am echoing the sentiments of most of my fellow-countrymen, that the only
way to liberate Ireland is to dominate England, not physically, for this
would be as useless as it would be impossible, but mentally and morally.
If the Irishman has been persecuted and tyrannized over, it is in virtue
of certain ideals and principles which are ethically and economically
inferior to his, and which he has consequently to crush in the very
source, as much for his own sake as for those other members of the
Empire to which, if it has been a misfortune to belong in the past, it
may be an advantage and an honour to belong to-morrow.
If Castle government is wrong in Dublin it is wrong elsewhere; if
militarism was wrong and foolish and futile in Cromwell's day, it is
wrong to-day, to-morrow, and for all time; if England really intends at
the great Peace Congress to come forward as the champion of small
nations, she must be able to show an Ireland prosperous, contented, and
freely allied to her without the aid of a single soldier or a single
threat.
Such at least is the hope of all those who believe that only when we
have solved the Irish problem have we solved the problem of Empire.
Primarily, however, the task is in Ireland's own hands: for England at
this moment stands not unwilling or hostile so much as perplexed and
bewildered at the strange eruption that has taken place, and which must
be taken rather as an indication of a chronic state than the expression
of any concrete or definite complaint.
In other words, there is already a new nationalism in the making, more
idealistic, more spiritual, more constructive, and more comprehensive
than the old nationalism, which was to a large extent geographical,
material, and traditional to an almost stifling degree: the eyes of the
younger men are fixed on the future, those of the older men are fixed
upon the past.
The older generation will probably die immutable in mind, like veterans,
nor will they ever try to mingle, but on all sides and in every sphere
the younger generation has already shaken hands.
The spirit of the two is the same, the aspirations just as intense, but
their methods are different: geographical isolation is against natural
evolution and "Separatism" an economic, racial, and military
impossibility--this last rebellion has exploded the myth; but all this
will only have the effect of changing the ever-living consciousness of
nationality into different channels.
Instead of being expansive, our patriotism will tend to be more
intensive: our combat with England will no longer be with arms, but with
thoughts and ideas, and the nobler and the truer will win; and it is in
this contest that "Sinn Fein" will come forward with new force of the
"living dead." If Ireland cannot be the strongest nation, she can be the
freest; if she cannot be the greatest, she can be the purest; if she
cannot be the richest, she can be the happiest and the kindliest: and as
Greece conquered ancient Rome, so may Ireland some day conquer England,
if those ideals which were bred and nurtured within her bosom can be
made to dominate the inferior Saxon till they spread throughout the
world; and that is why, whatever happens, Ireland must keep her
"nationality" free by whatever means lie at her hands, and that was the
root cause of the revolt, if we are to believe the words of the men who
suffered.
"Others have been struck before now," said Pearse in the course of an
address which he delivered in October 1897 to a young men's literary
society, "by the fact that hundreds of noble men and true have fought
and bled for the emancipation of the Gaelic race, and yet have all
failed. Surely, if ever cause was worthy of success, it was the cause
for which Laurence prayed, for which Hugh of Dungannon planned, for
which Hugh Roe and Owen Roe fought, for which Wolfe Tone and Lord Edward
and Robert Emmet gave their lives, for which Grattan pleaded, for which
Moore and Davis sang, for which O'Connell wore himself out with toil.
Yet these men prayed and planned, and fought and bled, and pleaded and
wrote and toiled in vain. May it not be that there is some reason for
this? May it not be that the ends they struggled for were ends never
intended for the Gael?... The Gael is not like other men; the spade and
the loom and the sword are not for him. But a destiny more glorious than
that of Rome, more glorious than that of Britain, awaits him: to become
the saviour of idealism in modern intellectual and social life, the
regenerator and rejuvenator of the literature of the world, the
instructor of the nations, the preacher of the gospel of nature-worship,
hero-worship, God-worship--such is the destiny of the Gael."
The Gresham Press
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED
WOKING AND LONDON