LOYALTY
I
To be loyal to his cause is the finest tribute that can be paid to any
man. And since loyalty to the Irish cause has been the great virtue of
Irishmen through all history, it is time to have some clear thinking as
to who are the Irish rebels and who the true men. When a stupid
Government, grasping our reverence for fidelity, tried to ban our heroes
by calling them felons, it was natural we should rejoin by writing "The
Felons of our Land" and heap ridicule on their purpose. But once this
end was achieved we should have reverted to the normal attitude and
written up as the true Irish Loyalists, Brian the Great, and Shane the
Proud, the valiant Owen Roe and the peerless Tone, Mitchel and
Davis--irreconcilables all. When men revolt against an established evil
it is their loyalty to the outraged truth we honour. We do not extol a
rebel who rebels for rebellion's sake. Let us be clear on this point, or
when we shall have re-established our freedom after centuries of effort
it shall be open to every knave and traitor to challenge our
independence and plot to readmit the enemy. Loyalty is the fine
attribute of the fine nature; the word has been misused and maligned in
Ireland: let us restore it to its rightful honour by remembering it to
be the virtue of our heroes of all time. In considering it from this
view-point we shall find occasion to touch on delicate positions that
have often baffled and worried us--the asserting of our rights while
using the machinery of the Government that denies them, the burning
question of consistency, our attitude towards the political adventurer
on one hand, and towards the honest man of half-measures on the other.
Loyalty involves all this. And it shows that the man who revolts to win
freedom is the same as he who dies to defend it. He does not change his
face and nature with the changing times. He is loyal always and most
wonderfully lovable, because in the darkest times, when banned as wild,
wicked and rebelly, he is loyal still as from the beginning, and will be
to the end. Yes, Tone is the true Irish Loyalist, and every aider and
abettor of the enemy a rebel to Ireland and the Irish race.
II
When you insist on examining the question in the light of first
principles your opportunist opponent at once feels the weakness of his
position and always turns the point on your consistency. It is well,
then, in advance to understand the relative value and importance of
argument as argument in the statement of any case. A body of principles
is primarily of value, not as affording a case that can be argued with
ingenuity, but as enshrining one great principle that shines through and
informs the rest, that illumines the mind of the individual, that warms,
clarifies and invigorates--that, so to speak, puts the mind in focus,
gets the facts of existence into perspective, and gives the individual
everything in its right place and true proportion. It brings a man to
the point where he does not dispute but believes. He has been wandering
about cold and irresolute, tasting all philosophies, or none, and
drinking deep despair. He does not understand the want in his soul while
he has been looking for some panacea for its cure till the great light
streams on him, and instead of receiving something he finds himself.
That is it. There is a power of vision latent in us, clouded by error;
the true philosophy dissipates the cloud and leaves the vision clear,
wonderful and inspiring. He who acquired that vision is impervious to
argument--it is not that he despises argument; on the contrary, he
always uses it to its full strength. But he has had awakened within him
something which the mere logician can never deduce, and that mysterious
something is the explanation of his transformed life. He was a doubter,
a falterer, a failure; he has become a believer, a fighter, a conqueror.
You miss his significance completely when you take him for a theorist.
The theorist propounds a view to which he must convert the world; the
philosopher has a rule of life to immediately put into practice. His
spirit flashes with a swiftness that can be encircled by no theory. It
is his glory to have over and above a new penetrating argument in the
mind--a new and wonderful vitality in the blood. The unbeliever, near
by, still muddled by his cold theories, will argue and debate till his
intellect is in a tangle. He fails to see that a man of intellectual
agility might frame a theory and argue it out ably, and then suddenly
turn over and with equal dexterity argue the other side. Do we not have
set debates with speakers appointed on each side? That is dialectic--a
trick of the mind. But philosophy is the wine of the spirit. The
capacity then to argue the point is not the justification of a
philosophy. That justification must be found in the virtue of the
philosophy that gives its believer vision and grasp of life as a whole,
that warms and quickens his heart and makes him in spirit buoyant,
beautiful, wise and daring.
III
Let us come now to that burning question of consistency. "Very well, you
won't acknowledge the English Crown. Why then use English coins and
stamps? You don't recognise the Parliament at Westminster. Why then
recognise the County Councils created by Bill at Westminster? Why avail
of all the Local Government machinery?"--and so forth. The argument is a
familiar one, and the answer is simple. Though no guns are thundering
now, Ireland is virtually in a state of war. We are fighting to recover
independence. The enemy has had to relax somewhat in the exigencies of
the struggle and to concede all these positions of local government and
enterprise now in question. We take these posts as places conceded in
the fight and avail of them to strengthen, develop and uplift the
country and prepare her to carry the last post. Surely this is adequate.
On a field of battle it is always to the credit of a general to capture
an enemy's post and use it for the final victory. It is a sign of the
battle's progress, and tells the distant watchers on the hills how the
fight is faring and who is going to win. There would be consternation
away from the field only if word should come that the soldiers had gone
into the tents of the enemy, acknowledging him and accepting his flag.
That is the point to question. There can be no defence for the occupying
of any post conceded by the enemy. It may be held for or against
Ireland; any man accepting it and surrendering his flag to hold it
stands condemned thereby. That is clear. Yet it may be objected that
such a clear choice is not put to most of those undertaking the local
government of Ireland, that few are conscious of such an issue and few
governed by it. It is true. But for all that the machinery of local
government is clearly under popular control, and as clearly worked for
an immediate good, preparing for a greater end. Men unaware of it are
unconsciously working for the general development of the country and
recovering her old power and influence. Those conscious of the deeper
issue enter every position to further that development and make the end
obvious when the alien Government--finding those powers conceded to sap
further resistance are on the contrary used to conquer wider
fields--endeavours to force the popular government back to the purposes
of an old and failing tyranny. That is the nature of the struggle now.
At periods the enemy tries to stem the movement, and then the fight
becomes general and keen around a certain position. In our time there
were the Land Leagues, the Land War, fights for Home Rule,
Universities, Irish; and these fights ended in Land Acts, Local
Government Acts, University Acts, and the conceding of pride of place to
the native language in university life. Every position gained is a step
forward; it is accepted as such, and so is justified. For anyone who
grasps the serious purpose of recovering Ireland's independence all
along the line, the suggestion that we should abandon all machinery of
local government and enterprise--because they are "Government
positions"--to men definitely attached to the alien garrison is so
foolish as not to be even entertained. When our attitude is questioned
let it be made clear. That is the final answer to the man who challenges
our consistency: we are carrying the trenches of the enemy.
IV
Even while dismissing a false idea of consistency we have to make clear
another view still remote from the general mind. If we are to have an
effective army of freedom we must enrol only men who have a clear
conception of the goal, a readiness to yield full allegiance, and a
determination to fight always so as to reflect honour on the flag. The
importance of this will be felt only when we come to deal with concrete
cases. While human nature is what it is we will have always on the
outskirts of every movement a certain type of political adventurer who
is ready to transfer his allegiance from one party to another according
as he thinks the time serves. He has no principle but to be always with
the ascendant party, and to succeed in that aim he is ready to court and
betray every party in turn. As a result, he is a character well known to
all. The honest man who has been following the wrong path, and after
earnest inquiry comes to the flag, we readily distinguish. But it is
fatal to any enterprise where the adventurer is enlisted and where his
influence is allowed to dominate. It may seem strange that such men are
given entry to great movements: the explanation is found in the desire
of pioneers to make converts at once and convince the unconverted by the
confidence of growing numbers. We ignore the danger to our growing
strength when the adventurer comes along, loud in protest of his
support--he is always affable and plausible, and is received as a "man
of experience"; and in our anxiety for further strength we are apt to
admit him without reserve. But we must make sure of our man. We must
keep in mind that an alliance with the adventurer is more dangerous than
his opposition; and we must remember the general public, typified by the
man in the street whom we wish to convince, is quietly studying us,
attracted perhaps by our principles and coming nearer to examine. If he
knows nothing else, he knows the unprincipled man, and when he sees such
in our ranks and councils he will not wait to argue or ask questions; he
will go away and remain away. The extent to which men are ruled by the
old adage, "Show me your company and I'll tell you what you are," is
more widespread than we think. Moreover, consistency in a fine sense is
involved in our decision. We fight for freedom, not for the hope of
material profit or comfort, but because every fine instinct of manhood
demands that man be free, and life beautiful and brave, and surely in
such a splendid battle to have as allies mean, crafty profit-seekers
would be amazing. Let us be loyal in the deep sense, and let us not be
afraid of being few at first. An earnest band is more effective than a
discreditable multitude. That band will increase in numbers and strength
till it becomes the nucleus of an army that will be invincible.
V
The fine sense of consistency that keeps us clear of the adventurer
decides also our attitude to the well-meaning man of half-measures. He
says separation from England is not possible now and suggests some
alternative, if not Home Rule, Grattan's Parliament, or leaving it an
open question. In the general view this seems sensible, and we are
tempted to make an alliance based on such a ground; and the alliance is
made. What ensues? Men come together who believe in complete freedom,
others who believe in partial freedom that may lead to complete freedom,
and others who are satisfied with partial freedom as an end. Before long
the alliance ends in a deadlock. The man of the most far-reaching view
knows that every immediate action taken must be consistent with the
wider view and the farther goal, if that goal is to be attained; and he
finds that his ultimate principle is frequently involved in some action
proposed for the moment. When such a moment comes he must be loyal to
his flag and to a principle that if not generally acknowledged is an
abiding rule with him; but his allies refuse to be bound by a principle
that is an unwritten law for him because the law is not written down for
them. This is the root of the trouble. The friends, thinking to work
together for some common purpose, find the unsettled issue intrudes, and
a debate ensues that leads to angry words, recriminations, bad feeling
and disruption. The alliance based on half measures has not fulfilled
its own purpose, but it has sown suspicion between the honest men whom
it brought together; that is no good result from the practical proposal.
There is an inference: men who are conscious of a clear complete demand
should form their own plans, equally full of care and resolution, and go
ahead on their own account. But we hear a plaintive cry abroad: "Oh,
another split; that's Irishmen all over--can never unite," etc. We will
not turn aside for the plaintive people; but let it be understood there
can be an independent co-operation, where of use, with those honest men
who will not go the whole way. That independent co-operation can serve
the full purpose of the binding alliance that has proved fatal. Above
all, let there be no charge of bad faith against the earnest man who
chooses other ways than ours; it is altogether indefensible because we
disagree with him to call his motives in question. Often he is as
earnest as we are; often has given longer and greater service, and only
qualifies his own attitude in anxiety to meet others. To this we cannot
assent, but to charge him with bad faith is flagrantly unjust and always
calamitous. In getting rid of the deadlock we have too often fallen to
furiously fighting with one another. Let us bear this in mind, and
concern ourselves more with the common enemy; but let not the hands of
the men in the vanguard be tied by alien King, Constitution, or
Parliament. All the conditions grow more definite and seem, perhaps, too
exacting; remember the greatness of the enterprise. Suppose in the
building of a mighty edifice the architect at any point were careless or
slurred over a difficulty, trusting to luck to bring it right, how the
whole building would go awry, and what a mighty collapse would follow.
Let us stick to our colours and have no fear. When all these principles
have been combined into one consistent whole, a light will flash over
the land and the old spirit will be reborn; the mean will be purged of
their meanness, the timid heartened with a fine courage, and the
fearless will be justified: the land will be awake, militant, and
marching to victory.
VI
This is, surely, the fine view of loyalty. Let us write it on our
banners and proclaim it to the world. It is consistent, _honourable_,
fearless and immutable. What is said here to-day with enthusiasm,
exactness and care, will stand without emendation or enlargement, if in
a temporary reverse we are called to stand in the dock to-morrow; or if,
finely purged in the battle of freedom, we come through our last fight
with splendid triumph, our loyalty is there still, shining like a great
sun, the same beautiful, unchanging thing that has lighted us through
every struggle--perhaps now to guide us in framing a constitution and
giving to a world, distracted by kings, presidents and theorists, a new
polity for nations. A waverer, half-caught between the light, half
fearful with an old fear, pleads: "This is too much--we are men, not
angels." Precisely, we are not angels; and because of our human
weakness, our erring minds, our sudden passions, the most confident of
us may at any moment find himself in the mud. What, then, will uplift
him if he has been a waverer in principle as well as in fact? He is
helpless, disgraced and undone. Let him know in time we do not set up
fine principles in a fine conceit that we can easily live up to them,
but in the full consciousness that we cannot possibly live away from
them. That is the bed-rock truth. When the man of finer faith by any
slip comes to the earth, he has to uplift him a staff that never fails,
and to guide him a principle that strengthens him for another fight, to
go forth, in a sense Alexander never dreamed of, to conquer new worlds.
'Tis the faith that is in him, and the flag he serves, that make a man
worthy; and the meanest may be with the highest if he be true and give
good service. Let us put by then the broken reed and the craft of little
minds, and give us for our saving hope the banner of the angels and the
loyalty of gods and men.