Napoleon, 91.

"Nation," meaning of word, 222.

National University, 191, 192, 205, 206.

Nationalists, real objects of, 3, 93-99, 248.

And see Independence; Republic.

Netherlands, persecution in the, 4, 33, 34.

New Zealand, 39, 157, 218-220, 241.

Nolan, Professor, 242.

"No Rent" proclamation, 153, 156.

Normans, character of, 17;

adoption of Celtic customs by, 18;

rebellions by, 23-25, 33, 34, 36.

Oakboys, 69.

O'Brien, Smith, 96, 140.

O'Brien, William, 95.

O'Connell, Daniel, misstatements by, as to the Union, 116;

leads agitation for emancipation, 134;

and for repeal, 140.

O'Connor, T.P., 146.

O'Donnell, Bishop, 165.

O'Hara, Rev. D., 165.

O'Mahony, Mr., 41.

O'Mara, Mrs., 213.

O'Neill, Shan, 33, 34, 39.

Orange Society, foundation of, 90, 91.

Outrages, Agrarian. See Agrarian outrages.

Pale, the English, 20-22, 24, 25, 31.

Parliament, Irish, 21-24, 35, 63-65, 69-71;

becomes independent, 74, 77-79;

disqualification of votes for, abolished, 84;

religious test for, not abolished, 84, 87;

proposed reform of, 87, 88;

criticized, 130, 131.