RESISTANCE IN ARMS--OBJECTIONS
I
Having stated the case for resistance, it will serve us to consider some
objections. Many inquiring minds may be made happy by a clear view of
the doctrine, till some clever opponent holds them up with remarks on
prudence, possibly sensible, or remarks on revolutionists, most probably
wild, with, perhaps, the authority of a great name, or unfailing refuge
in the concrete. It is curious that while often noticed how men, trying
to evade a concrete issue, take refuge in the abstract, it is not
noticed that men, trying to avoid acknowledging the truth of some
principle, take refuge in the concrete. A living and pressing
difficulty, though transient, looms larger than any historical fact or
coming danger. Seeing this, we may restore confidence to a baffled mind,
by helping it to distinguish the contingent from the permanent. Thus, by
disposing of objections, we make our ground secure.
II
To the name of prudence the most imprudent people frequently appeal.
Those whose one effort is to evade difficulties, who to cover their
weakness plead patience, would be well advised to consider how men
passionately in earnest, enraged by these evasions, pour their scorn on
patience as a thing to shun. The plea does not succeed; it only for the
moment damages the prestige of a great name. Patience is not a virtue of
the weak but of the strong. An objector says: "Of course, all this is
right in the abstract, but consider the frightful abuses in practice,"
and some apt replies spring to mind. Dr. Murray, writing on "Mental
Reservation," in his _Essays, chiefly Theological_, speaks thus: "But it
is no objection to any principle of morals to say that unscrupulous men
will abuse it, or that, if publicly preached to such and such an
audience or in such and such circumstances, it will lead to mischief."
This is admirable, to which the objector can only give some helpless
repetitions. With Balmez, we reply: "But in recommending prudence to the
people let us not disguise it under false doctrines--let us beware of
calming the exasperation of misfortune by circulating errors subversive
of all governments, of all society." (_European Civilisation_, Chap.
55.) Of men who shrink from investigating such questions, Balmez wrote:
"I may be permitted to observe that their prudence is quite thrown away,
that their foresight and precaution are of no avail. Whether they
investigate these questions or not, they _are_ investigated, agitated
and decided, in a manner that we must deplore." (Ibid. Chap. 54.) Take
with this Turner on France under the old _régime_ and the many and
serious grievances of the people: "The Church, whose duty it was to
inculcate justice and forbearance, was identified, in the minds of the
people, with the Monarchy which they feared and detested." (_History of
Philosophy_, Chap. 59.) The moral is that when injustice and evil are
rampant, let us have no palliation, no weakness disguising itself as a
virtue. What we cannot at once resist, we can always repudiate. To
ignore these things is the worst form of imprudence--an imprudence which
we, for our part at least, take the occasion here heartily to disclaim.
III
There is so much ill-considered use of the word revolutionist, we should
bear in mind it is a strictly relative term. If the freedom of a people
is overthrown by treachery and violence, and oppression practised on
their once thriving land, that is a revolution, and a bad revolution.
If, with tyranny enthroned and a land wasting under oppression, the
people rise and by their native courage, resource and patience
re-establish in their original independence a just government, that is a
revolution, and a good revolution. The revolutionist is to be judged by
his motives, methods and ends; and, when found true, his insurrection,
in the words of Mackintosh, is "an act of public virtue." It is the
restoration of, Truth to its place of honour among men.
IV
Balmez mentions Bossuet as apparently one who denies the right here
maintained; and we may with profit read some things Bossuet has said in
another context, yet which touches closely what is our concern. Writing
of _Les Empires_, thus Bossuet: "Les révolutions des empires sont
réglées par la providence, et servent à humilier les princes." This is
hardly calculated to deter us from a bid for freedom; and if we go on to
read what he has written further under this heading, we get testimony to
the hardihood and love of freedom and country that distinguished early
Greece and Rome in language of eloquence that might inflame any people
to liberty. Of undegenerate Greece, free and invincible: "Mais ce que la
Grece avait de plus grand était une politique ferme et prévoyante, qui
savait abandonner, hasarder et défendre, ce qu'il fallait; et, ce qui
est plus grand encore, un courage que l'amour de la liberté et celui de
la patrie rendaient invincible." Of undegenerate Rome, her liberty: "La
liberté leur était donc un trésor qu'ils préferoient à toutes les
richesses de l'univers." Again: "La maxime fondamentale de la
république était de regarder la liberté comme une chose inséparable du
nom Roman." And her constancy: "Voila de fruit glorieux de la patience
Romaine. Des peuples qui s'enhardissaient et se fortifiaient par leurs
malheurs avaient bien raison de croire qu'on sauvait tout pourvu qu'on
ne perdit pas l'esperance." And again: "Parmi eux, dans les états les
plus tristes, jamais les faibles conseils n'ont été seulement écoutés."
The reading of such a fine tribute to the glory of ancient liberties is
not likely to diminish our desire for freedom; rather, to add to the
natural stimulus found in our own splendid traditions, the further
stimulus of this thought that must whisper to us: "Persevere and
conquer, and to-morrow our finest opponent will be our finest panegyrist
when the battle has been fought and won."
V
In conclusion, in the concrete this simple fact will suffice: we have
established immutable principles; the concrete circumstances are
contingent and vary. It is admirably put in the following passage: "The
historical and sociological sciences, so carefully cultivated in modern
times, have proved to evidence that social conditions _vary_ with the
epoch and the country, that they are the resultant of quite a number of
fluctuating influences, and that, accordingly, the science of Natural
Right should not merely establish _immutable_ principles bearing on the
moral end of man, but should likewise deal with the _contingent_
circumstances accompanying the application of those principles." (De
Wulf, _Scholasticism, Old and New_, Part 2, Chap. 2, Sec. 33.) Yes, and
if we apply principles to-morrow, it is not with the conditions of
to-day we must deal, but "with the contingent circumstances accompanying
the application of those principles." Let that be emphasised. The
conditions of twenty years ago are vastly changed to-day; and how
altered the conditions of to-morrow can be, how astonishing can be the
change in the short span of twenty years, let this fact prove. Ireland
in '48 was prostrate after a successful starvation and an unsuccessful
rising--to all appearances this time hopelessly crushed; yet within
twenty years another rising was planned that shook English government in
Ireland to its foundations. Let us bear in mind this further from De
Wulf: "Sociology, understood in the wider and larger sense, is
transforming the methods of the science of Natural Right." In view of
that transformation he is wise who looks to to-morrow. What De Wulf
concludes we may well endorse, when he asks us to take facts as they are
brought to light and study "each question on its merits, in the light of
these facts and not merely in its present setting but as presented in
the pages of history." It can be fairly said of those who have always
stood for the separation of Ireland from the British Empire, that they
alone have always appealed to historical evidence, have always regarded
the conditions of the moment as transient, have always discussed
possible future contingencies. The men who temporised were always
hypnotised by the conditions of the hour. But in the life-story of a
nation stretching over thousands of years, the British occupation is a
contingent circumstance, and the immutable principle is the Liberty of
the Irish People.