SEPARATION.
I
When we plead for separation from the British Empire as the only basis
on which our country can have full development, and on which we can have
final peace with England, we find in opponents a variety of attitudes,
but one attitude invariably absent--a readiness to discuss the question
fairly and refute it, if this can be done. One man will take it
superficially and heatedly, assuming it to be, according to his party, a
censure on Mr. Redmond or Mr. O'Brien. Another will take it
superficially, but, as he thinks, philosophically, and will dismiss it
with a smile. With the followers of Mr. Redmond or Mr. O'Brien we can
hardly argue at present, but we should not lose heart on their account,
for these men move _en masse_. One day the consciousness of the country
will be electrified with a great deed or a great sacrifice and the
multitude will break from lethargy or prejudice and march with a shout
for freedom in a true, a brave, and a beautiful sense. We must work and
prepare for that hour. Then there is our philosophical friend. I expect
him to hear my arguments. When I am done, he may not agree with me on
all points; he may not agree with me on any point; but if he come with
me, I promise him one thing: this question can no longer be dismissed
with a smile.
II
Our friend's attitude is explained in part by our never having attempted
to show that a separatist policy is great and wise. We have held it as a
right, have fought for it, have made sacrifices for it, and vowed to
have it at any cost; but we have not found for it a definite place in a
philosophy of life. Superficial though he be, our friend has indicated a
need: we must take the question philosophically--but in the great and
true sense. It is a truism of philosophy and science that the world is a
harmonious whole, and that with the increase of knowledge, laws can be
discovered to explain the order and the unity of the universe.
Accordingly, if we are to justify our own position as separatists, we
must show that it will harmonise, unify and develop our national life,
that it will restore us to a place among the nations, enable us to
fulfil a national destiny, a destiny which, through all our struggles,
we ever believe is great, and waiting for us. That must be accepted if
we are to get at the truth of the matter. A great doctrine that
dominates our lives, that lays down a rigid course of action, that
involves self-denial, hard struggles, endurance for years, and possibly
death before the goal is reached--any such doctrine must be capable of
having its truth demonstrated by the discovery of principles that govern
and justify it. Otherwise we cannot yield it our allegiance. Let us to
the examination, then; we shall find it soul-stirring and inspiring. We
must be prepared, however, to abandon many deeply-rooted prejudices; if
we are unwilling, we must abandon the truth. But we will find courage
in moving forward, and will triumph in the end, by keeping in mind at
all times that the end of freedom is to realise the salvation and
happiness of all peoples, to make the world, and not any selfish corner
of it, a more beautiful dwelling-place for men.
Treated in this light, the question becomes for all earnest men great
and arresting. Our friend, who may have smiled, will discuss it readily
now. Yet he may not be convinced; he may point his finger over the
wasted land and contrast its weakness with its opponents' strength, and
conclude: "Your philosophy is beautiful, but only a dream." He is at
least impressed; that is a point gained; and we may induce him to come
further and further till he adopts the great principle we defend.
III
His difficulty now is the common error that a man's work for his country
should be based on the assumption that it should bear full effect in his
own time. This is most certainly false; for a man's life is counted by
years, a nation's by centuries, and as work for the nation should be
directed to bringing her to full maturity in the coming time, a man must
be prepared to labour for an end that may be realised only in another
generation. Consider how he disposes his plans for his individual life.
His boyhood and youth are directed that his manhood and prime may be the
golden age of life, full-blooded and strong-minded, with clear vision
and great purpose and high hope, all justified by some definite
achievement. A man's prime is great as his earlier years have been well
directed and concentrated. In the early years the ground is prepared and
the seed sown for the splendid period of full development. So it is with
the nation: we must prepare the ground and sow the seed for the rich
ripeness of maturity; and bearing in mind that the maturity of the
nation will come, not in one generation but after many generations, we
must be prepared to work in the knowledge that we prepare for a future
that only other generations will enjoy. It does not mean that we shall
work in loneliness, cheered by no vision of the Promised Land; we may
even reach the Promised Land in our time, though we cannot explore all
its great wonders: that will be the delight of ages. But some will never
survive to celebrate the great victory that will establish our
independence; yet they shall not go without reward; for to them will
come a vision of soul of the future triumph, an exaltation of soul in
the consciousness of labouring for that future, an exultation of soul in
the knowledge that once its purpose is grasped, no tyranny can destroy
it, that the destiny of our country is assured, and her dominion will
endure for ever. Let any argument be raised against one such pioneer--he
knows this in his heart, and it makes him indomitable, and it is he who
is proven to be wise in the end. He judges the past clearly, and through
the crust of things he discerns the truth in his own time, and puts his
work in true relation to the great experience of life, and he is
justified; for ultimately his work opens out, matures, and bears fruit a
hundredfold. It may not be in a day, but when his hand falls dead, his
glory becomes quickly manifest. He has lived a beautiful life, and has
left a beautiful field; he has sacrificed the hour to give service for
all time; he has entered the company of the great, and with them he
will be remembered for ever. He is the practical man in the true sense.
But there is the other self-styled practical man, who thinks all this
proceeding foolish, and cries out for the expedient of the hour. Has he
ever realised the promise of his proposals? No, he is the most
inefficient person who has ever walked the earth. But for a saving
consideration let him go contemplate the wasted efforts of the
opportunist in every generation, and the broken projects scattered
through the desert-places of history.
IV
Still one will look out on the grim things of the hour, and hypnotised
by the hour will cry: "See the strength of the British Empire, see our
wasted state; your hope is vain." Let him consider this clear truth:
peoples endure; empires perish. Where are now the empires of antiquity?
And the empires of to-day have the seed of dissolution in them. But the
peoples that saw the old empires rise and hold sway are represented now
in their posterity; the tyrannies they knew are dead and done with. The
peoples endured; the empires perished; and the nations of the earth of
this day will survive in posterity when the empires that now contend for
mastery are gathered into the dust, with all dead, bad things. We shall
endure; and the measure of our faith will be the measure of our
achievement and of the greatness of our future place.
V
Is it not the dream of earnest men of all parties to have an end to our
long war, a peace final and honourable, wherein the soul of the country
can rest, revive and express itself; wherein poetry, music and art will
pour out in uninterrupted joy, the joy of deliverance, flashing in
splendour and superabundant in volume, evidence of long suppression?
This is the dream of us all. But who can hope for this final peace while
any part of our independence is denied? For, while we are connected in
any shape with the British Empire the connection implies some
dependence; this cannot be gainsaid; and who is so foolish as to expect
that there will be no collision with the British Parliament, while
there is this connection implying dependence on the British Empire? If
such a one exists he goes against all experience and all history. On
either side of the connection will be two interests--the English
interest and the Irish interest, and they will be always at variance.
Consider how parties within a single state are at variance,
Conservatives and Radicals, in any country in Europe. The proposals of
one are always insidious, dangerous or reactionary, as the case may be,
in the eyes of the other; and in no case will the parties agree; they
will at times even charge each other with treachery; there is never
peace. It is the rule of party war. Who, then, can hope for peace where
into the strife is imported a race difference, where the division is not
of party but of people? That is in truth the vain hope. And be it borne
in mind the race difference is not due to our predominating Gaelic
stock, but to the separate countries and to distinct households in the
human race. If we were all of English extraction the difference would
still exist. There is the historic case of the American States; it is
easy to understand. When a man's children come of age, they set up
establishments for themselves, and live independently; they are always
bound by affection to the parent-home; but if the father try to
interfere in the house of a son, and govern it in any detail, there will
be strife. It is hardly necessary to labour the point. If all the people
in this country were of English extraction and England were to claim on
that account that there should be a connection with her, and that it
should dominate the people here, there would be strife; and it could
have but one end--separation. We would, of whatever extraction, have
lived in natural neighbourliness with England, but she chose to trap and
harass us, and it will take long generations of goodwill to wipe out
some memories. Again, and yet again, let there be no confusion of
thought as to this final peace; it will never come while there is any
formal link of dependence. The spirit of our manhood will always flame
up to resent and resist that link. Separation and equality may restore
ties of friendship; nothing else can: for individual development and
general goodwill is the lesson of human life. We can be good neighbours,
but most dangerous enemies, and in the coming time our hereditary foe
cannot afford to have us on her flank. The present is promising; the
future is developing for us: we shall reach the goal. Let us see to it
that we shall be found worthy.
VI
That we be found worthy; let this be borne in mind. For it is true that
here only is our great danger. If with our freedom to win, our country
to open up, our future to develop, we learn no lesson from the mistakes
of nations and live no better life than the great Powers, we shall have
missed a golden opportunity, and shall be one of the failures of
history. So far, on superficial judgment, we have been accounted a
failure; though the simple maintenance of our fight for centuries has
been in itself a splendid triumph. But then only would we have failed in
the great sense, when we had got our field and wasted it, as the nations
around us waste theirs to-day. We led Europe once; let us lead again
with a beautiful realisation of freedom; and let us beware of the
delusion that is abroad, that we seek nothing more than to be free of
restraint, as England, France and Germany are to-day; let us beware of
the delusion that if we can scramble through anyhow to freedom we can
then begin to live worthily, but that in the interval we cannot be too
particular. That is the grim shadow that darkens our path, that falls
between us and a beautiful human life, and may drive us to that
tiger-like existence that makes havoc through the world to-day. Let us
beware. I do not say we must settle now all disputes, such as capital,
labour, and others, but that everyone should realise a duty to be
high-minded and honourable in action; to regard his fellow not as a man
to be circumvented, but as a brother to be sympathised with and
uplifted. Neither kingdom, republic, nor commune can regenerate us; it
is in the beautiful mind and a great ideal we shall find the charter of
our freedom; and this is the philosophy that it is most essential to
preach. We must not ignore it now, for how we work to-day will decide
how we shall live to-morrow; and if we are not scrupulous in our
struggle, we shall not be pure in our future state, I know there are
many who are not indifferent to high-minded action, but who live in
dread of an exacting code of life, fearing it will harass our movements
and make success impossible. Let us correct this mistake with the
reflection that the time is shaping for us. The power of our country is
strengthening; the grip of the enemy is slackening; every extension of
local government is a step nearer to independent government; the people
are not satisfied with an instalment; their capacity for further power
is developed, and they are equipped with weapons to win it. Even in our
time have we made great advance. Let one fact alone make this evident.
Less than twenty years ago the Irish language was despised; to-day the
movement to restore it is strong enough to have it made compulsory in
the National University. Can anyone doubt from this sign of the times
alone that the hour points to freedom, and we are on the road to
victory? That we shall win our freedom I have no doubt; that we shall
use it well I am not so certain, for see how sadly misused it is abroad
through the world to-day. That should be our final consideration, and we
should make this a resolution--our future history shall be more glorious
than that of any contemporary state. We shall look for prosperity, no
doubt, but let our enthusiasm be for beautiful living; we shall build up
our strength, yet not for conquest, but as a pledge of brotherhood and a
defence for the weaker ones of the earth; we shall take pride in our
institutions, not only as guaranteeing the stability of the state, but
as securing the happiness of the citizens, and we shall lead Europe
again as we led it of old. We shall rouse the world from a wicked dream
of material greed, of tyrannical power, of corrupt and callous politics
to the wonder of a regenerated spirit, a new and beautiful dream; and we
shall establish our state in a true freedom that will endure for ever.