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IRELAND: TO-DAY AND 
 TO-MORROW 
 
IRELAND: TO-DAY 
 AND TO-MORROW 
 
 BY 
 
 E. B. IWAN-MULLER 
 
 h 
 
 THE * DAILY TELEGRAPH ' SPECIAL COMMISSIONER TO IRELAND 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. WALTER H. LONG, M.P. 
 
 . -^o^, noMEGf: LT-Ar'> 
 
 LONDON 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, Ltd. 
 1907 
 
 BOm^tm €wi^Li.v>K LIBEARf 
 
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, 
 
 bread street hill, e.c., and 
 
 bungay, suffolk. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THIS little book contains, in amended and 
 slightly expanded form, a series of 
 letters which appeared in the Daily 
 Telegraph during the months of February 
 and March last. I have to thank the proprie- 
 tors of that paper for the permission given, 
 with their habitual kindness and courtesy, to 
 republish my com.munications. This book, like 
 the original articles, is quite unpretentious in 
 scope. It aims at no more than supplying its 
 readers with facts and movements which any of 
 them, with a fair elementary knowledge of recent 
 Irish history, could discover for themselves by 
 a tour of inspection in Ireland. Had I had 
 no other material to work upon than a stay in 
 Ireland of little less than a month, blue books, 
 official papers and the like, I should lay myself 
 open to the criticism which the late Colonel 
 E. King-Harman — from whom in years gone 
 by I learnt much — used to pass upon the 
 earlier Land Commissioners. ^ '* They come 
 
 v - JO'^ 
 
Preface 
 
 down to an estate," he was wont to say, ''shove 
 a walking-stick into the soil, smell it, and cry 
 'five shillings an acre.'" But circumstances 
 gave me an opportunity of studying Irish 
 questions on the spot twenty years and more 
 ago, both before and after I adopted journalism 
 as a career. The interest then aroused has 
 never waned, and has been stimulated by the 
 requirements of my professional duties. I had 
 therefore a useful standard to work by. As, 
 through the kindness of a friend, I had the use 
 of a motor car, I was enabled not only to cover 
 much ground, but to obtain on the road very 
 valuable information imparted to me by persons 
 of all politics, creeds and classes, who had no 
 idea that I was upon a mission. I started on 
 the principle of accepting all opinions and com- 
 munications under the seal of confidence, unless 
 those who were good enough to enlighten me 
 desired otherwise. I found, for very obvious 
 reasons, most preferred to have their names 
 and all clues to their identity withheld. With 
 this undertaking I have rigidly complied. The 
 Irish peasants, who are the most courteous and 
 naturally well-bred people I have ever known, 
 always seek to please and gratify a stranger, and 
 
 vi 
 
Preface 
 
 consequently more allowance than usual must 
 be made for '' the personal equation." But 
 as not one in a hundred with whom I talked 
 knew who or what I was, or to what school of 
 politics I belonged, the information I gleaned 
 was generally trustworthy. One proof of this is 
 that I listened to amazing criticisms of politicians 
 of all sorts, in the most unlikely quarters. I 
 have heard Unionist leaders assailed by Union- 
 ists and Nationalists by Nationalists, in language 
 which left nothing to be desired in the way of 
 candour. I do not profess to have gone to 
 Ireland with an open mind in the sense that 
 I tried to dismiss from my mind all that I had 
 known and learnt of Ireland in the past. But 
 I can say conscientiously that I have not 
 deliberately set down aught in malice. There 
 has been no period in my life when I had not 
 a feeling of affection for the Irish, and of 
 admiration for their engaging qualities and 
 great natural ability. And though the Imperial 
 factor was never absent from my mind, I found 
 myself generally and often unconsciously asking 
 myself, ''How will this proposed change or that 
 affect, not the United Kingdom, but Ireland 
 and her inhabitants?" It is not a sufficient 
 
 vii 
 
Preface 
 
 rejoinder to say, ''Surely they are the best 
 judges of that." It might be an adequate retort 
 if the bulk of the Irish people would do their 
 thinking for themselves, and not, as they 
 indolently do, let the politicians think for 
 them. The representative principle is not 
 understood in Ireland as it is elsewhere. A 
 Junta not in itself representative save in the 
 narrowest technical meaning of the word, 
 imposes a delegate of its own — pledged to 
 abide by the judgment of a majority of the 
 Junta — upon seven-tenths of the constituencies 
 in Ireland. They may be known to their con- 
 stituents or they may not; they may ''represent" 
 their views, or again they may not. They 
 come to Westminster not to represent the 
 people, but to register the decrees of a practically 
 irresponsible Caucus in Dublin. There is very 
 little heckling at elections, because there are 
 so many ''unopposed returns," and so the voter 
 has no means of knowing or of thinking whether 
 that which will be demanded or proposed in 
 his name will really suit his needs and serve 
 his interests. The chief merit of " Pat's " 
 Economics for Irishmen, so often quoted in 
 the following pages, is that it encourages the 
 
 viii 
 
Preface 
 
 Irishman to think for himself. In Ireland it is 
 impossible to exclude the religious factor from 
 any political disquisition, but I have striven 
 to distinguish between spiritual and secular 
 influence, though they are combined in the 
 priest, and I should be sorry indeed if anything 
 in these pages gave offence to a priesthood for 
 which, in its spiritual capacity, it is impossible 
 not to feel great admiration and esteem. With 
 regard to the title of the book : the letters 
 in the Daily Telegraph appeared under the 
 heading '' Ireland's Future ; " I felt the title 
 was not quite appropriate, and I altered it to 
 '' Ireland : To-day and To-morrow." Soon 
 after I had communicated this change to the 
 publishers I discovered to my dismay that I 
 had unwittingly pilfered the new title from 
 Mr. Stephen Gwynn, M.P., who had used it 
 to cover a series of essays published some 
 four or five years ago. I at once wrote to 
 him to ask if he desired that I should abandon 
 the " borrowed plume." With the courtesy 
 and kindness to be expected of him he bade 
 me " stick to my title," and desired me to say 
 if I referred to the incident at all, that he 
 himself had also unconsciously "conveyed" the 
 
 ix 
 
Preface 
 
 self-same title from certain magazine articles 
 published by Sir Horace Plunkett. I have to 
 thank Mr. Walter Long most cordially for the 
 admirable introduction he has been good enough 
 to find time, in his strenuous and over-taxed 
 hours, to write, and I need hardly add that he 
 is in no way responsible for the views I have 
 ventured to express. 
 
 E. B. IWAN-MULLER. 
 
 Chelsea Court, 
 
 April 1907. 
 
 X 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 By the Right Hon. WALTER H. LONG, M.R 
 
 I ACCEPT with great diffidence, but 
 much pleasure, the invitation to 
 write an introduction to this book. 
 
 As we are shortly to be plunged again 
 into the discussion of Irish problems, it 
 is very valuable and helpful to have the 
 clear-sighted testimony of an intelligent 
 student of Irish history and of Irish 
 affairs. The charge which is most 
 frequently made against the Unionist 
 Party is that their only policy is one 
 of Coercion, and that under the rule of 
 England, Ireland has suffered heavily, 
 and is consequently a long way behind 
 England and Scotland in her general 
 
 social condition. A careful study of the 
 
 xi 
 
Introduction 
 
 following pages will, I think, convince 
 
 the impartial reader that there is no 
 
 foundation whatever for this charge. 
 
 While, no doubt, the Unionists have 
 
 strenuously maintained the law, and 
 
 thereby given freedom to all to go about 
 
 their business in their own way so long 
 
 as they do not interfere with their 
 
 neighbours, they have at the same time 
 
 passed a long list of measures which have 
 
 had for their object the improvement of 
 
 the general condition of Ireland. This 
 
 book shows in the clearest possible 
 
 manner how remarkable has been the 
 
 success of much of this legislation : the 
 
 development of the means of internal 
 
 communication, the establishment of the 
 
 Congested Districts Board, and of the 
 
 Department of Agriculture and Technical 
 
 Instruction, have all been giant strides 
 
 in this direction. If Ireland still lags 
 
 behind in the race for industrial and 
 
 xii 
 
Introduction 
 
 commercial prosperity, it will, I think, 
 be found from a perusal of this volume 
 that the fault lies, not with England and 
 English rule, but rather with those people 
 in Ireland who have preferred political 
 agitation to agricultural and industrial 
 development. The very interesting 
 statistics which are here given prove 
 how remarkable has been the progress 
 of Ireland in the last twenty-five years, 
 and afford, it seems to me, just ground 
 for believing that a continuance of recent 
 methods of administration would result 
 in even more marked improvements. 
 
 One question that is always to the 
 fore is that of Education in all its 
 branches. In regard to Higher Educa- 
 tion, I do not intend to do more than 
 remark that it is proposed to legislate, 
 in what seems to be the most controversial 
 manner, in reference to a subject which 
 
 is outside the domain of purely Irish 
 
 xiii 
 
Introduction 
 
 questions, inasmuch as it affects the 
 standing and position of Universities 
 throughout the world. 
 
 In regard to Intermediate Education, 
 all that I think is really necessary is 
 that it shall be linked up with Primary 
 Education, and that it shall be made 
 somewhat easier for an intelligent boy 
 in the elementary school to gain access 
 to higher grade or intermediate school, 
 in order that he may be properly trained 
 for the work of life. 
 
 Primary Education has a special 
 character in Ireland, which does call 
 for some reference. The past history of 
 Ireland in regard to Primary Education 
 is plainly set forth in these pages, and 
 it is shown how unfair it is to allege, as 
 is so frequently done, that the unsatis- 
 factory condition of elementary schools 
 is due to English misrule. The real 
 
 truth is that in order to maintain in its 
 
 xiv 
 
Introduction 
 
 entirety what is the purest form of 
 denominational Education which is to 
 be found in existence in any country, 
 schools have been multiplied to so large 
 an extent that it has proved impossible 
 either adequately to maintain their build- 
 ings or properly to equip them with a 
 teaching staff. This is not the fault of 
 English rule, but is the inevitable result 
 of the system which has been deliberately 
 adopted in Ireland, While it is, I fear, 
 hopeless to expect that any great change 
 can be made in this respect, I think 
 these pages show that it would be 
 possible to do something of a practical 
 and substantial kind which would lead to 
 an improvement, and would therefore be 
 of great advantage to the Irish people. 
 
 Anybody who has read a small volume 
 recently published, called Economics for 
 Irishmen, by '' Pat," must be impressed by 
 the plain story there told, which shows 
 
 XV 
 
Introduction 
 
 that the real reason why Ireland has not 
 progressed so much as England and 
 Scotland is, as I have already stated, 
 because too much attention has been 
 paid to politics and too little to business. 
 
 The following pages give the results 
 of a careful and intelligent study of Irish 
 problems by one who has been familiar 
 with Irish questions for many years, who 
 has been frequently in Ireland, and who 
 is well able to form trustworthy opinions. 
 It is, I think, made quite clear that 
 whatever changes of Government Ireland 
 wants, she does not require anything in 
 the form of Devolution, still less of 
 Home Rule. 
 
 It is plainly shown in the reference to 
 
 Devolution, that in some ways it would 
 
 be found more dangerous than Home 
 
 Rule, as the writer tersely says — 
 
 '' Nobody would be more disappointed 
 
 if it (Devolution) proved a success than 
 
 xvi 
 
Introduction 
 
 those who granted it as an instalment 
 would be, or those who accepted it as 
 such. The very members who would 
 sit on this elected Body would be men 
 pledged by their past utterances to prove 
 the utter insufficiency of the expedient. 
 No one who knows Ireland can doubt that 
 such proof would be immediately forth- 
 coming." This is a very powerful and, 
 in my judgment, an absolutely unanswer- 
 able criticism. If we believe that a friend 
 of ours is in danger and is likely to be 
 seriously attacked, it would be a prudent 
 and sensible act to present him with a 
 revolver and cartridges in order that he 
 may use them for his own defence against 
 his enemies ; but if we have reason to 
 fear that the first use he will make of the 
 revolver will be to turn it upon ourselves, 
 then we shall be rash indeed if we give 
 him this means of doing us mortal injury. 
 This appears to be the situation in regard 
 
 XVll 
 
Introduction 
 
 to Devolution. If we are justified in 
 
 believing that any measure of this kind 
 
 will be employed by the Irish people to 
 
 develop their own industries and generally 
 
 to help themselves, we may regard its 
 
 concession with complacency. If, on the 
 
 other hand, we know, as we do without 
 
 any room for doubt, that it would be 
 
 used by the majority in Ireland in order 
 
 to advance the cause which they have 
 
 at heart, viz. to make Home Rule the 
 
 inevitable consequence, surely we shall be 
 
 shutting our eyes to plain facts and be 
 
 guilty of criminal folly if, from some 
 
 sentimental or other reason, we concede 
 
 demands made in the spirit indicated by 
 
 the remarks I have quoted. 
 
 What is really wanted is that the 
 
 people of England shall look this question 
 
 fairly and squarely in the face, shall 
 
 realise for themselves what the past 
 
 history of Ireland has been, and what are 
 
 xviii 
 
Introduction 
 
 the true results which have flowed from 
 
 it, and shall also realise what are the 
 
 demands now made by the Nationalist 
 
 Party, and how far they are likely to be 
 
 effected by the grant of any measure of 
 
 self-government. The demand hitherto 
 
 made has been that Ireland shall be put 
 
 in a position precisely similar to that 
 
 occupied by England and Scotland. But 
 
 a proposal to establish a National Council 
 
 in Dublin which is in some way or other 
 
 to intervene between Parliament and the 
 
 Government of Ireland, is not to put 
 
 Ireland in the same position as England 
 
 and Scotland, but to put her in a totally 
 
 diff'erent position ; and we ought to know 
 
 whether the experiment is to be made in 
 
 Ireland in order that it may be tried later 
 
 on in the rest of the United Kingdom. 
 
 Surely, before granting it to Ireland we 
 
 ought to be satisfied that there is some 
 
 reasonable prospect of success, and that 
 
 xix 
 
Introduction 
 
 it will satisfy those aspirations which are 
 indulged in by a large section of the Irish 
 people, viz. that it will secure a greater 
 measure of prosperity for the country. 
 
 It is because I believe that a careful 
 study of these pages will help the student 
 of Irish affairs to form a clearer judgment 
 of the real issues before us that I 
 commend them to all who are interested 
 in the solution of the Irish problem, 
 in other words every thoughtful citizen 
 in the Empire. We are told by the 
 Government that the ultimate goal they 
 have before them is Home Rule on the 
 Colonial model. These pages make it 
 perfectly clear that Ireland left to her- 
 self must go steadily back, and that if 
 she is to advance she must have the 
 benefit of the credit and resources of the 
 United Kingdom at her back. If the 
 reader comes to the conclusion, to which 
 I think he must come, that whatever there 
 
 XX 
 
Introduction 
 
 is which is unsatisfactory in Ireland is 
 due to the causes which are described 
 here, and not to the causes which are 
 so constantly alleged by Nationalists, he 
 will, I think, be forced to the further 
 conclusion that no tampering with the 
 system of government will be likely to 
 do any good. What is wanted, on the 
 contrary, is a continuance of that policy 
 which has already done so much for 
 Ireland, and which, if given a fair chance, 
 would be able to do a great deal more. 
 
 The statement that Unionist feeling in 
 Ireland has weakened, and that there is 
 growing, even in Belfast and the north, 
 a demand for something in the form of 
 Devolution, and that there is less en- 
 thusiasm for the cause of the Union is, I 
 believe, altogether misleading. Circum- 
 stances connected with the government of 
 Ireland in recent years have no doubt led 
 
 a certain section of the Unionist Party 
 
 xxi 
 
Introduction 
 
 in Ireland to express themselves in no 
 uncertain terms as to the treatment they 
 conceive they have received at the hands 
 of the British Government, and this has 
 been interpreted as implying that they 
 are less enthusiastic about the cause of 
 the Union. The truth is that occasion- 
 ally men in authority are captivated by 
 the charms of the dark Rosalin, and are 
 tempted to believe that they have found 
 the golden key which is to open the door 
 through which Ireland shall pass to 
 peace, prosperity and contentment. In 
 Ireland, as in other countries, there is no 
 such key to be found, and those who 
 have tried the experiment have to their 
 sorrow learned the truth of this simple 
 statement. These happy results which 
 we all desire to see accomplished can only 
 be attained in Ireland, as elsewhere, by a 
 combination of various conditions which 
 
 will be produced by efforts very similar 
 
 xxii 
 
Introduction 
 
 to those which have produced them in 
 other parts of the United Kingdom and 
 in some parts of Ireland herself. 
 
 A study of the history and results of 
 the application to Ireland of the Local 
 Government system previously granted 
 to England and Scotland is very helpful 
 in considering the new policy. Startling 
 figures have recently been given in the 
 public press, criticised no doubt by Lord 
 Dunraven, but in no sense disposed of 
 or even qualified by him, which show 
 that not only have the party in a majority 
 in Ireland used their privileges to secure 
 party majorities upon the Councils in all 
 the counties in Ireland, save five of the 
 northern ones, but have, it is asserted, 
 gone even farther than this in the selec- 
 tion they have made of the officials to 
 serve under them. In some parts of 
 England and Scotland and of Wales 
 
 there was, no doubt, an attempt to man 
 
 xxiii 
 
Introduction 
 
 the Councils with men of one political 
 party, but so far as I know there never 
 has been an attempt over here to demand 
 of officials adherence to a certain political 
 faith before they could be regarded as 
 eligible for public appointments. This, 
 I think, bears eloquent testimony to the 
 opinion so strongly held by Unionists, 
 that it would not be safe or fair to the 
 minority to extend in any way the power 
 already possessed by the majority in 
 Ireland. 
 
 It is customary for some people to 
 criticise Unionists in Ireland as being 
 unreasonable and bigoted. I think these 
 critics altogether fail to realise how 
 humiliating and painful is the position 
 of an Irishman anxious to live in Ireland 
 in the home of his fathers, and to par- 
 ticipate in the development of Irish 
 industrial and agricultural life — in other 
 
 words, to do his duty as an Irishman — 
 
 xxiv 
 
Introduction 
 
 when he finds he is precluded from 
 taking any share in local affairs, simply 
 and solely because he is loyal to the 
 Union, and will not for personal gain 
 or advantage abandon the platform on 
 which he stands in common with the 
 great mass of his fellow-countrymen in 
 the United Kingdom. Let any man 
 who takes part in the government of 
 his county or town ask himself what his 
 view would be if he knew that he would 
 not be allowed to serve on any local 
 authority, however experienced, indus- 
 trious and zealous he may be, if he 
 happens to hold views which are incon- 
 sistent v/ith those held by the majority 
 in the country; he will then be able to 
 realise what is the position. No doubt, 
 a similar state of things will be found 
 in a few isolated cases in England and 
 Scotland, but with the exception of the 
 Unionist corner of Ulster, it is universal 
 
 XXV 
 
Introduction 
 
 throughout the whole of Ireland. Surely, 
 we must ask ourselves, what is the experi- 
 ence of the past, and what have been the 
 uses made by Irishmen of the privileges 
 already given them ? It is by tests such 
 as these that we can alone arrive at a just 
 conclusion as to any fresh development. 
 By no means the least interesting or 
 least instructive portions of this book 
 are those in which the writer classifies 
 the various forms of Irish Government 
 reforms. It will, perhaps, be a little 
 difficult at first for the ordinary reader to 
 appreciate the conclusion at which he 
 arrives, viz. that of the three policies — 
 Separation, Home Rule, or Devolution — 
 the worst is the latter; but I entirely 
 agree with him. Those who wish to 
 alter the Irish Government, and bring it 
 into conformity with the somewhat cant 
 phrase, ''the wishes of the Irish people," 
 
 must surely do so in whole and not in 
 
 xxvi 
 
Introduction 
 
 part. This attempt to deal with the Irish 
 question by some '' half-measure " was 
 disposed of unanswerably by Mr. Glad- 
 stone more than twenty years ago. The 
 views which he then expressed hold good, 
 if possible, with double force to-day. 
 Devolution would produce chaos in 
 government, would weaken the bond 
 which binds Ireland to Great Britain, 
 would undoubtedly pave the way for 
 Home Rule, would add immensely to the 
 complexities of the problem, would prove 
 embarrassing to the United Kingdom, 
 and would leave us with an even greater 
 responsibility than we possess at the 
 present timxC. 
 
 Home Rule is worse from the United 
 Kingdom point of view than Separation, 
 because, while it would mean practically 
 the same thing, it would leave Great 
 Britain with the responsibility for, and 
 
 the mischief caused by, all the steps 
 xxvii 
 
Introduction 
 
 taken by the Irish Administration, as the 
 supremacy of the Imperial Parliament 
 would be held to be a real safeguard, 
 while the most casual student must 
 realise that once you establish a Parlia- 
 ment in Dublin it will be practically 
 impossible without the use of arms to 
 enforce the Imperial veto. 
 
 There remains, then, only Separation, 
 a policy which, I believe, no citizen of 
 the United Kingdom will seriously 
 contemplate, and yet from the United 
 Kingdom point of view it is probably less 
 objectionable than the other two, because 
 it would make it perfectly clear that 
 Ireland, and Ireland alone, would be 
 responsible for her attitude in all 
 questions both Imperial and local. 
 
 But the question must also be examined 
 from the Imperial point of view. 
 
 The Prime Minister's declaration is to 
 
 the effect that the model he has in view 
 xxviii 
 
Introduction 
 
 is the Colonial one. Surely it must be 
 conceded that the control of the Imperial 
 Parliament over Canada or Australia, or 
 any of our self-governing Colonies, is of 
 the most slender description. In this con- 
 nection I would venture to quote Lord 
 Rosebery's striking sentence in his 
 speech the other day to the Liberal 
 League : '' I am also under the imipression 
 that whereas we are delighted to see self- 
 government carried to the extreme of 
 independence, united only to the Mother 
 Country by the Crown, in Australia and 
 Canada, it would be a very different 
 matter when it is in a contiguous island 
 which prides itself on the disloyalty of 
 its public declarations." This is the 
 carefully-considered utterance of a great 
 Liberal statesman, not of a Southern 
 Irish Unionist or a Northern Orange- 
 man. If any of these Colonies elected to 
 
 abandon the connection with the Mother 
 
 xxix 
 
Introduction 
 
 Country and join some other government, 
 is it conceivable that by any means we 
 could prevent them from doing so ? Their 
 loss would be a great disaster to us ; we 
 should suffer in prestige, in strength, 
 and in our position amongst the nations 
 of the world ; but for purposes of national 
 defence, for the protection of our own 
 shores, we should not be in any way 
 affected. Colonies which lie thousands 
 of miles from our shores cannot seriously 
 affect for good or for evil the precautions 
 which we think it necessary to adopt in 
 order to secure ourselves from invasion 
 and attack. This cannot be said of 
 Ireland. She lies athwart our western 
 seaboard, she could do immense mischief 
 if she wished in times of national strain 
 and peril, and surely a great people, such 
 as we are, conscious of our strength, 
 mindful of our responsibilities, grateful 
 for the splendid heritage which we have 
 
 XXX 
 
''^'' I' ^^G E Llf3RARY 
 
 '^-'t.o^K'UT HILL. MASS. 
 
 Introduction 
 
 received as a result of the devotion, 
 sacrifice, and labour of our forefathers, 
 cannot now falter in the supreme moment 
 when we are called upon to decide as 
 between Unity and Separation. 
 
 As I have said, this book plainly 
 demonstrates the dangers of the two 
 alternative policies — Home Rule under 
 Imperial supremacy, or Devolution ; and 
 whether from^ the Irish point of view, or 
 from the larger point of view of the 
 interests of the United Kingdom, I am 
 confident that a close study of the con- 
 clusions at which the writer has arrived, 
 and of the grounds upon which he bases 
 them, will materially assist us in arriving 
 at a wise decision. 
 
 XXXI 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 Preface . . . . . v 
 
 Introduction .... xi 
 
 I. Yesterday ..... i 
 
 II. Ireland To-day . . . 21 
 
 III. Cross-Currents . . . -31 
 
 IV. The Tyranny of the U. I. L. . 65 
 V. The Priest and Politics . . -91 
 
 VI. The Land . . . . 112 
 
 VII. Remedial Work . . . • ^57 
 
 VIII. Self-Help .... 187 
 
 IX. Education . . . . .206 
 
 X. Higher Education . . . 220 
 
 XI. Conclusion ..... 242 
 
 xxxii 
 
IRELAND TO-DAY AND 
 TO-MORROW 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 YESTERDAY 
 
 TO begin a book on " To-day and To- 
 morrow " with a chapter on ** Yester- 
 day " is but another way of asserting 
 the truism that a forecast of what is to happen 
 is visionary unless it is based upon what has 
 happened^ and is happening. For the purpose 
 of this treatise it is not necessary to go further 
 back in Irish history than to a period within 
 the memory of men who have reached, or have 
 just passed, middle age. It is sufficient for me 
 to review very briefly the course of events 
 since I first knew Ireland and something 
 about Ireland. In the early seventies personal 
 reasons and friendships induced me to study 
 the Irish problem ; my actual experience of the 
 country began in the later seventies and the 
 early eighties, and was renewed in the years 
 I 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 of Mr. Arthur Balfour's Chief Secretaryship. 
 Since 1889 I had not been in the country till 
 I was despatched upon a mission for the Daily 
 Telegraph in the early days of 1907. To 
 revisit Ireland after an interval of eighteen 
 years is to recall many memories, grave and 
 gay, social and political, many hopes dis- 
 appointed, some fears not realised, and to find 
 many changes expected and unexpected. 
 
 In the early seventies the country was still 
 affected in various ways by Mr. Gladstone's 
 attacks upon the Upas Tree, whose poisonous 
 exhalations he believed were responsible for 
 the chronic diseases of disaffection and poverty 
 under which Ireland suffered. The three stems 
 of that desolating trunk were the Established 
 Church of Ireland, the then existing system of 
 Land Tenure, and the lack of higher education 
 for Catholics upon which problem Mr. Glad- 
 stone came to hopeless grief. He disestab- 
 lished and disendowed the Church ; he began, 
 imagining that he was also completing, a work 
 of agrarian reform, which has led to results 
 he never contemplated, and has necessitated 
 further revolutions from which Mr. Gladstone 
 himself would have shrunk in economic horror 
 
 2 
 
Yesterday 
 
 had he anticipated them. The treatment of 
 the Protestant Church — except for the ac- 
 knowledged and fatal fact that it was offered 
 as a sop to agitators and outrage-mongers — 
 was not in itself an act of injustice, though, 
 as Mr. Disraeli shrewdly remarked at the 
 time, '' confiscation is contagious." It is freely 
 admitted by most members of the now dis- 
 established Church that the injury done to the 
 Protestant Episcopalian cause was nothing 
 like as serious as had been anticipated, and 
 that compensating advantages had neutralised 
 very many of the initial evils. It was other- 
 wise with Land Reform, In 1871 were sown 
 the seeds, as Mr. Gladstone admitted a decade 
 later, of a complete revolution of the whole 
 political, social, and economic system of Ireland. 
 Beginning with a laudable ambition to redress 
 acknowledged wrongs and real grievances, the 
 policy adopted led, through stages as inevitable 
 as unforeseen, from single ownership of the soil 
 (qualified by the Ulster and other "customs") 
 to dual ownership, and from dual ownership 
 back to single ownership, with this difference, 
 that the class who were tenants in 1870 are fast 
 becoming the owners in 1907. As the late 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Lord Dufferin said in 1882, ''the tenant and 
 the landlord were put in the same bed, and the 
 tenant was sure to kick the landlord out." 
 
 It is not my purpose to discuss the merits or 
 demerits of the various and interminable series 
 of Agrarian Reform Acts and of Purchase 
 Acts which have led up to the present situation 
 in Ireland. Things are what they are, and the 
 consequences will be what they will be. One 
 patent, palpable, and indisputable fact remains, 
 that the chief object sought by the original 
 sponsors for these multitudinous experiments 
 has not been attained, whatever be the value 
 of the bye-products. The avowed aim and 
 the alleged justification of these ''drastic " and 
 "heroic" measures were to win the Irish 
 people from their disaffection and from their 
 discontent with what they called, and still call, 
 " English rule." That goal is further off than 
 ever. Sir James, the brother of Dan O'Connell, 
 who did not share the Liberator's views, was 
 alive when Mr. Gladstone laid his axe to the 
 roots of the Upas Tree. He told a very dis- 
 tinguished Irish Catholic, who repeated his 
 words to me, that Ireland was more disaffected 
 in 1803 than in 1798; more disaffected after 
 
 4 
 
Yesterday- 
 
 Catholic Emancipation than in 1803 ; more 
 disaffected after the Reform Act than in 1828 ; 
 and still more disaffected after the Disestablish- 
 ment of the Church than in 1832. And who 
 will say that Irish feeling is better disposed 
 towards Great Britain in 1907 than it was 
 thirty years ago ? Certainly no one who has 
 studied Ireland at iirst hand during this genera- 
 tion. Personally, I do not hesitate to predict 
 that Ireland under Home Rule or Devolution 
 would be even more implacable than she is 
 now, and, if ever she secured that absolute 
 independence which is the pole-star of every 
 '* political" agitation. Great Britain would find 
 in Erin the bitterest enemy — impotent as she 
 might be — in the whole world. 
 
 In later chapters I hope to show that there 
 is a more agreeable alternative to this gloomy 
 forecast. But for the moment I am dealing 
 with the existing state of things. In the opening 
 seventies there was a considerable number of 
 Loyalists, who, smarting under " the spoliation 
 of a Church and the confiscation of property " 
 — for thus they regarded Mr. Gladstone's 
 policy — started a movement in favour of Home 
 Rule, which in no way implied disloyalty to 
 
 5 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 the Crown, or a desire for the disintegration 
 of the Empire. The originators were Con- 
 servatives in one sense of the word, or the 
 other, and mainly in both. Mr. Isaac Butt 
 and Colonel Edward King Harman were con- 
 spicuous members. They believed that a 
 Parliament on College Green, dealing solely 
 with Irish affairs, could not injure their class 
 and individual interests more than the Parlia- 
 ment at Westminster, in which five-sixths of 
 the members were entirely ignorant of the 
 circumstances and conditions of the '^ other 
 island" for which they legislated. Their 
 argument was, "if we are to be robbed, let us 
 be robbed by our own people, who, at least, 
 will know what they are doing." They did 
 not, however, expect to be robbed, and there 
 are those living who still think that the grant 
 of a Conservative measure of Home Rule, 
 such as would have satisfied Butt, might have 
 checked the incipient movement for complete 
 separation. I confess I shared that belief once, 
 but I am sure now that it was a delusion. 
 
 At that time, in the early and middle 
 seventies, there were recurring periods of 
 agrarian agitation, accompanied by the in- 
 
 6 
 
Yesterday 
 
 separable perpetration of murder, arson, mutila- 
 tion of cattle, and other atrocities which have 
 almost continuously stained the annals of a 
 people in many respects the most lovable in 
 the world. But until Michael Davitt reap- 
 peared upon the scene there was no concerted 
 and organised anti-landlord agitation. Where 
 the remnants of the Whiteboys, the Moon- 
 lighters, and other secret societies were rela- 
 tively strong, or where individual landlords 
 or agents were, for good or bad reasons, very 
 unpopular, or where poverty was so intolerable 
 as to drive men to desperation, there outrages 
 of every kind were perpetrated. When Michael 
 Davitt was released from prison he formulated 
 an elaborate and well-thought-out scheme, over 
 which he had brooded in his cell. Davitt 
 was a man of great intellectual power, of iron 
 will, which penal servitude had not broken or 
 bent, of indomitable energy, and of that ruth- 
 less vindictiveness which his class in Ireland 
 shares with the Southern Italians. He hated 
 Irish landlords, because he had witnessed in his 
 boyhood, and had suffered from, the eviction of 
 his peasant mother ; but heloathed England more 
 than he hated landlords, and his early Fenianism, 
 
 7 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 which sent him to a felon's cell, was prompted 
 by that deadly hostility to England and to all 
 things English. Of him it might almost be 
 said, as Macaulay said of Warren Hastings, 
 that he was a '* great man, and he was not a 
 bad man." He wrought incalculable mischief 
 in Ireland and to Ireland, but it must be added 
 that what he did was done out of a passionate, 
 perverse love of his country, which in his mind 
 spelt hatred of England. To his credit must 
 be placed the fact that at no little personal peril 
 to himself he won over a majority of the old 
 I.R.B. — the Fenians — in America to the adop- 
 tion of Parnell's so-called " Constitutional 
 Agitation." Indeed, for the last years of his 
 life he went armed in the streets of Dublin. 
 If he did not grasp the " throttle- valve " of the 
 crime, which dogged the footsteps of the Land 
 League, and which was locally the work of the 
 minority of the Fenian organisation he had 
 defeated, it may be said in partial condonation 
 that the history of revolution teems with similar 
 instances of what Mr. John Morley described in 
 his sketch of Danton as ''sombre acquiescence." 
 The mainspring of the movement which he 
 set going was not, as he admitted, his own 
 
 8 
 
Yesterday 
 
 invention. He had pondered in gaol the preg- 
 nant words of Fintan Lalor, who, in the 
 seditious paper The Felon, had declared that 
 the cry for the Repeal of the Union was 
 impotent. Repeal, he said in effect, will never 
 move by itself unless it is attached to some 
 other cry, which will drag it as a locomotive 
 drags a train, and that locomotive would be 
 discovered in the form of agrarian agitation. 
 Neither Lalor nor Davitt seemed to realise 
 that their ''locomotive" robbed the cause of 
 Irish independence of all its heroism. Separa- 
 tion was to be effected not by the invocation 
 of the majestic spirit of patriotism, but by 
 appeals to cupidity In its least attractive guise. 
 It must be admitted that disastrous success 
 crowned for awhile the discovery by Lalor 
 of the locomotive and its dare-devil driving 
 by Davitt. The Land League was started. 
 Parnell, himself a landlord of a somewhat 
 Indifferent type, reluctantly associated himself 
 with it, on the condition, that Davitt should 
 bring over the American Fenians — and the 
 funds they collected — to his side. There was 
 a transformation scene. In place of a guerilla 
 warfare waged against a few rapacious land- 
 
 9 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 lords and their agents, sporadic, casual, and 
 fitful, there was substituted a carefully-organised 
 campaign against all owners of the soil. There 
 was no province of Ireland, and very few 
 counties, which were not involved. No kind 
 of distinction was made between *' good '^ and 
 ** bad " landlords except in the rare cases of the 
 landed proprietor who threw in his lot with 
 Parnell and the extremists. The Land League 
 became the governing body in Ireland, and the 
 de jure Administration was paralysed in its 
 attempt to cope with the de facto Junta. The 
 usurping executive had its own code, and as 
 Mr. Gladstone, in his pre-Parnellite days, 
 asserted, its laws, like all other laws, required a 
 sanction. That sanction, as the same authority 
 told us, was the murder and outrage that were 
 not to be denounced, and the ostracism not yet 
 known as boycotting. 
 
 I was in Ireland during part of that reign of 
 terror. The story of the atrocities committed 
 is told in the unchallenged evidence given 
 before the *' Special Commission," and need 
 not be revived, though it should not be for- 
 gotten. I have gone armed to church and to 
 dinner parties, and I have been forbidden by 
 
 lO 
 
Yesterday 
 
 my hosts to be out after sunset. In a house in 
 which I stayed in the worst of the " bad times" 
 in the heart of Ireland, a neighbour came with 
 his two daughters to dinner. He asked my 
 host and his if he could put up the tw^o young 
 ladies for the night, promising to send a dog- 
 cart over next morning, with day clothes for 
 them in place of the evening dress in which they 
 had come to dine. The reason was this : in 
 the afternoon he had received a warning, in a 
 handwriting familiar — though the penman was 
 unknown — to the guest and his host, signed 
 '* A Fenian Friend." It stated that an attempt 
 to shoot Colonel X.— the guest — would be 
 made on his return from dinner, and that 
 Colonel X.'s coachman was " in it." Offers on 
 the part of my host to send for a police escort 
 to the neighbouring little town were refused. 
 '' Leave it to me," said the Colonel. He started 
 off after dinner in the brougham in which he 
 had come. Next morning the dogcart came 
 with the ladies' requirements, and a note from 
 their father. He had said nothing to the 
 coachman till they neared the gates of his 
 host's demesne ; then he stopped the carriage, 
 bade the coachman jump off the box, get inside 
 
 II 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 the carriage, and give his master his cloak. 
 The man, white as a leper, obeyed, for the 
 Colonel was armed. When they drove up 
 unattacked to the door, the coachman was 
 in a dead faint on the floor of the brougham. 
 Whether he was to have made a signal, or 
 whether he had managed to give one, could 
 never be known. He offered no word of 
 objection to his instant and uncompensated dis- 
 missal, and his cowed and abject demeanour 
 was a sufficient witness against him outside a 
 law court. A single personal dramatic experi- 
 ence of that kind is branded for ever on one's 
 memory. But the same sort of drama — often 
 enough a terrible tragedy — was being enacted 
 all around us every week. 
 
 So demoralised was Ireland at that time 
 that half a countryside would know beforehand 
 when an attempt was to be made on the life of 
 a particular landlord or agent, and not a few 
 were cognisant of the hour, place, and names 
 of the assassins. A friend of mine, himself a 
 landlord, was riding home at dusk from a little 
 country town on market day. There were, 
 as was usual enough, knots of people in the 
 only street. An outside car, driven by a con- 
 
 12 
 
Yesterday 
 
 stable, came In with no occupant but the driver. 
 My friend heard from one of the groups the 
 words, '' Begorra, they've got the inspector, 
 too." Next day he learned that an agent had 
 been shot, though escorted by an inspector 
 with two constables armed with rifles. The 
 inspector stopped with the dying man, and 
 sent one of the constables into the town for 
 a doctor. It was the appearance of the in- 
 spector's car without its owner that provoked 
 the remark overheard by my friend. From 
 this it was clear that the group of persons who 
 were gloating over the supposed ''getting of 
 the inspector, too " were well aware that an 
 attempt was to be made upon the life of the 
 agent. Yet no one was convicted of the 
 murder. In those days the Queen's writ did 
 not run in large districts in Ireland. Juries 
 would not convict even in cases where the 
 evidence for the Crown was overwhelming. 
 Nor was this scandalous miscarriage of justice 
 due entirely or, perhaps, even mainly, to sym- 
 pathy on the part of jurors with crime or 
 criminals. It was largely attributable to a 
 selfish fear for their own personal safety ; a 
 form of cowardice which extorted from the 
 
 13 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 late Lord Morris the bon-mot that the failure 
 of the Crown to secure convictions was a matter 
 of ''jury's prudence." When the Land League 
 was fully organised, and Its laws were enforced 
 by the ''sanctions" described by Mr. Glad- 
 stone, that cruel oppression of the poor by the 
 poor, so painfully characteristic of Irish agrarian 
 agitation, reached Its climax. It was easier to 
 protect the landlord and the agent, because 
 they were marked men, and relatively few in 
 number. Not so with the humbler victims of 
 the league who had sinned against the laws 
 of the all-powerful association. For the most 
 part members of this class did not, dared not, 
 inform the police of their danger, and they 
 suffered accordingly. 
 
 I was in Ireland again when Lord Salis- 
 bury's first short-lived Administration attempted 
 to govern Ireland under the ordinary law. We 
 do not know, perhaps we shall never know, 
 what promises were dangled before the eyes 
 of Mr. Parnell by Lord Randolph Churchill. 
 But it is Indisputable that the former, who 
 ever hated the Radical party in general and 
 Mr. Gladstone in particular, even when dona 
 ferentes, expected and hoped to gain more 
 
 14 
 
Yesterday 
 
 from the Tories than from their opponents. 
 In any case, there was then — as there is now 
 —a suspension of the guerilla warfare, a fact 
 significant enough of the ability, often denied, 
 of the Irish leaders to check crime when they 
 liked. But even then no petty jury would 
 convict in cases of agrarian offences of a less 
 serious order. A colleague of the late Judge 
 William O'Brien told me, at the time, that 
 the latter, holding an assize — at Cork, if I 
 remember aright — was much annoyed by the 
 exuberant applause which broke out in court 
 as juries returned verdict after verdict of '' not 
 guilty " in the teeth of the most conclusive 
 evidence. At last, after a defendant — if a 
 prisoner who had absolutely no defence can 
 be so called — had been set free without the 
 jury leaving the box, a louder demonstration 
 of approval burst forth from a corner of the 
 court. " Who are the men," asked Judge 
 O'Brien of his clerk, '' who are making that 
 noise?" ''Sure, my lord," was the prompt 
 reply, ''that is the jury that is going to try 
 the next case."^ As soon as it was made 
 
 ^ The classical case of the refusal of Irish juries to find 
 verdicts in accordance with the evidence occurred years 
 
 15 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 clear that Lord Salisbury and his colleagues 
 had no intention of paltering with Home Rule, 
 outrages began afresh. After Mr. Gladstone 
 had announced his discovery of that political 
 salvation — which Sir Henry Campbell- Banner- 
 before this. An agent was shot at, but missed just outside 
 the town of Ennis. The police, searching the scene of the 
 attempt, happed upon a human thumb which had evidently 
 been blown off by the bursting of a gun. They therefore 
 picketed the house of the most skilful surgeon in the 
 town, and sure enough, after dark, a cart drew up at the 
 door and a man was carried in with his hand swathed in • 
 bandages. The police entered and arrested him. The 
 surgeon assured them that unless the man's hand was im- 
 mediately amputated, he would die of blood poisoning. The 
 police therefore waited and secured the hand, which, with the 
 thumb, was preserved in spirits of wine. The prisoner was 
 taken to the infirmary and in due course put upon his trial 
 before a common jury. Though it was certain that any 
 common jury would acquit him, counsel for the defence 
 challenged several jurors. After the inevitable verdict of 
 "not guilty" the prisoner's counsel told the Crown 
 Prosecutor that the prisoner wanted back the hand that 
 had been produced in evidence. The Prosecutor consented 
 on two conditions: (i) That the late defendant should 
 ask for it in open court ; (2) That his counsel should tell 
 him on what ground he had challenged the jurors. Both 
 conditions were accepted. The prisoner asked for his 
 hand and got it and duly "waked" it. His counsel 
 said that though any jury was good enough for him, to 
 "mak siccar" he had challenged every juror wearing a 
 neck-tie ! 
 
 16 
 
Yesterday 
 
 man boasted he had made ''long before" — 
 there was another lull. 
 
 Then came the defeat of the first Home 
 Rule Bill in Parliament and in the country. 
 Once more, and in a most determined fashion, 
 the forces of lawlessness and disorder were let 
 loose. Once more it seemed as if the Queen's 
 writ would cease to run ; once more, and on a 
 larger scale, the poor were oppressed by the 
 poor. When things were at their worst Mr. 
 Arthur Balfour took the helm. The appoint- 
 ment was received with hilarious derision by 
 the Nationalists, who boasted that they would 
 ''soon break this butterfly." In a very few 
 weeks they changed their tune. I visited 
 Ireland when the fight was raging between 
 the forces of disorder and the Executive 
 strengthened by an efficient and permanent 
 Crimes Act. The result was not very long in 
 doubt. The constabulary knew that they 
 would be backed by the Chief Secretary in 
 the fair and prompt execution of their duties, 
 whatever the Nationalist members might say in 
 England or the Freeman and United Ireland 
 write in Ireland. Knowing this, they did 
 their duty splendidly, and with a moderation 
 2 17 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 and self-restraint in circumstances which would 
 have provoked to violence every other police 
 force in the world, not excluding our own ad- 
 mirable London " Bobbies/' I have seen them 
 at work under conditions in which they evoked 
 my admiration to the utmost, so thoroughly 
 self-possessed and forbearing were they though 
 subjected to every kind of assault and insult. 
 
 I was in Ireland again when the cause ol 
 order had triumphed ; when the sword of the 
 law could be put back in its scabbard, but not 
 discarded. Remedial measures were passed, the 
 virtue of which was not impaired or destroyed 
 — as had too often happened in the past — by 
 the fact that the redress of grievances had 
 been extorted by fear, or was offered as a sop to 
 outrage-mongers. Probably no more sincere 
 and gratifying tribute was paid to Mr. Balfour's 
 magnificent success in Ireland than that which 
 fell from the lips of an old peasant woman, when 
 I was in Clare at the close of the war against 
 the Leagues. It had been a good agricultural 
 season, and the old lady had come to pay her 
 rent to the agent. The latter greeted her with 
 '* Well, Betty, you've had a good year." ** Sure, 
 your honour, I have," was the reply, *' glory be 
 
 i8 
 
Yesterday 
 
 to God and bloody Balfour." The glibness 
 with which the expletive fell from her lips was 
 proof that it was thus the Chief Secretary was 
 described in the vernacular, and at the same 
 time was a striking testimony of gratitude to 
 the man who had enabled this poor woman 
 and her class to profit by a '' good year " without 
 fear or intimidation. Even to-day you may go, 
 as I have been, through the worst districts of 
 the West and South, and you will hear from all 
 sorts and conditions of men such expressions as, 
 '' Balfour was a good man ; his politics was all 
 wrong, but he did more good for us than all 
 the Secretaries we have had," It was said at 
 the time that it is easy to govern under a 
 Coercion Act, and that recourse to this last 
 weapon of civilised society is a proof that 
 '' English rule," as it is called, is a failure. Let 
 those who maintain this position remember that 
 if since the passing of the Act of Union some 
 eighty Coercion Acts have been necessary ; 
 under the belauded and melodramatically 
 lamented '^ Grattan's Parliament " no less than 
 fifty-four measures of the same kind became 
 law in the short period of eighteen years. 
 These reminiscences are nearly twenty years 
 19 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 old, but the intervening period of personal 
 inexperience of Irish affairs was of advantage 
 to one who had to study afresh the question on 
 the spot. The knowledge I gained then sup- 
 plies a convenient standard whereby to measure 
 the situation as it presents itself to-day. There 
 have been changes, and beneficial changes, in 
 the social and economical conditions of Ireland ; 
 but the old objections to Home Rule or to 
 Devolution, or the ultimate goal of both — com- 
 plete Separation, or a merely nominal union 
 with Great Britain — are at least as strong as 
 they were twenty years ago. 
 
 20 i 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 IRELAND TO-DAY 
 
 TWO things must strike any one whose 
 personal acquaintance with Ireland has 
 been interrupted by a gap of nearly 
 twenty years. To put them in order of import- 
 ance, the first is the indisputable improvement 
 in the material condition of the people ; and the 
 second is the appearance of cross-currents in 
 the stream of political thought, a phenomenon 
 not to be observed some twenty years ago. The 
 nature and tendency of these cross-currents 
 will be dealt with more fully in the next 
 chapter. 
 
 What I have called the more important change 
 is the improved condition of the people in all 
 material respects. This change for the better 
 is patent to one who knew the country twenty 
 years ago. It is obvious to the eye. In every 
 part of Ireland, especially in the worst districts 
 of the West, the peasant — whether labourer, 
 tenant, or small owner — is better fed, healthier 
 looking, and much better clothed than he was 
 
 21 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 twenty years ago. Tried by all the tests which 
 the economist applies in gauging the wealth of 
 a nation, Ireland has made marked progress in 
 the last twenty years. Whether we study the 
 deposits in joint-stock banks or savings banks, 
 or consider the returns of railway traffic, 
 passenger and goods alike ; or have regard to 
 the quantity of cattle reared, or to the state 
 of the too few great manufacturing industries, 
 we read the same story of constant and— con- 
 sidering that Ireland is as to five-sixths of its 
 area an agricultural country — most remarkable 
 advance. I have been told, even by people 
 of much authority, that the very existence of 
 large accumulated funds in the banks is a 
 proof, not of Ireland's progress, but of her 
 retrogression ! The pessimists, and I should 
 not cite them unless they were " persons of 
 importance," declare that these talents are 
 hidden away in joint-stock napkins, because 
 there is no means of employing them profitably 
 in Ireland. Yet it seems to every one else that 
 Ireland could do with a great deal more capital 
 than is at present at her command. The soil 
 of Ulster, for instance, is by no means the 
 most naturally favoured in Ireland ; yet over 
 
 22 
 
Ireland To-day- 
 
 large areas of the province, the results of capital 
 judiciously employed, and of labour intelligently 
 applied to the cultivation of the land stare one 
 In the face. If there is an explanation of the 
 accumulated savings, other than that which is 
 the natural and, as far as I can judge, the true 
 one, It Is that there Is a lack of confidence 
 in the country. That might be a reasonable 
 interpretation of the phenomenon, if It were 
 a sudden and recent one, and only observed 
 when, as we are told, the country is "on the 
 eve of great changes." That is not the case, 
 as I shall show later on in another connection. 
 The increase In these accumulations has been 
 steady, consistent, and of long duration. The 
 only interruption to the upward movement 
 occurred significantly enough while the fate 
 of Mr. Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill hung 
 in the balance. Money deposited in Irish banks 
 was withdrawn, and invested or transferred 
 to banks across the Channel. But to those 
 who know Ireland the most instructive feature 
 of all is the fact that to-day only a very small 
 percentage of the population, even In the 
 congested districts, depends for sustenance 
 entirely upon the potato. There was a partial 
 
 23 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 failure of the potato crop in the autumn, largely- 
 due, it must be said frankly, to neglect in 
 spraying the plants when there was a prospect 
 of a more than average yield. But in spite of 
 this shortage, there was no widespread famine, 
 such as Mr. Arthur Balfour had to cope with 
 during his administration of Ireland. No 
 relief works had to be established on an 
 extensive scale ; no appeal had to be made 
 to the public to alleviate distress. And the 
 simple reason is that the potato — the doubtful 
 blessing which Sir Walter Raleigh is supposed 
 to have conferred upon Ireland — is no longer 
 the staple food even of the poorest. They 
 consume large quantities of meal ; but even 
 to obtain that demands some money made 
 or earned. 
 
 The truth is, though few Englishmen un- 
 acquainted with Ireland can be brought to 
 believe it, that Ireland is not a very poor 
 country. There are, unhappily, districts that 
 are poor, and miserably poor ; but for a country 
 which in the main is devoted to agriculture, 
 Ireland is far better off than, say, Southern Italy, 
 and infinitely wealthier and more prosperous 
 than many provinces of Russia, endowed with 
 
 24 
 
Ireland To-day 
 
 a more productive soil. Nor is there in the 
 towns anything Hke the poverty and destitution 
 which the squaHd appearance of the poorer 
 classes naturally suggests to the casual visitor 
 or the tourist. I need not speak of Belfast.^ 
 That great and flourishing city — which owes 
 the seeds of its prosperity to the preferential 
 treatment of William III., who created and 
 ''protected" the linen trade by way of com- 
 pensation for the destruction of the woollen 
 industry— compares favourably with the manu- 
 facturing centres of Great Britain. There Is 
 poverty there, as there always must be in 
 populous cities — and there are ''slums," too, 
 which are appealing to the public conscience to 
 "end or mend." So there are in London, and 
 Manchester, and Birmingham, and Glasgow. 
 But I take Dublin itself, and for two reasons. 
 In the first place, outside the two staple in- 
 dustries of brewing and distilling, the capital 
 of Ireland has no predominant trade ; with 
 these two exceptions, and apart from the pro- 
 fessional classes, its Inhabitants live by dealing. 
 In the second place, it has been my good 
 fortune to have placed in my hands the results 
 1 See Appendix A. 
 
 25 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 of a social-economic investigation, conducted 
 on much the same lines as those followed by 
 Mr. Charles Booth in London and by Mr. 
 Rowntree in York and elsewhere. The inquiry, 
 which was made some two years ago, was not 
 started for any political, philanthropic, or social 
 purpose. Those who instituted it wished for 
 information for special reasons, which, I may 
 add, if likely at all to tend to over-statement, 
 would have led to exaggeration rather than to 
 depreciation of existing poverty and distress. 
 The work was done by experts, and tested 
 by experts, and, if I am not mistaken, the 
 report has been confidentially asked for by the 
 Local Government Board, and been supplied 
 to them. A Dublin ward was taken, which, 
 though not absolutely the poorest in the city, 
 was amongst the poorest, and was inferior in 
 all respects to most other districts inhabited by 
 the working classes. That will be evident 
 enough from the statistics. The condition of 
 1,254 families, roughly equal to 5,000 in- 
 dividuals, was tested. The scale was large 
 enough to exclude accident or "special circum- 
 stances." The houses were mainly tenement 
 houses, belonging to a bygone day. The 
 
 26 
 
Ireland To-day 
 
 average rent paid was 35". of ^. per week, or 2s. 
 a room. The number of rooms was 1,903, 
 which worked out at 1*52 rooms per family. 
 The average number of cubic feet per person was 
 505*36, and for the purposes of this investiga- 
 tion children were reckoned as adults. The 
 standard for such rooms is put at 400, and 
 therefore, In the respect of air-space these 
 tenements rank high. The averao-e wagfes 
 per week made up from all sources was as 
 follows :— 
 
 £ s. d. 
 Head of the family . . o 15 11 J 
 
 Other members 
 Lodger 
 
 \ 
 
 003 
 
 Total 
 
 £^ 
 
 The accommodation in percentage of cases : 
 
 Sufficient ..... 67*62 
 Partly sufficient . . . . 7*02 
 
 Insufficient . . . .25*36 
 
 Number of families occupying 
 One room 
 Two rooms 
 Three rooms 
 Four rooms 
 Five rooms 
 
 ioo*oo 
 
 59-17 
 
 32-14 
 
 6*78 
 
 i'59 
 
 •32 
 
 OO'OO 
 
 27 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 I may add that these '* housings/' 1,903 in 
 number, occupied 436 houses in sixty-two 
 streets. The sanitary arrangements were very 
 far from satisfactory. The average of families 
 using one lavatory was 4*68, representing 17*34 
 individuals. In 134 cases — for which the 
 tenants were solely responsible in ninety-six 
 — the arrangements were so bad as to be 
 injurious to health. 
 
 There is always great difficulty in getting 
 parents to declare the existence of any disease 
 in their families not of a character which has 
 to be notified to the health authorities. In 
 150 cases, however, this information was 
 secured ; and the result showed that in 1 2 per 
 cent, of these families there was consumption, 
 mainly attributable to dirty surroundings. In 
 these ancient houses nothing much is done when 
 an old tenant leaves and a new-comer enters, 
 beyond the application of a dose of friendly 
 whitewash, and the germs of disease are as often 
 as not transmitted from one family to another. 
 
 The following table shows the proportion of 
 families, to their gross earnings : — 
 
 Under 5^-. per week . . . 4'3i 
 
 5^. to 10^. .... 8-53 
 
 28 
 
Ireland To-day 
 
 los. to 15J. .... io*37 
 
 i^s. to 20s. 
 
 
 
 
 • 29-03 
 
 20s. to 25^. 
 
 
 
 
 . 15-23 
 
 255-. to 30J. 
 
 
 
 
 . II'OI 
 
 305. to 35i-. 
 
 
 
 
 7-09 
 
 35^. to 405. 
 
 
 
 
 478 
 
 405. to 45^. 
 
 
 
 
 2-15 
 
 45 j-. to 505. 
 
 
 
 
 1-27 
 
 505. to 55^. 
 
 
 
 
 1*12 
 
 555. to 60^. 
 
 
 
 
 '8S 
 
 Over 60^. 
 
 
 
 
 1-36 
 
 Out of work 
 
 
 
 
 1-83 
 
 It will be interesting to compare these figures 
 with a typical impoverished district in London 
 and elsewhere. The dietary studies are of use 
 to specialists, and I therefore give them. They 
 are always difficult to obtain, and in this case 
 they were secured by the bonus of half»a-crown 
 a week given to twenty-one families over an 
 average period of 6'^^ weeks, to keep accounts, 
 and hand in vouchers of their domestic ex- 
 penditure. Each of these families averaged 
 in the equivalent of men as laid down by the 
 American expert, Attwood, 3*24 members. 
 Their food from the nutritive point of view 
 stood thus : — 
 
 Number of grammes of protein per man per day 
 (Standard 125.) 
 
 29 
 
 98-52 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 This average, as specialists will understand, is 
 very high. 
 
 Total number of calories . . . 3,117*62 
 
 (Standard 3,500.) 
 
 This, too, is high. 
 
 To the general reader it will be more in- 
 teresting and intelligible to have details as 
 to the way in which the earnings (in these 
 investigated cases £1 4^. per week) were 
 spent : — 
 
 Per cent. 
 Food 
 
 J-'UUU 
 
 Rent 
 
 • ^6 6^ 
 
 • i4"5i 
 
 Clothing . 
 
 . 4-12 
 
 Fuel and Light . 
 
 . 4-87 
 
 Clubs, societies, &c. 
 
 • 4-65 
 
 Sundries . 
 
 • 5*30 
 
 Pawn office and loans 
 
 • 1-52 
 
 The balance is accounted for by balance income credit 
 (4-82) and by balance of debt (3*17). 
 
 These statistics do not represent affluence, 
 or even a decent standard of living, but they 
 compare not unfavourably with those of typical 
 poor districts in other cities of the world. 
 
 30 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CROSS-CURRENTS 
 
 IN the first chapter attention was called to 
 the phenomenon of cross-currents in Irish 
 politics, as amongst the more remark- 
 able of the changes presenting themselves to 
 one who revisits Ireland after an interval of 
 eighteen years. Formerly Ireland was divided 
 into two parties, and two only. People were 
 distinguished from one another, like the pieces 
 on a chessboard. They were either black or 
 white : the Kings, Queens, Rooks, Pawns, 
 represented different values and powers, but 
 the pieces were all of the same colour on one 
 side and the other— there were no greyish 
 whites or whitish blacks. Every man, woman, 
 and child in the country was a thorough-going 
 Nationalist, if they were not uncompromising 
 Unionists. To-day that is not the case. Ireland 
 is divided into Unionists, Nationalists, and 
 Devolutionists, the last constituting the greyish- 
 white element in the mosaic. Amongst the 
 Unionists the cross-currents are — it would be 
 
 31 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 safe to say were — accidental, temporary, and 
 largely personal, though for a time they 
 threatened to disturb and divert the main 
 stream. There had been dissatisfaction amongst 
 Unionists with many details of the Irish policy 
 of the late Administration. Some of the causes 
 were trivial and parochial, others concerned 
 some principles of real importance; but both 
 causes and effects would probably have been 
 forgotten had it not been for the appointment 
 of Sir Antony MacDonnell to the post of 
 Permanent Under-Secretary, and to the pur- 
 suit of a policy which was attributed, rightly 
 or wrongly, to his masterful influence. The 
 carrying of the Wyndham Land Purchase 
 Act, 1903, kept the discontented quiet for a 
 time. This measure of incalculable benefit to 
 Ireland, as I shall show later, will be gratefully 
 associated with the name of its author, Mr. 
 Wyndham, when the passions and animosities 
 since excited have spent their force. When, 
 however, it was known, or believed — and in 
 Ireland belief is quite as potent as knowledge 
 — that Sir Antony MacDonnell was leading 
 his chief on to the slippery slope of Devolution, 
 a slope which ends inevitably in the precipice 
 
 3. J 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 of Separation — practically the whole Unionist 
 party in Ireland was alienated from the Unionist 
 Administration. Here, perhaps, it is as well 
 that I should set forth the impression made 
 upon me by the attitude of the Irish Unionists 
 towards the Under-Secretary. It would be 
 folly to deny that they are bitterly hostile to 
 the policy he is supposed to urge upon his 
 chiefs and are deeply distrustful of the methods 
 of Administration pursued under the present 
 rdgime — a distrust which, as I shall show in 
 dealing with the Agrarian question, is justified. 
 Notwithstanding this, and the fact that Irish- 
 men are more apt than others to identify 
 politics and individuals, I heard but very rarely 
 any personal reflections upon Sir Antony 
 himself. His great abilities, his courage, his 
 uprightness, and the integrity of his character 
 and of his intentions, were freely admitted. 
 One uncompromising opponent of his policy 
 and system of Administration paid him the 
 compliment of saying, " Sir Antony is the 
 more dangerous because he is thoroughly 
 honest." This recognition is due to the Under- 
 Secretary, and in all adverse criticisms of his 
 policy and methods which will be found in this 
 3 ZZ 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 book, this appreciative opinion of Sir Antony 
 MacDonnell's character stands good without 
 reservation. 
 
 It was unfortunate that, owing, no doubt, to 
 his Indian experience, which is accountable 
 for many of his known or alleged views, Sir 
 Antony had forgotten, or had not learnt, the 
 salutary truth, that Ireland is a ''whispering 
 gallery." In England even the most prominent 
 politicians or Civil servants may speak their 
 minds freely, and even talk at random, in 
 mixed social gatherings, without fear that their 
 words will be shouted from the housetops next 
 day and inspire leading articles in journals of 
 all hues the day after. In Ireland this is not 
 the case. Sir Redvers Buller, during his brief 
 occupation of the post now filled by Sir Antony, 
 learnt this lesson when it was too late. The 
 present Under-Secretary has not only suffered 
 from the hardship of having his private utter- 
 ances put in circulation, but he has gone out 
 of his way to make speeches, of which it is 
 enough to say that they were open to the 
 construction and interpretation put upon them 
 by hostile critics. It is a wholesome rule which 
 prescribes that permanent members of the 
 
 34 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 Civil Service should keep their eyes and ears 
 open and their mouths shut. Sir Antony's 
 views, as they were inferred from his duly- 
 recorded speeches and from the private remarks 
 attributed to him, were not unnaturally held by 
 Unionists to represent, at least in general 
 tendency, the actual opinions and the pro- 
 spective policy of his titular chiefs. The 
 consequence was open discontent and appre- 
 hension, accompanied by a semi-revolt or 
 a sullen apathy. Mr. Walter Long's brief 
 tenure of the office of Chief Secretary did 
 wonders to arrest the current of disaffection, 
 but it was by no means completely dammed 
 at the time of the General Election. There 
 was nothing like the zeal shown in Unionist 
 Ulster that had been displayed in previous 
 conflicts, and there was a good deal of ominous 
 talk about "a second line of defence," or, in 
 other words, of Ulster preparing to entrench 
 in the north-east, and to leave the Loyalists in 
 the rest of Ireland to shift for themselves. No 
 policy could be more dangerous, for those who 
 devote themselves entirely to fortifying a second 
 line, very rarely fight sternly and successfully 
 in the first. Happily, the disaster of a rupture 
 
 35 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 in the ranks of the Irish champions of the 
 Union has been averted, and the credit is 
 largely due to the indefatigable exertions of 
 Mr. Long, and to the confidence he has inspired 
 in all sorts and conditions of Unionists. Belfast, 
 at least, is again solid for the cause, as was 
 demonstrated at the late municipal elections, 
 fought, as usual, on party lines, when Unionists 
 swept all the seats which it was reasonably 
 possible for them to win. It may be remarked, 
 in passing, that ''bigoted Protestant Belfast," 
 as it is the fashion for Irish and English 
 Radicals to describe the most prosperous city 
 in Ireland, took the opportunity on the very 
 morrow of their victory to nominate and un- 
 animously to elect as High Sheriff — a post only 
 second in dignity and importance to that of the 
 Lord Mayor — a Catholic Nationalist. When 
 will Dublin follow this example ? Russellism 
 is virtually dead in Ulster, and its eponymous 
 hero will probably fail to be re-elected, even 
 though he command the full strength of the 
 Nationalist vote in his present constituency. 
 There is every reason to believe that if any 
 Home Rule Bill — or a measure leading up to 
 Home Rule — be introduced, Ulster will rally 
 
 36 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 as heartily and uncompromisingly to the defence 
 of the Union as she did in 1886 and in 1895. 
 The Unionist cross-currents are once more 
 being absorbed in the main stream. 
 
 The Nationalist party is in a totally different 
 condition. It would be altogether premature 
 to anticipate that the " little rifts within the 
 lute " will in the immediate future make the 
 Home Rule ''music mute." But the rifts are 
 there, and they are "growing." The old Parlia- 
 mentary party is no longer solid, as it was in,, 
 the palmy days of Parnell, or even as it wasr 
 when a conciliation was effected between the 
 Parnellites and the M'Carthyites by the selec- 
 tion of Mr. J. E. Redmond as nominal leader. 
 I use the adjective " nominal " advisedly. Mr. 
 Redmond occupies the dignified position of 
 Chief of the party in the House of Commons ; 
 the Government whips make their arrangements 
 with the Nationalists through him ; it is doubt- 
 less to him that the Chief Secretary goes for 
 counsel and advice, and ''deals" with the 
 Radicals are endorsed by him. These distinc- 
 tions, however, do not suffice to make a man 
 a real leader, and no one in Ireland — to what- 
 ever section or sub-section he may belong — is 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 ignorant of the patent fact that Mr. John Dillon 
 — the bitterest opponent '* of English rule " — is 
 the de facto leader of the Parliamentary party. 
 But Mr. Dillon himself is not absolute, or even 
 independent. Above him stands the Freeman s 
 Journal, and the controller of the most widely- 
 read and powerful Nationalist organ in Ireland 
 is Mr. Sexton. Mr. Sexton, outside the House 
 of Commons, Is a more potent factor than he 
 ever was within its walls, or than any single 
 politician is in the whole of Ireland. A study 
 of the Freeman s leading articles affords a 
 useful education In Irish politics. It persistently 
 damned Mr. Bryce with faint praise, and it Is 
 by no means extravagant In Its eulogies of the 
 Parliamentary party as a whole, or of many of 
 its members. 
 
 The incidents of the last few months call at- 
 tention to, but do not gauge the gravity of, the 
 split inside the party itself. Mr. Tim Healy — 
 intellectually the ablest of the Nationalists — was 
 long ago ostracised, and with the irony which 
 characterises Irish history even more than any 
 other — Mr. W. O'Brien, the author of his expul- 
 sion, is now being subjected to the same treat- 
 ment he meted out to Mr. Healy, who to-day is 
 
 38 
 
 I 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 In more or less agreement with him. It is true 
 that Mr. O'Brien has not yet been formally 
 '' struck off the rolls " by his colleagues, but they 
 have excluded his lieutenants and sympathisers. 
 It is, moreover, not less significant that this 
 sentence for open war against the O'Brienites 
 was not passed unanimously ; three members 
 of the Parliamentary party dissenting from the 
 judgment. In Irish politics It does not require 
 many dissentients to make " a cave," and fewer 
 than those now in disagreement with Messrs. 
 Dillon and Redmond have upset potato carts In 
 Ireland before now. The "orthodox" majority 
 affect to treat the '' O'Brienites " with contempt 
 and indifference. It Is, however, clear that this 
 haughty mien does not represent their real state 
 of mind. If they were not afraid of the malcon- 
 tents, why should every stereotyped resolution 
 passed at general and branch meetings of the 
 United Irish League contain bitter denunci- 
 ations of Mr. O'Brien and all his works and 
 passionate appeals for "party unity"? Why 
 should Mr. Dillon and Mr. Redmond feel con- 
 strained to stump the country and to Insist upon 
 the disloyalty of their old colleagues ? Every- 
 where I went in Ireland — and I visited every 
 
 39 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 province — Nationalists would, of their own 
 initiative, tell me that Mr. O'Brien and Mr. 
 Healy " had no following," and would then pro- 
 ceed to dilate upon the enormous harm these 
 politicians were doing to the cause. So long, 
 however, as the Parliamentary party can rely 
 upon the support of the United Irish League 
 — a rod which Mr. O'Brien made for his own 
 back — the numerical strength of the Nationalist 
 representatives will not be much affected, 
 though their prestige in Ireland will suffer 
 greatly from the dissensions. 
 
 There can be no doubt whatever that the 
 policy of the United Irish League — so far as it 
 concerns Irish relations with Great Britain — is 
 one for complete Irish independence. It is 
 quite unnecessary to labour the point. Let me 
 briefly quote from recent speeches of the 
 nominal and real leaders of the party which has 
 the support of the United Irish League. Mr. 
 Redmond, it is true, does not speak with the 
 same tongue in the United States as he does in 
 England — or at the present moment in Ireland 
 — and it is difficult to say whether he is more 
 accurately disclosing his real views when 
 attempting to extract dollars from the pockets 
 
 40 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 of Irish- Americans, or when seeking to throw 
 dust in the eyes of British Radicals. Perhaps 
 neither alternative is correct. But, at any rate, 
 it is well for the English public to have examples 
 of both styles. When last in America, less than 
 three years ago, Mr. J. Redmond attended a 
 great Convention of Irish-Americans in New 
 York. The proceedings were reported in the 
 Freeman s J oui^nal o{ September 21, 1904. A 
 resolution was passed to the effect that, "In 
 supporting Home Rule for Ireland we abandon 
 no principle of Irish nationhood, as laid down 
 by the fathers of the Irish movement for inde- 
 pendence, from Wolfe Tone and Emmet to 
 John Mitchel, and from Mitchel to Charles J. 
 Kickham and Charles Stewart Parnell." In 
 reply the titular Irish leader said :— 
 
 " I don't think I ever heard a more mag- 
 nificent declaration of Irish principles than 
 that contained in the report of the Committee 
 of Resolutions. That declaration put in the 
 clearest way the meaning and essence of this 
 movement. That it is the same old move- 
 ment for which Hugh O'Neill and Owen 
 Roe fought ; the same old movement for 
 41 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 which Mitchel and Meagher suffered. . . . 
 My views are moderate views, but if it were 
 in my power to-morrow, by any honourable 
 means, to absolutely emancipate Ireland I 
 would do it, and feel it my duty to do it." 
 
 It will be noted that Mr. Redmond splits infin- 
 itives as well as parties and kingdoms. It may 
 be urged, that this was said in America, for a 
 specific purpose, two or three years ago. The 
 plea is not very creditable, but let it pass. Mr. 
 Redmond, however, spoke quite frankly to his 
 own constituents in Waterford on the very eve 
 of the last election, when he was reported by the 
 Freeman s Journal of December 2, 1905, to 
 have said, speaking of a settlement : — 
 
 ** Let me say just this word ; when I speak 
 of a settlement of this question let me, at any 
 rate, be clearly understood. I do not mean a 
 half-way house. I do not mean a qualified 
 Indian Council. What I mean by a settle- 
 ment of this question is an Irish Parliament 
 and an Executive responsible to it." 
 
 The real leader, Mr. John Dillon, had ex- 
 pressed himself with equal candour a year 
 earlier, when he said at Moville :— 
 
 42 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 '' I say deliberately that I should never 
 have dedicated my life as I have done to this 
 great struggle if I did not see at the end 
 of this great struggle the crowning and con- 
 summation of our work — a free and inde- 
 pendent Ireland." 
 
 And, to clinch the matter, Mr. Devlin, 
 afterwards Secretary to the Directory of the 
 United Irish League, assured the American- 
 Irish, speaking, as he said, for the United 
 Irish League, that their object was 
 
 ''To have a Parliament that will give our 
 people all authority over the police and 
 judiciary, and, when equipped with comparative 
 freedom, this would be the time for those who 
 think that we should destroy the last link 
 that binds us to England to operate by what- 
 ever means they think best to achieve that 
 great and desirable end." 
 
 It would be work of sheer supererogation to 
 insist In Ireland upon the determination of the 
 United Irish League to be content with no 
 concession short of absolute independence ; for 
 no man of any party entertains the slightest 
 illusion on the subject. In Great Britain I am 
 
 43 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 afraid that the position is not yet completely 
 understood. The Prime Minister is very proud 
 of his consistency, and still more proud of 
 having " found salvation " in the Irish question 
 before Mr. Gladstone did so. How, I wonder, 
 does he square these definite demands with 
 his declaration made twenty years ago, only 
 four months before Mr. Gladstone was associ- 
 ated with him in the successful quest for 
 salvation : — 
 
 '' When we come," he told the electors 
 of Culross, in November, 1885, '' to the ques- 
 tion of giving them (the Irish) a separate 
 Parliament and a separate Government, then 
 he confessed he saw great difficulties, and he 
 did not think it was likely to be consented to 
 by any Government, either Whig or Tory, 
 because it would not be consistent with the 
 maintenance of the integrity of the Empire, 
 and the duty to the Crown." 
 
 It is a long cry from that declaration to the 
 historic pronouncement at Stirling on the eve 
 of the last General Election : — 
 
 ^' If I were asked advice by an ardent 
 Irish Nationalist, I should say my desire is 
 44 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 to see the effective management of Irish 
 affairs in the hands of a representative Irish 
 authority. And, further, I say, that if I were 
 the Irish Nationalist, I would take it in any 
 way that I could get it. If an instalment of 
 representative control is offered to Ireland, 
 or any administrative improvement, I should 
 advise the Nationalist to thankfully accept it, 
 provided it were consistent with and led up 
 to the larger policy ; but it must be consistent 
 with and lead up to the larger policy," 
 
 Sir Henry shares with Mr. Redmond the 
 tendency to split infinitives. However, it is 
 manifest that there is no substantial difference 
 between the views of Sir Henry Campbell- 
 Bannerman and those of the United Irish 
 League. 
 
 When any of the Irish leaders address large 
 meetings convened by the League, those whose 
 duty it is to supply British papers with reports 
 of the proceedings naturally and properly con- 
 fine themselves to summaries of the principal 
 speeches delivered. It is, from an educative 
 point of view, unfortunate that the English 
 reader is not informed of the character of the 
 
 45 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 *' addresses " from leaders of the League, in- 
 tolerable in length and number, and identical in 
 language, which are presented to the orator of 
 the day before he is allowed to speak. These 
 addresses manage to convey more frankly than 
 the subsequent rhetoric the real views of the 
 reported politicans.^ I might cite enough cases 
 to fill a chapter ; but, as there is a monotonous 
 sameness about them all, one will suffice. At 
 a very recent demonstration at Ballinasloe, in 
 Connaught, convened to unveil a memorial to 
 the late Matt Harris, a very advanced Nation- 
 alist, addresses were presented to Mr. John 
 Dillon, the orator of the day, from all branches 
 
 1 Mr. G. A. Birmingham, the brilliant author of The 
 Seething Pot ^ gives the following amusing account of "reso- 
 lutions " in his last admirable novel, Benedict Kavanagh. 
 
 " The passing of resolutions is fast becoming, instead of fox- 
 hunting and horse-racing, the most popular kind of sport in 
 provincial Ireland. . . . Resolutions have also an educative 
 value. The student finds an interest in their natural history. 
 There is, for instance, the circular or round robin resolution 
 — a migrant appearing in various parts of the country almost 
 simultaneously and passed by all Boards or Councils without 
 question. It is brief but fierce. The place of its origin is not 
 always known. It preys upon any public enemy — that is to 
 say, upon any prominent Irishman who has opinions of his 
 own on any subject and ventures to express them. There is 
 also the local resolution, a more highly-coloured variety, and 
 much longer," etc. 
 
 46 
 
Cross-Currcnts 
 
 of the United Irish League in the counties 
 of Roscommon, Sligo, and Leitrim. They 
 occupied three or four columns of the Free- 
 man s Journal, and one and all adjured Mr. 
 Dillon, in language of covert menace, not to 
 accept from the '' so-called Liberal Government" 
 any measure of self-government that fell short 
 of complete Home Rule. Mn Dillon tempor- 
 ised, and was diplomatic, and the English 
 readers who had nothing but his words before 
 them would never realise that he was talking to 
 people who regarded '* devolution " as a substi- 
 tute for the existing system with undisguised 
 repugnance and contempt. More recently still 
 the Dublin Corporation, in which the League is 
 dominant, gave a further object-lesson as to the 
 loyalty and moderation of the League's policy. 
 A letter had been received by the Town Clerk 
 of Dublin from a body in Boston, U.S.A., 
 styling itself the '' County Dublin Associ- 
 ation," from which the following is an extract : — 
 
 *' We, also believing with our illustrious co- 
 patriot Theobald Wolfe Tone that the source 
 of all our country's misfortunes is to be found 
 in the connection with England, do hereby 
 47 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 endorse the action of Alderman Kelly, of 
 the Dublin City Corporation, in cutting down 
 the Union Jack of England which floated over 
 the said Corporation's steam-vessel Shamrock, 
 on Monday, September 24, 1906, while on 
 the trip to the Pigeon House ; and we further 
 desire to express our approval of the action of 
 Alderman Kelly, Councillors Daly, J. T. 
 O' Kelly, Vaughan, T. Rooney, J. J. Ryan, 
 Kavanagh, and Parkinson in refusing to 
 honour the toast of ' The King ' at the 
 luncheon which followed." 
 
 In itself this fussy impertinence on the part 
 of a handful of Irish- Americans would claim 
 no notice. The significant fact, however, is 
 that by thirty-one votes to f^ve a motion was 
 carried to insert this rubbish on the minutes of 
 the Corporation. 
 
 I return to an examination of the present 
 and future strength of the United Irish League. 
 It is to-day for political purposes supreme in 
 Ireland, with the exception of Unionist Ulster, 
 O'Brienite Cork and South Dublin, and it 
 is omnipotent for all purposes in the west. 
 Powerful as it is, there are not wanting indica- 
 
 48 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 tions that circumstances may yet shear it of its 
 strength. There are two sets of tendencies, of 
 which one may be called natural and the other 
 artificial, which are even now beginning to 
 undermine its authority. To the former belong 
 the awakening of a new spirit among the Irish 
 people, making for emancipation of thought 
 and conduct, which is admirably set forth in 
 Sir Horace Plunkett's Ireland in the New 
 Century, and pressed and enforced with re- 
 markable energy in a book, Economics for 
 Irishmen, by '* Pat," a pseudonym which does 
 not disguise the identity of Mr. P. D. Kenny, 
 late editor of The Irish Peasant (subse- 
 quently The Peasant), whose paper was 
 practically squelched by the personal inter- 
 vention of Cardinal Logue. Of this book 
 and its author I shall have a good deal to 
 say by and by, and meantime I would recom- 
 mend it to all who want to understand the 
 *' Irish problem." To this class of tendencies 
 also belongs the partial disappearance of 
 *' agrarianism " brought about by the Wyndham 
 Purchase Acts of 1903. Politics in Ireland 
 mean one thing to politicians and quite 
 another to the overwhelming majority of a 
 I 4 49 . 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 people who, as regards four-fifths of them, 
 are engaged In agriculture. To the politician 
 politics mean constitutional reforms or revo- 
 lutions ; to the tiller of the soil they mean 
 *'more land and cheaper land." Those who 
 are purchasing or have purchased under the 
 terms of Acts culminating with the comprehen- 
 sive measure of 1903, may still vote " Home 
 Rule," for the sake of a quiet life, but their 
 interest In the work of the politicians is languid, 
 and few of '' the new landlords " contribute to 
 the funds or attend the meetings of the United 
 Irish League. Politically and financially this 
 phenomenon is likely to prove embarrassing to 
 an organisation which, like the daughters of 
 the horse-leech. Is always crying ''Give, give." 
 What I have called the artificial check to the 
 growth of the League is the rise and spread of 
 other combinations, with different ideals and 
 methods; notably those of ''Sinn Fein" (pro- 
 nounced Shinn Fane), which interpreted means 
 '' Ourselves alone," and the parent stem from 
 which it sprang as rather a freak, the Gaelic 
 League. Though for several reasons, to which 
 reference will be made hereafter, an increasing 
 number of Roman Catholic priests are with- 
 
 50 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 drawing from active politics, it cannot be denied 
 that the priesthood is still the ''predominant 
 partner " in the management of the League. 
 In proof of this we have only to look at the 
 resolutions passed in County Councils, City 
 Corporations, Urban Councils, District Coun- 
 cils, and even in Chambers of Commerce, at 
 the dictation of the League, with regard to 
 "the religious crisis" in France, which in no 
 way concerns them. These resolutions, stereo- 
 typed, as is usual in Ireland, deserve the special 
 attention of the followers of Dr. Clifford and 
 their representatives in Parliament, who will be 
 asked to vote for the policy of the United Irish 
 League. They one and all express the sym- 
 pathy of the council with the Roman Catholic 
 "victims of an atheistical and tyrannical Govern- 
 ment in France," and call for European move- 
 ments in their support. The irony of it all is 
 that the only people in Europe, apart from 
 those who wished England ill, that really sym- 
 pathised with the National movement in Ireland 
 were the Republican majority in France, re- 
 presented by " the tyrannical and atheistical 
 Government " of to-day. A late mayor of 
 Cork, not very renowned for learning, recently 
 
 51 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 declared, in speaking in favour of one of these 
 resolutions, that, for the first time in his life, 
 he rejoiced that the French had not succeeded 
 in landing at Bantry Bay a hundred years ago ! 
 The important point is that the lay members of 
 these local bodies would never have dreamt of 
 discussing French domestic politics had not the 
 priests induced the United Irish League to take 
 the question up. 
 
 Backing the priests is the Ancient Order of 
 Hibernians, which has branches in the United 
 States, Scotland, and the Colonies. Nominally, 
 the A. O. H. is a benefit society, but in reality 
 it is a secret society, having a pledge of secrecy, 
 and its signs and passwords. It is a curious 
 fact that, hostile as the Roman Catholic Church 
 is to secret societies, the Irish branch of the 
 Ancient Order of Hibernians is largely con- 
 trolled by ''advanced" priests — though in 
 Glasgow the same society is banned by the 
 Church. Priests themselves are members, and 
 are allowed to take the oaths and adopt the 
 signs and passwords, with the saving clause 
 that they must, if called upon, reveal them to 
 their spiritual superiors under the seal of con- 
 fession. The attitude of the A. O. H. is one 
 
 52 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 of deadly hostility to England, and is purely 
 Separatist. The corresponding Order in 
 America has declared its intention of re- 
 doubling its efforts on behalf of the cause of 
 Irish independence. It was from the Austra- 
 lian branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians 
 that delegates from the United Irish League 
 collected most of the subscriptions they secured 
 during their late begging trip to the Antipodes. 
 For the moment the Order works with the 
 League. 
 
 Now let us examine the rivals to the United 
 Irish League. The Gaelic League was started 
 professedly upon non-political lines, and included 
 many men distinguished in art and letters 
 amongst its members. The avowed objects 
 were of a nature which were entitled to respect 
 and support. It was sought to awaken popular 
 interest in Ireland in the Gaelic language, in 
 old Irish customs and games, and to revive as 
 far as was possible national arts and crafts, and 
 to interest all classes of the community in the 
 history of the country. So far as the move- 
 ment was educational, and tended to encourage 
 thought and emancipate the intellect, It was 
 admirable. The priests fought shy of it, and 
 
 53 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 still do, because they do not know how far the 
 spirit of emancipation might carry the devout. 
 But, as inevitably happens in Ireland, this non- 
 political movement was soon captured by the 
 politicians. On November 5, 1905, Dr. Hyde 
 — a distinguished scholar but an intemperate 
 politician — who is the present president of the 
 League, addressed three thousand sympathetic 
 Americans in Carnegie Hall, New York. This, 
 inter alia, is what he told them : — 
 
 "■ I know that you will join us in saying 
 that the devouring demon of Anglicisation 
 in Ireland which, with its foul and gluttonous 
 jaws, has devoured, one after another, every- 
 thing that was hereditary, national, instructive, 
 ancient, intellectual, and noble in our race, 
 our language, our music, our songs, our in- 
 dustries, our dances, and our pastimes — I 
 know, I say, that you will plant your feet 
 firmly, and say with us, ' Back, Demon, back ! 
 Not one other mouthful shall you swallow of 
 the heritage of the nation.' " 
 
 In spite of a profound conviction that the 
 acquisition of a second language — alien in 
 structure and style from the vernacular — is one 
 
 54 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 of the best instruments of education, and does 
 more than another to open the mind and dis- 
 cipHne the understanding, I am bound to con- 
 fess that there is a great deal of humbug about 
 this revival of the Gaelic language. That its 
 acquisition is of no practical use is no objection 
 to it. The best education is generally finan- 
 cially useless ; though an Irish parent, when 
 asked what was the good of having his child 
 taught Gaelic, replied, " It will be of no use 
 to him in Ireland, but it might help him if 
 he went abroad ! " The real objection to the 
 movement is that it is in essence a political 
 device, and in practice it encourages the teach- 
 ing of the merest smattering of a language at 
 the cost of the abandonment of more really 
 educative instruction. In Leinster it is probable 
 that very few have used Gaelic as a language 
 for a hundred years, and it is certain that in 
 Dublin no Gaelic has been spoken for three 
 hundred years ; yet the League solemnly talks 
 of thirty thousand Gaelic-speaking people in 
 Leinster, and of ''some thousands" in Dublin.^ 
 With the Gaelic League is associated the 
 
 1 The cost of teaching Gaelic rose from ^955 in 1901 
 to ;£"i 2,069 ii^ 1904. 
 
 55 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Gaelic Athletic Association. Ostensibly its aim 
 was to revive old Irish games and pastimes, 
 and to exclude cricket, football, and other 
 athletic sports imported from England. It 
 makes no secret, however, of its real object. 
 Not only are its members forbidden to play 
 English games, but all soldiers, sailors and 
 policemen are denied membership and the 
 privilege of participating in its sports. More- 
 over, in recent years its members have been 
 drilled in military fashion, carrying the 
 " camans," or clubs, like rifles on their 
 shoulders. Now that the Arms Act — which 
 Mr. John Morley refused to drop in 1892-95 — 
 has been repealed, there is no reason why the 
 rifle should not play its part in the drill — and 
 elsewhere. Mr. Redmond claims that the right 
 to carry arms is the badge of freedom ; we shall 
 see what use is made of this badge, not only 
 in the Gaelic Athletic Association, but in 
 Ulster. 
 
 Certainly the most interesting movement, 
 and possibly not the least important for good 
 and evil, is that known as Sinn Fein. The 
 association comprises some of the keenest and 
 brightest intellects in Ireland ; its members are 
 
 56 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 increasing all over the country, and its growing 
 influence is proved by the fact that it captured 
 some seats on the Dublin Corporation from the 
 United Irish League at the last elections. Its 
 programme is so astoundingly comprehensive 
 and thoroughgoing that had the movement not 
 had its birth in Ireland, one would have said 
 off-hand that it was impossible. In Ireland 
 nothing is impossible. Sinn Fein is the Ishmael 
 of Irish politics. Its hand is against every man, 
 and every man's hand is against it. Genea- 
 logically it is a product of the Gaelic League ; 
 but the offshoot has very few of the character- 
 istics of the parent stem. The common feature 
 is the educationally laudable desire to stimulate 
 and foster the intellectual capacities of the Irish 
 people; to revive interest in and love of Irish 
 history, the old language, the arts, and dormant 
 industries of Ireland, other than those connected 
 with agriculture. Sinn Fein, however, differs 
 from the Gaelic League in being avowedly 
 political — in the national sense — and uncom- 
 promisingly anti-English. As one of its most 
 brilliant adherents told me, the nominal goal of 
 Sinn Fein was the resuscitation of Grattan's 
 system ; the government of Ireland by King, 
 
 57 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Lords, and Commons in an Irish Parliament. 
 But he added that the large majority of the 
 members would be content with nothing short 
 of an independent Republic. Indeed, it is 
 difficult to see how the Sinn Fein programme 
 could be carried out so long as the golden link 
 of the Crown remains unbroken. One of its 
 methods, for instance, is to stop recruiting for 
 the Imperial Army.^ So far this effort has not 
 been successful to any large extent, but it is too 
 early to speak definitely of its future prospects. 
 At the first annual Convention of the National 
 Council, held in the Rotunda, Dublin, on 
 November 28, 1905, under the presidency 
 of Mr. Edward Martyn (the founder), Mr. 
 Arthur Griffith proposed, as the policy of the 
 National Council : — 
 
 " National self-development through the 
 
 recognition of the duties and rights of 
 
 citizenship on the part of the individual, and 
 
 by the aid and support of all movements 
 
 originating from within Ireland instinct with 
 
 national tradition, and not looking outside 
 
 Ireland for the accomplishment of their 
 
 aims." 
 
 1 See Appendix B. 
 
 58 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 This resolution was a direct blow at the Par- 
 liamentary party, for whose personnel, objects, 
 and tactics Sinn Fein expresses unqualified 
 contempt. As a member said to me, " We are 
 sick of ceaseless chatter and political agitation." 
 Sinn Fein, then, advocates the withdrawal of 
 the Nationalist m.embers from the Imperial 
 Parliament, and the application of the funds 
 raised to support them to the development of 
 Irish industries, or to the appointment of Irish 
 consuls in foreign countries, the boycotting 
 of all English-manufactured goods, with the 
 ulterior object of instituting a system of rigid 
 protective tariffs, especially against England ; 
 the withdrawal of all litigation from courts 
 of justice established and maintained by the 
 '' English " Parliam.ent, the judges whereof have 
 sworn allegiance to the ''English" King. If 
 it is asked how Ireland is going to live till 
 this independence is secured, the answer is : 
 There are in the United States to-day thirty 
 Irishmen, or men of Irish blood, whose names 
 on a cheque would be good for ^50,000,000. 
 Few of these men take any public part in 
 affairs, but all of them profess a desire in public 
 to help Ireland in the direction indicated — on 
 
 59 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 business lines. So, with ^50,000,000 provided 
 by Irish- Americans, and a like sum lodged " in 
 the so-called Irish banks," Ireland could start 
 with a capital of ^100,000,000, build up a 
 mercantile marine, which, aided by an Irish 
 consular service, would not only make the 
 country commercially independent and prosper- 
 ous, but would deal a severe blow at " Eng- 
 land." And to "hurt England" is one of the 
 undisguised objects of Sinn Fein, partly to pay 
 off old scores against this country, and partly, 
 after the manner of the Israelites versus the 
 Egyptian Pharaoh, to compel England *'to 
 let Ireland go." Meanwhile, as an instalment, 
 there is afoot a comparatively mild movement 
 ■ — based this time upon the Boston anti-tea 
 policy — to punish England by reducing Irish 
 consumption of all dutiable articles — ale and 
 stout, whisky, tea, sugar, and tobacco — by one- 
 half. It may be added that the Franciscans, 
 who are making a determined and most suc- 
 cessful effort to promote temperance in Ireland, 
 do not hesitate to appeal to this national senti- 
 ment as an inducement to abstain from alcoholic 
 beverages. When, however, it comes to tea, 
 which Irishmen and Irishwomen are consuming 
 
 60 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 in increasing quantities, and to tobacco, we shall 
 be in a better position to judge of the hold of 
 Sinn Fein on the minds of the people. 
 
 There is something pathetic in the fact that 
 men of unquestioned intellectual capacity and 
 intelligence can be found to believe in the suc- 
 cess of so astounding and impossible a policy. 
 It is the more astonishing because the leaders 
 base the hopes of victory upon the precedents 
 of ''United Germany" and of "Independent 
 Hungary." The names of Francis Deak and 
 of Friedrich List are always on their tongues, 
 while they forget the two essential and, from 
 their point of view, fatal facts that Hungary has 
 a population of nearly twenty million people, 
 while Austria has not more than twenty-seven 
 millions ; and that the Germans, who, separated 
 by artificial boundaries, were united by common 
 aspirations, amounted to a dozen times the 
 numbers of '' Irish Irishmen." Behind Francis 
 Deak stood a population half as large as that 
 of the United Kingdom ; and it required a per- 
 sistent prosecution of the policy of " blood and 
 iron " before German Unity was achieved. 
 
 Visionary and unreal as are the aims of Sinn 
 Fein, they are attracting sufficient supporters 
 
 6i 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 to frighten the "orthodox" Nationalists, and 
 the political priests, whom Sinn Fein ignores, 
 rather than opposes. It is notable, however, 
 that when the stereotyped vote of censure upon 
 " the atheistical and tyrannical French Govern- 
 ment " — referred to above — was moved in the 
 Corporation of the City of Dublin, the newly- 
 elected Sinn Fein members voted against it. 
 
 Mr. Stephen Gwynn, M.P., was told off to 
 condemn the Sinn Fein policy at a meeting in 
 Dublin. It was not difficult for so well-informed 
 a man to demolish the historic bases of the 
 " Ourselves alone " movement, but he had to 
 admit that " the effect of the Sinn Fein party 
 had been, to a certain extent, to weaken the 
 Irish party." 
 
 Mr. Gwynn gave a further proof of the 
 apprehensions of his party with regard to Sinn 
 Fein by going one better in respect of the 
 anti-enlistment movement : — 
 
 " He would do his best," he said, ** to 
 induce any Irishman not to go into the Eng- 
 lish Army, but, with an army like the British, 
 it was a question of pay, and if they wanted 
 soldiers they could get them. The men who 
 62 
 
Cross-Currents 
 
 joined the Army were not the pick of Ireland, 
 and would be the least affected by a National 
 appeal — the loafers in the street-corners. 
 The people who joined the English Army did 
 not do so for the honour and glory of the 
 career — they were the thoughtless and vicious 
 who joined." 
 
 To such miserable shifts is a gentleman and 
 a scholar reduced when he is trying to outbid 
 a rival faction. 
 
 I shall reserve what I have to say on the 
 little cross-current raised by the Devolutionists 
 till I have to deal with the whole question of 
 Home Rule and its alternatives. It is sufficient 
 to say now that it is composed of men from 
 both parties, who have persuaded themselves 
 that it is possible to convert an Alpine hut on 
 a slippery slope amid the ice into a permanent 
 residence. 
 
 Last of all of the cross-currents in Irish 
 politics, and, for the moment only, the least 
 effective, is one of which much will be heard 
 and felt in a not distant future — I mean a 
 Labour movement in which " Nationalist " ideas 
 will play little part. At present it is a power in 
 
 63 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 the towns, but it is also germinating in the 
 agricultural districts. In the strenuous demand 
 for the substitution of '* direct labour " in road- 
 mending for the existing system of contracts to 
 farmers may be found the seeds of a new and 
 serious agitation. At Castlerea lately, in the 
 course of a riotous demonstration in favour of 
 *' Direct Labour," the cry was raised, '* Enough 
 has been done for the tenants; it is our turn 
 now ! " 
 
 64 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE TYRANNY OF THE U. I. L. 
 
 IF it were necessary to summarise the condi- 
 tion of Ireland from the point of view of 
 
 law and order, it would be sufficient to say- 
 that law and order are respected In two-thirds of 
 Ireland, and that in the remaining third law is 
 maintained, but it is the law of the United Irish 
 League, and not the King's law, and order pre- 
 vails, but it Is order of somewhat the same kind 
 as that which once reigned in Warsaw. The 
 third of Ireland which is dominated by the 
 League is that portion of the island known 
 as the west. Mr. Bryce, in the course of his 
 valedictory pilgrimage, has recently declared, 
 with subh'me self-complacence, that he was 
 leaving Ireland peaceful and happy. To one 
 who, like myself, read a summary of his 
 speeches while touring in the west, the state- 
 ment only proved that Mr. Bryce knew as little 
 of Ireland as Ireland knew of its late Chief 
 Secretary. Even Englishmen must have been 
 
 5 65 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 amazed, though loyal Irishmen were appalled, 
 at the light-hearted way in which he re- 
 proached the Press for exaggerated reports of 
 the assault made upon Mr. Townsend, a land 
 agent, while in the discharge of his duty at 
 Thurles. The official version of this outrage 
 stated that Mr. Townsend was on his way to 
 attend an eviction for non-payment of rent 
 in the execution of his obvious duty. There 
 seemed to have been some misunderstanding as 
 to the attendance of the police, and Mr. Town- 
 send was unescorted. A mob fell upon him, 
 knocked him down, stunned him, and kicked 
 him while he was insensible. He was rescued 
 and confined to the house for some days, and 
 was then able to resume his duty. As it was 
 rarely that I was able to see English papers 
 while on the move in Ireland, I do not know 
 where the exaggeration came in. The bald 
 facts, however, are sufficiently discreditable, and 
 the impression created — in Ireland, at any rate 
 — by Mr. Bryce's speech was that so long as 
 a man was not killed or permanently injured, 
 a little knocking about by a mob was a matter 
 of no importance. It was not a good lesson 
 to teach the police, who are very sensitive to 
 
 66 
 
The Tyranny of the U» L L* 
 
 the utterances of their actual or late superiors. 
 What view would have been taken of a similar 
 assault committed upon the Chief Secretary by 
 a band of rowdy Orangemen as he was on his 
 way to the castle to discharge his duty ? 
 
 But, really, it is hard to understand from 
 what source Mr. Bryce drew his information. 
 He boasted in the middle of January that 
 the Irish Government had been enabled to 
 dispense with the odious system of "jury- 
 packing," as he called it. Jury-packing only 
 means the prerogative of the Crown to challenge 
 jurors who are likely to find verdicts not in 
 accordance with the evidence, but under the 
 influence of fear or prejudice. Soon after 
 Mr. Bryce had thus exalted himself over his 
 tyrannical predecessors a copy was put into my 
 hands of the Simi Fein of December 22, 1906. 
 In reply to a boast similar to that uttered by 
 Mr. Bryce, on the part of the Cork Examiner, 
 that it "may be said that in the Munster 
 Winter Assizes the law has been adequately 
 vindicated without recourse to coercion or 
 jury-packing, or other methods which brought 
 disgrace on the administration of the law in 
 the past of this part of the country," Sinn 
 
 67 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 FeiUy after enumerating the challenges by the 
 Crown, goes on to say : — 
 
 It is a goodly list of stand-bys at one 
 assizes, and in a time when jury-packing has 
 ceased to exist. 
 
 We analyse it to convince the Cork 
 Exmniner that jury-packing and the jury- 
 packers were never more fully alive, and 
 that Mr. R. R. Cherry, K.C., M.P., and 
 his indefatigable assistant, Mr. Dunne, can 
 stand in the same row with Peter the Packer 
 himself 
 
 Case I. — King of England v. Meany. 
 
 Challenged for prisoner . . .20 
 
 Ordered to " stand by " by Crown . . 45 
 
 Case 2. — King of England v. Ward and Casey. 
 Challenged for prisoners . . .20 
 
 Ordered to "stand by" by Crown . .21 
 
 These men were being tried for their lives. 
 
 Case 3. — King of England v. O'Leary and others. 
 Challenged for prisoners . . .6 
 
 Ordered to "stand by" by Crown . -15 
 
 Case 4. — King of England v. Healy and others. 
 Challenged for prisoners . . .6 
 
 Ordered to "stand by" by Crown . .16 
 
 In each case the prisoners exhausted their 
 right of challenge. The Crown went on with 
 68 
 
The Tyranny of the U* L L» 
 
 its inexhaustible stand-by after the unfortunate 
 men in the dock had been silenced, until it 
 had eliminated, so far as the panel permitted, 
 every man from the jury-box who might be 
 about its influence. In the cases we have 
 quoted — the only agrarian and semi-political 
 cases at the Commission — the Liberal 
 Government, without showing cause, ordered 
 ninety-seven Irishmen away from the jury- 
 box, whilst it refused to allow the prisoners 
 to order away more than fifty-two. The 
 Cork Examiner, whilst publishing these facts 
 in its news columns assured the people in its 
 editorial ones that jury-packing had ceased. 
 
 As the result of a tour through the west, in 
 the course of which I was able, under the 
 strictest seal of confidence, to converse with all 
 sorts and conditions of people, rich and poor, 
 official and private, priests and ministers, boy- 
 cotters and boycotted. Nationalist and Unionist, 
 I am convinced that the machinery for the 
 prosecution of terrorism and intimidation is 
 better organised and more complete than it was 
 in the worst days of the Land League, and that 
 the little finger of the United Irish League is 
 
 69 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 thicker than its predecessor's loins. It is quite 
 true that there are very few acts of physical 
 violence, and very few crimes of the class of 
 arson and mutilation of cattle. But there are 
 two explanations of this superficial tranquillity. 
 In the first place, the order has gone forth, 
 iterated and reiterated in the speeches of the 
 Parliamentary leaders, that no outrages are to 
 occur, lest a weapon be put into the hands of 
 the Unionist opposition. In the second place, 
 outrages are superfluous. So rigid and irre- 
 sistible is the rule of the League that the 
 issue of a bull against an individual usually 
 suffices to bring him to order. There is a 
 familiar story of a Prime Minister on his death- 
 bed, who, after making the usual public confes- 
 sion of his sins, was asked by the priest, " Have 
 you forgiven your enemies ? " " Father," was 
 the reply, " I have no enemies." '' What ! " was 
 the further question, '' a man in your position 
 has no enemies?" ** No, Father," was the 
 answer, *' I have killed them all." 
 
 The United Irish League has not killed its 
 enemies, it has cowed them into abject and 
 almost universal submission. It is not, there- 
 fore, surprising that only a very few cases of 
 
 70 
 
The Tyranny of the U» L L» 
 
 violence and overt Intimidation are brought to 
 the official knowledge of the police. But those 
 which do occur throw a terrible light upon the 
 condition of the west, as I shall proceed to 
 show, by evidence which has become public. 
 I could quote case after case which has come 
 under my own observation, of the authenticity 
 of which there can be no question, but for the 
 fact that if I indicated even remotely the sources 
 from which I obtain my Information the last 
 state of those victims of League oppression 
 would be worse, if that is possible, than the 
 first. 
 
 The modus operandi Is simplicity itself. In 
 most parts of the west, especially in Sllgo, 
 Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, and East Galway, 
 practically every village has a branch of the 
 United Irish League, which holds periodical 
 meetings. When any one Incurs the displeasure 
 of the League he Is summoned to attend their 
 next meeting to give an explanation. Should 
 he comply, his case is investigated, he is called 
 on to apologise and promise to amend his ways ; 
 and thereupon he Is either pardoned, cautioned, 
 or punished for his alleged delinquencies. 
 Should he disregard the summons, he Is then 
 
 71 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 a marked man, and the case is put into the 
 hands of a Vigilance Committee, who see that 
 a thorough boycott is carried out throughout the 
 county. They communicate with all the other 
 branches. The man's farm is at once picketed, 
 and in most cases this continues both by night 
 and day. Neither the boycotted man nor any 
 of his family can leave the farm without horns 
 being blown by the watchers, who thereby let 
 the countryside know that the wretched people 
 are on the road. This is passed on the whole 
 way they go, and they are also escorted by 
 members of the League, who follow behind 
 blowing horns at them and indulging in every 
 kind of abusive and menacing language. Should 
 the boycotted man try and obtain food or 
 necessities at any villages the shopkeepers are 
 at once warned that they must not supply him 
 with any, a warning which is seldom disregarded. 
 No man is allowed to talk to a boycotted man, 
 to work for him, buy from him or sell to him 
 anything whatever. According to the League 
 papers, as I will presently show, the League has 
 no hesitation in naming men publicly as being 
 obnoxious to them, and the language used is 
 often of a most inflammatory description. As 
 
 72 
 
The Tyranny of the U. L L* 
 
 the result of all this, many families would now 
 be starving were it not that Loyalist county 
 gentlemen who are beyond the reach of the 
 League supply them with food and other neces- 
 saries of life. In many cases these provisions 
 are given directly ; when, however, they are 
 sent in, as is often necessary — owing to the 
 timidity of local tradesmen— from outside towns, 
 they have to be addressed to the recipient at 
 the nearest railway station, without any label 
 or mark on them to show who their consignor 
 was. To-day the League has so completely 
 organised its machinery that a dab of green 
 paint upon a man's door or upon his cattle or 
 pigs or sheep is sufficient to insure that he him- 
 self is shunned as a leper, and that his stock is 
 unsaleable. Many markets in the west show 
 a diminished attendance of farmers because 
 the more timorous are afraid of inadvertently 
 speaking to or dealing with men who have 
 come under the ban of the League. 
 
 I will take, as an illustration, a case or two 
 in Leitrim which are public property. First, 
 there is the Brady case, which has acquired a 
 certain notoriety because of the attempt to 
 attach Mr. Walter Long for contempt of Court 
 
 73 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 on the ground of a speech in which reference 
 was made to it. Summarised it may be told as 
 follows : — 
 
 Thomas Brady has acted as bailiff on the 
 estate of Miss Crofton for several years. He 
 occupied a good farm at Drumnafinla, where 
 his wife and two sons live with him. This 
 farm was never an evicted one, and has been 
 for many years in Brady's family. He is at 
 the present time rigidly boycotted, and can 
 only live under the constant protection ot 
 the police. Three constables are quartered in 
 his house since last August, two of whom 
 accompany him wherever he goes. He dare 
 not attend worship at the Roman Catholic 
 church. If he did the rest of the congrega- 
 tion would make a hostile display against 
 him. Even the priest will not speak to him. 
 The facts leading up to his unpopularity are 
 as follows : On May 22, 1888, one James 
 Creamer was evicted from a farm on the Slack 
 estate, adjoining that of Miss Crofton. This 
 man owed arrears amounting to ^106, and a 
 yearly rent of ^15 los. Adjoining this farm 
 was another, from which a tenant had pre- 
 viously been evicted. After Creamer's eviction 
 
 74 
 
The Tyranny of the U» L L» 
 
 these two farms were amalgamated, and one 
 John Kelly was put In as caretaker. On 
 Dec. 7, 1889, Kelly was murdered on the 
 public road, within half-a-mlle of his house. 
 After the murder Thomas Brady became 
 caretaker of this farm, under strong police 
 protection. The farm he held in Drumnafinla 
 was left in charge of his wife and family. In 
 May 1894, Edward Brady, son of Thomas, 
 was made tenant of this joint holding, and 
 Thomas returned to his own farm at Drumna- 
 finla. In May 1899, Edward bought his 
 farm from the Irish Land Committee ; he fell 
 into arrears, hov/ever, and the holding was 
 put up for auction at Carrick-on-Shannon in 
 February 1906. Thomas Brady paid up all 
 arrears and costs, and the sale was stopped. 
 This deprived some relatives of the old 
 tenants of the chance of buying the holding 
 at a nominal sum, as no one would dare to 
 bid against them. Since this took place 
 Brady goes in imminent danger of his life. 
 He lives only by the protection of the police. 
 He can get no provisions in any neighbouring 
 villages, and has to travel long distances 
 with the police to get the necessaries of life. 
 
 75 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Wherever he is seen crowds assemble and 
 ** boo " and groan at him. Some evictions took 
 place on the Crofton estate in May last, and 
 serious rioting occurred. On July 7 last two 
 of Brady's sons were returning from Dromahair 
 with meal and flour on an asses' cart. This is 
 about twenty miles from Brady's farm. They 
 were attacked by a mob, which scattered the 
 provisions, and the Bradys were with difficulty 
 saved by a force of twelve police. I append 
 to this story the following extracts from issues 
 of the Sligo Champion connected with the boy- 
 cotting of Brady, under the heading '' United 
 Irish League," premising that the names in 
 parentheses do not appear in the text. 
 
 Jtme 30. — Drumskambo Branch. Proposed 
 and passed unanimously : '' That we call on the 
 shopkeepers of this town not to supply goods 
 to any person who is known to be a grabber, 
 or their supporters, and that, if we do know of 
 any person violating the rules, we will publish 
 their names in future." 
 
 July 14. — Drumkeerin Branch. A vigilance 
 committee was appointed to keep an eye 
 on people dealing or keeping company with 
 obnoxious individuals, and to report all 
 
 76 
 
The Tyranny of the U^ L L. 
 
 cases coming under their notice at our 
 meetings. 
 
 July iZ.—Ballinagleera Branch. As the 
 public are aware, the tyranny enacted on the 
 Crofton estate is indescribable, owing to the 
 existence of a bailiff, who is at present care- 
 taking three evicted farms on the estate, as 
 well as having in his possession the farm in 
 Greaghnafarna, from which three poor tenants 
 were evicted under tyrannical circumstances. 
 
 September i, — Ballinagleera Branch. Extract 
 from motion proposed by Mr. A. Mulvey, hon. 
 secretary of the Ballinagleera Branch of the 
 United Irish League, and seconded by Mr, 
 Daniel Flynn, J.P. : 
 
 "That we, the Nationalists of Ballinagleera, 
 in public meeting assembled, condemn the 
 action of certain shopkeepers in Carrick-on- 
 Shannon and Croghan in supplying the 
 notorious bailiff (Brady) with goods while he 
 was declined same in the towns of this dis- 
 trict, and we hereby warn those who supply 
 him in future that they should remember that 
 they will have the Nationalists of Leitrim and 
 Roscommon to deal with." 
 
 11 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 September 8. — Drumkeerin Branch. We 
 have been informed that the emergency man 
 (Brady) was supplied with provisions last week 
 by a Dromahair shopkeeper (Mr. Longmoor), 
 who has taken a prominent part in the cattle 
 show. We hope it shall not escape the atten- 
 tion of the Dromahair Branch. 
 
 Novejnber i o. — Ballinagleera Branch, 1 1 was 
 submitted that the grabbers, Brady and Cullen, 
 were receiving some supplies from a merchant 
 in Enniskillen, and it was decided to take 
 action in the matter. 
 
 More than three weeks after I had written on 
 this case in the columns of the Daily Telegraph, 
 the following paragraphs appeared on two suc- 
 cessive days, March 4 and 5, in the Times: — 
 
 March 4. — In opening the Leitrim Assizes to- 
 day at Carrick-on-Shannon, Mr. Justice Kenny 
 said that the official reports of the state of the 
 country showed an increase in the number of 
 what were called specially reported cases. He 
 would scarcely think it necessary to comment 
 on this increase but for the fact that it repre- 
 sented that very odious form of crime of in- 
 timidating threatening letters and notices. The 
 county inspector had informed him that a 
 
 1^ 
 
The Tyranny of the U* L L» 
 
 certain district in that country was in a very 
 lawless condition, and that three families, repre- 
 sented by twelve people, were wholly boycotted 
 and under police protection, while other families 
 received partial police protection. '' He also 
 told me," added his lordship, ''that one family 
 exists In such a state of continual danger that 
 there are three policemen quartered In their 
 house. I am also Informed that to such an 
 extent has the spirit of lawlessness developed 
 that in one of the districts to which I have re- 
 ferred the postmen have twice been set upon 
 and letters forcibly taken from them. In these 
 latter cases, I regret to say, no one has been made 
 amenable. Such a state of things justifies the 
 observation made by the learned Judge who 
 presided at last Connaught Winter Assizes, who 
 said that when the chain of terrorism was 
 complete no witness would give evidence and 
 no jury would convict. I wish I could say your 
 country was in a satisfactory condition and that 
 I could offer you my congratulations, but the 
 reports which I have received prevent me from 
 being able to do so." 
 
 March 5. — At the Leitrim Assizes, to-day, 
 before Mr. Justice Kenny, the following eight 
 persons were tried on charges of having been 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 concerned in an illegal assembly at Drumkeerin 
 on July 7, 1906 : Thomas Gilrane, Peter 
 Dolan, James Early, Francis McPartland, John 
 Clancy, Patrick Ryan, Myles McPartland, and 
 Joseph J. Flynn, district councillor. This is the 
 second trial of the case ; the former trial, before 
 Mr. Justice Gibson, at the Connaught Winter 
 Assizes, resulted in a disagreement of the jury. 
 ***** 
 
 Mr. Justice Kenny, in charging the jury, said 
 that when he heard the evidence as to the 
 treatment of these lads, he asked himself, as 
 probably many others did, were they living in 
 a Christian country and in a civilised com- 
 munity ? If the jurors sympathised with con- 
 duct such as had been described they were not 
 fit to be jurors ; they were not fit to fill the 
 most menial position that any one could con- 
 ceive. It was as pitiable and as wretched a case 
 as he had ever tried, and it was a case in which, 
 if justice were not meted out, there would be a 
 reflection on their country. 
 
 The jury, after an absence of an hour and 
 a half, stated they could not agree. Mr. Justice 
 Kenny asked them to decide whether the 
 prisoners were members of the crowd. The 
 
 80 
 
The Tyranny of the U. L L. 
 
 jury answered "Yes." Mr. Justice Kenny 
 asked whether they were there for the purpose 
 of Interfering with the Bradys. The jury said 
 they could not agree, and they were discharged, 
 and the prisoners were allowed out until the 
 July assizes. 
 
 I will cite one other instance, with the 
 comments of the Slz£'o Champmi : — 
 
 Edward Boles is one of the most rigorously 
 boycotted men in the district, and he and his 
 family are given no peace. The letter which 
 follows, mentioned In the S/z^o Champion of 
 Oct. 13, was referred to by Mr. P. A. McHugh 
 at the League demonstration held at Drum- 
 keerln the following week, when the advice 
 given was to pay no attention to the letter, but 
 to persecute Boles. During the course of one 
 of the speeches It was also advocated ''that a 
 ring of fire should be drawn round Edward 
 Boles and Jeffrey Cullen, and they should get 
 plenty of the horn." On one Sunday In Novem- 
 ber Mrs. Boles was hooted and had horns 
 blown round her when returning from church to 
 Drumkeerin in company with a Mrs. Nixon, 
 wife of the postmaster at Drumkeerin. Boles 
 6 81 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 used to get all his supplies from this Mr. 
 Nixon, but now gets them from towns in other 
 counties, except portable articles, which Mr. 
 Nixon still gets for him. As in all the cases, 
 the police have to escort the cart when getting 
 supplies. Special attention should be drawn to 
 the extract of Sept. 29, which shows how the 
 boycotted people are intimidated. When the 
 question was asked in the House of Commons 
 some time ago, as to whether it was true that 
 Boles had to get supplies from the postmaster 
 at Dromahair, Mr. Bryce's reply was that it was 
 not so. This was a mere splitting of straws, as 
 it was the postmaster at Drumkeerin and not 
 at Dromahair. The extracts are from the Sligo 
 Champion, 
 
 September 22. — Drumkeerin Branch. As all 
 Nationalists now know their duty towards the 
 grabbers, we need hardly remind them that 
 Boles, the grabber of Mr. Porteous' farm, 
 should be treated the same as Jeffrey or any 
 other grabber. 
 
 September 29. — Drumkeerin Branch. John 
 Woods apologised for working with the grabber, 
 Boles, and his apology was accepted. . . . 
 
 It was then decided to have some musical 
 82 
 
The Tyranny of the U. L L» 
 
 recreation, and the band started in the direc- 
 tion of Mr. Porteous' evicted farm. Horns were 
 blown, and In a very short time several hundred 
 people assembled about a mile from the vil- 
 lage, in full view of the home of the evicted 
 tenant. 
 
 With horns blowing and groans for the 
 grabber, the people returned. 
 
 October 13. — Drumkeerin Branch. It has 
 been reported to the committee that Lloyd 
 Miller and others assisted grabber Boles at 
 making a hayrick during the night. Due 
 inquiry shall be made. A letter had been left 
 before the committee from Boles, deploring the 
 wrong that is being done to him in calling him 
 the grabber of the Porteous' farm, declaring 
 his mother to be the grabber and that he is 
 only acting the part of an obedient son in 
 assisting his ''aged mother" in her grab. If 
 it Is any consolation to Boles, we shall call 
 him the assistant grabber ; meanwhile, we may 
 have a word to say to the grabber, his ''aged 
 mother," who, we are told, resides at Boyle. 
 
 November 10. — Drumkeerin Branch. It has 
 been reported to the committee that the Post 
 Office authorities of the town are supplying 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 goods to the grabber (Boles) and his assistant 
 (Lloyd Miller). We direct the vigilance com- 
 mittee to make inquiries and report at our 
 next meeting, when the case shall be further 
 dealt with. 
 
 An even more recent instance of the power 
 of the League was supplied by a case which 
 became public in Ballinasloe. I quote it par- 
 ticularly because it had no connection with 
 evicted holdings, but followed closely on the 
 lines of the story of Naboth's vineyard. Mr. 
 Beirne, of Ballinasloe, a Nationalist and a 
 Roman Catholic, who, by his exertions, had 
 saved a considerable sum of money, bought 
 a grass farm in Roscommon, for which he 
 paid ;^i,200. This land had been sold under 
 the Ashbourne Acts. It was coveted by his 
 neighbours for the purpose of breaking up and 
 distribution amongst those who wanted more 
 land. He held out for some time, but his 
 windows were broken, his cattle driven off, and 
 he was threatened with the usual penalties of 
 League law. On the occasion of Mr. Dillon's 
 visit to Ballinasloe to unveil the memorial to 
 Matt Harris, Mr. Beirne was led up in triumph 
 
 84 
 
The Tyranny of the U* L L^ 
 
 to declare with manifest reluctance that he had 
 surrendered the farm, and as far as I could 
 learn had received no compensation or promise 
 of compensation. 
 
 This is only one case amongst many which 
 I came across in the west of men, and ladies, 
 too, being boycotted because they refused to 
 give up grass land which they had bought 
 under the various Land Purchase Acts, or even 
 had obtained by direct inheritance. People 
 holding demesnes which have never been 
 let, except occasionally, under eleven months' 
 agreement, are now threatened, molested, and 
 refused the right of selling their cattle, because 
 this grass land is ''required" by adjoining 
 tenants. 
 
 It is not necessary to multiply cases, though 
 I could do so almost ad infinihim. Some of 
 the apologists for these overt acts of oppression 
 will tell you that these are exceptional cases, 
 and are not the outcome of any widespread 
 agitation. The ansv/er to this plea is simple 
 and conclusive. Wherever a man is boycotted 
 by the orders of the United Irish League, the 
 whole county, and often the adjoining counties, 
 at once co-operate with the branch of the 
 
 85 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 League in isolating the man from communion 
 with his fellows. There is not on record a 
 single instance of a protest being made against 
 the verdict of the League, and very few of 
 secret assistance to the victim by m_embers of 
 his own class of life. The commonest expression 
 which I heard in Connaught from sympathisers 
 and their opponents was ''the law of the 
 League is the law of the land." And it is true. 
 In the course of my journey I motored 
 through a great part of the Clanricarde property. 
 The unpopularity of the landlord, which has 
 received a considerable stimulus from severe 
 expressions used by the present Prime Minister, 
 and by the Chief Secretary, makes the Clan- 
 ricarde property a favourite hunting-ground of 
 the Irish agitators and Members of Parliament. 
 Now it is not my business to defend Lord 
 Clanricarde. Let us see, however, what are the 
 worst charges, true or imaginary, that can be 
 brought against him. He is said to be a miser ; 
 it is true that he never visits his property, and 
 that he spends in Ireland itself little or none of j 
 the income which he derives from his Irish 
 estates. In other words, he ignores those 
 moral obligations which are recognised and 
 
 86 
 
The Tyranny of the U* L L« 
 
 acted upon by most landlords in Ireland, and in 
 the rest of the United Kingdom. But these 
 offences, even if true, are not indictable ; they 
 affect his relations with God and his conscience, 
 but have not anything to do with the State or 
 his rights as an owner of property. That he is 
 not a rapacious or extortionate landlord is very 
 simply proved. A great part of his estates 
 consists of poor land, but the rents are excep- 
 tionally low, and have certainly not been raised in 
 modern times. The demonstration of this truth 
 is easy. Lord Clanricarde's tenants, hostile as 
 they are to their landlord, have never taken him 
 into the Land Court to obtain a reduction of their 
 rents, and, as Lord Clanricarde disapproves of 
 all recent agrarian legislation, he has pursued the 
 same policy to¥/ards his tenants. Some time 
 ago, however, there arose a dispute about sport- 
 ing rights, and Lord Clanricarde took a few 
 typical cases into the Law Court, with the result 
 not only that his rights were recognised, but 
 that the rents of these farms were raised by a 
 body which cannot be charged with showing 
 extravagant favour to good landlords, to say 
 nothing about bad ones. Yet Lord Clanricarde 
 is held up not merely by Nationalist members, 
 
 ^7 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 but by prominent Ministers, to execration, as 
 the dreadful example of Irish landlordism. As 
 a matter of fact. Lord Clanricarde, whatever 
 may be his other shortcomings, has only done 
 voluntarily what the State has compelled other 
 landlords to do by statute, namely, he has 
 chosen to be the mere mortgagee of his own 
 property, while various Acts of Parliament 
 have forced this position on nearly all the 
 landlords of Ireland. 
 
 In connection with this system of League 
 tyranny, a word must be said with regard to 
 the Royal Irish Constabulary. The least 
 observant visitor to Ireland must have realised 
 that the Royal Irish Constabulary, recruited 
 from the ranks of the small farmers and trades- 
 men, and officered by the best men Ireland and 
 Great Britain can produce, constitutes the finest 
 gendarmerie that the world has ever seen. If 
 you want to know anything in Ireland, from a 
 ''marching route" to the nature of the soil or 
 the price of a pig, the best plan is "to ask 
 a policeman." Absolutely incorruptible — they 
 will not accept a tip for any service, however 
 valuable — and loyal to the back-bone, they are 
 the mainspring of the maintenance of law and 
 
 88 
 
The Tyranny of the U* L L» 
 
 order throughout the land. Fearless, consider- 
 ate, and indefatigable, they manage to enforce 
 the law without alienating the goodwill of 
 the people. They are, however, human beings 
 and Irishmen. As Irishmen they are keen poli- 
 ticians, though they keep their political opinions 
 to themselves. In every police barracks in 
 Ireland the Freeman' s Journal is taken in and 
 read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested. 
 No amount of obloquy in its columns and 
 no blandishments ever affect the devotion to 
 duty of this incomparable corps. They see, how- 
 ever, as far into a millstone as others, and if 
 they gather that their chiefs disapprove of zeal 
 and alertness, they can be as slack as **the 
 Castle " desires. When it is understood that 
 the authorities have no wish for any information 
 beyond a bald statement of '' incidents," the 
 constabulary content themselves with a report 
 of such cases only as demand prosecution or 
 require ''police protection." They who know 
 the feelings and passions of the countryside 
 better than any of the inhabitants individually 
 refrain from supplying information which is not 
 asked for, and the communication of which, 
 moreover, would be received with a snub rather 
 
 89 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 than with appreciation and approval. An opti- 
 mist and self-deluding Castle means a reticent 
 and reserved constabulary. They will report 
 truthfully what has happened ; they will refrain 
 from conjecturing what they believe will 
 happen. This frame of mind, for which the 
 authorities and not the officers and men of the 
 Royal Irish Constabulary are responsible, is 
 fraught with positive danger in critical times 
 such as are likely to recur. The machinery of 
 organised lawlessness and violence is in working 
 order, and only requires a lever to be pulled, or 
 a button to be pressed, to be set in motion. 
 Yet the trained experts who are watching the 
 machine and the machinists are discouraged 
 from making confidential reports. That is 
 perhaps the most dangerous factor in the 
 present condition of Ireland. 
 
 90 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PRIEST AND POLITICS 
 
 AS occasional references have been made 
 in the previous chapters to the action 
 of Roman Catholic priests, not alto- 
 gether of an appreciative character, and as I 
 propose to devote this chapter mainly to the 
 influence of the priests on Irish politics, it is 
 well that I should start by defining my position 
 towards them. I hope it is unnecessary to state 
 that my criticism is conceived in no spirit 
 of bigotry. Those who study contemporary 
 history as politicians have to consider every 
 factor in the political problem. Religion is 
 always and everywhere a most important ele- 
 ment in national life, and nowhere is it more 
 predominant than in Ireland. But to examine 
 the merits or demerits of any particular form 
 of religion as such is not part of the student's 
 task. It is not with Roman Catholicism as 
 a creed that I have to deal, but with Irish 
 Roman Catholic priests and their relations to 
 the question of the day. 
 
 91 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Of course it must be borne in mind that the 
 tenets of the Church of Rome, especially its 
 insistence on the observance of holy days, 
 necessarily handicap a Catholic population 
 working side by side with Protestants who 
 enforce abstinence from work only on Sundays 
 and two or three special days in the year. 
 Outside Dublin and Belfast small and promising 
 industries have been hampered by the restric- 
 tion of working days. In Belfast, however, 
 where competition for employment is keen, the 
 difficulty practically does not exist. With this 
 insignificant exception, I shall have nothing to 
 say about the Roman Catholic creed. It must 
 be acknowledged that, on the whole, the 
 Roman Catholics of the rest of Ireland are 
 more tolerant than the Protestants of the north- 
 east, though as I have pointed out in a previous 
 article, Belfast has set an excellent example by 
 the voluntary selection of a Roman Catholic 
 Nationalist to occupy the second highest 
 municipal office in the city. And amongst 
 intelligent and broad-minded Protestants I 
 found a feeling to exist, with which I heartily 
 concur, that if the emancipation of the people 
 from the control of the priests in temporal 
 
 92 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 matters could only be purchased by the 
 destruction of the spiritual influence of the 
 priest, it would be better for Ireland and for 
 the Irish that the present system, with all its 
 mischievous accompaniments, should continue. 
 The attempt by zealous Protestant missioners, 
 once so popular in this country, to convert 
 Irish Catholics from what were called '' the 
 errors of Rome " long since proved a failure, 
 and is now practically abandoned. If it were 
 conceivable that a crusade of proselytism could 
 succeed, as it could not, it is quite certain that 
 the result would be, not the conversion of the 
 Irish to Protestantism, but their relapse into a 
 state of heathendom and moral degradation 
 too terrible to contemplate. At the same time, 
 the continued, though gradually diminishing, 
 authority of the priest in matters secular is a 
 misfortune for Ireland. 
 
 When we talk in England of undue clerical 
 influence the utmost that we mean is that in 
 the Church and in the school the Anglican 
 priest or the Nonconformist minister abuses 
 in spiritual questions the authority given him 
 by his sacred calling. But in Ireland the 
 priest, if he chooses, as a large majority of 
 
 93 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 them still choose, to exert his spiritual authority 
 to control the political, domestic, and economic 
 affairs of his parishioners, can direct the whole 
 destinies of his parish. In many parts of the 
 country the priest is the match-maker, the 
 arbitrator, the authority which decides whether 
 a man shall buy or sell a farm, the price he 
 shall pay for it, the market at which he shall 
 deal, the manner in which he shall invest his 
 savings, or, in a word, the whole business of 
 his life. To some no doubt it would appear 
 that the ideal person to act as guide, philoso- 
 pher, and friend to a countryside is the parish 
 priest, and few would demur to this if the 
 guide were less blind than those to whom he 
 dictates the way ; if the philosopher were better 
 trained in secular matters than his pupils ; if 
 the friend had power only to give advice, but 
 not to enforce its acceptance by spiritual pains 
 and penalties. And the misfortune in Ireland 
 is that in the business of this world the training 
 of the priest renders him less capable of giving 
 wise counsel than those on whom he presses it. 
 This truth is one of the strongest points insisted 
 upon in Economics for Irishmen, by Mr. 
 P. D. Kenny ('' Pat "). 
 
 94 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 '' Our phenomenon," he writes, '' of a rich 
 country, inhabited by a poor and diminishing 
 people, with ample expenditure on education, 
 and at London's door, presents one of the 
 most interesting economic problems in the 
 civilised world and demands the sincerest 
 attention of every one who pretends to be 
 an Irishman ; more especially of any one 
 pretending to be an Irish Catholic, if only 
 because of the widely-accepted belief that 
 Irish Catholicism is the cause of her decay ; 
 and this is scarcely more urgent than the 
 further question of our Catholic majority 
 remaining in almost uniform ignorance of 
 everything economic. Besides, the Catholics 
 are the fugitives. In face of such facts, 
 and in view of the widespread belief before 
 mentioned, every Catholic priest in Ireland 
 ought to be an economist, yet I am assured 
 on authority that no economics whatever is 
 included in the ordinary curriculum at May- 
 nooth. It looks as if the very existence of 
 our Catholicism had become a matter of 
 indifference to those specially charged with 
 its maintenance and propagation." 
 
 95 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 The evil, therefore, is not that the priests 
 are advisers, but that by their training, or want 
 of it, they are indifferent, or even bad, advisers. 
 If Ireland is to profit by the opportunities 
 now at her command, we shall have to parody 
 the Platonic dictum and declare that Ireland 
 will not be happy until priests are economists 
 or economists are priests. As " Pat " well puts 
 it : — 
 
 Were our priests but competent econo- 
 mists the result would be of more value to 
 Ireland than any number of free Parliaments, 
 because economic considerations go to the 
 very bottom of national life, while all things 
 Parliamentary are comparatively superficial. 
 The Irish people spend their time talking 
 about the things on the surface instead of 
 thinking about the things at the bottom, or 
 acting on them. 
 
 (The italics are '' Pat's.") 
 
 The average Irish priest springs from the 
 ranks, is educated in a seminary until he is six- 
 teen or seventeen years of age, and then passes 
 to the semi-monastic institution at Maynooth, 
 where, associated only with men called to the 
 
 96 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 same profession, he spends seven years, of 
 which the last four are devoted exclusively to 
 theology and spiritual preparation for the priest- 
 hood. Things are better than they were, and 
 prospective priests have from two to three years' 
 education in what are called ''the humanities," 
 and they are encouraged by most of the bishops 
 to obtain a degree. But it must be remembered 
 that such works as those of Bentham, Mill, and 
 Herbert Spencer are on the Index Expurgator* 
 ius, and are not within the reach of candidates 
 for ordination. I defer dealing with possible 
 remedies for this evil till I come to the question 
 of education. For the moment I am concerned 
 with the Irish priest as he is and as he affects 
 the political problem. Let me quote again 
 from " Pat," himself a professing Catholic, who 
 was suppressed, together with his paper, by the 
 action of Cardinal Logue, for preaching *' defer- 
 ence to the priest in things spiritual, independ- 
 ence in things temporal." 
 
 Unlike any other kind of Christian, the 
 Catholic concedes to the priest all right of 
 judgment with authority in religion. That 
 is the most exalting concession that one man 
 
 7 97 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 can ever make to another, and one also repre- 
 senting a profound principle in Christian 
 ethics. In accordance with this principle the 
 peasant may rise to the highest place in the 
 highest temple, and the world has hardly a 
 more beautiful example of Faith than the 
 grey patrician of fifty generations bowed for 
 the blessing of the new-made curate who 
 may have started from the stable. But when 
 that curate has "got his parish," expands his 
 exclusive judgment on religion into his ex- 
 clusive judgment on everything else, lays 
 down the law on all things for patrician anc 
 plebeian together, dictates his '' policy " to the 
 statesman, his fees to the doctor, his voting 
 to the citizen, their '' opinions " to the public, 
 and so turns his sacred privilege into 
 secular weapon ; then the highest things 
 we know of are dragged in the dirt, anc 
 character, economic and otherwise, is sunk 
 under a confusion of standards that tend to 
 make the individual a machine rather than 
 a man, with Heaven itself pressed into the 
 process of human demoralisation. That is 
 what we have to-day in Ireland, at least in a 
 measure large enough to assure our economic^ 
 
 98 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 decay, and so helpless is the " nation " 
 against it, that useful men, good Catholics, 
 can have their dismissal dictated by the 
 priest, and be driven out of Ireland for 
 nothing more than uttering their opinions on 
 lay matters peculiarly their own, admittedly 
 in accordance with the liberty defined to them 
 by their Faith. There cannot be much of a 
 nation where this can happen, even in a 
 single case, and I have not found one country 
 parish yet in Ireland without records of the 
 kind. For the few cases that get into print 
 there are a hundred silenced by the organ- 
 ised terror ; the better class of priests, the 
 young men with souls for their true work 
 and with hearts for their country, are as 
 much victims as the laity. In such conditions 
 how can the Catholic community in Ireland 
 develop the liberty that produces character 
 or the character that produces progress ? 
 We cannot hope for progress where moral 
 cowardice is crowned by '* religion." 
 
 How can it be otherwise ? When the lad 
 destined to be a priest is taken from the humble 
 cottage in the country, he is naturally saturated 
 
 99 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 with the prejudices and the hopelessly inecono- 
 mic views of his class. The modicum of humane 
 instruction which he receives in the earlier days 
 at Maynooth may broaden his intellect and open 
 his mind, but it does little or nothing to teach 
 him those elementary economic laws of which 
 Ireland as a whole is lamentably ignorant. He 
 leaves Maynooth clothed with enormous spirit- 
 ual powers, which he can apply — too often does 
 apply — in dealing with the secular affairs of his 
 parish in after-life. If, as is generally the case, 
 he discharges his priestly duties with zeal and 
 diligence, he has very little time for reading or 
 study outside of the field of theology. The old 
 agrarian theories of his parents still remain, 
 and are not tempered by practical experience 
 such as is gained by his lay brethren. How, 
 then, is it possible that he can be a better judge 
 than his parents or his brothers of the price that 
 should be paid for a horse or a cow, of the 
 rental value of the soil, of the innumerable 
 scientific discoveries now utilised for the benefit 
 of agriculture, or of the wisdom of purchasing 
 or not purchasing under the Wyndham Act ? 
 
 The natural consequence is that the Irish 
 priest looks at the economic problems of his 
 
 lOO 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 parishioner from the point of view of the pre- 
 judiced peasant, and decides on them with all 
 the authority of the Vatican. It is no reflection 
 upon his character that he should take largely 
 into consideration the effect of any economic 
 changes or reforms upon the financial interests 
 of himself and his church. There are cases, 
 though they are comparatively few, in which 
 the priest employs his special privileges to 
 secure riches for himself, but there are still 
 fewer cases of priests who do not think it their 
 bounden duty to strengthen the financial position 
 of their church. The mio-ration or the emigfra- 
 tion of parishioners means perhaps prosperity 
 to them, but a diminution in the form of 
 fees and dues of the church exchequer. The 
 money spent on buying a holding may in the 
 mind of a priest be calculated to reduce the 
 purchasing tenant's means of contributing to 
 the church. The disappearance of a Catholic 
 landlord, in consequence of the sale of his 
 property, may also Involve substantial pecuniary 
 loss. These and a host of other considerations 
 discount the advice of the priest in temporal 
 matters. In the unpolitical sense of the term he 
 is naturally rigidly conservative ; he deprecates 
 
 lOI 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 in most cases the employment of new-fangled 
 methods of agriculture unknown to his fathers, 
 and he is necessarily an obstacle to industrial 
 progress. 
 
 Were the priest to spend the time he can 
 spare from the discharge of his religious duties 
 in the study of social and economic problems, 
 and in inculcating them in the minds of his 
 flock, he would find a rich and fertile field for 
 his labours. In Ireland, however, in a large 
 majority of cases, the priest has been drawn 
 into the dangerous arena of politics. There is 
 no country in the world where political opinion 
 is so sharply divided or where political contro- 
 versy is conducted with more passion and 
 violence. There is, therefore, no other country 
 where the acceptance by the priest of the post 
 of moderator and controller of partisan passions 
 could be more effectually and beneficially 
 applied. Unhappily, the majority of priests, 
 having thrown themselves into politics, are 
 driven to sanction and even to initiate action 
 which is inconsistent with the tenets of their 
 faith. It is not an agreeable sight to see a 
 priest presiding at a meeting of the League 
 at which it is decided to boycott unpopular 
 
 I02 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 members of his flock, or to watch him leading 
 his parishioners en masse to the poll to vote for 
 some extreme partisan. These spectacles are 
 only too common in Ireland, and the least evil 
 effect of them is to diminish the priest's influ- 
 ence, spiritually as well as socially, with the 
 not inconsiderable section of his parishioners 
 who disagree with his views. But, as I have 
 already said, while there is a growing tendency 
 on the part of the laity to emancipate them- 
 selves from the secular Influence of the priest, 
 there is also a marked tendency on the part of 
 the enlightened clerics to withdraw themselves 
 from political strife. And it is equally satisfac- 
 tory to learn that a great number of bishops are 
 encouraging their clergy to devote themselves 
 more to preaching hom.e truths to their people 
 and to inciting them to Industry and temperance. 
 More than one hundred and fifty years ago 
 Bishop Berkeley addressed " A Word to the 
 Wise," In which, appealing to the Roman 
 Catholic clergy for help in the improvement 
 of the material condition of their flocks, he 
 said : — 
 
 ** Give me leave to tell you that no set 
 103 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 of men upon earth have it in their power to 
 do good on easier terms, with more advantage 
 to others and less pain or loss to themselves. 
 Your flocks are, of all others, most disposed 
 to follow directions, and, of all others, want 
 them most." 
 
 The appeal, as Sir Horace Plunkett points 
 out, is as necessary to-day as when it was 
 first uttered. The priests, or some of them, 
 are beginning to speak out on this subject. 
 The well-known Father Dowling, of Cork, 
 boldly asserted last year, '' I find that one of the 
 great difficulties we have to contend with is that 
 the Irish worker will not give an honest day's 
 work for his day's pay." And Canon MacGeeney, 
 corroborating, added : " Father Dowling re- 
 flected what appeared to be the general opinion 
 when he said that Irish workmen did not do 
 their work honestly, and thereby placed the 
 whole country and themselves at a serious 
 disadvantage." 
 
 I have in my hand the Lenten Pastoral for 
 the present year of the Bishop of Kerry, an 
 able and most enlightened prelate. His political 
 convictions are strongly Nationalist, and have 
 
 104 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 never been disguised ; but he does not hesitate 
 to tell his flock some home-truths. 
 
 ''What strikes the visitor to our country 
 most forcibly," says the Pastoral, " is the 
 general absence of these qualities (the spirit 
 of work and indomitable energy). The 
 opinion which these visitors generally give 
 expression to is that if the Irish people 
 would only work as hard at home as they do 
 in other lands, under severe climatic and other 
 conditions, their lives would be healthier and 
 happier than those of their brethren in foreign 
 countries." 
 
 And he adds, significantly enough : — 
 
 *' It is a matter of regret that hitherto the 
 labourers have not derived as much profit as 
 they may from their holdings. In many 
 cases the crops produced are confined to 
 some potatoes and a little cabbage. In too 
 many cases they are given up to the growing 
 of hay. It is quite clear that this is not the 
 most profitable manner of managing them, 
 and that they were never intended solely for 
 these purposes. Under proper cultivation, 
 and with some care, these plots may easily 
 105 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 produce a large amount of most healthy and 
 nourishing food for the family." 
 
 And farther on : — 
 
 ''Allow us to impress on the people the 
 great truth that the good resulting from the 
 Land Acts and the Labour Acts will depend 
 chiefly on the people themselves. If the 
 farmers of the country be not intelligent, 
 thrifty, and industrious, and if the labourers 
 be not disposed to give an honest day's work 
 for a fair day's wage, any and every effort to 
 improve the condition of the country will be 
 doomed to certain failure. . . . The present 
 generation will soon possess all those advan- 
 tages of which past generations dreamt, and 
 for which they struggled and suffered for 
 many a long year. If through want of energy 
 and industry they fail to avail themselves of 
 those advantages, the fault must be imputed 
 to themselves alone, and can no longer be 
 ascribed to the system under which they 
 live." 
 
 There are, moreover, certain phenomena 
 which the bishops and clergy of the Roman 
 Catholic Church might most profitably take into 
 
 io6 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 consideration. Sir Horace Plunkett has called 
 attention to the excessive and extravagant 
 church-building in the heart, and at the expense 
 of, poor communities, which, as he truly says, 
 " has been objected to, on the surely not irreli- 
 gious ground that the best monument of any 
 clergyman's influence and earnestness must 
 always be found in the moral character and the 
 spiritual fibre of his flock, and not in the marbles 
 and mosaics of a gaudy edifice." 
 
 In a note he adds : — 
 
 *' One of the unfortunate effects of this 
 passion for building costly churches is the 
 importation of quantities of foreign art-work, 
 in the shape of wood carvings, stained glass, 
 mxosaics, and metal work. To good foreign 
 art, indeed, one could not within certain limits 
 object. It might prove a valuable example 
 and stimulus. But the articles which have 
 actually been imported, in the impulse to 
 get everything finished as soon as possible, 
 generally consist of the stock pieces pro- 
 duced in a spirit of mere commercialism in 
 the workshops of Continental firms, which 
 make it their business to cater for a public 
 107 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 who do not know the difference between 
 good art and bad." 
 
 There is, moreover, a problem which is 
 closely connected with the sphere of influence, 
 of their success in which the Roman Catholic 
 priesthood is legitimately proud. I mean the 
 control of the morality of their people. No 
 better proof could be adduced of this truth than 
 the returns of the Registrar- General for Ireland 
 of marriages and births. While in Great Britain 
 one child out of twenty-five, roughly speaking, 
 is illegitimate, the proportion per cent, for the 
 whole of Ireland amounts only to 2*6, and in 
 the poor and exclusively Catholic province of 
 Connaught it falls as low as 07. 
 
 But, on the other hand, one cannot fail to 
 be struck by the terribly low percentage of 
 marriages which are registered in the country. 
 For the whole of Ireland the number of mar- 
 riages was equal to only 5-26 per 1,000 of the 
 estimated population. Low as this figure is, 
 that of the number of Roman Catholic marriages 
 is lower still, namely 4*95 per 1,000 of the esti- 
 mated number of Roman Catholics, while that 
 of all other marriages represents a rate of 6-14 
 
 108 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 per i,ooo. Unless I am mistaken, the rate in 
 Ireland of Roman Catholic marriages is lower 
 than that of any other country in Europe. 
 Considerable allowance must be made for the 
 emigration of bachelors and of spinsters of a 
 marriageable age to the Colonies and United 
 States ; but, when this reduction is made, the 
 phenomenon is not fully explained. 
 
 It is a serious thing to find that, though 
 the female population of Ireland has decreased 
 more than half a million since 1870, the 
 number of conventual institutions and occu- 
 pants thereof has largely increased. On the 
 spiritual questions involved in retirement from 
 the world I have nothing to say ; but the 
 application of the principle is so exaggerated 
 in Ireland as compared with other Roman 
 Catholic countries that it is not unreasonable 
 to attribute this multiplication of convents 
 and of nuns to other causes outside a distinct 
 ** calling " or vocation. The explanation seems 
 to me to be that young girls, the daughters 
 of peasants and small farmers, who are brought 
 up in the convent schools, contract an aver- 
 sion for the squalid surroundings and homely 
 manners of their parents, and have acquired 
 
 109 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 just so much refinement at school as to induce 
 them to look down with something like con- 
 tempt on the marriageable young men of 
 their own class. In these circumstances, it 
 requires but little stimulus from the priest or 
 the mother-superior of a convent to induce 
 them to take the veil permanently. If the 
 hierarchy abstained from encouraging the con- 
 ventual life in the absence of a distinct " call," 
 this very serious dearth of marriages would be 
 automatically redressed. 
 
 Contrast this state of things with Arthur 
 Young's story, as given in his Tour in Ireland, 
 published in 1 780 : — 
 
 *' Marriage is certainly more general in Ire- 
 land than in England. I scarce ever found an 
 unmarried cottar or farmer. But it is seen more 
 in other classes, which with us do not marry at 
 all, such as servants. The generality of foot- 
 men and maids in gentlemen's families are 
 married, a circumstance we rarely see in 
 England. Another point is their children not 
 being burdensome. In all the inquiries I made 
 into the state of the poor I found their happi- 
 ness and ease to be generally relative to the 
 
 no 
 
 
The Priest and Politics 
 
 number of their children, and nothing considered 
 as such a misfortune as having none." Part 
 II., c. 6. 
 
 Nor is the paucity of marriages compensated 
 for by the fertlHty of famlHes. We are crying 
 out because the birth-rate In this country has 
 fallen to 27*2 per thousand of the estimated 
 population ; what are we to say of Ireland, 
 when It is only 23*4, while in Roscommon It is 
 only i8*9, in Leitrim 18*5, in Sligo 18*9, and In 
 Cavan iq'o. As a matter of fact, were it not 
 for Dublin with 32*6, and Belfast with 31*8, 
 the average would be even lower still. 
 
 Ill 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE LAND 
 
 IRELAND is, and in the most favourable 
 circumstances will be, mainly an agri- 
 cultural country. The absence of coal 
 and iron and other minerals in profitable quanti- 
 ties is fatal to the hope of developing those 
 great industries which, within the last one 
 hundred and twenty years, have converted 
 Great Britain from an agricultural into a manu- 
 facturing country. There are sanguine people 
 who believe that coal may yet be discovered in 
 much larger quantities than is at present the 
 case. There have been twenty-four mines 
 working in the various coalfields, and Professor 
 Hulls estimate in 1881 of the net tonnage 
 available for use in these fields gave 182,280,000 
 tons, of which about 125,000 tons are raised 
 annually, or a little more than the figures of a 
 quarter of a century ago, whereas Scotland 
 turns out, in the coal basins between Ayr and 
 the Firth of Forth, about 30,000,000 tons 
 annually, or double that of the record of thirty 
 
 112 
 
The Land 
 
 years ago. It is possible, of course, that the 
 water-power in Ireland, which is considerable, 
 may be utilised for generating electrical force, 
 and experiments are being constantly made to 
 utilise peat, of which there is an inexhaustible 
 supply, for industrial fuel. But whatever may 
 be the case in the remote future, it is certain 
 that for many generations to come Ireland, 
 outside Ulster and Dublin and Cork, will be 
 dependent for the maintenance of her popula- 
 tion chiefly upon agriculture, and the smaller 
 industries which can be carried on with 
 comparatively little capital. 
 
 There seems to be in England a very general 
 impression, which is quite a delusion, that the 
 problem of agriculture resolves itself into a 
 question of the ownership of the soil and the 
 relations between landlords and tenants ; and 
 it is partly to dispel this delusion that the book, 
 Economics for Irishme7i, quoted so often, has 
 been written. 
 
 In a country like this (says '' Pat") where 
 the agrarian interest predominates so abnor- 
 mally, increased confusion concerning land 
 becomes inevitable. As one of the agents of 
 r S 113 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 production having to do with all industries, 
 land means one thing, but in its agricultural 
 function it means another thing, quite small 
 in comparison, assuming the conditions 
 normal, though apparently greater in Ire- 
 land, the basis being distorted ; and to make 
 the facts fit the confusion we always keep the 
 fraction in front of the whole, always keeping 
 the merely agrarian and proprietary interests 
 of land above all its other economic and vastly 
 more important interests. 
 
 And he goes on to say : — 
 
 Since the whole agricultural rent, not to 
 mention the reduction in it, does not amount 
 to a tenth of the practicable productivity of 
 the soil, the object of our perennial conflict 
 in the distributive department sinks to in- 
 significance before the productive problem so 
 fatally ignored. 
 
 But causes, historical, political, and racial, 
 have combined to absorb all the other factors 
 into a struggle between the owners of the soil 
 and those who till it. The Penal Laws made it 
 impossible for Catholics to hold land, and the 
 consequence was that the fee simple of estates 
 
 114 
 
The Land 
 
 was mainly in hands alien in religion, alien in 
 sympathy, and often alien in race. It was one 
 of the most infamous statutes of the Penal Laws 
 that precluded Catholics from purchasing lands, 
 from holding a lease of more than thirty-one 
 years, or from deriving from the permanent 
 occupation of land any profit in excess of one- 
 third of the rent. Consequently the proprietors 
 of estates had no option but to let their lands 
 to the few capitalists who could legally occupy 
 them. These causes gave rise to the prolonged 
 controversy, carried on sometimes with legiti- 
 mate but more often with illegitimate weapons, 
 between the landlords and the tillers of the soil. 
 It must, however, be remembered that the 
 excessive prominence given to this factor in 
 later years was due to the acumen with which 
 Fintan Lalor, the inventor, and Davitt, the 
 perfector of the system, converted agrarian dis- 
 content into that locomotive which was to drag 
 the otherwise inert cause of Repeal or of Home 
 Rule. This truth must be steadily borne in 
 mind at the present moment, for reasons which 
 I will state. 
 
 There are very few points upon which the 
 majority of intelligent and educated Irishmen 
 
 115 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 are in full agreement, but I found no kind of 
 discord amongst them with regard to the propo- 
 sition that the various Acts enabling tenants to 
 purchase their own holdings, culminating in the 
 vast and comprehensive measure of 1903, must, 
 if given fair play, eliminate the agrarian factor 
 from the Irish problem. Now it is this very 
 fact that may militate, and to some extent is 
 militating, against the universal application of 
 the principle of purchase. The professional 
 politician deplores the disappearance of the fuel 
 with which he stoked the engine of political 
 agitation and discontent. Were there no agrarian 
 disputes, nine-tenths of the occupation of the 
 United Irish League would be gone. They are 
 already discovering that purchasers under the 
 Act of 1903, and its predecessors, are withhold- 
 ing subscriptions, and are not very keen to attend 
 public meetings. It is true that they still vote 
 for Home Rule, but it is more, as I have said, 
 because of their desire for a quiet life than 
 from any imperative personal interest in the 
 movement. The League, therefore, though it 
 may not openly fight against the Purchase Acts, 
 is already initiating a new agitation, ostensibly 
 based upon the imaginative assertion that the 
 
 116 
 
The Land 
 
 tenants are purchasing their holdings at too high 
 a price. The absolute inaccuracy of this allega- 
 tion I shall demonstrate later on. At the same 
 time, under the new rdgime there can be no 
 doubt but that the Estates Commissioners are, 
 consciously or unconsciously, throwing obstacles 
 in the way of purchase. 
 
 In many districts, too, the priests, for reasons 
 which I do not pretend to understand, are 
 endeavouring to discourage the employment 
 of the only solution of the so-called agrarian 
 question. Such being the case, it is necessary 
 that the public on this side of the Channel 
 should have some knowledge of all that has 
 been done to improve the position of the 
 tenant farmer and peasant, at the expense of 
 the landlord. 
 
 Those who would realise the state of affairs 
 which preceded Mr. Gladstone's experiments 
 in 1870 cannot do better than study the reports 
 of the Devon Commission, and the excellent 
 pamphlets published by the late Marquis of 
 Dufferin in the years immediately preceding 
 the first Land Act. In a book called Irish 
 Emigration and the Temire of Land in Ireland, 
 Lord Dufferin disposed most conclusively of 
 
 117 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 the following series of propositions which were 
 then in vogue : 
 
 1. That the emigration from Ireland has 
 been a curse to that country. 
 
 2. That this emigration has been occa- 
 sioned by the eviction of the rural population 
 by their landlords. 
 
 3. That acts of eviction in Ireland are to 
 be attributed rather to the cruelty and in- 
 justice of the landlords than to any failure 
 on the part of those evicted to fulfil their 
 legitimate obligations. 
 
 4. That the present discontent in Ireland 
 has been chiefly occasioned by the iniquity 
 of the laws affecting the tenure of land. 
 
 5. That a change in those laws in a speci- 
 fied direction would pacify discontent and 
 create agricultural prosperity. 
 
 It is no part of my present task even to 
 summarise the arguments which Lord Dufferin 
 applied in dealing with these propositions. But 
 I am tempted to make one quotation, partly on 
 account of its eloquence, but more particularly 
 because it represents the opinions of the average 
 
 118 
 
The Land 
 
 thinking Irishman. These opinions may be 
 exaggerated, but they undoubtedly exist. 
 
 *Tt may be objected," wrote Lord 
 Dufferin, ''that even though emigration, 
 rack rents, and their natural result — low 
 farming, are equally rife under every descrip- 
 tion of tenure, and cannot, therefore, wholly 
 be set down to the pernicious Influence 
 of the owners of landed property, yet some 
 human agency must be accountable for the 
 perennial desolation of a lovely and fertile 
 Island, watered by the fairest streams, 
 caressed by a clement atmosphere, held in 
 the emxbraces of a sea whose affluence fills 
 the noblest harbours of the world, and in- 
 habited by a race — valiant, generous, tender 
 — gifted beyond measure with the power of 
 physical endurance, and graced with the 
 liveliest Intelligence. . . . 
 
 *' It has been rather the custom of late to 
 represent the landed Interests of Great Britain 
 as the sole Inventors and patentees of Pro- 
 tection. The experience of Ireland does not 
 confirm this theory. During the course of 
 the last two hundred and fifty years we have 
 119 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 successively tasted the tender mercies of every 
 interest in turn — whether landed, trading, 
 or commercial, and have little reason to pro- 
 nounce one less selfish than another. From 
 Queen Elizabeth's reign until within a few 
 years of the Union the various commercial 
 confraternities of Great Britain never for a 
 moment relaxed their relentless grip on the 
 trades of Ireland. One by one each of our 
 nascent industries was either strangled in its 
 birth or handed over, gagged and bound, to 
 the jealous custody of the rival interest in 
 England, until at last every fountain of 
 wealth was hermetically sealed, and even 
 the traditions of commercial enterprise have 
 perished through desuetude. 
 
 ** The owners of England's pastures opened 
 the campaign. As early as the commence- 
 ment of the sixteenth century the beeves of 
 Roscommon, Tipperary, and Queen's County 
 undersold the produce of the English grass 
 counties in their own market. By an Act of 
 20 Elizabeth, Irish cattle were declared a 
 * nuisance/ and their importation was pro- 
 hibited. Forbidden to send our beasts alive 
 across the Channel, we killed them at home, 
 120 
 
The Land 
 
 and began to supply the sister country with 
 cured provisions. A second Act of Parlia- 
 ment imposed prohibitory duties on salted 
 meats. The hides of the animals still re- 
 mained, but the same influence soon put a 
 stop to the importation of leather. Our 
 cattle trade abolished, we tried sheep farm- 
 ing. The sheep breeders of England 
 immediately took alarm, and Irish wool was 
 declared contraband by a Parliament of 
 Charles II. Headed in this direction, we 
 tried to work up the raw material at home, 
 but this created the greatest outcry of all. 
 Every maker of fustian, flannel, and broad- 
 cloth in the country rose up in arms, and by 
 an Act of William III. the woollen industry 
 of Ireland was extinguished, and 20,000 
 manufacturers left the island. The easiness 
 of the Irish labour market, and the cheapness 
 of provisions still giving us an advantage, 
 even though we had to import our materials, 
 we next made a dash at the silk business ; 
 but the silk manufacture proved as pitiless 
 as the wool-staplers. The cotton manu- 
 facturer, the sugar refiner, the soap and 
 candle maker (who especially dreaded the 
 121 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 abundance of our kelp), and any other trade 
 or interest that thought it worth its while to 
 petition, was received by Parliament with 
 the same partial cordiality, until the most 
 searching scrutiny failed to detect a single 
 vent through which it was possible for the 
 hated industry of Ireland to respire. But, 
 although excluded from the markets of 
 Britain, a hundred harbours gave her access 
 to the universal sea. Alas ! a rival commerce 
 on her own element was still less welcome to 
 England. As early as the reign of Charles II., 
 the Levant, the ports of Europe, and the 
 oceans beyond the Cape were forbidden to 
 the flag of Ireland. The Colonial trade 
 alone was in any manner open — if that could 
 be called an open trade which for a long time 
 precluded all exports whatever, and excluded 
 from direct importation to Ireland such im- 
 portant articles as sugar, cotton, and tobacco. 
 What has been the consequence of such a 
 system, pursued with relentless pertinacity 
 for two hundred and fifty years ? This : 
 That, debarred from every other trade and 
 industry, the entire nation flung itself back 
 upon ' the land,' with as fatal an impulse as 
 
 122 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBUAUr 
 
The Land 
 
 when a river whose current is suddenly 
 impeded rolls back and drowns the valley 
 it once fertilised." 
 
 These grievances have been admitted. The 
 most generous redress within the power of 
 Parliament to offer has been granted, but it has 
 not been at the expense of the community at 
 large, but almost entirely at that of the landlords 
 in Ireland, who are in no way responsible for 
 the past misdeeds of English Governments. As 
 the late Colonel Saunderson wittily put it, *'the 
 tears of Erin are always dried with an Irish 
 pocket-handkerchief," 
 
 When Great Britain determined for con- 
 science' sake to put an end to slavery within 
 the Empire, she devoted ;^20,ooo,ooo, or over 
 a third of a year's revenue, to the emancipation 
 of "human chattels," which were legal property 
 under*' an old bad system." When, however, 
 it was deemed necessary to emancipate the 
 tillers of the soil from an '' old bad system " of 
 land tenure in Ireland, the Imperial Govern- 
 ment, ignoring the principle of compensation, 
 effected the ''reform" at an ultimate cost, not 
 to the Treasury, but to the landlords, which is 
 
 123 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 computed, on a reasonable basis, at exactly the 
 same sum, namely, twenty millions sterling. 
 
 We learn from a pamphlet entitled The Case 
 for the Irish Landlords by One of Them, 
 published on the eve of the Introduction of 
 the Act of 1903, that — 
 
 ** None of the officials who have confessed 
 to making such an allowance (for occupation 
 Interest) put it at less than ten per cent. 
 Since 1881 judicial rents to the amount of 
 ;^5,i47,2i2 have been fixed by the Land 
 Commissioners, or by agreement out of Court, 
 based generally on the standard furnished by 
 the average decisions of the Court. If these 
 rents have all been fixed ten per cent, below 
 the fair full letting value of the land (after 
 allowing for tenants' improvements) landlords 
 have been mulcted In revenue to the extent of 
 ;^57 1,908 In annual income, equal to a capital 
 sum of at least ^11,438,160. But every 
 holding to which the Land Act applies is 
 liable to be dealt with in the same way, and 
 the operation, direct or indirect, of such a law 
 so interpreted is not confined to holdings on 
 which judicial rents have actually been fixed. 
 The aggregate rental of holdings to which 
 124 
 
The Land 
 
 the Land Acts apply cannot well be estimated 
 at less than ^10,000,000, and the landlords 
 appear, therefore, to be suffering a mulcture, 
 actual or potential, of about ^1,000,000 a 
 year, equivalent to a lump sum of at least 
 
 ;^20,000,000." 
 
 It Is not necessary to analyse the Innumerable 
 agrarian Acts passed between 1870 and 1903. 
 It suffices to point out that, beginning with the 
 protection of the tenants against the expropri- 
 ation of their Improvements by the landlords, 
 and against unconscionable and wanton eviction, 
 It ended In reducing the landlord to the position 
 of a mere rent charger on his own estate. All 
 that Lord Salisbury prophesied In 1881 has 
 been realised by events. 
 
 In what position, he asked, is the landlord 
 left ? He may not select his tenant, he may 
 not deal with his rent, he may not alter the 
 construction of his estate or consolidate farms 
 which may appear to need It. That Is not a 
 landlord, he Is something between two 
 different characters : he Is a sort of mortgagee 
 upon the estate, with an uncertain and pre- 
 carious hold upon his income. 
 125 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Of this anomalous position instances, mostly- 
 drawn from The Case for the Landowners, 
 may be given of comparatively recent date. A 
 landlord desired to facilitate the bringing of a 
 water supply to a country town on his property 
 from springs on a mountain. About half-an- 
 acre of rocky land was required for a reservoir. 
 A tenant enjoyed as part of his judicial tenancy 
 grazing rights over an undivided moiety of this 
 mountain, for which he paid rent at the rate of 
 \\d. per acre. With great difficulty, he was 
 induced to surrender his rights over the half- 
 acre required for £20, or 6,400 years' purchase 
 of the judicial rent. 
 
 The Fry Commission reported a case In 
 which the judicial rent of a holding of seventy- 
 one acres in County Cork, formerly held at a 
 rent of £"]"], was fixed at £\o in 1892. The 
 Commissioners who fixed this rent found that 
 there were no improvements, and that the only 
 building on the holding, a thatched cottage of 
 little value, was the landlord's. In 1895 the 
 tenant gave notice of intention to sell. The 
 landlord decided to exercise his right of pre- 
 emption, and the Land Commission fixed the 
 '' true value " which the landlord had to pay for 
 possession at ;^48o. 
 
 126 
 
'^"^^ COLLEGE UB^, 
 
 '^":oTmii ^m^, MASS. 
 The Land 
 
 Another case is described in which a tenant 
 took a holding with a mill, dwelling-house, and 
 suitable farm buildings, direct from the landlord, 
 in 1867, at ^30 per annum for the land and 
 ^20 for the building, and an "input" of ^150. 
 In 1876 the landlord voluntarily reduced the 
 rent to ^37 for the whole, owing to the mill 
 having ceased to be profitable. In 1884 the 
 tenant went into court, and got the rent reduced 
 to ;^32. In 1889 the tenant died, and the 
 executors gave notice of intention to sell. The 
 landlord claimed his right of pre-emption. The 
 land was found to have greatly deteriorated 
 during the tenancy — the drains out of order, the 
 buildings mostly in bad repair, some with the 
 roofs off, the mill closed, the times worse. The 
 ''true value" which the landlord had to pay for 
 possession was fixed at ^450. Deduct ^150 
 originally paid for possession by the tenant, and 
 you have a conveyance from the landlord to the 
 tenant's executors of ^300, plus the money 
 equivalent of the deterioration of land and 
 buildings. 
 
 It was quite obvious that this state of things 
 could not be indefinitely prolonged, and all 
 parties agreed to the principle that the only 
 solution of the problem was the State-assisted 
 
 127 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 purchase by the tenant of his holding from the 
 landlord. This was the basis of all the Land 
 Purchase Acts culminating in Mr. Wyndham's 
 great measure of 1903. It is necessarily a 
 very technical Act, but, as of those which pre- 
 ceded it, the gist of it may be very shortly 
 given. The object was to facilitate purchase 
 as between willing sellers and willing buyers, 
 on terms to be agreed upon between them. 
 A bonus of twelve per cent, on the sale was 
 offered to the landlord to facilitate transactions, 
 and to enable him to make provision for agents 
 and others who would be deprived of their 
 occupation and incomes by the transfer of the 
 land to the tenants, and for the expenses of the 
 sales. 
 
 It will be remembered that under Mr. Glad- 
 stone's Act of 1 88 1, Land Courts were estab- 
 lished to fix fair rents when applied to by 
 landlord or tenant, over the whole of Ireland. 
 The Land Law Acts provide that in fixing such 
 rents all tenants' rights and improvements 
 should be taken into consideration. It was 
 further provided that at the end of fifteen 
 years there should be a further revision of 
 rents if so desired. The rents when so fixed 
 
 128 
 
The Land 
 
 by the Courts after inspection of the land by- 
 valuers have come to be known as first-term 
 and second-term rents respectively, the first- 
 term decision, as a rule, having reduced the 
 original rents by twenty per cent., and the 
 second-term by another twenty per cent. — that 
 is to say, that the rent of a farm let in 1880 at 
 ;^40 per annum, was reduced in 1882 to ^32 
 per annum, and in 1897 to £2^ \2s. It is 
 on the basis of these judicial rents that the 
 purchase-price is fixed. The zones or limits 
 are defined by the condition that the annuity 
 to be paid by the tenant purchaser on the 
 purchase-price paid to the landlord shall be 
 less than the judicial rents by from twenty per 
 cent, for *' first- term " rents to forty per cent, 
 and from ten per cent, to thirty per cent, for 
 second-term rents, according, as the Act pro- 
 vides, to the bargain made between the parties 
 in such cases the Act presumes there is security 
 for the advance. In cases where no judicial 
 rents have been fixed the question what the 
 Estates Commissioners have to settle, barring 
 of course fraud, duress, or intimidation on either 
 side, is whether the holding affords security and 
 justifies the advance to be made for its purchase, 
 9 129 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 I have been fortunate enough to secure a 
 table (p. 131) which supplies an illustration of the 
 working of this Act, upon an estate of a typical 
 kind, showing the prices realised by tenant 
 purchasers who, having bought under the Wynd- 
 ham Act, resold their buildings for cash to other 
 tenants. It sets forth the original rent as fixed 
 by the Courts (Col. 2), the purchase-money paid 
 to the landlord (Col. 4), the annuity due by pur- 
 chase to Government (Col. 5). In Col. 8 will 
 be found the price paid to purchasers named in 
 Col. I for their interest, subject to the annuity 
 in Col. 5. In Col. 9 will be found the estimated 
 additional rent now payable, calculated at three 
 and a half per cent, on price paid by new 
 occupier, in Col. 8. And in Col. 10 is set forth 
 the total rent thus estimated, including the 
 annuity at which the farm is now held, A to F 
 being the purchasers under the Act of 1903, 
 A A to F F being the men to whom A sold 
 his interest, and so on. 
 
 It will be seen at once that the new holder on 
 this basis in every case but one pays considerably 
 more for rent than his predecessor did to the 
 original landlord when the rents were fixed by 
 the Court. I may add that these returns refer 
 to an estate in a district about equally divided 
 
 130 
 
The Land 
 
 
 X! 
 
 fl 
 
 ly trans- 
 n, into 
 h other 
 dera- 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o S 
 o 
 
 ■^ (1) fcJD 
 
 J3 § g 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 ill 
 
 ■X2 on rC 
 
 
 
 pin 
 
 ^ 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 |«^^ 2 
 
 ■^ O N 
 
 O 
 
 vo 
 
 
 OVO 
 
 tima 
 tal re 
 cludi 
 nnui 
 whi 
 arm 
 whe 
 
 'o'c^ TtVO 
 
 00 
 
 N 
 
 
 On N 
 
 H2.2=^^^g 
 
 
 
 vo 
 
 
 rOTj- 
 
 rt l-l 
 
 timated 
 ditional 
 nt now 
 lyable, 
 Iculated 
 
 3^ p.c. 
 n price 
 
 Col. 8. 
 
 -^ O O 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 O O 
 
 gc^^OO 
 
 ^ 
 
 00 
 
 
 VO O 
 
 H-^ii^St^^.S 
 
 <v^ O vO 
 
 t-^ 
 
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 ^3 w O 1= 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'i^.^tr'>?^ 
 
 -^, ^^^ 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 
 O lo 
 
 Price 
 
 fo 
 
 occup 
 
 inter 
 subje 
 annui 
 
 Col. 
 
 00 SR ON 00 
 
 
 -^ 
 
 
 v§^ 
 
 1 
 
 LOl/-) 
 
 LO 
 
 IJ-^ 
 
 
 u-)VO 
 
 Date of 
 
 purchase by 
 
 new owner 
 
 and occupier 
 
 ON ON 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 
 a& 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Oc^ 
 
 1 
 < 
 
 
 
 
 -- o. .. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tenant 
 urchase 
 interest 
 ubject t 
 nnulty i 
 Col. 5. 
 Sold to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ <^M 
 
 U 
 
 Q 
 
 
 Wf3H 
 
 "<- 
 
 u 
 
 Q 
 
 
 WP^ 
 
 p, </J rt 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c a 
 
 ^s o p^ 
 
 o 
 
 vo 
 
 
 OvO 
 
 Annua 
 
 epayme 
 
 o Govei 
 
 ment. 
 
 ^oJOO 00 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 On M 
 
 "" 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 M 
 
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 ^ "O t-N 
 
 M 
 
 VO 
 
 
 VO VO 
 
 3 rt C 
 
 ^VJO ON 
 
 o 
 
 t-^ 
 
 
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 VO 
 
 1-4 
 
 
 t- M 
 
 
 t^ o^. 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 
 ri 
 
 
 ON ON 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 00 00 
 
 ON 
 
 0^ 
 
 
 
 l-l l-H 
 
 ►-* 
 
 i-i 
 
 
 
 
 'm ^QC 
 
 d^ 
 
 d; 
 
 
 vo 1 
 
 "S 
 
 
 N 
 
 
 
 N 1 
 
 X 
 
 m 
 
 
 B 
 
 c 
 
 
 1—, 
 
 -^ o o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 O O 
 
 s, 
 
 3-°:: 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o o 
 
 
 SR '^ *^ 
 
 ro 
 
 t^ 
 
 
 r^ On 
 
 
 W 
 
 
 
 <S 
 
 3 <w 
 
 u 
 
 Q 
 
 
 HP^ 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 between Protestants and Roman Catholics. The 
 landlord was In every respect a good landlord, 
 and was not over-anxious to sell his estate. 
 There were originally one hundred and seven 
 agricultural tenants, fourteen of whom refused 
 to buy, and ninety-three accepted ; and of 
 these ninety-three, the six indicated In the 
 table parted with their Interests shortly after 
 the conclusion of the sale. The landlord's 
 calculation was based upon the effect of a 
 sale on his Income, and that of his successor 
 in title, including the bonus, on the one hand, 
 and relief from charges, etc., on the other ; 
 while the terms offered to and accepted by 
 the tenants worked out about fifteen per cent, 
 less than their second-term judicial rents, and 
 twenty-five per cent, less than first-term rents. 
 This Is equivalent to about twenty-six and a 
 half years' purchase on second-term rents. Five 
 months' rent, a sort of hanging gale, was forgiven, 
 and turbary (the right of cutting peat) was 
 allowed without extra charge. With the excep- 
 tion of one purchaser, a retired publican, all those 
 indicated in Column 6 were bona-fide farmers, 
 not under any special '' land-hunger " pressure, 
 and there is every reason to assume that they 
 
 132 
 
The Land 
 
 know the value of what they bought, in all 
 cases by private treaty, for no auction took place. 
 
 It has been alleged by those interested in 
 arresting the development of this beneficial 
 scheme that the purchasing tenants are paying 
 too high a price for their holdings. It would 
 not appear that Mr. J. E. Redmond shares this 
 opinion, for he received as purchase-money for 
 his property a price less favourable to the 
 tenants than most other vendors. I was amused 
 to read two or three speeches by leading 
 Nationalists in different parts of the country 
 excusing Mr. Redmond on the ground that he 
 was so absorbed in promoting the general 
 interests of Ireland in Parliament that he had to 
 commit the control of his estate to others. It 
 did not seem to occur to his apologists that if 
 Mr. Redmond inadvertently received more than 
 morally he was entitled to, there was a very 
 simple expedient at his command to redress 
 the wrong. 
 
 But lest it should be supposed that I have 
 selected an exceptional case, I append another 
 table, with examples of the price realised in the 
 last few years for tenant rights in six of the 
 poorer counties of Ireland. 
 
 ^33 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 
 'C 
 
 
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The Land 
 
 The first case, of course, is altogether excep- 
 tional, and is only quoted to show the lengths 
 to which purchasers will sometimes go in buying 
 a desired farm. In almost all these instances the 
 value of the tenant right was far greater than 
 that of the landlord's interest in the property. 
 
 There can be no doubt whatever of the 
 advantage to the purchasing tenants of this 
 Act. And the rush to take advantage of its 
 provisions astonished the most sanguine, and 
 proved to a certainty that the terms were 
 wholly favourable to the purchasers. Out of 
 ;^ 1 50,000,000, the sum available for the pur- 
 pose under all the Purchase Acts, the advance 
 of some ;if45,ooo,ooo has been applied, though 
 the money has not yet been paid. But 
 since the accession of the present Govern- 
 ment to office there has been a growing 
 slackness in the applications, or, at any rate, 
 in the conclusion of agreements. In part, no 
 doubt, this is due to the price of Irish Land 
 Stock, which to-day stands at a discount of 
 over twelve per cent, and prevents advances 
 being made, and there is perhaps some 
 reason for a demand frequently heard in 
 Ireland, that the Imperial Exchequer should 
 
 135 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 bear the loss occasioned by this decline of the 
 market value of the Land Stock, instead of 
 leaving it to be borne, as is the case, by 
 Ireland alone. Unfortunately, however, this 
 is not the chief obstacle to the rapid transfer 
 of land. In the first place, there is a growing 
 belief entertained by many would-be purchasers \ 
 that with the expected concession of Home 
 Rule they will be able to buy their holdings — 
 if they do not get them for nothing — on much 
 easier terms than are possible to-day. This 
 belief, I need hardly say, is sedulously fostered 
 by the leaders of the United Irish League ; 
 and, I am sorry to add, by not a few priests. 
 
 I have already stated in another article the 
 reasons which induce the United Irish League 
 to take this course. They are very loth to 
 part with an instrument so invaluable to them 
 in promoting agitation where it is necessary. 
 But chief of all causes is, in my opinion, the 
 action of the Estates Commissioners, based, as 
 one naturally supposes, upon definite instruc- 
 tions from the Castle. There is no secret 
 about the fact that the Commissioners are 
 divided in opinion, because the last report for 
 the year 1906 contains many paragraphs in 
 
 136 
 
The Land 
 
 which Mr. F. S. Wrench, the Senior Com- 
 missioner, expresses his dissent from the 
 opinions and practice of his colleagues. One 
 function of the Estates Commission is to 
 determine, when an agreement has been 
 effected outside the zones between landlord 
 and tenant, whether the holding proposed to 
 be transferred is of sufficient value to pay the 
 instalments agreed upon by the tenant. So 
 long as there is sufficient margin of profit 
 for this purpose, it is no business of the 
 Estates Commissioners to say whether either 
 landlord or tenant has made a foolish bar- 
 gain. The only question for the Estates 
 Commissioners is to decide whether their joint 
 interests are of sufficient value to justify the 
 advance of the purchase-money. That is Mr. 
 Wrench's view of the position, as recorded in 
 the last report, and he seems certainly to have 
 been justified by recent decisions that have 
 come before the Law Courts. His two col- 
 leagues, however, apparently think that they 
 are to combine the functions of Land Com- 
 missioner and Estates Commissioner. In 
 the report before-mentioned there occurs this 
 paragraph : — 
 
 137 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 ** It appears to Mr. Wrench that the above 
 observations (by his colleagues) assume that 
 the Commissioners have power, even in cases 
 of direct sales, to fix prices ; for that, in his 
 opinion, is what the claim to review prices 
 fixed by the agreement of the parties, and 
 apart from any question of security, really 
 comes to. Mr. Wrench does not join in this 
 view. He has always understood that the 
 price was a matter to be arranged between 
 landlord and tenant, and that it was for them 
 to settle what the purchasing price of the 
 holding was to be ; and that when they had 
 so agreed it was the duty of the Com- 
 missioners under the Act, while carefully 
 guarding against fraud, duress, or intimidation 
 on either side, to measure the amount of the 
 advance, having due regard to security, 
 which the holding, as it stands, would afford 
 for the repayment of the advance applied for, 
 which advance and the annuity thereon would 
 have priority over all the other interests in 
 the holding, no matter how created." 
 
 And this is certainly the view communicated 
 by Mr. Wyndham, the author of the Act, to 
 the House of Commons during the debates in 
 
 13B 
 
The Land 
 
 1903. I came across a case myself which illus- 
 trates the new spirit animating the majority 
 of the Estates Commissioners. It was in the 
 south. The estate in question was a small one, 
 and the tenants were more anxious to buy than 
 the landlord was to sell. However, an agree- 
 ment was reached, and only wanted the sanc- 
 tion of the Commission. Immediately the 
 document was signed on behalf of the landlord 
 and the tenants one of the prospective pur- 
 chasers sold his interest to another man for 
 i^50o. So convinced were they all that the 
 other steps in the arrangement would be merely 
 formal that the man who bought turned in his 
 cattle to graze on a holding which he supposed 
 was virtually his. An inspector came down 
 from the Commission, who, hearing of the 
 transaction, went to the latest purchaser and 
 said he was mad to give ^500 for the interest 
 in the holding, which itself was not worth the 
 amount. Thereupon the new purchaser backed 
 out of his agreement, and his example was 
 followed by the other tenants. How general 
 this practice may be I do not pretend to know ; 
 I can only state that I heard complaints on 
 the same subject in many parts of Ireland. 
 In addition to the obstacles to rapid progress 
 139 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 In the transference of land from the landlord 
 to the tenant is the ever-present shadow of 
 Home Rule. A large number of the tenants 
 are persuaded that if they wait till an inde- 
 pendent Parliament is established in Dublin 
 they will get possession of the land, if not for 
 nothing, at least at prairie value. Landlords 
 wishing to reside in Ireland and to do their 
 duty amongst those with whom they have 
 lived all their lives are apprehensive that an 
 independent Irish Government would compel 
 those who sold their estates to part also with the 
 demesne lands in which their home is situated, 
 and home farms and other lands used by them 
 for grazing. It may well prove, moreover, that 
 Imperial credit will have to be pledged to a 
 still greater amount than it is, if such processes 
 are carried to a successful end. What chance is 
 there that English capitalists would respond to 
 an appeal for larger funds if the control of the 
 administration was vested in the hands of Irish 
 politicians ? It is tolerably safe to prophesy 
 that the introduction of a Devolution scheme 
 will further depreciate the value of land stock. 
 And every decline in this stock puts a brake 
 upon the wheels of progress. There are, 
 
 140 
 
The Land 
 
 however, deeper arguments against Home Rule 
 supplied by this most salutary scheme of pur- 
 chase. Under cautious and vigilant Imperial 
 administration, obvious dangers inherent in 
 that policy may be averted, or at any rate kept 
 within safe limits. Some of these dangers 
 have been already incidentally indicated. If 
 there was any justice whatever in the old cry 
 that the farmers of Ireland were over-rented 
 by the landlord, and left without an adequate 
 margin of the profit furnished by the land, 
 there must be considerable danger in the 
 enormous prices paid for the tenant's interest 
 after he has bought from his landlord. In a 
 very considerable number of cases the price thus 
 paid is so high as to encumber any farmer who 
 does not begin with very substantial capital. The 
 gombeen man, or usurer, is much in evidence 
 in Ireland, and he — or she, for the calling is not 
 confined to one sex — has increased and flourished 
 exceedingly since land legislation in 1881 gave 
 the tenants the right of free sale. Their 
 power has grown correspondingly, for they are 
 shrewd enough to be liberal subscribers to the 
 funds of the United Irish League. If a proof 
 is wanted of their influence, it may be found in 
 
 141 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 the hostility displayed by the Freeman s Journal 
 and by Mr. John Dillon to the development of 
 the co-operative movement in Ireland, which 
 is one of the most promising features of the Irish 
 problem to-day. One of the chief objects of 
 this organisation is to enable the small farmers 
 to dispense with the aid of the gombeen and 
 to secure the proper market price for the 
 main products of the soil. This new class of 
 owners in the hands of the gombeen man 
 will be in a far worse position than when 
 they were *' rack-rented " by the old class 
 of landlord. A crisis will hereafter occur, which 
 will necessitate either wholesale evictions by 
 the Government for non-payment of instalments, 
 or the loss to the taxpayers of the United 
 Kingdom of the money guaranteed by Act of 
 Parliament. A strike against the payment of 
 instalments is, though conceivable, in the last 
 degree improbable under the present system. 
 The average intelligent Irishman would regard 
 such a phenomenon as more likely than not to 
 occur if the administration of the country were 
 in the hands of politicians who owe their 
 position largely to the contributions of gom- 
 been men. This danger is one which must 
 
 142 
 
The Land 
 
 surely appeal to the pockets of the English 
 taxpayer, and especially to that large class 
 which demands costly legislation from the 
 Government. 
 
 The Estates Commissioners have power 
 under the Act to forbid sub-letting and sub- 
 division by purchasers. It is often said that 
 the landlords, under the old rdgime, might have 
 prevented the sub-letting and sub-division of 
 farms by inserting prohibitory clauses In their 
 leases. They tried to do so, but it was, how- 
 ever, proved, to the satisfaction of the Devon 
 Commission, that in this respect the landlords 
 were helpless. The land let directly to middle- 
 men on leases containing these prohibitory 
 clauses were sub-let to such an extent that it 
 was Impossible to trace the real culprit ; and 
 juries systematically refused to find verdicts for 
 the landlord when he acted upon his right to 
 prohibit sub-division. Indeed, it was made 
 clear to the Commissioners that the law expenses 
 in trials In which an unsuccessful attempt was 
 made to prevent sub-letting, almost Invariably 
 amounted to more than the fee simple of the 
 farm in question was worth. The prohibition, 
 even to-day, is more easy to enact than to 
 
 143 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 enforce. I met in the course of my tour scores of 
 cases where farmers who had bought under the 
 Purchase Acts were allowing their pastures to be 
 grazed by the cattle of publicans and others in 
 the nearest town. On one estate I came across 
 entry after entry in a report made as to the 
 present position ox the purchaser, which ran 
 as follows: "A, 15 acres, cultivates a third, 
 sub-lets the rest to X. B, 12 acres, cultivates 
 two acres, lets the remainder to Y." And so 
 on and so on. Of course no formal agreement 
 committed to writing between the ov/ner and 
 the sub-tenant exists, for such a document 
 would vitiate the owner's title in the Act. But 
 the transaction is effected surreptitiously, and 
 money passes without receipts being given, 
 and it is not in the interests of one party or 
 the other to sue. Again, with regard to sub- 
 division. Under the old system, which we 
 are now striving to destroy, a tenant farmer 
 holding his land under a lease would build 
 houses or cottages for his sons, as they grew 
 up and married, and would parcel out the land 
 amongst them. That being no longer legal, 
 in many cases the owner adds to his original 
 homestead and takes the son and his wife to 
 
 144 
 
The Land 
 
 live with him, quietly dividing the interests in 
 the farm. Moreover there is a growing abuse 
 of the Labourers' Dwelling Acts. Very great 
 improvement has been effected in the social 
 and sanitary position of the labourer by the 
 erection of decent and well-built cottages ; but 
 already here and there farmers are obtaining 
 these cottages for their sons who are only partly 
 engaged upon the paternal farm, with the 
 consequence that a new state of congestion 
 with the inevitable cry of *' More land " is 
 created. 
 
 Lastly, there is a difficulty which has 
 prevailed under every system, and for which 
 I can see no practicable remedy. It is the 
 ambition of every farmer to ''provide" not 
 only amply, but extravagantly, for such of his 
 daughters as do not enter convents or migrate. 
 In the old days this was effected by sub-dividing 
 the farm for the benefit of the daughters as well 
 as the younger sons. To-day this system is 
 prohibited ; but the prohibition is rendered null 
 and void in effect because the farmer either 
 hoards money needed for the farm, or imposes 
 a moral obligation upon his eldest son, or other 
 sole devisee of the land, to make provision 
 lo 145 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 for the daughters and younger sons. The 
 inevitable result of this is that the second 
 owner has to encumber himself with charges 
 the interest on which amounts to at least as 
 much as the original rent. All these drawbacks 
 to the ultimate success of the Purchase Acts 
 would be intensified tenfold were an Irish 
 Executive in power responsible to a Home 
 Rule Parliament. 
 
 Even supposing that the operation of these 
 beneficial Acts should withdraw the agrarian 
 question out of the field of political controversy 
 Ireland would by no means have done with the 
 question of agriculture. If every man in Ire- 
 land who has been, or is now, a tenant were 
 provided with a farm Ireland itself would be 
 none the better off unless he were capable of 
 working that farm to the best advantage. Un- 
 fortunately, this is very far indeed from being 
 the case. In Economics for Irishmen ''Pat" 
 puts the case thus : — 
 
 The most myopic Little I relander mastered 
 
 by the little land problem has never claimed 
 
 more than some '' reduction " in the twelfth 
 
 penny with some change in the ownership, 
 
 146 
 
The Land 
 
 from which it does not necessarily follow 
 that the nation's land must be of more benefit 
 to the nation. Take a ^lo-a-year holding, 
 bought by the tenant at a purchase annuity 
 that means a total reduction of fifty per cent. 
 Here the tenant gains £s ^ year. By proper 
 management and working this holding can 
 produce in the gross at least ^loo a year for 
 the labour now expended. Which is the more 
 worth considering ? Over very large areas 
 the present productivity of such a holding is 
 probably not ^35, and the easily-acquired 
 balance of ^65 a year is ignored in order 
 to secure the ^5 a year. Assuming the 
 annuity at an end (in seventy years) and the 
 peasant's property an unencumbered freehold, 
 the total gain is still only ;^io a year. On 
 the one hand we have what can be done by 
 a proper organisation of the agents of pro- 
 duction in agriculture ; on the other hand we 
 have a whole nation ignoring that great pur- 
 pose for a ^5 note which even then is not a 
 national gain. The fallacy does not end here. 
 Assume the whole agricultural rental of Ire- 
 land turned out of the landlords' pocket and 
 into the peasants', it does not follow that the 
 147 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 national wealth is increased by a penny. 
 What happens is that a certain percentage 
 of the national wealth changes hands from 
 one class of Irishmen to another class of 
 Irishmen. The transaction per se does not 
 imply a farthing of increase in the total agri- 
 cultural productivity, which is the one and 
 only thing of permanent material value to 
 the nation as a whole in so far as the land 
 is concerned. 
 
 Dr. Healy, the Roman Catholic Archbishop 
 of Tuam, in a Church address delivered on 
 April 17, 1906, told the people: — 
 
 In no other part of the world is agriculture 
 in such a deplorable condition as in the West 
 of Ireland. Where are the stores of hay and 
 oats you should have at this period of the 
 year ? Where are the vegetables you should 
 have in your gardens ? You do not cultivate 
 a sufficient acreage, and what you do cultivate 
 gets only an apology for cultivation. In my 
 journey from Menlough yesterday I did not see 
 half-a-dozen well-cultivated fields. I saw no 
 hay or corn in your haggards, no vegetables in 
 your gardens. You depend almost entirely 
 148 
 
The Land 
 
 on shop feeding stuffs for your stock, and on 
 shop foods for yourselves. ... As I implied 
 before, you do not deserve to be called farmers. 
 You make a few spasmodic efforts at spring 
 and autumn, and you sleep the rest of the 
 year. 
 
 Yet, as we shall see, any effort of a voluntary 
 character to improve farming in Ireland, such as 
 the Co-operative Organisation or the establish- 
 ment of land banks, the value of which has been 
 so thoroughly proved in Germany, is at once 
 severely boycotted by the organs of the United 
 Irish League. Is there any one who believes 
 that an Irish Parliament, controlled by the 
 League, would lend encouragement to these 
 movements ? 
 
 Two problems must strike the most unob- 
 servant of travellers in Ireland, and the CEdipus 
 who can read the riddle aright will hold the key 
 to the whole Irish question. The one problem 
 is supplied by the migratory labourer, and the 
 other by the Royal Irish Constabulary. " Pat " 
 puts the first problem succinctly, as usual : — 
 
 Only a few hours' journey from Connaught 
 to Lancashire, and at one end the Irishman 
 149 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 has a reputation as one of the worst workers 
 in the world, while at the other end he cannot 
 find his superior. As if he changed his char- 
 acter on the way across. And seriously, I 
 question whether it is not more a fact than a 
 figure. Of course, the end of the journey at 
 which the Irish worker wins his bad reputa- 
 tion is at home — always giving the worst of 
 himself to Ireland and the best to the '* inimy,'' 
 while shouting his readiness *' to die for the 
 ould sod." We are ever ready to " die " for 
 Ireland, but never to live for her. 
 
 And later on he gives further illustrations : — 
 
 Only last year Father Farrell, of Navan, 
 found it necessary to deliver a strong criticism 
 on Messrs. Clayton's textile workers, of whom 
 a ruinous percentage could not be got to come 
 in time, with the result of leaving expensive 
 machinery unworked, power wasted, and fixed 
 expenses unproductive generally, not to men- 
 tion other workers on the spot unable to work 
 without the co-operation of those absent. . . . 
 I am told on authority that one of the main 
 causes for shutting up the great cotton mills 
 of Drogheda was that the workpeople could 
 150 
 
The Land 
 
 never be got to their work punctually. The 
 end of the once extensive ironworks at Arigna, 
 in Leitrim, was the whole night staff getting 
 drunk, defying the foreman, and letting the 
 fluxed metal cool to a solid state in the 
 furnaces. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to multiply proofs of a 
 depressing phenomenon which is admitted by all 
 parties in Ireland. Men of high position, such 
 as the late Lord Dufferin and, to a lesser extent, 
 Sir Horace Plunkett- than whom Ireland has 
 no better friend — seek to palliate this painful 
 trait in the character of Irish labourers by 
 attributing it to the influence of the very real 
 wrongs which Ireland sustained for so many 
 centuries. Others ascribe it to the want of 
 Home Rule ; and another set explain the 
 phenomenon by alleging it to be due to climatic 
 causes. But there seems to me to be one fatal 
 objection to all these explanations, and that is 
 that when the migratory labourer comes to 
 England, or to Scotland, he exhibits none of 
 those defects which are so unpleasantly con- 
 spicuous when he is making believe to work for 
 himself. The old adage coelum non animum, 
 
 151 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 etc., must hold good here. There Is no doubt that 
 the labourer who returns in the autumn to his 
 own holding, is physically and morally a better 
 man for the time, and certainly is better clad and 
 more self-respecting, but he relapses rapidly till 
 the season comes to cross the seas again. It 
 may be thought that this fact lends strength to 
 the climatic theory. But the simple answer to 
 this retort is that there is no body of men 
 in the world more active, alert, punctual, and 
 indefatigable than the members of the Royal 
 Irish Constabulary, who are recruited almost 
 exclusively from the class just above that 
 of the labourers. If climatic conditions do not 
 exercise a deteriorating influence over the 
 Constabulary, who never leave the island, why 
 should they do so over the labourer ? 
 
 Most conclusive of all is the experience gained 
 by local authorities in the congested districts. 
 I was told by several officials whose duty it was 
 to supervise roadmaking, that the Irish labourer 
 with the ganger's eye upon him turned out 
 admirable work, and gave very little cause for 
 complaint. There is one instructive difference 
 in the two sets of cases I have cited : In the one 
 there is the absence of all discipline, and in the 
 
 152 
 
The Land 
 
 other its active influence. The Irish labourer 
 who comes over to Great Britain is perfectly 
 well aware that if he does not fulfil his part of 
 the contract he will be incontinently dismissed, 
 and in like manner with the men employed 
 by the Congested Districts Board in Ireland ; 
 and, as the Royal Irish Constabulary is a semi- 
 military force, discipline becomes early the very 
 breath of their nostrils, and rises far superior in 
 influence to any fear of dismissal. This seems 
 to me to explain the apparent paradox, and to 
 justify '' Pat's " conclusion when he asks the 
 question :— 
 
 What, then, are we to make of the national 
 complaint that the Government is the cause 
 of our failure at home while we succeed 
 abroad ? We succeed abroad (he replies) 
 simply because a foreigner forces us to 
 accommodate ourselves to his higher and 
 more efficient activity. We do not succeed 
 at home because, governed by our own con- 
 ditions and standpoints only, we fail to 
 realise the efficient level. When the really 
 efficient individual appears among us we 
 are as likely to boycott him as to be 
 153 
 
Ireland To-day and To-moirow 
 
 influenced by him ; in short, at home 
 the controlHng conditions are those of in- 
 efficiency, and efficiency is the exception. 
 That is why there are fewer of us each year 
 that comes round. In the modern pubHc Hfe 
 of this country not one man has attempted 
 to present the real causes of our decay with- 
 out making himself unpopular by it, so dear 
 is our inefficiency to us, so intolerant are 
 we of any influence that could raise us to 
 the level of progressive peoples. 
 
 Does any one believe that the concession of 
 Home Rule or of Devolution would be a panacea 
 for this moral and economic evil ? There may 
 be such in England, but it is impossible for me 
 to imagine the existence of any number of 
 intelligent and educated men who hold such a 
 belief in Ireland. For my own part, recent 
 experiences in Ireland have strengthened a 
 conviction, but half developed twenty years 
 ago, that the Home Rule and Nationalist party 
 are putting the cart before the horse. I could 
 understand a plea, and a very good plea, being 
 put in for the grant of almost complete 
 autonomy to an Ireland peopled by a self- 
 
 154 
 
The Land 
 
 reliant, independent, self-respecting race, edu- 
 cated sufficiently to realise that separation from 
 Great Britain would be infinitely more disastrous 
 to the interests of Ireland than it could be to 
 England and Scotland. It has been well said 
 that when Irishmen are fit for Home Rule they 
 will not ask for it. Politics have been the curse 
 of Ireland, and the agrarian successes gained 
 by the Nationalist party in the last thirty or 
 forty years have nourished the baneful idea in 
 the eyes of the uneducated that the politician 
 can do more for the individual than the in- 
 dividual can do for himself. A more pernicious 
 fallacy was never propagated. The politician 
 may succeed in securing for the some-time tenant 
 without money and without price the fee simple 
 to his holding. What better off is he than 
 before, if he has not learnt that by skill and 
 industry alone can he extract a living from the 
 soil ? 
 
 Let me once more quote from '' Pat " : — 
 
 On a fine working day last winter I walked 
 
 fourteen statute miles in a congested district 
 
 in Mayo, from Swinford to Ballyhaunis, to 
 
 observe the better at my walking-pace how 
 
 155 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 they might happen to be occupied for the 
 day, and in the whole journey I saw " at 
 work " only one man, who had his hands in 
 his pockets and his shoulders humped against 
 the wind. He was looking amongst his 
 sheep, and so I call it work, he being an 
 Irish farmer. The fences were down which 
 ought to keep out the cattle next summer, and 
 so let the children go to school. But the com- 
 pulsory clause of the Education Act was not 
 in force ; the local politicians were afraid to 
 enforce it, and the parents were free to bring 
 up their families like themselves, with their 
 hands in their pockets and their humps 
 against the wind. I saw not one acre yet 
 ploughed, and the winter weeds were 
 strengthening their hold on next year's 
 potato-fields, making double work for the 
 coming June, when there would be no time 
 to do it. On that day, in that region, the 
 Government had bodies of men at work on 
 improvements to farms, under the Congested 
 Districts Board, paying the people wages out 
 of the taxes to do their own work. 
 
 156 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 REMEDIAL WORK 
 
 IN my last chapter I dwelt upon the economic 
 shortcomings of Irishmen, due, as I 
 believe, to want of proper training and 
 education, and not to historic, political, and 
 other causes, to which, for party purposes, 
 they have been usually attributed. If the 
 diagnosis of the politicians is correct, then it 
 would seem that the malady under which 
 Ireland is suffering was incurable. Most 
 Intelligent Nationalists will tell you that they 
 have very little fault to find with the manner 
 In which the Department of Agriculture and 
 Technical Instruction performs its work ; they 
 only complain that it is not a department 
 of a Government responsible only to an 
 independent Irish Parliament. I feel tempted 
 to say, God help it if it were. Its difficulties 
 are sufficiently formidable as It Is. If Its 
 work were to be daily and hourly criticised 
 and thwarted by an Irish Parliament under 
 the influence of the most parochial local 
 
 157 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 considerations, and moulded by the importunities 
 of members whose seats were dependent upon 
 what they extorted for their constituents from 
 the Government, the task would be absolutely 
 impossible. But perhaps this truth will be 
 more easily realised if I set forth the nature 
 and functions of both the Department of 
 Agriculture and Technical Instruction and those 
 of the Congested Districts Board. Though the 
 former is junior in age, it is by far the more 
 important, because much of the work of the 
 Congested Districts Board will, it is to be hoped, 
 lapse with the disappearance of the conditions 
 which called the Board into existence. The 
 Department was created by an Act of 1899, 
 passed in Mr. Gerald Balfour's Administration 
 as Chief Secretary for Ireland. It consists of 
 the Chief Secretary of the day, who is constituted 
 President, and of a Vice-President, assisted by 
 a number of highly-trained experts in agriculture 
 and technical instruction, and by a staff of 
 officials. Associated with the Department, '* for 
 the purpose of assisting it in carrying out the 
 objects of the Act," are a Council of Agriculture, 
 a Board of Agriculture, and a Board of 
 Technical Instruction. Each of these bodies 
 
 158 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 contains both an elective and a nominative 
 element. The Council of Agriculture is com- 
 posed of one hundred and two members, of whom 
 two-thirds are elected members of county 
 councils, the remaining third being nominated 
 by the Department. The two Boards, much 
 smaller in number, are appointed by the Council 
 of Agriculture and by the Department, in the 
 same proportions. Hence it will be seen that the 
 machinery of the Act was designed to bring the 
 Department into close touch with popular feeling. 
 Another feature of the scheme designed to carry 
 out effective co-operation between the Depart- 
 ment and local opinion was secured by the 
 appointment of local committees by county and 
 urban district councils. The Council of Agricul- 
 ture meets at ''least once a year"; its functions 
 are advisory. The two Boards meet frequently, 
 on an average once every two months. The 
 Board of Agriculture advises the Department 
 on all questions submitted to it by the latter, 
 and its concurrence is required for the expendi- 
 ture of any money out of the Department's 
 endowment. The objections that might be 
 raised to the exercise of their power of the 
 veto on the part of the Board were not 
 
 159 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 overlooked by the Government of 1899 — e. g,, 
 a deadlock might be produced were the Board 
 to withhold its concurrence, and there might 
 also be serious friction between the Depart- 
 ment and the Board. But the scheme was 
 an experiment, and as such must be judged 
 by its results. The relations between the two 
 bodies have been of the most harmonious kind, 
 and the Board has not exercised its right of 
 veto. The powers of the Board of Technical 
 Instruction are more restricted than those of the 
 Board of Agriculture — e.g., the allocation of 
 the funds at its disposal Is regulated by the 
 statute, and in other respects Its functions are 
 more circumscribed ; it is prohibited, for Instance, 
 from subsidising urban industries. It may give 
 technical instruction in the principles underlying 
 a trade or Industry. 
 
 The funds placed at the disposal of the 
 Department consist of an annual income of 
 ;^ 1 7 1, 000, together with other contributions 
 from the Congested Districts Board (in respect 
 of Agricultural work, recently transferred by 
 that Board to the Department), from the de- 
 velopment grant and other sources, which bring 
 the total income in the present year up to 
 
 160 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 ;^298,833. In addition there are lying to the 
 credit of the Department accumulated unex- 
 pended balances from previous years amounting 
 to over ;^3 50,000. 
 
 The task with which the Department was 
 called upon to deal when it was established in 
 1899 was one of enormous difficulty. It had, in 
 the first place, to formulate its policy for the 
 development of agriculture and technical in- 
 struction. This it proceeded at once to do 
 through its expert advisers, by consultations 
 with local representative bodies, by exhaustive 
 inquiries, and by careful study of local conditions 
 and requirements. This done, the Department 
 had to devise methods for putting the provisions 
 of the Act into operation by the consideration 
 and issue of the schemes dealing with a multi- 
 tude of subjects. There was much difficulty in 
 inducing the people and local statutory com- 
 mittees to understand the aims and methods of 
 the Department, which were largely adapted 
 from Continental models, and were quite new 
 to Ireland, and another difficulty encountered 
 by the Department was traceable to the fact 
 that the Department was a '' Castle board," 
 inspired by sinister political motives ! That 
 u 161 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 there has been friction from time to time 
 between the local statutory committees and 
 the Department cannot be denied, but such 
 friction was inevitable in the working of the 
 machinery of the Act, especially in the earlier 
 years, and it is safe to say that disputes and 
 differences of opinion have at the present date 
 almost disappeared. It is the opinion of all 
 fair-minded men that the work of the Depart- 
 ment has been carried out with marked ability 
 and a considerable measure of success, and that 
 the unfavourable criticisms of its methods have 
 been due to a want of appreciation of the intri- 
 cate and complex problems with which it had 
 to deal. The funds and energies of the Depart- 
 ment have been expended in laying founda- 
 tions, and the results of this expenditure are 
 already manifesting themselves throughout the 
 country, even to those who, while still carping 
 at its methods, participate in the resulting 
 benefits. 
 
 The following statement of work done 
 on the agricultural side of the Departments 
 administration will enable those not already 
 conversant with the details to judge of the 
 value of the policy pursued, and of the benefits 
 
 162 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 which have accrued, and are still accruing, to 
 the farming population of Ireland. 
 
 For the development of agricultural education 
 the Department's programme provides for the 
 instruction of farmers' sons at two central 
 institutions in Dublin, the Royal College of 
 Science and the Albert Agricultural College, 
 Glasnevin, at three provincial stations, Athenry, 
 CO. Galway ; Clonakilty, co. Cork ; and Bally- 
 haise, co. Cavan. The fees paid at these 
 institutions are extremely moderate ; in some 
 cases no fees at all are charged. A large 
 number of students are availing themselves of 
 the instruction provided at these places. In 
 addition, there are what are called winter 
 schools of agriculture, established at a number 
 of centres throughout the country, all largely 
 attended by farmers' sons, and in every county 
 the department has at work an itinerant 
 instructor, who delivers frequent lectures, free 
 of cost to his audiences, and, by means of 
 small demonstration and experimental plots 
 laid down in considerable numbers In the 
 county, imparts practical instruction to farmers 
 as to the uses of manures and the best methods 
 to be adopted in cultivating their holdings. 
 
 163 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 For girls there are the dairy schools at the 
 Munster Institute, Cork, and at Loughsey, co. 
 Tyrone ; rural schools of domestic economy at 
 Portumna, co. Galway ; Westport, co. Mayo ; 
 Loughglynn, co. Roscommon ; and Dunman- 
 way, CO. Cork ; and itinerant Instruction in 
 dairying and poultry-keeping throughout rural 
 districts. 
 
 Independently of these courses of education 
 in agricultural matters, the Department has 
 been engaged in the work of improving the 
 breeds of live-stock — an industry which is of 
 primary importance to Ireland. Schemes 
 dealing with cattle-breeding, horse-breeding, 
 and pig-breeding are in operation all over 
 Ireland, and the improvements effected as a 
 result of the working of these schemes are 
 acknowledged on all sides. 
 
 There are also numerous county schemes 
 connected with butter-making, poultry-keeping, 
 horticulture, bee-keeping, and flax cultivation — 
 all admittedly successful and of great benefit 
 to the people. 
 
 With respect to technical instruction, very 
 considerable progress has been made in urban 
 centres in this direction, and the assistance the 
 
 164 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 Department Is giving towards the provision of 
 technical training for the youth of the country Is 
 almost Incalculable. Here, again, facilities are 
 provided for the training of teachers In techno- 
 logical subjects at central institutions In Dublin ; 
 schemes of technical Instruction have been 
 adopted, and are working In all the more Im- 
 portant urban districts ; trades' preparatory 
 schools have been established at a number of 
 centres ; and for girls, Instruction Is widely pro- 
 vided in domestic economy, lace-making, and 
 other industries. 
 
 Considering the limited means at present at 
 the disposal of the Department, Its success has 
 been little short of marvellous. With regard to 
 agriculture generally, Ireland has not only much 
 to learn but a great deal to unlearn, and the 
 object of the Department Is to level up the 
 whole country to the standard attained by agri- 
 cultural countries In Europe. One of the chief 
 complaints is, of course, that other than Irish- 
 men are employed to do the educational work. 
 These experts are mostly Scotchmen, for the 
 excellent reason that the Scotch have a well- 
 deserved reputation of being the best farmers in 
 the world. The grumblers do not take Into 
 
 165 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 consideration the very obvious fact that it is just 
 because Ireland stands in need of elementary 
 training in all forms of agriculture, and especially 
 in what is called the *' little culture," that but 
 few competent teachers can be found amongst 
 her sons and dauorhters. Mr. Cecil Rhodes 
 experienced exactly the same difficulty in Cape 
 Colony when he started his most successful 
 scheme of fruit-growing in Stellenbosch and 
 at the Paarl. He found very few Afrikanders 
 competent to apply the latest scientific dis- 
 coveries to the advancement of fruit-growing. 
 He therefore imported Scotchmen, most of 
 whom had served an apprenticeship in Cali- 
 fornia ; and, placing them at the head of the 
 different farms, he supplied them with two Afri- 
 kander assistants, who, in turn, became qualified 
 to act as instructors to others. A similar result, 
 it is hoped, will be found in Ireland. Every year 
 the number of students attending the various 
 agricultural schools and classes shows a marked 
 and most satisfactory increase. The Depart- 
 ment, as we have seen, was formed only in 1899. 
 In the second year of its existence only one 
 county adopted the scheme for instruction in 
 horticulture ; in 1904-05 there were seventeen 
 
 166 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 counties on the list. In 1900-01 only four 
 counties adopted the suggestions for the 
 encouragement of poultry-keeping, which is a 
 most important industry, and from which much 
 is hoped. In 1904-05 there were only three 
 administrative counties which did not employ an 
 instructor. And the number of eggs distributed 
 to improve the breed of poultry rose from 4,000 
 in 1901-02 to 49,191 in 1904-05. In 1901 only 
 a single county applied for instructors in home 
 butter-making ; in 1904-05 twenty-two counties 
 were supplied at their own request. Equally 
 satisfactory has been the success of the efforts 
 made to improve cattle-breeding and horse- 
 breeding, by importing better stock and by the 
 grant of premiums to home-bred sires, with the 
 result, to take cattle only, that the number of 
 premiums in the Congested Districts alone 
 amounted to 228 in 1905, compared to forty- 
 three in 1 90 1. The system of giving prizes for 
 small cottages and farms has been attended 
 with such success that twenty-seven counties 
 are adopting the scheme to-day, where only 
 two were on the list in 1901. The number 
 of entp'es for these prizes, as the report informs 
 us, shows the interest which has been aroused 
 
 167 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 by these competitions, the total numbers being 
 3,065 in 1904 and 3,146 in 1905. In County 
 DubHn in 1904 all cottages erected by the 
 Rural Districts Council were regarded as en- 
 tered for competition, and were duly inspected, 
 but in 1905 the system of voluntary entry was 
 adopted, under which 217 cottages competed. 
 In the remaining twenty-four counties which 
 adopted the scheme in 1904 there has been 
 accordingly an increase in the entries for 1905 of 
 over twenty per cent. The report of the judges 
 is also of much interest. They comment 
 
 Favourably in nearly all cases on the 
 cleanliness and order of the dwelling-houses, 
 but have been compelled to draw attention to 
 the untidy state of the out-offices. In this 
 respect the cottages erected under the 
 Labourers' Acts have compared very un- 
 favourably in some counties with the non- 
 union cottages. In general, the cultivation 
 of the gardens leaves much to be desired ; 
 the variety of vegetables is poor and fruit is 
 little grown. The arrangements of manure 
 heaps and provision for collecting liquid 
 manure receives little attention. The judges 
 168 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 as a rule complain of the weedy condition of 
 the fields, due, as they point out, often to the 
 use of inferior seeds, as well as to want of 
 weeding. Housing accommodation for live 
 stock and poultry is, on the whole, poor. Byres 
 and fowl-houses are often very badly kept. 
 The judges almost unanimously lay stress on 
 the fact that green crops are not sufficiently 
 grown for the winter feeding of cattle. The 
 dairy accommodation is described as defective, 
 the milk and butter being often kept in un- 
 suitable places. The judges' report contains 
 many references to the beneficial results of 
 the live stock and agricultural schemes. For 
 example, methods of farming are more 
 advanced in those counties in which itinerant 
 instructors in agriculture have been at work. 
 The influence of the egg-distribution stations 
 on the character of the fowl is, in many places, 
 very noticeable. The quality of the live 
 stock has been raised by the use of premium 
 bulls and boars. 
 
 The business of drying and otherwise pre- 
 serving fruits and vegetables has also been 
 encouraged by this beneficent department, as, 
 
 169 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 indeed, has every other branch of agriculture. 
 To turn over the pages of the annual report is 
 almost equivalent to studying an encyclopaedia. 
 Take, for example, the cultivation of flax, the 
 staple of the Ulster linen trade. In the year 
 i860 the area under flax was 128,595 acres. 
 That rose to 301,693 acres in 1864, since when 
 it has rapidly declined, until in the year 1904 
 the area had sunk to 44,293 acres. Of course, 
 the extraordinary increase between i860 and 
 1864 was due to the Civil War in America, and 
 the stoppage there of the cultivation of cotton. 
 But the restoration of the normal condition of 
 things will not account for the dependence of 
 Ulster upon foreign flax. Nor is it merely the 
 cheapness of the foreign competition which is 
 responsible for the decline. The fact was that 
 the manipulation and scutching of flax in the 
 North of Ireland was very inferior to that em- 
 ployed in Belgium and Holland and elsewhere, 
 and in seeking to remedy these defects the 
 Department of Agriculture is rendering a very 
 real service to Ireland. 
 
 I have chosen but a few of the manifold subjects 
 with which this indefatigable department deals. 
 Perhaps the simplest way of demonstrating the 
 
 170 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 area covered by their operations is to give the 
 table of contents in the annual report dealing 
 with agriculture alone, and omitting those other 
 parts referring to technical education, transit and 
 markets, statistics, and general Intelligence, etc. 
 
 Agricultural Instruction at the Royal College 
 of Science, at the Albert Agricultural College, 
 Glasnevin, and at the Munster Institute, Cork: 
 Agricultural Schools and Classes, Itinerant In- 
 struction In Agriculture, Agricultural Stations, 
 Horticulture and Bee-keeping, Poultry-keeping, 
 Home Butter-making, Pioneer Lectures, Horse 
 Breeding, Cattle Breeding, Swine Breeding, 
 Subsidies to Shows, Prizes for Small Farms 
 and Cottages, Field Experiments, Special 
 Barley Experiments, Early Potato Growing, 
 Fruit and Vegetable Preserving, Cheese- 
 making, Calf Feeding, Seed Testing Station, 
 Tobacco Growing, Analysis of Spraying 
 Material, Manufacture of Peat Fuel, Flax 
 Growing, Purification of Creamery Sewage, 
 Improvement in Creamery Management, Sur- 
 prise Butter Competitions, Fruit as a Farm 
 Crop, Forestry, Mortality in Young Cattle, 
 Poultry Fattening. 
 
 I have made no attempt to do justice either 
 171 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 to the labours or the achievements of the De- 
 partment of Agriculture and Technical Educa- 
 tion. To do so would require a volume at least 
 as bulky as that of the annual report issued by 
 the Department. My object is to call attention 
 to the beneficent work accomplished by a body 
 of officials which, though thoroughly repre- 
 sentative in the true sense of the word, is not 
 political. These qualifications apply also to 
 the following references to the work of the 
 Congested Districts Board. 
 
 This Board came into existence under the 
 36th Section of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) 
 Act, 1 89 1, which provided that where more 
 than twenty per cent, of the population of any 
 county in Ireland live in electoral divisions of 
 which the total rateable value, when divided by 
 the number of the population, gives a sum of 
 less than thirty shillings for each individual, such 
 electoral divisions shall be deemed to form a 
 separate county, known as a congested district 
 county. The districts which, accordingly, have 
 been declared congested, embrace part of each 
 county in Connaught, and part of Clare, Cork, 
 Kerry and Donegal, with an area of over three 
 and a half million acres and a population of 
 
 172 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 over half a million. The Poor Law valuation 
 of these districts amounts to about one pound 
 per individual. The accompanying map (p. 174) 
 will show (dotted) the proportion of congested 
 districts to the rest of Ireland. 
 
 Beginning in 1891-92 with a total income from 
 all sources of ,2^16,590, and an expenditure of 
 ;^3,66o ; in 1905-06 the total receipts amounted 
 to ^390,352, and the total expenditure to 
 ^375,065, the fixed income at the disposal of 
 the Board being ;^ 16, 590 in the first year and 
 ^86,250 in 1905-06. The Board was empowered 
 to direct its efforts, first, as regards agriculture, 
 towards increasing the size of small holdings, 
 chiefly by their amalgamation of such holdings 
 and by migrations to available land, improving 
 live stock, and methods of cultivation ; and, in 
 the second place, towards creating and develop- 
 ing, by indirect as well as by direct means, all 
 suitable industries, such as fishing, weaving, 
 spinning, etc. Practically the whole of the 
 inhabitants in the congested districts consisted 
 of persons holding land of from two to four 
 statute acres, perfectly incapable of sustaining 
 a family. The plots were usually planted with 
 potatoes and oats, and the methods of cultivation 
 
 173 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 MAP OF IRELAND 
 
 SHOWING THE PROPORTION OF CONGESTED DISTRICTS 
 TO REST OF COUNTRY 
 
 174 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 were extremely primitive ; there was no rotation 
 of crops, no adequate supply of manures, no 
 proper system of drainage, while the breeds of 
 live stock were worn out and of little value. 
 The result was that the inhabitants were forced 
 to depend very largely upon certain secondary 
 sources of incom.e of an uncertain and variable 
 nature. Many ** congests," as they are locally 
 known, received occasional gifts from relatives 
 in America, while weaving, knitting, and sewing 
 formed other small subsidiary sources of income. 
 The results of sea fishing helped families 
 dwelling along the coast to eke out a scanty 
 living, whilst those living inland depended 
 largely upon the wages earned during some 
 months of the year as migratory agricultural 
 labourers in England or Scotland. 
 
 It is well perhaps for me to state here that 
 the information respecting the earlier stages of 
 the work of the Congested Districts Board is 
 taken from Ireland, Industrial and Agricul- 
 tural, edited by the late Mr. W. P. Coyne, of 
 the Department of Agriculture. This book 
 was originally intended to serve as an official 
 handbook dealing with Ireland's chief economic 
 resources, as a guide to those visiting the 
 
 175 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901, who 
 were interested In the exhibits of the Irish 
 Agricultural Department. Under the editor- 
 ship of Mr. Coyne, the handbook grew into a 
 portly and well-illustrated volume of over five 
 hundred pages. It is needless to say that it is 
 entirely non-political, but it is desirable to add 
 that it is Indispensable to any one who really 
 desires to learn the truth about the economic 
 conditions of Ireland. 
 
 To return to the condition of the '' congests." 
 In a "good year" many of the Inhabitants 
 were little more than free from the dread of 
 hunger, whilst a bad year, arising from the 
 complete or partial failure of their crops, pro- 
 duced a condition of semi-starvation. In Its 
 first report the Board published four typical 
 " Family Budgets," showing the receipts and 
 expenditures of different families in a congested 
 district. 
 
 In No. I, the budget of a family described 
 as being " in comparatively good circum- 
 stances " — it reads like irony — the receipts 
 amounted to ^41, of which a quarter, or ^10, 
 represented the migratory earnings of the 
 men, and a seventh, the children's earnings as 
 
 176 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 servants ; knitting, sewing, etc., accounted for 
 another sixth. So that more than half the 
 revenue came from other sources than the 
 land. The expenditure amounted to ^42 155'., 
 whereof nearly half was laid out upon bread 
 or flour, tea and Indian meal. The rent 
 absorbed ^i lo^-., and church dues, etc., another 
 sovereign. The home produce consumed by 
 the family was valued at from ^12 to ;^20. 
 
 Case No. 2 described " a family In ordinary 
 circumstances," the receipts being derived from 
 agriculture, fishing, and home industries. The 
 receipts amounted to ^27 4^-., to which the sale 
 of flannel or tweed, knitting, etc., contributed 
 rather more than a quarter, and fish a little less 
 than one-third. The expenditure amounted to 
 £2iO 9.C., of which £2 went for rent, and more 
 than half of the total was spent on tea, sugar, 
 meal, and flour. Home produce consumed by 
 the family was valued at from ^5 los. to 
 
 £10. 
 
 No. 3 is the budget of a family in '' very poor 
 circumstances," the receipts being derived from 
 agriculture and fishing. The receipts amounted 
 to £g 16s., of which nearly one-third was 
 yielded by the sale of fish ; fish and eggs 
 12 177 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 together producing half of the total. The 
 expenditure was ^lo 19^"., of which rent 
 absorbed 305"., ^^4 went in meal, flour, groceries, 
 etc., and the home produce consumed by the 
 family was valued at from ^12 to £17- 
 
 Last of all is the case of a family " in the 
 poorest possible circumstances," the receipts 
 being derived from agriculture and labour in 
 the locality. Receipts, ^8 35-., made up as 
 follows : Eggs, ;^i 3^. ; sixty days' labour at 
 one shilling, ^3 ; herding cattle, £4.. The 
 expenditure was : Rent £1 ; meal, £^ lys. ; 
 groceries, ^£4. ; and clothing, only los. The 
 home products consumed by the family were 
 valued at about £6. 
 
 " These facts and figures," to quote the 
 authority, ** speak eloquently for themselves, 
 and show that in some congested districts at 
 the time the Board was established the value 
 of the products of some of the small holdings, 
 together with the earnings and receipts of 
 the family from every other source, did not 
 exceed a total of ;^i5 a year. Even in the 
 less distressed portions of the congested dis- 
 tricts the standard of living was low, the diet 
 
 178 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 of the poorest section of the people being 
 altogether vegetarian, with the exception of 
 salt fish or bacon at times, which was used 
 more as a relish than as an article of food. 
 The houses, furniture and bedding were 
 too often unhealthy, mean, and comfort- 
 less, and the clothing frequently ragged and 
 scanty." 
 
 It is a terrible picture, representing a state of 
 things which one is glad to know is gradually 
 disappearing. There is one feature in these 
 budgets to which attention ought to be called, 
 because of the existence of an injurious legend 
 very current in England, that rent is the cause 
 of all the trouble. In the first case, it will be 
 noticed that the rent amounts only to 30^"., less 
 than sevenpence a week, out of a total expendi- 
 ture of ^42 i5i". In the second, rent stands 
 for one-fifteenth part of the expenditure, and is 
 ninepence halfpenny a week ; in the third case, 
 rent represents a seventh of the expenditure, 
 and less than sevenpence a week. In the last 
 case it absorbs one-tenth of the expenditure, 
 and is fourpence halfpenny a week. So that, if 
 rent were abolished to-morrow, in these typical 
 
 179 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 congested holdings, twopence a day would be 
 largely in excess of the gain to these im- 
 poverished people. 
 
 If the landlords of the west are to be blamed 
 at all for this state of things it is for not having 
 prohibited the practice of sub-division of the 
 soil. The reports, however, of the Devon 
 Commission, and of all its successors, as I have 
 stated before, has proved how difficult a task 
 was involved in this exercise of landlord rights. 
 To have remedied the evil evictions must have 
 taken place on a very large scale, and we know 
 the use which would have been made, and has 
 been made, of the levelling of huts on holdings 
 incapable of furnishing a living. On many 
 estates where the land is poor and the population 
 dense, but where the people have been allowed 
 to go on in their own way for many generations, 
 they have so sub-divided the holdings from time 
 to time that often enough the holding of one 
 tenant does not consist of one or two, or even 
 three, separate portions of land, but of many de- 
 tached fields or plots within fields lying amongst 
 similar fragments of other scattered holdings. 
 
 Let me turn once more to '' Pat," and his 
 testimony as an eye-witness : — 
 
 1 80 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 '' I will mention only an instance or two 
 showing how production is hindered and life 
 wasted. At Loghurragh, near Swinford, I 
 counted as many as thirty-five different 'farms' 
 on the side of a hill, and one of the * farmers ' 
 told me I might count as many on the other 
 side. I saw some ' stripes ' that were only 
 two ridges wide, that is, wide enough for eight 
 rows of potato plants, and he told me some 
 were only one ridge wide. The whole area 
 is only seven Irish acres, divided into more 
 than fifty holdings between eleven tenants, 
 my guide said. That would leave between 
 four and five different ' farms ' to each of the 
 eleven tenants within the seven acres. Of 
 course, the plots are not fenced, which means 
 that no plot can ever be grazed unless with 
 a watcher to protect the adjoining plots. 
 Nothing on wheels can go amongst these 
 farms, and all the carrying has to be done on 
 donkeys' backs, with a man following the 
 donkey when he ought to be doing something 
 more like a man's work. Such is the modern 
 evolution from tribal or communistic tenure. 
 But the case is worse with Paudheen 
 Ua Conneilla (Anglice, Pat O'Connell, I 
 i8i 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 imagine), of Derrynea, Connemara, who 
 showed me his trifle of tillage in seventeen 
 patches, one ' field ' being three yards wide 
 and four yards long. Like the people of 
 Loghurragh, he digged away, not realising 
 that he competed with steam and motor 
 ploughs in America." 
 
 The first thing that the Congested Districts 
 Board had to do was to improve and enlarge 
 holdings, buying out the landlords' interest, and 
 reselling the extended holding to tenants. In 
 the earlier stages this was a work of great diffi- 
 culty, owing not to the refusal of the landlords 
 to sell land necessary for the purpose, but to the 
 obstinacy of many tenants who refused to give 
 up their holdings, or to be migrated to spots 
 which offered them more elbow-room. But for- 
 tunately good sense has spread, and up to the 
 passage of the Land Act of 1903 the Board had 
 bought, for purposes of enlargement and migra- 
 tion, 171,611 acres, and since the passage of 
 that Act, 250,242 acres. Up to March 31, 1906, 
 upwards of ;^76,ooo had been spent in con- 
 nection with the erection or improvement of 
 dwelling-houses and the erection of out-offices, of 
 
 182 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 which ;^2 8,000 represented the outlay in respect 
 of the erection of houses and out-offices on 
 rearranged holdings and new buildings provided 
 for migrants, and the remainder was given to the 
 tenants in cash or in value of materials from the 
 Board stores. Up to the same date 200 dwelling- 
 houses and 1 84 out-offices were built, while under 
 various estate improvement and parish committee 
 schemes in operation throughout the congested 
 districts, the landlords, with some assistance from 
 the Board, built and improved 1,372 dwelling- 
 houses and erected 1,266 out-offices. 
 
 Excellent work is being done in encouraging 
 and developing the sea fishing. The Board, 
 for instance, owns a fleet of sixty-nine large- 
 decked boats, worked on the share system, and 
 money has been advanced to fishermen for 
 what are called loan boats, which now number 
 
 115- 
 
 One of the most promising of all the small 
 
 industries encouraged and assisted by the Con- 
 gested Districts Board is the lace and crochet. 
 Beginning on a very humble basis, the earnings 
 of the Board's classes, exclusive of sales made to 
 local buyers, were considerably over ^20,000, 
 and the Board adds : — 
 
 183 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 '* The value of these classes in the poor 
 districts is illustrated by the fact that the 
 money earned last year by the girls in eight 
 of the lace and crochet classes, held in seven 
 electoral divisions of North-West Mayo, 
 considerably exceeded the total Poor Law- 
 valuations of the lands in those divisions. 
 And as that valuation generally exceeds 
 the rents payable by the tenant farmers 
 this addition to their incomes must have 
 been a very appreciable benefit." 
 
 Here, again, I must point out the handicap 
 imposed upon this and similar industries by the 
 competition of the convents, a competition, as 
 I have already pointed out, more likely to 
 increase than to diminish. 
 
 Reference should be made to parish com- 
 mittee schemes for the encouragement of small 
 landlords in improving their dwellings and 
 farms. No applicant whose land and buildings 
 exceed the Poor Law valuation of £"] is 
 eligible for a grant. The grants are very- 
 small, ranging from £i to ^3, while the value 
 of the work is from four to five times the 
 amount of the grant. The Congested Districts 
 
 184 
 
Remedial Work 
 
 Board is undoubtedly more popular with the 
 poorer classes than the Department of Agri- 
 culture and Technical Instruction. Nationalists 
 will tell you that this greater popularity is due 
 to the fact that the Board is more representative 
 in character than the Department. But no one 
 can go into a congested district and watch the 
 operation of this most beneficial board without 
 being convinced that the eleemosynary element 
 is the chief factor in its popularity. Though 
 the representative system is to be encouraged, 
 it is not without its drawbacks. There is a 
 good deal of very natural pressure put upon the 
 Board by priests and others to secure grants 
 for their own parishes, without much regard to 
 the claims of other, and, it may be, more 
 deserving districts. What, of course, is more 
 important still, is that the old proverb, that 
 what you can get for nothing is little valued, is 
 more true of Ireland than of any other civilised 
 country. In a great many districts where small 
 holdings have been enlarged the tenant-owner 
 often declines to fence his extended holding 
 unless he is actually paid for doing so, and the 
 experiment of fruit-growing, which promises 
 great success, is often arrested by the refusal 
 
 185 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 of the peasant proprietor to plant the trees 
 gratuitously supplied to him. As a temporary- 
 expedient to meet a great emergency the 
 Congested Districts Acts cannot be too highly 
 praised ; but it must be borne in mind that 
 it is only an expedient. Indeed, the Act con- 
 stituting the Board expires automatically in 
 191 1 unless Parliament thinks fit to renew it. 
 The Board has shown the poorer inhabitants of 
 Ireland how they can help themselves, and has 
 granted them opportunities In the form of 
 larger holdings and better houses to work 
 out their own economic salvation. The initial 
 start given to them to begin that work is 
 amply justified on all political, social, and 
 economic grounds. When this preliminary work 
 has been accomplished throughout the Congested 
 Districts most of the functions of the Board, 
 save that of encouraging the small industries, 
 will be no longer necessary or desirable. 
 
 Fortunately, a movement is growing, and 
 has, indeed, reached a stage of sturdy develop- 
 ment, which, if politics and unrest, and the 
 blighting of confidence, do not Intervene, holds 
 out the brightest hope for the future of Ireland, 
 I mean the Co-operative movement. 
 
 186 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SELF-HELP 
 
 THE co-operative movement in Ireland 
 deserves, for many reasons, more 
 attention almost than any other 
 economic phenomenon. It ov^es its develop- 
 ment to the Irish Agricultural Organisation 
 Society, familiarly known as the I.A.O.S. 
 This society was spontaneous and voluntary ; 
 its services have been utilised at times by 
 the Department of Agriculture, but it is 
 independent and practically self-supporting. 
 For some years after its birth, about 1890, the 
 council was elected by subscribers to the fund. 
 It has long since been put upon a represent- 
 ative basis, and the subscribers as such have 
 only four nominees out of twenty. On the 
 council are to be found eminent men of all 
 shades of politics, and of all religious denomin- 
 ations working harmoniously together. There 
 are Orangemen and Roman Catholics, Home 
 Rulers and Unionists, and others representing 
 
 187 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 the cross-currents to which I have alluded 
 elsewhere. Twenty-five years ago, any one 
 who would have been bold enough to prophesy 
 that co-operation between these antagonistic 
 elements was possible would have been re- 
 garded as a lunatic. Its objects are not 
 eleemosynary, as may be gathered by the fact 
 that since it came into formal existence in 
 1894 the funds at its disposal for organisation 
 purposes have not amounted to ;^5o,ooo ; it 
 helps those who wish to help themselves, and 
 they organise co-operation in a country better 
 fitted for that system almost than any other in 
 Europe. It is significant, from a political point 
 of view, that its enemies are the politicians 
 and the papers they control. The Freemans 
 Journal has been hostile to the movement 
 from the very first, and the real leader of the 
 Parliamentary party, Mr. John Dillon, has 
 always regarded its work with great disfavour. 
 
 The idea started with Mr. (now Sir Horace) 
 Plunkett, to whom the workers of Ireland owe 
 far more than they do to any of the politicians. 
 Sir Horace tells us himself, in h^eland in the 
 New Century, the early history of the move- 
 ment : — 
 
 188 
 
 
Self-Help 
 
 My own diary (he says) records attendance 
 at fifty meetings before a single society had 
 resulted therefrom. It was weary work for 
 a long time. These gatherings were miser- 
 able affairs compared with those which 
 greeted our political speakers. On one 
 occasion the agricultural community was 
 represented by the dispensary doctor, the 
 schoolmaster, and the sergeant of police. 
 Sometimes, in spite of copious advertising 
 of the meeting, the prosaic nature of the 
 objects had got abroad, and nobody met. 
 
 And he quotes the experience of Mr. Ander- 
 son, subsequently the secretary of the I.A.O.S., 
 as follows : — 
 
 It was hard and thankless work. There 
 was the apathy of the people and the active 
 opposition of the Press and the politicians. 
 It would be hard to say now whether the 
 abuse of the Conservative Cork Constihc- 
 tion or that of the Nationalist Eagle of 
 Sklbbereen was the louder. We were 
 ** killing the calves," we were ** forcing the 
 young women to emigrate," we were 
 " destroying the Industry." Mr. Plunkett 
 189 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 was described as " a monster in human 
 shape," and was adjured to '' cease his hellish 
 work." I was described as his ** Man 
 Friday" and as '' Roughrider Anderson." 
 Once, when I thought I had planted a 
 creamery within the precincts of the town 
 of Rathkeale, my co-operative apple-cart 
 was upset by a local solicitor, who, having 
 elicited the fact that our movement recog- 
 nised neither political nor religious differences 
 — that the Unionist- Protestant cow was as 
 dear to us as the Nationalist-Catholic sister 
 — gravely informed me that our programme 
 would not suit Rathkeale. " Rathkeale," 
 said he, pompously, *'is a Nationalist town 
 — Nationalist to the backbone — and every 
 pound of butter made in this creamery must 
 be made on Nationalist principles or it 
 shan't be made at all." This sentiment 
 was applauded loudly, and the proceedings 
 terminated. 
 
 The organisation began very modestly by 
 applying co-operation to the production of 
 butter. At that time there were no Co-opera- 
 tive Creameries in existence, and the intro- 
 
 190 
 
Self-Help 
 
 duction of anything novel in Ireland is fraught 
 with some danger to the promoter. During 
 the years 1889 and 1890 there was only one 
 society; then the idea ''caught on," with the 
 result that to-day the number of these societies 
 amounts to 860, In the course of their in- 
 vestigations in connection with the creameries, 
 the society discovered that the farmers had no 
 means of securing agricultural requirements of 
 the latest description at a reasonable price. 
 They knew absolutely nothing about artificial 
 manures, their nature, or their proper use. 
 " Pat" tells us that in County Mayo last spring 
 he 
 
 Found that 300 tons of artificial manure 
 had been delivered in recent weeks at one 
 railway station, all under twenty-five per cent, 
 pure, while they could have it forty-five per 
 cent, pure for a proportionately less price, 
 saving freight at 145. lod. per ton on nearly half 
 of the whole quantity, not to mention other 
 advantages. It was practically the same as 
 carrying 1 50 tons of cobbles from Dublin Bay, 
 and the farther from the seat of production 
 the more is the cheap stuff preferred, with 
 191 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 railway rates higher than anywhere else I 
 know. The shopkeepers, I am told, make 
 more profit on the bad stuff than on the 
 good stuff, and even the priests can hardly 
 tell the people what may displease the 
 shopkeeper. 
 
 Five or six parish societies were formed, in 
 which farmers took five-shilling shares, with a 
 shilling paid up, with the object of buying in 
 bulk. The movement was nearly shipwrecked 
 by the refusal of a combination of Irish manure 
 manufacturers to supply co-operators. One 
 firm, however, yielded, tempted by the offer of 
 a large purchase, and since then there has been 
 no difficulty. Encouraged by this success, the 
 organisation turned their attention to other 
 aorricultural interests, and started societies all 
 over the country, though the most important 
 is still the Creameries, which are now turning 
 out ;,f 1,500,000 worth of butter every year. 
 The farmers who take shares in one of these 
 creameries supply the milk, of which the butter 
 fat is bought by weight, for which they are paid 
 in accordance with the market price for butter. 
 In the case of a profit on the year's working the 
 
 192 
 
 
Self-Help 
 
 dividend, limited to five per cent., is paid to the 
 shareholders, and the balance is distributed /r^ 
 ra^a among those who have supplied the milk. 
 Perhaps no better work is being done on these 
 lines than that of the Society of Poultry Keepers. 
 This reaches the very poorest people in the 
 congested districts. Owing to their poverty in 
 the past, and their consequent indebtedness to 
 small shopkeepers, it was a common thing in 
 the west for cottars to pay for their tea, etc., in 
 kind. On this credit system the shopkeeper 
 charged an exorbitant price, and accepted in 
 payment eggs at a ridiculously low rate. I 
 have known of cases where tea, which could be 
 bought in the bigger towns at is. 6d. a pound 
 at the outside, sold in these little villages for 
 half-a-crown a pound ; whereas eggs, selling in 
 the cities at is. 6d. a dozen, were accepted in 
 payment for the tea at the rate of 3^. and 4^. a 
 dozen, so that a pound of tea, worth at the 
 outside IS. 6d., may cost the small holder ten 
 dozen eggs. The Society took this matter in 
 hand, and by collecting eggs and properly 
 grading and packing them sold them in the 
 London market at a rate exceeding that realised 
 by the Danish Export Company by is. 6d. a 
 13 193 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 hundred. The turnover last year on a capital 
 of jCz^o was ;^20,ooo, and the trade of the 
 coming year is expected to be treble or quad- 
 ruple that amount. Equally valuable is the 
 work done by the Irish Agricultural Wholesale 
 Society, which purchases and resells feeding 
 stuffs, seeds, artificial manures, implements, 
 machinery, and all sorts of farming requirements. 
 Considering the smallness of the average so- 
 called "farm" in Ireland, these facilities 
 furnished to farmers to combine to buy for 
 common use improved machinery, for which 
 none of them individually could afford to pay, 
 are of incalculable value. Let me take one 
 instance only. It is well known that by proper 
 spraying at the right moment the potato disease 
 can be arrested, if not altogether extinguished. 
 Last year there was a partial failure of the crop, 
 owing largely to the fact that after two or three 
 years' immunity, the farmers had become slack 
 in spraying the plants at the critical moment. 
 But even when they are ready to take the 
 proper precautions many of them are too poor 
 to own a spraying machine, and the work is 
 done in a rough and inefficient manner. By 
 the existence of this agricultural society no one 
 
 194 
 
Self-Help 
 
 can plead inability to secure on the co-operative 
 principle a proper system of spraying. 
 
 The latest statistics I was able to gather 
 show that the number of societies amounts to 
 840, of which 330 were creameries, with a 
 membership of over 40,000, and a paid-up and 
 loan capital of over ^200,000, doing a business 
 of over a million and a quarter pounds. There 
 were 1 50 agricultural societies, with a member- 
 ship of 14,000, paid-up and loan capital of 
 about ^25,000, turning over in the year 
 ;^85,ooo. The poultry societies were twenty- 
 three in number, with a membership of 5,000 
 and a paid-up and loan capital of ^4,500, with 
 an estimated turnover of ;^40,ooo. The increase 
 since the Department of Agriculture was 
 founded in 1899 was over one hundred per 
 cent, in the number of societies generally. The 
 Agricultural banks, which I must next discuss at 
 some length, have increased four hundred and 
 fifty-two per cent. 
 
 The first experiment made of the system of 
 co-operative credit, which had long been 
 worked with marked success in Germany, was 
 made at Doneraile, co. Cork, thirteen years 
 ago. The system adopted was that known as 
 
 195 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 the Raiffheisen, after the name of its founder, 
 Herr F. W. Raiffheisen, who started the first 
 Co-operative Credit Association at Hammers- 
 field, in Germany, in 1849. The success was 
 so great, and the principle was adopted so widely, 
 that there are now over 2,169 of these societies 
 in Germany alone. Those who care to go 
 deeply into the question will find exceedingly 
 interesting details in a bulletin published by 
 the Department of Agriculture and Technical 
 Instruction for Ireland, and written by one of 
 the best informed and most intellectual of 
 Irishmen, Mr. H. de F. Montgomery, D.L. 
 It was published in 1906, and can be procured 
 from Alex. Thom and Co. (Ltd.), Abbey Street, 
 Dublin. A general book, much to be com- 
 mended on the subject, is that on Peoples 
 Banks, by Henry W. Wolff, published by 
 King and Son, of London. It is only necessary 
 to state that the object of Raiffheisen was to 
 enable peasant proprietors, who had two of the 
 requisites of production, land and labour, to 
 obtain the third, namely, capital. This end he 
 secured by uniting the peasants as shareholders 
 in loan associations regulated on the principle 
 of unlimited liability. In these societies every 
 
 196 
 
Self-Help 
 
 member is equally, jointly, and severally liable 
 for the debts of the association. This was the 
 first safeguard of the bank, and the second was 
 that money was lent for productive purposes 
 only, and the borrower and his sureties were 
 liable to be sued promptly if any other use was 
 made of the loan except that specified in the 
 application. Naturally the area covered by in- 
 dividual societies must be a small one, because 
 the success of the system demands the personal 
 knowledge of one another by all connected with 
 the Society. The members of the committee 
 get no salaries, and no dividends are paid, the 
 profits going towards the formation of a reserve 
 fund. 
 
 I need hardly say that there are other Co- 
 operative Banks, such as that called Schulze- 
 Delitzsch, from the birth-place and name of 
 the founder, and the Banche Popolari, founded 
 in Milan by Luigi Luzzatti and others. But, as 
 the Raiffheisen is the one universally adopted 
 in Ireland, it is the only one which at pre- 
 sent concerns us. The modtis operandi is very 
 simple. A number of farmers, from thirty to a 
 couple of hundred, join together and register 
 themselves as a society under the Friendly 
 
 197 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Societies Acts, and, pledging their joint un- 
 limited liability, borrow as much money as may 
 be necessary for the purpose of a low rate of 
 interest — in Ireland it is about three to four per 
 cent. — and lend it out to the members at the 
 rate of a penny per pound per months or five per 
 cent, per annum, which suffices to cover the 
 very small expenses in working. Generally 
 the locality supplies the initial capital, which 
 is small. The Department of Agriculture and 
 Congested Districts Boards have occasionally 
 advanced sums of from ^50 to ;^ioo at three 
 per cent., to start a society. But, in any case, 
 the joint-stock banks will always lend in normal 
 times at four per cent, the necessary funds, in 
 the form of an overdraft. A small entrance-fee 
 is charged for membership, either sixpence or a 
 shilling, and outside the congested districts the 
 sphere of a society is limited to a radius of two 
 or three miles around the office. In the con- 
 gested districts the area, owing to the barren 
 nature of the soil, is a larger one. In the 
 poorer districts of Ireland the amount that can 
 be advanced is limited to ^5 ; in others it 
 amounts to as much as ^15. The borrower 
 obtains his loan for a period determined by the 
 
 198 
 
Self-Help 
 
 purpose to which it is destined. For instance, 
 if he borrows with the object of buying 
 manures, seeds, implements, young pigs, etc., 
 the repayment is deferred for six, seven, eight, 
 or nine months. On the other hand, if he buys 
 a milch cow, he pays the loan off by monthly 
 instalments as soon as he is getting his pay- 
 ment from the creamery. If a farmer borrows 
 ;^5, and repays by monthly instalments, he 
 only pays full interest on the first month. 
 The second month he is charged on ^4, and 
 so on. 
 
 The working expenses so far are very low, 
 being considerably under £1 per bank. Of 
 course, this movement is still in its infancy. 
 At the end of 1905 there were 230 such banks 
 in existence, the loan capital amounted to close 
 upon ;^40,ooo ; the number of loans in 1905 
 was 7,453, the total amount granted was 
 ;^43,7oo ; the average loan was about ^6, and 
 a net profit of ^530 odd was made in the year 
 1905, which went to swell the reserve, which 
 stood at ^1,717. 
 
 Ireland is pre-eminently the land of small 
 holdings, something like half of the agricul- 
 tural holdings being under fifteen acres, or 
 
 199 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 about 300,000 farms ; and of this moiety half 
 are under five acres. For the cultivators of 
 these farms the large joint-stock banks are 
 practically unavailable. The advance of small 
 sums is not favoured by the regular bankers, 
 and their system is necessarily far more rigid 
 than that possible under the Raiffheisen system. 
 The provincial offices of the joint-stock banks 
 are situated in the country towns of some size, 
 and are remote from the greater majority of the 
 farmers who want a loan. I heard in the office 
 of the Irish Homestead a typical case. A 
 farmer who wished to borrow £^ from a bank, 
 the nearest branch of which was twelve miles, 
 had to take his sureties with him and pay them 
 for their day's work, and find them food and 
 drink. The bank deducted half-a-crown for 
 the sum of ^5 for three months, and there was 
 the cost of the stamp. So that in the end, 
 although the bank dealt perfectly fairly by 
 him, he had to pay, owing to these incidental 
 expenses, over forty per cent, upon the loan. 
 Moreover, the inflexibility of bank rules makes 
 it difficult for a man to borrow money from 
 bankers for exactly the time that he may 
 require it. There is the same objection to 
 
 200 
 
Self-Help 
 
 the Loan Fund societies, besides the fact that 
 they charge a higher rate of Interest. The net 
 consequence has been that the bulk of small 
 farmers who require temporary advances, In 
 order to turn their farms to better account, 
 have fallen into the hands of the gombeen 
 man. The village usurer is the same all the 
 world over ; his one object is to extract as 
 much money as he can out of his wretched 
 victims, and to keep them perpetually in his 
 clutches. With regard to the risks incidental 
 to this Raiifhelsen system, they are disposed 
 of theoretically by the safeguards I have 
 already cited, but more practically by the ex- 
 perience that, after nearly fifty years' working 
 in Germany, the credit associations of the 
 Raiffhelsen type can boast that no one, either 
 member or creditor, has lost by them a 
 single penny. And so far as the experiment 
 has been tried in Ireland, over a period of 
 eleven years, the same boast can be safely 
 made. What small losses — and they are very 
 small — have been sustained by two or three 
 societies, have not been due to defaults In 
 payment by the borrowers, but to the fact that 
 the bank could not lend all the capital with 
 
 20I 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 which it started. In Ireland, Industrial and 
 Agricultural, which was published when the 
 system had only been working some six years, 
 there are some interesting tributes to the moral 
 as well as to the economic value of the system. 
 I will cite one letter, written by the Rev. P. 
 Kilkenny, P.P., of Claremorris : — 
 
 I have great pleasure in stating that, in 
 my opinion, the objects of the philanthropic 
 gentlemen who have promoted the establish- 
 ment of agricultural banks in Ireland are 
 fully realised in the case of the small bank 
 of Murneen. The means at its disposal are 
 no doubt slender, but still it is easy to point 
 to cases where the loan received from the 
 bank has produced twice or even thrice the 
 amount borrowed. Cattle and pigs that 
 would have been sold to the great loss of 
 the borrower were enabled to be retained 
 until their full value was realised. Greater 
 even than the material advantages of the 
 bank are the moral effects resulting from it 
 in the district of Murneen, firstly, in the 
 education the people are receiving in the 
 true use of credit, and again in the gain for 
 202 
 
Self-Help 
 
 the country that can so easily be obtained 
 from mutual co-operation. Heretofore the 
 man who borrowed lost caste in the neigh- 
 bourhood, was regarded as a ne'er-do-weel, 
 and fast hastening to join the class who are 
 a burden on society. Now the people are 
 learning that it is honourable, when necessary, 
 to borrow for the honest purpose of improv- 
 ing one's position and ascending higher 
 the ladder of industrial prosperity. From 
 the success that has attended the working 
 of this little experiment in such a remote 
 district, one is forced to wish that banks 
 were multiplied in the country, and that 
 this influence for good may be more widely 
 extended. 
 
 The following table, taken from the work I 
 have quoted, may be regarded as typical of 
 these banks. The table represents the sums 
 borrowed by different persons, the purpose and 
 length of time for which the loan was required, 
 and the profits. The term profit as here used 
 means the gross return, exclusive, of course, 
 of the amount of the loan : — 
 
 203 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Amount 
 borrowed. 
 £. s. d. 
 
 Time. 
 Months. 
 
 Purpose. 
 
 Length 
 required. 
 Months. 
 
 Profit. 
 ;S s. 
 
 d. 
 
 2 O O 
 
 10 
 
 2 Bonhams 
 
 8* 
 
 9 5 
 
 
 
 2 O 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 6 5 
 
 
 
 500 
 
 7 
 
 3 Calves 
 
 7 
 
 10 5 
 
 
 
 500 
 100 
 
 12 
 II 
 
 2 5, 
 2 Bonhams 
 
 9 
 II 
 
 7 
 7 15 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 10 
 
 . I » 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 I 10 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 7 2 
 
 6 
 
 200 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 19 10 O 58 12 6 
 
 The light in which the ''politicians" regard 
 movements for the material improvement of 
 the people can be learnt from a letter signed 
 by Mr. J. E. Redmond, the titular leader of 
 the party, and addressed to the notorious 
 Patrick Ford, the editor of the Irish World, 
 of New York. It was apparently provoked 
 by the appearance of Sir Horace Plunkett's 
 book, Ireland in the New Century. The date 
 of the letter, written from New York, is 
 October 4, 1904 : — 
 
 My Dear Mr. Ford, 
 
 I am anxious, before leaving for home, to 
 say a word of warning with reference to an 
 insidious attempt which I find is being made 
 in America by officials and agents of the 
 British Government to divert the minds of the 
 friends of Ireland from the national movement, 
 
 204 
 
Self-Help 
 
 under the pretence of promoting an industrial 
 revival in Ireland. 
 
 Promotion of Irish industries is so praise- 
 worthy an object that I am not surprised that 
 some of our people in America have been 
 deceived in this matter. I myself, indeed, at 
 one time, entertained some belief in the good 
 intentions of Sir Horace Plunkett and his 
 friends, but recent events have entirely un- 
 deceived me ; and Sir Horace Plunkett's recent 
 book, full as it is of undisguised contempt for 
 the Irish race, makes it plain to me that the 
 real object of the movement in question is to 
 undermine the National party and divert the 
 minds of our people from Home Rule, which 
 is the only thing which can ever lead to a real 
 revival of Irish industry. 
 
 The men who are conducting this movement 
 are of the most part avowed anti-Home Rulers, 
 and many of them salaried officials of the 
 British Government. I am informed that an 
 agent of theirs is about to visit America for 
 the purpose of still further pushing the move- 
 ment, and I feel it my duty to issue this word 
 of warning to prevent our friends here from 
 being deceived as to the real meaning of this 
 movement. 
 
 Believe me, very truly yours, 
 
 John E. Redmond. 
 205 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 FEW Students of the conditions of Ireland 
 can fail to realise that the only solution 
 of the Irish problem is to be found in 
 the intellectual emancipation of the race. This 
 emancipation is not inconsistent either with 
 the maintenance of the Union or the concession 
 of autonomy. For whether she remains a 
 portion of the United Kingdom or breaks 
 away as an independent Republic, Ireland will 
 never secure that measure of prosperity to 
 which the vigour and talents of her race entitle 
 her, unless the intellects of her children are 
 emancipated from blind devotion to obsolete 
 ideals and antiquated systems of thought, and 
 to brooding over historic grievances. Once 
 more I must repeat that these words have no 
 reference to the legitimate spiritual authority 
 of the priesthood or to the tenets of any 
 particular creed. The mainspring of all move- 
 ments of emancipation is education. And, 
 
 206 
 
Education 
 
 putting aside for a moment the splendid foun- 
 dation of Trinity College, the creation of Queen 
 Elizabeth, and the Queen's Colleges, which 
 owed their existence to Sir Robert Peel, the 
 whole system of education in Ireland is very 
 unsatisfactory. Those interested in the historic 
 side of the problem will find an excellent article 
 in the Edinburgh Review, 1898, Vol. 187, No, 
 383, to which I am indebted for much useful 
 information, and still more valuable suggestions. 
 Historically, an earlier recognition of the duties 
 of the State towards primary education was 
 manifested in Ireland than in England. In 
 1806 the Hibernian Association had been 
 founded to promote the education of the poor, 
 and in 181 1 the well-known Kildare Place 
 Society was inaugurated for the same purpose, 
 and to it in 18 14 Parliament made grants. 
 The regulations were based upon the recom- 
 mendation of a Commission appointed in 1806, 
 which occupied no less than six years in com- 
 ing to a conclusion. In their final report the 
 Commissioners suggested '' a general plan of 
 education for the lower classes, keeping clear 
 of all interference with the religious tenets of 
 any, and thereby inducing the whole to receive 
 
 207 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 education as one body, under one and the 
 same system, and In the same establishment." 
 It is interesting to notice at the present day 
 that the rock upon which the plan split was an 
 injunction much in favour with the Noncon- 
 formists of to-day, to enforce the reading of the 
 Bible without note or comment, as an essential 
 part of the system. At first there was not much 
 opposition on the part of the hierarchy, but 
 gradually the bishops withdrew the Catholic 
 children from the schools. In 1828 a new 
 scheme was adopted, for "the purpose of carry- 
 ing into effect the combined literary and separ- 
 ate religious education of children in the schools 
 aided by the State." From 1828 to 1852 the 
 system worked admirably, Protestant arch- 
 bishops and Roman Catholic archbishops sitting 
 together on the same board and acting with 
 complete harmony. That, as Mr. Gladstone 
 would have said, was one of the golden moments 
 of Ireland. This period of calm did not, how- 
 ever, endure ; nor can the breakdown of this 
 satisfactory system be connected in any way 
 with '* English rule " or Castle administration, 
 or with the Act of Union. When Archbishop 
 Murray died in 1852 Ultramontanism had 
 
 208 
 
Education 
 
 established itself strongly at the Vatican, and 
 Dr. Cullen, not yet Cardinal, who became arch- 
 bishop, was in the keenest sympathy with the 
 predominant spirit in Rome. The result was 
 continual disputes, which usually ended by the 
 surrender of the State to the Church. So that 
 to-day we have, as the Edinburgh Reviewer 
 puts it, '' a system which still remains in theory 
 a mixed system, but in practice has grown to be 
 all but completely denominational." And he 
 goes on to state :— - 
 
 It appears that of 8,606 National schools 
 in operation on December 31, 1896, with a 
 roll of 815,248 pupils, 5,248 schools, with a 
 roll of 501,577 pupils, were attended solely 
 by Roman Catholics or solely by Protestants. 
 Thus of the total number on the rolls 62*2 
 per cent, were in schools attended solely by 
 Roman Catholics or solely by Protestants, 
 and only 37*8 per cent, were in schools 
 attended by Roman Catholic and Protestant 
 pupils.^ 
 
 1 The last returns are as follows : — 
 
 There are 823 so-called mixed schools under Protestant 
 teachers, of which only 87 Roman Catholic pupils attend. 
 We have under Roman Catholic teachers 1,907 of the same 
 14 209 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 Under this system, which on general lines is 
 unsatisfactory, primary education in Ireland has 
 retrograded rather than progressed. That is 
 by no means all. Taking one in five of the whole 
 population as about the ratio of those who should 
 be in average attendance. Great Britain should 
 have an average attendance of 6,990,000, and 
 Ireland should have an attendance of 873,000. 
 The number in Great Britain actually in attend- 
 ance is about six millions, in Ireland it is only 
 half a million. 
 
 Whereas in England there is one school to 
 254 pupils in average attendance, and in Scot- 
 land one for 214, in Ireland there is a school for 
 every 57 children in average attendance. While 
 Scotland has 3,244 schools to meet the require- 
 ments of 700,000 children in average attend- 
 ance, Ireland requires 8,659 for an average 
 attendance of 500,500. A glance at these 
 startling statistics will explain the inferiority 
 of Irish primary education as compared with 
 that of England and Scotland. Nor do these 
 
 class of schools attended only by 5*3 Protestant pupils. 
 And in the whole of Ireland there are only thirty- two 
 schools under Roman Catholic and Protestant teachers 
 conjointly. 
 
 210 
 
Education 
 
 statistics disclose the whole of the truth. The 
 attendance in the big towns is fairly satisfac- 
 tory. If they were left out of account, the 
 average attendance would be far lower than it 
 is. During the summer months the children of 
 migratory labourers hardly attend at all. The 
 fathers are working in England, the mothers 
 look after the holding, and the children have to 
 guard the home and poultry yard. And often in 
 the west you will see, between the end of May 
 and October, less than a dozen children in a 
 school. In Connaught there are on the rolls 
 120,000 children, and according to population, 
 there should be half as many again. But of 
 these only 71,600 attend with anything like 
 regularity. It is impossible, in these circum- 
 stances, to secure efficient teachers or to hold 
 out any inducement to them to take interest 
 in their work. Most of the teachers in the 
 west have small holdings, to which they devote 
 more time and attention than they do to the 
 dozen or two of children committed to their 
 charge. If there were deducted from these 
 averages the statistics of the Church of Ireland, 
 Presbyterians, Methodists, and others, the re- 
 sult would appear more lamentable than it 
 
 211 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 actually does. As I have already pointed out, 
 Ireland started on a course of primary education 
 earlier than England, and so long as the mixed 
 schools were continued the system of elementary 
 education was by no means bad. But the 
 policy inaugurated by Cardinal Cullen set 
 education on the downward grade. Not only 
 does every religious denomination demand a 
 school for its own pupils — even sub-denomi- 
 nations make this claim — but the Roman 
 Catholic Church, acting in accordance with 
 rules which it is not my business to question, 
 disapproves of mixed education even in the 
 country districts. The consequence is that 
 there are separate schools for boys and for girls, 
 and with education thus divided and sub-divided 
 it is impossible to secure even moderately fair 
 results. This insistence upon the separate 
 teaching of boys and girls even in country 
 schools, reminds me of the growing austerity 
 of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. It 
 is a depressing sight to witness lads and lasses 
 in the west walking on opposite sides of the 
 road and incurring the ban of the priest if 
 they talk to one another. And this increasing 
 austerity is one of the reasons why the priest- 
 
 2U2 
 
Education 
 
 hood views with suspicion the growth of the 
 Gaelic League, which comprises amongst its 
 methods of GaeHcising Ireland the revival of 
 the old historic games and dances. 
 
 Compulsory education, if the Hibernicism 
 may be pardoned, is optional ; that is to say, 
 the local authorities can enforce attendance 
 or not, as they think fit, and in most of the 
 schools in districts where education is specially 
 needed, the authorities find it unpopular to 
 exercise compulsion. It is true that absolute 
 illiteracy is declining, as is evidenced by the 
 diminution ol the number of adults who are 
 unable to sign their names to the marriage 
 register. In the year 1864 only sixty-one in 
 every 100 men and fifty in every 100 women 
 wrote their names ; in 1895 the figures were 
 83*0 men and 84*3 women ; while in 1905 
 90*0 per cent, of the men and 92*4 of the 
 women signed the register. In England and 
 Wales the latest figures are 99*84 men and 
 99*8 women. 
 
 The standard of elementary education is 
 deplorably low, and it is not, at its best, 
 adapted to the needs of the Irish people. 
 Ireland, as one has to point out in considering 
 
 213 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 every social and political problem, is an 
 agricultural country, but the education given 
 to the pupils is mostly of a kind to fit them for 
 city and commercial life. It may be admitted 
 that the Irish have a distinct grievance in the 
 abolition, by Radical economists, of a scheme 
 whereby for some years children in the ele- 
 mentary schools and in the workhouse schools 
 received instruction in gardening, husbandry, 
 and the like. 
 
 The following information I have derived 
 from a letter addressed by the late Sir Patrick 
 Keenan, K.C.M.G., Resident Commissioner of 
 National Education, to Lord Spencer, then 
 Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland, in 1883. After 
 recounting the steps which had been taken by 
 a committee of the Ulster gentry at a place 
 called Templemoyle, in county Londonderry, 
 in 1826, to educate the sons of farmers in 
 agricultural science, he goes on to tell the story 
 of the Glasnevin model farm. " The idea," 
 he says, '' of engrafting agricultural instruction 
 upon the ordinary curriculum of our elementary 
 schools was accepted in the country with 
 positive enthusiasm. Landlords and others, 
 who, on religious and political grounds, hated 
 
 214 
 
Education 
 
 the national system, turned Invariably to this 
 feature of the operation of the Board with the 
 greatest favour." 
 
 The Devon Commission in 1843 hailed the 
 project, and recommended the establishment of 
 schools for agricultural instruction throughout 
 the country. Agricultural societies and leading 
 public men expressed their approval of the 
 proposals with unstinted cordiality. But even 
 at so early a period as 1848 — "the heyday of 
 Cobdenism " — an adverse criticism from so 
 Influential a quarter as the Select Committee 
 of the House of Commons on Miscellaneous 
 Expenditure, was communicated to the Com- 
 mission. This Committee expressed grave 
 doubts as to the policy of engrafting an 
 agricultural department upon a national system 
 of primary education, and a sort of compromise 
 was effected. The subsequent history of the 
 movement Is thus described by Sir Patrick 
 Keenan : — 
 
 But an agitation, originated by the Liver- 
 pool Financial Reform Association about a 
 quarter of a century ago, arose against our 
 whole agricultural system. This association 
 215 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 disputed the right of the State to train up 
 farmers and stewards at the public cost. In 
 Parliament the Association, especially amongst 
 advanced Free Traders, had many influential 
 exponents. The Government, from time to 
 time, was harassed in its defence of the 
 system. Successive Chief Secretaries, in 
 deference to the views of Parliament, barely 
 tolerated its continuance. Mr. Herbert, Mr. 
 Cardwell, and Sir Robert Peel were absolutely 
 hostile to it. Mr. Cardwell especially directed 
 his hostility to the countenance given by 
 the Board to agricultural instruction in the 
 workhouse schools at the expense of Parlia- 
 ment, and distinct from its support from the 
 rates, and strongly and successfully urged 
 the Board to abandon this branch of their 
 agricultural system. 
 
 This was in 1862. The workhouse ex- 
 periment thus lasted only twelve years. The 
 greatest number of workhouse schools having 
 agricultural departments attached in any 
 one year during the twelve years of the 
 experiment was seventy-nine. The Board, 
 recognising this great change in Parliamentary 
 216 
 
SOSTON COLLEG 
 Qtih'^iTNUT HILi 
 
 Education 
 
 opinion, held their hands, and determined 
 not to add to the number of their farms. 
 They even tried to avert hostility to the 
 system by renting nine of the existing farms 
 to the agriculturists in charge of them, with 
 a view of reducing the cost of the agricultural 
 department. But this latter experiment 
 proved to be a great embarrassment to the 
 administration, and had to be abandoned. 
 In 1870 the Royal Commission upon Primary 
 Education, presided over by Lord Powis, 
 recommended : — 
 
 "That the position of provincial and 
 district model agricultural schools should be 
 revised by the Commissioners of National 
 Education, and that their number should be 
 reduced." 
 
 The old Templemoyle School, to which I 
 referred in my opening remarks, died out 
 in 1866. In the beginning of 1872 the 
 agricultural department was at a low ebb in 
 popular favour. It had been proscribed by 
 Chief Secretary after Chief Secretary, and 
 it at all times had to encounter the fiercest 
 hostility of the Treasury, who regarded it as 
 217 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 a baneful excrescence upon a primary system 
 of education. 
 
 As for intermediary education, it is not too 
 much to say that the whole thing is a farce. 
 The Board of Education has no powers of 
 inspection, and cannot ascertain where, how, 
 and when the candidates for examination are 
 prepared. The salaries of the teachers are 
 ridiculously low, and the posts have practically 
 been absorbed by the priests, to whom the 
 remuneration is a welcome addition to their 
 relatively small emoluments. I heard a great 
 many complaints in different parts of Ireland 
 of the unsatisfactory methods of conducting 
 examinations, but, as I could secure no direct 
 evidence, it is not a point which I wish to press. 
 
 If the training and examination of these 
 intermediate pupils were a reality, there would 
 be little to be said against the curriculum. *' No 
 student shall obtain a pass unless he pass in 
 at least two of the following : Greek, Latin, 
 English, mathematics, a modern language, 
 or else in one of the foregoing, together with 
 any other two subjects in the programme. In 
 each subject, according to their answering, 
 
 218 
 
Education 
 
 students may be awarded : (i) a pass ; (2) a pass 
 with honours. To pass in any subject a student 
 must obtain twenty-five per cent, of the marks 
 assigned to the pass part of the subject, and 
 to gain honours fifty per cent, of the total 
 marks assigned to the subject must be obtained." 
 It is now proposed to add Gaelic to the list 
 of subjects, in which case a pass would be 
 obtained for a very modest acquaintance with 
 the Gaelic the English students already speak 
 and in which they could be easily crammed. 
 
 219 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 HIGHER EDUCATION 
 
 IT is instructive to examine the state of the 
 Queen's Colleges found by Sir Robert 
 Peel in 1849, with the hope of attracting 
 Roman Catholics and Protestants to a common 
 seminary of higher education, which should be 
 undenominational and unsectarian. Whether 
 this scheme ever contained within itself the 
 germs of a great success cannot now be 
 answered ; for, within three years of the opening 
 of the colleges, the ultramontane ascendancy 
 established, as I have pointed out before, by 
 Cardinal Cullen blighted its prospects so far as 
 it offered a solution of the problem of higher 
 education for Catholics. At the famous Synod 
 of Thurles these colleges were denounced by 
 the Catholic hierarchy, though by a very small 
 majority, as ''Godless." Most excellent work 
 has been done by the Queen's Colleges of 
 Belfast, Galway, and Cork. But owing to the 
 influence and pressure of the hierarchy the 
 number of Catholics taking advantage of the 
 
 220 
 
Higher Education 
 
 colleges is disappointingly small. Considerably 
 more Roman Catholics entered in the first years 
 of the establishment of them than are to be 
 found to-day amongst the matriculated and 
 non-matriculated students. Out of 761 students 
 attending the Queen's Colleges in the session of 
 1905-06 only 246 were Roman Catholics, or 
 forty less than the Presbyterians, and not quite 
 a hundred more than members of the Church 
 of Ireland. Trinity College, Dublin, to which 
 Irish Churchmen mostly flock, though it has 
 no religious tests of any sort, does not give 
 any particulars of the religious beliefs of its 
 students, but it is safe to say that the average 
 number of the Roman Catholics does not 
 amount to more than ten per cent, of the whole 
 number. Too much attention cannot be given 
 to the facts stated above. It cannot be laid to 
 the charge of *' English rule" that Roman 
 Catholic Irishmen lack that higher education 
 enjoyed by Englishmen and Scots of corre- 
 sponding position. Personally, I have always 
 favoured the establishment of a purely Roman 
 Catholic university for Ireland ; but there are 
 difficulties, and very substantial difficulties, 
 which do not altogether arise out of the 
 
 221 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 opposition of Ulster, or the repugnance which 
 the British Nonconformists might show to 
 putting " Rome upon the rates." 
 
 I talked during the course of my stay in 
 Ireland with many intelligent and liberal-minded 
 Protestants, who declared that they would not 
 object to the establishment of a Catholic 
 University under a governing body, in which 
 Catholic laymen should have a majority over 
 the bishops, if the hierarchy would consent to the 
 mixed education of lay students and of students 
 destined for the priesthood. To this, however, 
 the hierarchy will never consent. They have 
 no dislike of their future priests attending 
 college and obtaining a degree, but they insist 
 that the last four years of his education shall 
 be devoted to the study of theology and the 
 training necessary for his ultimate calling. The 
 chief difficulty of all is to be found in the 
 objection the hierarchy has always entertained, 
 and still entertains, to the education of their 
 young men in any institution which Oxford or 
 Cambridge or Trinity College, Dublin, would 
 regard as a university at all. It would seem 
 that Mr. Bryce's bill, if it ever sees daylight, 
 will be drawn upon much the same lines as 
 
 222 
 
Higher Education 
 
 those by following which Mr. Gladstone came 
 to indescribable grief in 1873. The late Duke 
 of Argyll, a member of Mr. Gladstone's Govern- 
 ment of that time, wrote to Lord Salisbury 
 in 1889:— 
 
 "In that year, 1873," he said, ''we followed 
 our distinguished leader into a celebrated mess. 
 We produced a scheme which was in itself 
 inherently absurd. We admitted that it was 
 impossible to combine Catholics and non- 
 Catholics in higher university education in 
 Ireland, if that higher education was to be what 
 it had always been elsewhere over the civilised 
 world. But we suggested that it might be 
 lopped, truncated, and maimed. Our suggestion 
 was that in Ireland that would still be higher 
 education, although it might be wanting both in 
 philosophy and history. As Sir Lyon Playfair 
 (afterwards Lord Playfair) tersely put it, 'in 
 a country which had given birth to Bishop 
 Berkeley philosophy was to be dropped out of 
 academic teaching, and in the native land of 
 Edmund Burke modern history was to suffer 
 the same fate.' " 
 
 It was with regard to this measure that Mr. 
 Disraeli said in the House of Commons : — 
 
 223 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LI BINARY 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 This is essentially a material age ; the 
 opinions which are now afloat, which have often 
 been afloat before, and which have died away, 
 as I have no doubt these will die in due time, 
 are opposed, in my opinion, to all those sound 
 convictions which the proper study of moral 
 and mental philosophy has long established. 
 But that such a proposition should be made in 
 the land which has produced Berkeley and 
 Hutchinson makes it still more surprising. 
 
 This inherent difficulty may be gathered 
 from evidence given before the late Royal 
 Commission in Dublin by Dr. Delany, SJ., 
 President of University College, Dublin. 
 Question and answer No. 4,494 : — 
 
 In the subject of philosophy our students 
 are taught first, of course, our own system, 
 the Catholic philosophy. 
 
 Question : That is, according to St. 
 Thomas ? (Aquinas). 
 
 Answer : According to St. Thomas, yes ; 
 but not necessarily limited to St. Thomas, 
 inasmuch as there have been other great 
 Catholic philosophers besides St. Thomas — 
 but the teaching may be described as on the 
 224 
 
Higher Education 
 
 lines of St. Thomas ; but in order that the 
 students may be truly instructed in philo- 
 sophy we think it necessary that those who 
 take up that study should know the whole 
 history of philosophy and also the various 
 schools of philosophy, in order to protect 
 them against the very deadly danger of 
 becoming sceptics. ... In order to show 
 them the danger of those false systems, and 
 to give the training enabling them to see 
 the want of logic and the fallacy underlying 
 them, we first give them a solid logical 
 training in Catholic scholastic philosophy, 
 and then set before them for refutation 
 the fallacies of these sceptical schemes of 
 philosophy out of the books of the authors 
 themselves, not out of compendiums pre- 
 pared to suit our own views. . . . There 
 is one thing we should not tolerate. We 
 should not tolerate the teaching of Haeckel 
 in biology, but we should not tolerate it 
 merely on the ground of its being against 
 the Christian faith, but because we hold it 
 to be absolutely and totally unscientific, and 
 on the ground that such training would be 
 bad for the man, not merely because it 
 15 225 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 would undermine his faith, but because it 
 would give him a looseness of reasoning 
 which would injure his intellectual capacity 
 in other respects. ... In the same way 
 I would not allow a man to teach immoral 
 doctrines, not because I am a Catholic, but 
 because I am a man. I would not allow 
 him to do it. These are the identical 
 limitations which occur wherever there is 
 the Christian faith, wherever there is a true 
 sense, to my notion, of morality, quite 
 independent of any faith. 
 
 Dr. Delany, one of the ablest men in Ireland, 
 must himself realise that there can be no 
 freedom in philosophic thought or discussion, 
 if the Vatican reserves the right to decide what 
 is '' totally unscientific " or '' immoral," and 
 forbids systems of philosophy thus arbitrarily 
 condemned to be taught in a university. It 
 was astute on the part of Dr. Delany to select 
 Haeckel as his example ; but he must know, 
 none better, that Bentham and Mill, Herbert 
 Spencer and Huxley, Darwin and Wallace, 
 to mention only English thinkers and scientists, 
 would be banned in any Catholic College or 
 
 226 
 
Higher Education 
 
 University, especially as most, if not all, of 
 these distinguished writers are on the Index 
 Expurgatorius. 
 
 In spite, however, of the palpable difficulties 
 which would attend the foundation of a purely 
 Catholic University on such lines as would 
 satisfy the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, the 
 attempt, I think, ought to be made. Ireland 
 already possesses a one-college university in 
 Trinity, which is free to all, without distinction 
 of race or creed. In point of fact, the govern- 
 ing body of Trinity College anticipated the 
 English Universities in opening the institu- 
 tion to all comers. It is no fault of the College, 
 or of its regulations, that Roman Catholics did 
 not flock there for the higher education. It 
 is largely the historical fact — and historical 
 grievances count for far too much in Ireland — 
 that the university was founded by Elizabeth, 
 which renders it obnoxious to the Roman 
 Catholic Hierarchy. In truth, Roman Catholics 
 whose parents do not yield to priestly influence 
 go to Trinity, where every post and honour 
 is accessible to them, with the exception of 
 positions connected with the divinity school. 
 More than that, it is known that the authorities 
 
 227 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 were prepared to set aside a chapel for Roman 
 Catholic students, where the services should 
 have been conducted by priests of their own 
 faith. I believe that a reasonable condition 
 was attached to this offer, namely, that the 
 ban should be withdrawn from the Queen's 
 Colleges. More than thirty years ago over- 
 tures were made to the hierarchy by the Board 
 of Governors to create a Roman Catholic 
 divinity school, which would hold the same 
 place in the college as the divinity school of 
 the Church of Ireland. These overtures were 
 rejected by Cardinal Cullen, and a similar fate 
 awaited proposals made to Cardinal Logue 
 as late as 1901. It is clear, therefore, that 
 Trinity College has done all that lay in its 
 power to attract Roman Catholics to its bosom, 
 short of handing over the absolute control of 
 its affairs to a permanent Catholic majority. 
 
 In a country in which religious creeds are 
 so sharply divided from one another, and 
 where sectarian passion is apt to run high, the 
 liberality and broadmindedness displayed by 
 Trinity College are most welcome and remark- 
 able phenomena. No impartial man can lay 
 the blame for the acknowledged inefficiency of 
 
 228 
 
Higher Education 
 
 the higher education of the CathoHcs upon 
 that Institution. And indeed the Commis- 
 sioners in their last report paid the highest 
 possible tribute to its generosity. Nothing, 
 therefore, could be more odiously unjust than 
 to punish Trinity College for the existence ot 
 grievances it has done nothing to create, but 
 which it has attempted to remedy by every 
 means in its power. The one cry raised by 
 the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, who profess 
 to be indifferent to the exact method by 
 which their grievances are to be remedied, is : 
 ** Equality," '' Our university, or our college," 
 they say, "must be on equality with T. C. D." 
 But the status of a great centre of higher 
 education cannot be determined by Act of 
 Parliament, or by any other test than its own 
 merits and the success of its work. And ac- 
 cording to the scheme adumbrated by Mr. 
 Bryce, the equality sought by the Roman 
 Catholics is to be attained not by levelling up 
 but by levelling down. The proposal is that 
 Trinity's ancient charter, which it received from 
 Queen Elizabeth, should be cancelled, and its 
 power of granting degrees in virtue of its 
 identity with the Dublin University should be 
 
 229 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 taken away. Note the Injustice of this pro- 
 posal. So high Is the value attaching to a 
 degree conferred by Trinity College that the 
 Universities of Oxford and Cambridge accept 
 them as entitling the bearer to proceed without 
 examination to a corresponding degree In these 
 universities. Would Oxford and Cambridge 
 take the same view of the merit of these 
 degrees were they conferred by a university 
 In which, at most, Trinity would be prima 
 inter pares? A new university Is to be created 
 which will assume the title of Dublin University, 
 always associated with Trinity, and will be com- 
 posed of the Queen's Colleges in Belfast and 
 Cork, and a new Roman Catholic College in 
 Dublin, all of which will be on an equal foot- 
 ing with Trinity College. Maynooth, Queen's 
 College, Galway, and Magee College, London- 
 derry, are to be affiliated to this university. 
 But the chief grievance lies In the fact that 
 there will be a new governing body, partly 
 nominated by the Crown, and partly elected 
 by the constituent colleges, and by the general 
 body of graduates. This body will conduct 
 the university examinations, confer degrees, 
 and appoint professors. In addition to this, 
 
 230 
 
Higher Education 
 
 the present Royal University is to cease to 
 exist, and the graduates on the register of 
 that university are to be transferred by special 
 Act to the University of Dublin, It may be 
 pointed out that it was the undergraduates of 
 this Royal University who, in 1905, at the 
 ceremony of conferring degrees, chose to 
 resent the singing of the National Anthem 
 and " ragged " the organist. 
 
 It is not only conceivable, but very probable, 
 that a governing body so composed would soon 
 contain a majority of Catholics ; and the ulti- 
 mate consequence would be that the standard 
 now necessary to acquire a degree at Trinity 
 College, Dublin, would be altered — I will not 
 say lowered — to meet the demands of a system 
 of education comm.ending itself to the hier- 
 archy. In that case, the value of the Dublin 
 University degree would be debased, and a 
 young man of talent, finding that his degree 
 was of no value in his professional career, 
 would abstain from joining Dublin University 
 and go elsewhere, or would abandon the idea 
 of profiting by higher education at all. 
 
 Nor does this exhaust the evils of the system 
 foreshadowed by Mr. Bryce. In the nature 
 
 231 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 of things, religious differences would be repre 
 sented on the governing body, and we are 
 only too familiar with the demoralising effect 
 of sectarian squabbles upon the development 
 of education from top to bottom. By uniting 
 Trinity College against its will with the three 
 other colleges we should be actually putting 
 a premium upon sectarian dissensions in a 
 place where they are most dangerous and 
 deplorable in results. Such a union would not 
 be a love match, or even a mariage de con- 
 venance — it would simply be a marriage of 
 coercion. When we consider how deplorably 
 backward Ireland is in the matter of education, 
 it is little less than a crime to destroy the one 
 institution which has earned distinction and 
 honour for Ireland throughout the civilised 
 world in order to set up an inferior body, whose 
 degrees would carry little recommendation. 
 And it is so unnecessary. If the Government 
 has not the courage to grasp the problem, 
 and create a Catholic University with all the 
 essential requirements to enable it, not to be 
 the equal of Trinity College, but to become its 
 equal, and even its superior, by dint of work and 
 merit, then it is far better to leave the matter 
 
 232 
 
Higher Education 
 
 alone and to supplement and endow other 
 Catholic colleges. It is the hierarchy which 
 lays it down as fundamental that mixed educa- 
 tion is inconsistent with the doctrines of the 
 Church. What reason is there to expect that 
 mixed education will, from a Catholic point 
 of view, be more satisfactory in a university 
 than in a college ? Mr. Bryce urged as one 
 of the attractions of his scheme that it would 
 enable Roman Catholics and Protestants to 
 mix together on terms of equality. Yet this is 
 the very result the hierarchy seeks to avoid. 
 
 The proposed scheme for putting a strictly 
 Catholic and a Protestant collegfe under the 
 same governing body would be tantamount to 
 setting up a temperance hotel on one side the 
 street and a fully-licensed hotel on the other, 
 and entrusting the control of both to a body 
 composed of teetotalers and of brewers. Two 
 rival universities, each standing on its own 
 basis, may well co-exist, because the rivalry is 
 apt to act as a stimulus both to the teachers and 
 the taught. Oxford profits by the competition 
 of Cambridge, and Cambridge would lose a 
 good deal of its energy If Oxford were wiped 
 out of existence. What would happen if these 
 
 ^Z2> 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 two competing universities were placed under 
 the joint control of a single governing body ? 
 Yet, as between Oxford and Cambridge, there 
 are none of those fundamental differences of 
 belief which are found to be the chief factor in 
 the Irish University problem. 
 
 Last year the Rev. Dr. Hogan, Canon of J 
 Killaloe, and Professor at St. Patrick's College, I 
 Maynooth, wrote an extremely able and vigorous 
 pamphlet on the subject of Irish Catholics and 
 Trinity College, His object was to demon- 
 strate from the Roman Catholic point of view 
 the unsuitability of Trinity as a place of educa- 
 tion for young Catholics. I am not concerned 
 to deal with his alternatives, but I would call 
 the attention of those who think that yoking 
 a Roman Catholic college to Trinity College 
 would solve the problem, to study this admir- 
 able pamphlet, which costs two shillings. Its 
 sole aim and object is to prove that the system 
 of education which suits Protestants altogether 
 fails to meet the requirements of Roman 
 Catholics. 
 
 To all those (he says) who suggest that 
 Trinity College should be invaded, stormed, 
 234 
 
Higher Education 
 
 and captured, I respectfully submit that the 
 struggle would be so protracted, the attack 
 so bitterly contested, the odds against us so 
 overwhelming, that even were a lodgment of 
 some kind ultimately effected In the fortress, 
 our soldiers would come out of the engage- 
 ment so demoralised, that victory would be 
 scarcely less fatal than defeat. Thirty or 
 forty years of instruction by Protestant 
 teachers, slowly, Imperceptibly, patiently, 
 perhaps In many cases unconsciously, in- 
 fusing into their young disciples an anti- 
 Catholic, or even an un-Catholic spirit, 
 would do more harm to Catholic faith in 
 Ireland, In my humble opinion, than thirty 
 years of the penal code. 
 
 To those, on the other hand, who propose 
 that such a change should be effected in the 
 constitution, governing powers, and personnel 
 of Trinity College as would bring It into 
 harmony with national requirements, I say 
 that, as things appear to me, their project 
 would be met by so much opposition on both 
 sides, and would give rise to such prolonged 
 and acrimonious controversy, that they might 
 as well spare themselves the trouble of urging 
 235 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 it. The Protestantism of Trinity College 
 is of such long growth ; its roots go so 
 deep into the past ; its spirit so pervades 
 the establishment in all its parts ; and former 
 efforts to bring the place into harmony with 
 national needs have been so successfully 
 baffled, that Catholics would only be wast- 
 ing their energies in discussing plans for 
 its transformation. 
 
 And to support his thesis Dr. Hogan, with 
 perfect courtesy, but merciless analysis, criticises 
 the published works of the Provost, the Vice- 
 Provost, and all the principal professors of 
 Trinity College, Dublin, showing how one and 
 all treat the subjects with which they have to 
 deal in a spirit most distasteful to Catholics. He 
 quotes, very naturally, from Cardinal Newman's 
 Idea of a University, in which, after referring 
 to the errors that result from a false philosophy 
 of history : — 
 
 And so (says Newman) of the other 
 
 sciences ; just as comparative anatomy, 
 
 political economy, and the philosophy of 
 
 history, may be and are turned against 
 
 236 
 
Higher Education 
 
 religion by being taken by themselves, as I 
 have been showing, so a little (like?) mis- 
 take may befall any other. Grammar, for 
 instance, at first sight does not appear to 
 admit of perversion, yet Home Tooke made 
 it the medium of his peculiar scepticism. 
 Law would seem to have enough to do with 
 its own clients and their affairs ; and yet 
 Mr. Bentham made a treatise on Judicial 
 Proofs a covert attack on the miracles of 
 Revelation. And in like manner physiology 
 may deny moral evil and human responsi- 
 bility ; geology may deny Moses ; and logic 
 may deny the Holy Trinity ; and other 
 sciences rising into notice are or will be 
 victims of similar abuse. 
 
 Dr. Hogan is particularly severe, still from 
 the Catholic point of view, upon Professor Bury 
 and his appreciation of Gibbon, who, it is need- 
 less to say, is on the Index, and of Professor 
 Dowden he speaks as follows :— 
 
 I do not for a moment deny Professor 
 Dowden's wide culture, his acute critical 
 spirit in literary history, the charm of ex- 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 pression that often lights up the nebulous 
 haze of his style. He is an admirable 
 professor for a Protestant institution ; the 
 Erasmus Smith governors can have perfect 
 confidence in him as a professor of oratory ; 
 but I think it is neither fit nor decent that 
 he should be offered to Catholics to guide 
 them through the mazes of English literature 
 or to form their oratorical taste. 
 
 Of course, it is unnecessary for me to say 
 that I have no sympathy with these criticisms, 
 but, on the other hand, Dr. Hogan is quite 
 entitled to offer them for the purposes of his 
 argument. What I wish thinking people to ask 
 themselves is : What sort of curriculum, what 
 course of studies, would be laid down by a 
 board composed of men like Professor Bury on 
 the one side and Dr. Hogan on the other ? 
 How could an examiner, or a group of exami- 
 ners, fairly appraise answers given in examina- 
 tion by a set of youths trained in the spirit of 
 Professor Bury, and of another set educated in 
 the spirit of Dr. Hogan's criticism ? The real 
 effect of this most interesting pamphlet is to 
 demonstrate the impossibility of combining a 
 
 238 
 
Higher Education 
 
 Catholic and a non-Catholic college under the 
 same governing body. 
 
 "We do not grudge," says Dr. Hogan, 
 ''the Protestants of Ireland all the advant- 
 ages of education, all the blessings of a 
 great and powerful school. . . . Let them 
 keep Trinity College in the main and in its 
 essential features for themselves, Vv^ithout at 
 the same time closing its doors to the nation 
 which owns it. Let Catholics do likewise 
 in a college equally v/ell endowed. Let the 
 rulers, teachers, and students of both one and 
 the other live in peace, in mutual respect 
 and forbearance, and good fellowship. Let 
 the young Irishmen coming from these two 
 schools meet at sports and games and pas- 
 times, and in the circles of social enjoyment, 
 and let them afterwards contend honourably 
 and amicably in the arena of professional 
 and public life. Thus there will be no 
 soreness, no resentment, no grievance on 
 one side or the other." 
 
 Perhaps the most conclusive argument that 
 can be adduced against this attempt to reconcile 
 the irreconcilable is to be found in the following 
 
 239 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 words, which are as true of honourable CathoHcs 
 as they are of the Protestants to whom Dr. 
 Hogan applies them : — 
 
 **The junior Fellows," he says, ''I have 
 no doubt are honourable men. They would 
 do nothing their conscience would not justify ; 
 but their conscience is not ours. In their 
 intellectual tendencies there is nothing that 
 I know of to distinguish them from their 
 seniors and from the other professors of the 
 establishment. They are Protestants in their I 
 profession and would be Protestants in their I 
 teaching, wherever religion came in their | 
 way. They would not consciously do an *; 
 injustice as between candidates, but I have 
 no exact idea of what they would regard as 
 an injustice, and I have a pretty clear idea 
 that there might be some difficulty in coming 
 to an agreement as to the abstract meaning 
 of the term." 
 
 Could anything demonstrate more clearly the 
 impossibility of establishing a governing body 
 composed, as it must be, of men who hold the 
 views of Dr. Hogan, and of men who hold the 
 views he criticises ? 
 
 240 
 
Higher Education 
 
 This brings me back to my original conten- 
 tion, that, difficult and unpromising as the 
 task may be, the only solution of this urgent 
 problem Is the establishment of a Roman 
 Catholic university managed by Roman 
 Catholics on Roman Catholic lines. 
 
 i6 241 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 THE task I set myself has now been, 
 accomplished to the best of my ability. ] 
 It is impossible for any one not person- 1 
 ally familiar with Ireland to form any reason- 1 
 able judgment upon its political future unless 
 he is acquainted with the social and economic 
 factors of to-day. I have, therefore, travelled, 
 as rapidly as seemed to me consistent with my 
 object, over many fields. Much more ground 
 might easily have been covered were it not 
 that the reader wearies of over-much detail, 
 and is more than satisfied with a bird's-eye 
 view. It is only in the light of such facts 
 and figures as I have endeavoured to set forth 
 succinctly that the political situation in Ireland 
 can be judged. It must always be remem- 
 bered, as I have before pointed out, that 
 "politics" have two separate and distinct 
 meanings for Irishmen. To the politicians 
 the word Implies great constitutional changes 
 in the relations between Ireland and the rest 
 
 242 
 
Conclusion 
 
 of the United Kingdom. To the peasants, 
 upon whom politicians rely for support, politics 
 is a matter of pounds, shillings and pence, 
 and of satisfying the land hunger. I asked 
 every Nationalist I met, north, west, and 
 south, what he understood by Home Rule. 
 The invariable reply was, of course, '' A 
 Parliament of our own, with a Government 
 responsible to it." But when I pr-essed the 
 further query, " What do you want this 
 Parliament and Government to do ? " I could 
 get no definite answer, though most of those 
 whom I interrogated talked freely and openly 
 about the matters dealt with in previous chapters. 
 The inability to obtain any general opinion as 
 to what should be the work of an Irish Par- 
 liament must be attributed to the fact that the 
 majority, at least, had themselves no definite 
 views on the subject. When I put the same 
 question to a distinguished and most " patriotic " 
 prelate, the only answer I obtained was : 
 " There are certain national aspirations which 
 cannot be put into words." I pointed out that 
 it would puzzle a Parliamentary draughtsman 
 to devise a bill to grant to Ireland the satis- 
 faction of certain national aspirations which it 
 
 243 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 was impossible to put into words. Really 
 there is much truth in the saying of the late 
 Dean Dickinson, of Dublin, that *'the Irish 
 do not know what they want, and will not be 
 happy until they get It." 
 
 For my own part, I do not believe that there 
 is, amongst the peasants who constitute the 
 large majority of the Irish people, any passionate 
 demand for Home Rule as such. And, indeed, 
 this conviction is strengthened by the fact 
 mentioned in an earlier chapter, that Home 
 Rule, or Repeal by themselves, never excited 
 more than a spasmodic enthusiasm. The his- 
 toric phrase of Fintan Lalor, already quoted, 
 that Repeal would not move unless it was 
 attached to some other question, such as the 
 agrarian problem, which would drag it along as a 
 locomotive drags trucks, and the success which 
 attended its translation into action, seem to be 
 conclusive. 
 
 The Irish of the peasant class rarely think 
 for themselves. In matters spiritual they take 
 their beliefs from their spiritual guides, and in 
 matters political from those who have won their 
 support by material promises which could not 
 be redeemed under any form of government. 
 
 244 
 
Conclusion 
 
 I have noted that in many respects there is a 
 growing tendency on the part of the people to 
 rid themselves of guiding strings and to think 
 for themselves. But time will be required for 
 the development of this tendency into a general 
 principle of life, and meanwhile the peasants 
 will go to the poll and send to Parliament 
 members who are not representative in the sense 
 in which we understand the word in England. 
 As there are but few contested elections, except 
 in the north, there is no heckling of members 
 by the constituents, or any regular account 
 of his stewardship afforded by the member. 
 When the Nationalist legislators visit their 
 constituencies, they merely indulge in tirades 
 against the English Government and the Castle. 
 But you may search a year's records in vain 
 to find the outline even of a constructive policy 
 beyond the establishment of an Irish Parliament 
 in Dublin. I do not feel at all sure that if the 
 average voter were told the nature and com- 
 position of the Irish Parliament as it would be 
 constructed by, let us say, Mr. John Redmond 
 or Mr. Dillon, he would approve of it. But 
 as this information is not likely to be vouch- 
 safed, and as the Nationalist members will not 
 
 245 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 spontaneously supply it, the Irish voter will 
 for some time to come remain in ignorance 
 of what he wants, and of unhappiness because 
 he does not get it. 
 
 The alternatives to the existing relations 
 between Ireland and Great Britain are (i) 
 Separation, (2) Independence on the lines of 
 Colonial autonomy, (3) Devolution. All are 
 objectionable and inadmissible, but in my judg- 
 ment, at any rate, Devolution is worse than 
 Home Rule, and Home Rule than Separation. 
 One of the most distinguished and scholarly 
 Irishmen that I met said to me, *' If I were an 
 Englishman, instead of being an Irishman, I 
 should advocate the complete separation of the 
 two countries. You would then show to the 
 world who are really responsible for the back- 
 wardness of Ireland and for the grievances 
 always attributed to English rule. It would, 
 it is true, be the ruin of Ireland, and men 
 of my class would go under altogether, but 
 after all there is no commandment to rescue 
 a drowning man who persistently punches 
 your head whenever you attempt to help 
 him." 
 
 But, of course. Separation is out of the 
 246 
 
Conclusion 
 
 question, for two paramount reasons out of 
 many. In the first place, the shock to Imperial 
 prestige caused by the surrender of what 
 som.e one has called our oldest colony would be 
 fatal, apart from the strategic danger that it 
 would involve. That objection, of course, is 
 met by the retort that Great Britain refuses to 
 repeal the Act of Union for selfish reasons. 
 The other objection, however, is a moral one, 
 and, so far from being selfish, demands sacrifices 
 on the part of England. Although it is the 
 fact that the Irish and their partisans grossly 
 exaggerate the wrongs they suffered at the 
 hands of England in bygone centuries, it is 
 true, and is admitted, that injustice was meted 
 out to Ireland in the past, and that wrongs 
 were inflicted which account in no inconsiderable 
 degree for the backwardness of Ireland. We 
 owe Ireland a debt of reparation, and it is no 
 answer to say that Ireland would run all the 
 risks, and treat the grant of complete inde- 
 pendence as a final settlement of accounts 
 between us, if we believe that Ireland, left 
 absolutely to her own resources, would go to 
 rack and ruin within the space of a few years. 
 To give Ireland independence would be to 
 
 247 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 multiply a thousandfold the catalogues of wrongs 
 done to her by England. 
 
 It is not for laymen to discuss the strategic 
 aspects of Separation, but it may be well to 
 quote the opinion of Captain Mahan, the 
 distinguished American officer, whose opinions 
 are accepted as authority, not only in his own 
 country, but in ours : — 
 
 It is Impossible (he says) for a military 
 man or a statesman with appreciation of 
 military conditions to look at the map and 
 not perceive that the ambition of Irish 
 Separatists, If realised, would be even more 
 threatening to the national life of Great 
 Britain than the secession of the South was 
 to that of the American Union. It would 
 be deadlier also to Imperial aspirations ; for 
 Ireland, by geographical position, lies across 
 and controls the communications of Great 
 Britain with all the outside world save only 
 that considerable but far from preponderat- 
 ing portion which borders the North Sea 
 and the Baltic. Independent and hostile, 
 it would manacle Great Britain, which at 
 present is and for years to come must 
 248 
 
Conclusion 
 
 remain, by long odds, the most powerful 
 member of the federation if that take form. 
 The Irish question, therefore, is vitally im- 
 portant, not to Great Britain only, but to 
 the Colonies. 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 exercise in Canada and Australia, cannot 
 be yielded in the case of an island where 
 independent action might very well be at- 
 tended with fatal consequences to its partner. 
 The instrument for such action in the shape 
 of an independent Parliament could not safely 
 be trusted even to avowed friends. 
 
 During my tour of inquiry through Ireland I 
 met with a large number of honest Nationalists 
 who assured me that the overwhelming majority 
 of Irishmen did not desire Separation. Many 
 of my informants were commercial travellers, 
 who had no idea that the chiel among them was 
 taking notes, and I hope if any of them should 
 happen to read these articles they will forgive 
 the innocent inquisition. This intelligent and 
 raost useful class of men probably knows more 
 
 249 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 of the real feelings of the small shopkeepers 
 and traders in the towns and villages than any- 
 other class. There was such general uni- 
 formity in the opinions they expressed that, 
 apart altogether from my personal belief in their 
 truthfulness, it was obvious that they were 
 stating the case as they knew and understood 
 it. It was interesting and gratifying to learn 
 that loyalty to and affection for the King were 
 governing factors in the opposition they assured 
 me was felt to Separation. And I have very 
 little doubt that, so far as the rank and file in 
 Ireland are concerned, they do not wish to snap 
 the golden link. Unfortunately, the Irishman 
 is so constituted, at least under existing con- 
 ditions, that he does not think for himself, but 
 indolently and often ignorantly accepts his 
 opinions ready-made from the politician. 
 Except in matters that affect him personally 
 in his business, the peasant leaves either to 
 his Parliamentary representative, or to a self- 
 constituted body of local politicians, generally 
 the least industrious and capable in the district, 
 the care of his political conscience. And the 
 politicians are committed to independence, 
 which is only another word for Separation, 
 
 250 
 
Conclusion 
 
 partly because most of them would prefer an 
 Irish republic to partnership with Great Britain, 
 under the sovereignty of the Crown, and partly 
 because their adherents and bankers in the 
 United States will have it so. 
 
 On the occasion of the late begging pilgrim- 
 age to America, Mr. John Redmond, in a send- 
 off to Messrs. Hazelton, M.P., and Kettle, 
 M.P., after eulogising Mr. Patrick Ford, of 
 the Irish Wo7'ld, said : — 
 
 I have always held the view that it was 
 a strength to the national movement and 
 not a weakness that England should realise 
 that there was behind the men who were 
 conducting the constitutional movement on 
 the floor of the House of Commons a great 
 unknown power waiting for an opportunity 
 which might arise to have recourse if neces- 
 sary to other methods to advance the cause 
 of Ireland. 
 
 It must also be remembered that the Sinn 
 Fein party is growing in Ireland, and is com- 
 mitted without disguise to an independent 
 Ireland, freed from every connection with Eng- 
 land and the British Crown. And, as I have 
 
 251 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 pointed out elsewhere, it is the more advanced 
 party which always gets the upper hand. 
 
 I began by stating my opinion that Home 
 Rule would be worse even than Separation. If 
 this country ever consented to let Ireland go, 
 immediate danger and historic shame would be 
 our lot. But, at least, the thing would have 
 been done, and done with. We should have 
 betrayed those who had proved their loyalty to 
 the United Kingdom in circumstances more 
 trying and more testing than any subjects of the 
 Crown have had to face in modern times. But, 
 at least, we should have left them the oppor- 
 tunity of fighting for themselves, even though 
 against enormous odds. If, on the other hand, 
 we maintain a suzerainty over Ireland, as we 
 did or pretended to do in the case of the South 
 African Republic, we should be faced with the 
 terrible alternatives of either ignoring the open 
 oppression of former loyalists by an executive 
 in Dublin, or, worse still, of employing the 
 armed forces of the Crown to crush an oppo- 
 sition whose only crime was loyalty. That this 
 is no imaginary danger may be proved by the 
 utterances of the one member of the Nationalist 
 party who preaches conciliation. Mr. William 
 
 252 
 
Conclusion 
 
 O'Brien, together with his few adherents, is 
 practically boycotted by Mr. Redmond and the 
 ** orthodox majority," on the ground that he is 
 too moderate. The extent of this extravagant 
 moderation may be gathered from an extract 
 from an early number of Mr. O'Brien's organ 
 of conciliation, the Irish People : — 
 
 '' Under the future conditions of Irish 
 life," he says, ''it is the Irish democracy 
 who will be the unquestioned and unchange- 
 able masters of the situation, and it is by 
 the people's favour alone, by sharing their 
 ideals, or at least disarming themselves of 
 their old prejudices, that the Irish nobles 
 and gentry of the future, if they are to live 
 in Ireland at all, can ever hope to lead lives 
 of influence and happiness." 
 
 It is an agreeable choice offered to Irish 
 nobles and gentry, between exile and misery on 
 the one hand, and on the other the adoption of 
 Irish democratic ideals, let us say, on the ques- 
 tion of paying debts. 
 
 I was told by many representative Nation- 
 alists of the intelligent class that the fears 
 entertained by the minority that they would be 
 
 253 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 oppressed and trampled upon by a Nationalistic 
 Government in Dublin were altogether imag- 
 inary. Many of my informants gave as a 
 guarantee the prospect which they believed to 
 be a certainty, that a Home Rule Parliament 
 would be composed of a class very different 
 from the present representatives at West- 
 minster. It did not seem a very flattering 
 tribute to Mr. Redmond and his followers, but 
 I confess that I could see very little justification 
 for the hope thus held out. In a letter written 
 to the Times on October 19, 1906, only two days 
 before his lamented death, Colonel Saunderson 
 justified the fears of his fellow- Loyalists, and 
 said : — 
 
 The Irish people had a great opportunity 
 of proving that our fears were baseless, and 
 that the promises made on their behalf have 
 been verified up to the hilt. What has been 
 the lesson taught by Irish history in the last 
 few years "^ The County Government Bill 
 was passed for Ireland, which conferred on 
 the Irish people the power of proving their 
 love of fair play and their ardent desire 
 to fraternise with their Protestant fellow- 
 254 
 
Conclusion 
 
 countrymen. What happened ? In almost 
 every case every Protestant and Unionist 
 was swept out of public existence so far as 
 it was possible, myself among the rest, and 
 Roman Catholics and Nationalists were 
 given entire control of those Irish counties 
 where Protestants and Unionists found them- 
 selves in a minority. 
 
 There has been no pretence of selecting the 
 best men, irrespective of politics, for the ad- 
 ministration of county affairs. Men whose 
 ability, experience, and impartiality have been 
 universally recognised have been thrown out to 
 make room for some village orator, who has 
 never done anything to help or benefit his 
 neighbours. And the explanation may be found 
 in a speech made by Mr. John Dillon at Moville, 
 on December 4, 1904, in which he said : — 
 
 I believe that in carrying on this great 
 war against landlordism we are carrying on 
 a war against English rule in this country, 
 and that we are breaking it and destroying 
 the machinery and the system by which our 
 people have been kept in slavery for three 
 hundred years. 
 
 255 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 If this purely exclusive policy is rigidly 
 applied under the Local Government Act, 
 which gives the county council powers to make, 
 mend, and maintain roads and bridges, collect 
 the rates, etc., how much more stringently will 
 it be enforced in a Parliament making the laws 
 and handling the funds of Ireland as a whole? 
 Nor, were local government in Ireland more 
 successful than it is, could any practical analogy 
 be drawn from its operations. The Act of 
 1898 was so framed by its authors as to prevent 
 the local authorities from using their powers to 
 ruin the landlords. The cost of unsound 
 finance or extravagance fell upon the farmers 
 themselves. No such limitations could be 
 imposed upon an Irish Executive, responsible 
 only to an Irish Parliament. The result of the 
 creation of such a Constitution would be that 
 the taxpayers of Great Britain would be called 
 upon to find money to redress the grievances 
 inflicted upon loyalists in Ireland by a 
 triumphant Nationalistic majority. The other 
 alternative would be too discreditable to con- 
 template, namely, that England should look 
 on with sombre acquiescence while a class in 
 Ireland, which had protested passionately 
 
 256 
 
Conclusion 
 
 against being subjected to the Nationalistic 
 yoke, were being slowly bled to death. Even 
 from the Nationalist point of view the grant 
 of Home Rule would be disastrous. Every- 
 body admits that the only solution of the 
 agrarian problem is to be found in the extension 
 and expansion of the system of land purchase. 
 The money already advanced or promised by 
 the Imperial Parliament, formidable as the sum 
 is, will not suffice to complete the execution of 
 the scheme. Where is the balance to come 
 from ? Not from Ireland itself, for obvious 
 reasons. But does any one in his senses 
 imagine that English capitalists will raise 
 another hundred millions on no better security 
 than the good faith of an Irish Executive 
 Government, or that, on the other hand, any 
 British Government would ask the House of 
 Commons to sanction a further loan, which 
 bankers would not look at without the guarantee 
 of the Imperial Parliament, or, in other words, 
 of the taxpayers of Great Britain.'^ All the 
 work of development and improvement referred 
 to in preceding chapters would be brought to a 
 standstill for want of money and want of credit. 
 The very fact that, with negligible exceptions, 
 17 257 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 all the Captains of Industry, the bankers, the 
 landlords, and the other classes trained in 
 administrative work, are Unionists, would 
 exclude them from a Nationalist Government, 
 and probably from a Nationalist Parliament. 
 It is not necessary to assume that such a 
 Government as would be created would be 
 corrupt, for it is only fair to admit that, though 
 there has been a good deal of jobbery in County 
 Council patronage, there has been no evidence 
 whatever of what can be legitimately described 
 as corruption. But bungling is a more fruitful 
 source of profligate finance than actual dis- 
 honesty. At the best we should see in Ireland 
 under Home Rule an administration of bunglers 
 in an assembly of amateurs. Moreover, as I 
 have already said, so long as the Imperial 
 Parliament retains even the shadow of 
 supremacy over the establishment at Dublin, 
 the House of Commons could not rid itself of 
 responsibility for the failures of the Government 
 which it had set up in Ireland. 
 
 From whatever point of view we look at the 
 proposal, it is difficult to discover what other 
 outcome there could be to Home Rule than 
 chaos, oppression and bankruptcy for Ireland, 
 
 258 
 
Conclusion 
 
 and disgrace, discredit, and an ultimate load 
 of great financial responsibility for Great 
 Britain. 
 
 I said at the outset that as Home Rule was 
 more objectionable than Separation, so Devolu- 
 tion, in any sense in which it would be 
 accepted by the politicians, is more objection- 
 able than Home Rule. The professed object 
 of those who call themselves Devolutionists is 
 to adopt the peculiarly English expedient of 
 compromise. But compromise is only possible 
 where both parties to a controversy accept it 
 as a reasonable settlement of the matters in 
 dispute. The Irish Nationalists dare not if 
 they would, and would not if they dared, accept 
 what Mr. John Redmond contemptuously 
 described as a '' qualified Indian Council to 
 control our finances." He clinched his state- 
 ment in these terms : '' Let me say just this 
 word when I speak of a settlement of this 
 question ; let me at any rate be clearly under- 
 stood. I do not mean a half-way house. 
 What I mean by a settlement of this question 
 is an Irish Parliament and an Executive 
 responsible to it." 
 
 This emphatic declaration was made on the 
 259 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 eve of the last General Elections. There is 
 no pretence or attempted hoodwinking about 
 the matter. And Sir Henry Campbell- Banner- 
 man, as everybody knows, has, to use his own 
 elegant expression, " knocked the stuffing out 
 of the scarecrow " of Devolution. The historic 
 confession of faith uttered at Stirling on Nov- 
 ember 23, 1905, cannot be too often repeated. 
 It was deliberate, and had been committed to 
 paper before it was delivered. 
 
 The only way (he said) of healing the 
 evils of Ireland, the difficulties of her ad- 
 ministration, and of giving content and 
 prosperity to her people, and of making her 
 a strength instead of a weakness to the 
 Empire, was that the Irish people should 
 have the management of their own domestic 
 affairs, and so far from that opinion fading 
 and dwindling as the years passed on, it 
 had become stronger. 
 
 And then followed the memorable passage : — 
 
 If he were asked by an ardent Irish 
 
 Nationalist he would say his desire was to 
 
 see the effective management of Irish affairs 
 
 in the hands of a representative Irish 
 
 260 
 
Conclusion 
 
 authority. And he further said, if he were 
 an Irish Nationalist he would take it in any- 
 way that he could get it. If an instalment 
 of representative control were offered to 
 Ireland or any administrative improvement, 
 he would advise the Nationalists to thank- 
 fully accept it, provided it was consistent 
 and led up to their larger policy, but it must 
 be consistent and lead up to the larger 
 policy. 
 
 It rarely happens in politics that the authors 
 of a suggested scheme give to all whom it may 
 concern a clear warning of the consequences 
 involved by that scheme. The habit of mini- 
 mising the probable results is far more common. 
 No Devolutionist, however, who is in the pos- 
 session of his senses, can possibly be mistaken 
 as to the real meaning of the compromise he 
 supports. Devolution can only be carried out 
 by the co-operation of the Radical party and 
 the Irish Nationalists, and the leaders of both 
 these parties have made it as clear as human 
 speech can, that Devolution is, and can be, 
 nothing but a stepping-stone to Home Rule. 
 The progress of the larger policy is not like 
 
 261 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 that of a train marked in Bradshaw by a 
 mysterious sign which interpreted reads : *' Can 
 be stopped by signal." It is a through train, and 
 if it arrests its journey at a Httle intermediate 
 station, called *' Devolution," it is only to water 
 the engine and to give it power enough to com- 
 plete the run. The Devolutionists themselves 
 comprise a handful of amateur Constitution- 
 mongers, and a much larger number of Irish- 
 men, who, hating Home Rule in their hearts, 
 are afraid to say so with their lips, but clutch at 
 the straw. Devolution, in a desperate hope that 
 it will save them from being swept over Niagara. 
 With these people, who hug the fond belief 
 that in Devolution there is to be found the final 
 solution of the Irish problem, it is useless to 
 argue. Common sense and the whole teaching 
 of history, to say nothing of the frank declara- 
 tions quoted above, are against them. Every 
 vote, to modify a famous phrase, given for 
 Devolution is a vote given for independence 
 and ultimate separation. But though the conse- 
 quences are inevitable, it is quite possible that 
 some plan of Devolution will be adopted to 
 quiet the consciences of the sometime Liberal 
 Imperialists, and to save from a charge of 
 
 262 
 
Conclusion 
 
 flagrant breach of faith those Radical members 
 in the Government, and out of the Government, 
 who have pledged themselves that there should 
 be no Home Rule Bill during the lifetime of 
 the present Parliament. 
 
 I have given Sir Henry Campbell- Banner- 
 man and Mr. John Redmond due credit for 
 the frankness of their statements, but at the 
 same time the policy foreshadowed is neither 
 honest nor straightforward. Assuming for the 
 moment what is not intrinsically probable, that 
 a scheme of devolution based upon the repre- 
 sentative system, and entrusting large powers 
 to an elected body, succeeded in passing 
 through Parliament, and that the next election 
 should give a definitely hostile verdict to Home 
 Rule, what would happen ? It would be the 
 most difficult thing in the world to annul a 
 concession so recently granted ; and were it 
 cancelled the United Irish League would set in 
 motion that perfected organisation of which I 
 have spoken in earlier chapters. The heather 
 would be fired over two-thirds of Ireland ; and 
 there would be a recurrence of intimidation and 
 outrage such as necessitated the passing of the 
 Coercion Act of 1887. On the other hand, 
 
 263 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 should the next Government shrink from re- 
 voking the Act of its predecessor, then the 
 elected Board would concentrate all its efforts 
 upon paralysing and ruining the administration 
 of Ireland. The tactics employed to cow the 
 House of Commons, in which the Nationalists 
 were but a small minority, would be reproduced 
 in Dublin, where they would form an over- 
 whelming majority. And even if the next 
 Parliament should ratify the policy of the 
 present Parliament, and should support the 
 larger policy of which the Prime Minister 
 approves, the elected body in Dublin would be 
 used as an effective lever to extort still greater 
 and less admissible concessions. 
 
 Devolution is more objectionable than Home 
 Rule, because, in any conceivable circumstance, 
 it must give rise to disorder and disturbance in 
 Ireland. It is possible, though not likely, that 
 if a Home Rule Government were established 
 in Ireland, it might for a few years conduct 
 itself with moderation, and refrain from using 
 its powers to oppress the minority. But no 
 such hope is held out by any imaginable 
 scheme of Devolution, devised to be a stepping- 
 stone to the larger policy. It would only be 
 
 264 
 
Conclusion 
 
 created to prove that it was unworkable and 
 impracticable. Nobody would be more dis- 
 appointed if it proved a success than those 
 who granted it as an instalment, or those who 
 accepted it as such. The very members who 
 would sit on this elected body would be men 
 pledged by their past utterances to prove the 
 utter insufficiency of such an expedient. No 
 one who knows Ireland will doubt that proof 
 would be immediately forthcoming, 
 
 A question, so often put to me in Ireland, 
 when I expressed my objections to Home Rule, 
 Separation, and Devolution, will probably be 
 asked by any supporters of the Nationalist 
 policy who have done me the honour of reading 
 these articles : '' What, then, is your alterna- 
 tive ? " My reply is, in England, as it was in 
 Ireland, that what the country wants at this 
 moment is a rest-cure. For nearly forty years 
 we have dosed Ireland with medicine and 
 stimulated her with tonics. The results, as 
 shown by all material tests, have been so far 
 satisfactory, though the doctor's bill has been a 
 heavy one, that the patient may be regarded as 
 on the verge of convalescence. The hopeful 
 movements to which I have referred in the 
 
 265 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 course of these chapters, such as the growing 
 intellectual emancipation of the peasants, the 
 gradual extinction of the agrarian quarrel and 
 the development of a spirit of self-help, now 
 only require time and patience to achieve their 
 objects. To re-open the serious politico-agrarian 
 campaigns of the past would be to blight these 
 buds of a future prosperity. We have never 
 given any well-thought-out remedial measure 
 for Ireland a real chance. Sometimes this 
 impatience has been inevitable, as, for instance, 
 when it became necessary to reverse Mr. 
 Gladstone's system of dual ownership. It has 
 taken a long time, but the reversal is now all 
 but complete, and will be quite complete if we 
 do not interfere with the machinery. It is a 
 reproach to the present Republican rdgime in 
 France that Ministries in Paris are but short- 
 lived, but the evil is not so great as it would 
 appear. France has not changed her Consti- 
 tution for nearly forty years, and there is no 
 evidence whatever of a disposition to upset 
 it. And it is true of France, outside Constitu- 
 tional questions, plus cela change, plus cest la 
 m^me chose. That is why the rise and fall of 
 Ministries are accepted with philosophic in- 
 
 266 
 
Conclusion 
 
 difference outside the walls of the capital. It 
 is hardly necessary to quote the case of the 
 United States of America, where, in practice, 
 nothing but universal consent or a revolution 
 could effect any material change in the Consti- 
 tution, or in any of the fundamental conditions 
 upon which society is based. In Ireland, 
 however, the substitution of one Ministry for 
 another in the Imperial Parliament involves a 
 change of policy in the system of Irish adminis- 
 tration. I anticipate the criticism which will 
 naturally be raised, that this argument is one in 
 favour of Home Rule. That, however, is a 
 fallacy. Nobody who knows Ireland w^ould 
 affirm that grave changes, constitutional and 
 social, would be less frequent under a Nation- 
 alist Parliament in Dublin than under the 
 authority of the Imperial Parliament. There 
 are disruptive forces in Ireland which are kept 
 inactive at present owing to the authority of 
 Westminster, in which it must be remembered 
 that Ireland is far more liberally represented 
 than England, Scotland, or Wales. From the 
 moment that a Home Rule Government was 
 established on College-green these disruptive 
 forces would come into play, with disastrous 
 
 267 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 results to all interests and all classes. It is 
 because I believe that Home Rule, or any 
 petty substitute for Home Rule, would be far 
 more ruinous to Ireland than it would be 
 dangerous to Great Britain, though that danger 
 would be great, that I am a much more 
 uncompromising Unionist than I was twenty 
 years ago. All material grievances of which 
 the peasants of Ireland, rightly or wrongly, 
 complained, have been or are being redressed 
 under the present system. Is it too much to 
 ask that a sufficiently long period should be 
 granted to enable the good seed sown so 
 laboriously during the last twenty years to 
 grow and ripen into harvest ? The parable of 
 the wheat and tares was preached in vain if we 
 are to plough up the promising young crop in 
 order to plant fresh seeds, of the fruits of which 
 we know nothing. 
 
 The other alternative is a terrible one. For 
 if the experiment of granting virtual independ- 
 ence to Ireland failed, we should have, on the 
 one hand, to put down her Government with a 
 strong hand, and plunge the country into civil 
 war ; and, on the other, to repair the ravages 
 of this desperate expedient, we should have to 
 call upon the taxpayers of Great Britain to 
 
 268 
 
Conclusion 
 
 make sacrifices for Ireland far beyond any that 
 have ever been demanded in the past. 
 
 Perhaps I cannot close these chapters more 
 appropriately than by quoting the eloquent 
 words of the late Mr Lecky, which appeared 
 in an essay entitled Why I am not a Home 
 Rtiler. 
 
 In the lifetime of those who have attained 
 middle age, three great works have been 
 accomplished in the world which far tran- 
 scend all others in importance, and of which 
 it is probably no exaggeration to say that 
 the memory can never pass while the human 
 race remains upon this planet. One of them, 
 which is connected with the great name of 
 Cavour, was the movement of unification, 
 by which the old and illustrious, but weak, 
 because divided States of Italy were drawn 
 together and fused into one great and pros- 
 perous kingdom. Another, which is chiefly 
 connected with the name of Bismarck, was 
 that movement of unification which has 
 made Germany the most powerful nation 
 upon the Continent. The third, which may, 
 I believe, be thought the most important of 
 the three, was due much less to the genius 
 269 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 of any statesman than to the patriotism and 
 courage of a great democracy. It was the 
 contest of America with the spirit of seces- 
 sion which had risen within its border ; and 
 ahhough that spirit was spread over a far 
 larger area than Ireland, although it existed 
 over that area in a far larger proportion of 
 the population than in Ireland, and was sup- 
 ported by an immeasurably greater amount 
 of earnestness and self-sacrifice, it has now 
 disappeared, and the present generation 
 have, in all human probability, secured for 
 centuries the unity of the great Republic of 
 the West. These great works of consolida- 
 tion have been the contributions of other 
 nations to the history of the nineteenth 
 century. Shall it be said of English states- 
 men that their most prolific and most 
 characteristic work has been to introduce 
 the principle of dissolution into the very 
 heart of their Empire ? 
 
 And, if it should have to be so said of Eng- 
 lish statesmen, shall it be said of the democracy 
 of this country ? 
 
 FINIS 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 In October of 1906 there appeared a series of 
 articles in the London Statist advocating Devolu- 
 tion on the ground of the diminishing prosperity of 
 Ireland. 
 
 It was stated, inter alia, that : — 
 
 '' Ireland remains . . . without manufactures, ex- 
 cept in the north-eastern corner of Ulster, and 
 even there the one solitary industry has made no 
 material advance. Wages are miserably low and the 
 general condition of the people is so bad that for 
 sixty-five years they have been flying from their 
 native land as if it were plague-stricken. During 
 those sixty-five years Ireland has had no effective 
 voice in the management of her own affairs. In 
 the House of Commons her representatives do not 
 number one-sixth of the whole." 
 
 In reply to this and other articles, one of the 
 best known and most successful men of business in 
 Belfast addressed to the editor of the Statist a 
 letter, of which the following is a copy : — 
 
 ''Belfast, 
 "6th November. IQ06. 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " If the articles in the Statist of 20th and 27th 
 October had appeared in a professedly political paper 
 they might have been disregarded. But, supported 
 
 271 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 by the authority of one of the leading financial 
 journals, they may mislead Englishmen ignorant of 
 Irish affairs. Therefore, Sir, I request you to do 
 an act of justice by inserting the following letter, 
 which I venture to hope will expose the profound 
 ignorance of the writer with regard to the political 
 and economic condition of the country. 
 
 " One of the statements is true, the others untrue 
 or misleading, whilst the whole presents a distorted 
 picture of the country. It is true that the population 
 of Ireland in 1901 was about half the number of 
 1 841, but the statement that wages are miserably low 
 and that people are flying from the land as if it were 
 plague-stricken is utterly mistaken. Although the 
 population has decreased, the condition of those who 
 remain has immensely improved, and the state of 
 the people as a whole is little below the average of 
 England or Scotland. Before the famine of 1847-48 
 that terrible calamity which was in some degrees a 
 blessing in disguise, because it put an end to an 
 intolerable state of things, a large proportion of 
 the population occupied holdings so small as to 
 be uneconomic and were constantly on the brink of 
 starvation. Emigration has relieved this congestion 
 in all parts of the country, save that comparatively 
 small portion which has been placed under the charge 
 of the Congested Districts Board and which has in 
 consequence experienced vast improvement. In the 
 rest of the country comfort, if not prosperity, prevails. 
 Wages have more than doubled in fifty years. There 
 is less unemployment than in England. Emigration 
 continues, it is true, but on a diminished scale, and 
 
 272 
 
Appendix A 
 
 can be traced partly to causes far other than those 
 assigned and partly to the same impulse which leads 
 English and Scotch labourers to forsake the country- 
 side for the town. Farmers with reduced rents 
 and raised prices for their produce are exceedingly 
 prosperous. 
 
 " You say, ' Ireland has had no effective voice in 
 managing her own affairs.' This must be her own 
 fault, for having only one-tenth of the population of 
 the United Kingdom, she supplies one-sixth of the 
 representatives of the House of Commons. The 
 over-representation of Ireland is nothing less than 
 a public scandal, which ought to have been ended 
 before plural voting was touched. Irish local Govern- 
 ment is identical with that of England and Scotland, 
 Members of County Councils, City Corporations, 
 and Urban and Rural District Councils being all 
 elected by the people. You say, ' the right of public 
 meeting depends on the good pleasure of the police.' 
 As a matter of fact, the liberty accorded to public 
 speakers in Ireland has degenerated into license, and 
 is such as would be tolerated by no Government in 
 the civilised world except that of Great Britain. 
 Meetings are proclaimed only: (i) when the neigh- 
 bourhood in which they are to be held is in such 
 a state of ferment that inflammatory speeches would 
 incite to violence, or (2) when there is danger of 
 collision between the opposing parties. 
 
 " You say : ' She remains now, as at the beginning 
 
 of the period, without manufactures, except in the 
 
 north-eastern corner of Ulster, and even there the 
 
 one solitary industry has made no material advance.' 
 
 18 273 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 It is notorious that there are two great industries in 
 Belfast, both immensely prosperous, viz : — the linen 
 industry and ship-building. The linen industry of 
 Ulster is the greatest in the world. It has held its 
 own whilst the same industry in England has become 
 almost extinct, and in Scotland has diminished by 
 more than fifty per cent. Besides there are in Belfast 
 many important industries, machine shops, builders' 
 yards, and makers-up of linen in various forms. In 
 Londonderry there is a great manufacture of shirts 
 and collars. 
 
 " Education undoubtedly ought to be improved — 
 but much has been done in the direction of technical 
 instruction. The writer seems, however, to think that 
 if such instruction were widely given, industries would 
 spring up. Education never brings industries and 
 never will : education brings industries to perfection ; 
 but technical instruction without industries to which 
 it may be applied is wasted effort. 
 
 " It was generally supposed that the conclusions of 
 the Financial Relations Committee had been long 
 since exploded. No arguments that I have met with 
 have explained to me, who must therefore submit to 
 be classed with the 'dull-witted people,' why an 
 Irishman with an income of ;£"i,ooo a year, free from 
 various taxes which an Englishman must pay, with 
 cheaper rent and necessaries of life, should escape 
 the Income Tax — nor why the Irishman who drinks 
 whisky is harshly treated because he has to pay the 
 same excise duty as an Englishman or Scotchman. 
 
 " In conclusion, although Ireland has during the 
 last sixty-five years made enormous advance in 
 
 274 
 
Appendix A 
 
 material prosperity, evidenced by the continuous 
 growth of deposits in the banks, she would have gone 
 further in this direction but for the incessant political 
 agitation which has prevented the establishment of a 
 sense of security and therefore prevented the inflow of 
 English capital, the one thing needful to develop the 
 natural resources of the country. If your influential 
 journal, instead of encouraging the feeling of dis- 
 satisfaction, will insist on the cessation of political 
 agitation, you will be contributing to the real interests 
 of Ireland. 
 
 " I remain, Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 '' Irish Manufacturer." 
 
 The Editor of the Statist, acting of course within 
 his rights, refused to publish more than an extract, 
 and on this excerpt based a severe criticism. The 
 writer retorted, and his second letter was not 
 published. This is a copy thereof: — 
 
 " Belfast, 
 
 " '^rd December, 1 906. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " It seems unusual for a journalist to refuse 
 to publish the letter of a correspondent and yet to 
 answer it by an article in which part of the letter 
 is published, part suppressed, yet adversely criticised. 
 But although such tactics place the correspondent at 
 serious disadvantage, I am not going to shun the 
 encounter. 
 
 " In your original articles of 20th and 27th October, 
 
 275 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 you stated that, ' The general condition of the people 
 is so bad that for sixty-five years they have been 
 flying from their native land as if it were plague- 
 stricken/ and that, ' During the sixty-five years 
 Ireland has had no effective voice in the management 
 of her own affairs.' I shall deal with the latter of 
 these propositions first. As you omit the portion of 
 my letter which in answer to this pointed out that 
 Ireland has in fact a much too large share of 
 Representation in the House of Commons, being 
 represented in the proportion of one to six voters, 
 instead of one to ten, while local government is on 
 exactly the same representative footing as in England 
 and Scotland, and do not attempt to justify your 
 assertion, I assume that you recognise your mistake 
 and abandon the false position you took up. 
 
 " You seek to support your first proposition by 
 statistics of agricultural wages in England, Scotland 
 and Ireland, quoted from Fox's Report of 1902. 
 You omit, however, to add the qualification which 
 follows, viz : — 
 
 " ' It will be observed that the earnings in Ireland are 
 considerably lower than in England, Wales, or Scot- 
 land, and there is no doubt that the position of a farm 
 labourer in Ireland is not so good as in other parts of 
 the United Kingdom, but it may be added that he 
 gets his house and fuel cheaper, and frequently has 
 the opportunity of renting land on which he grows 
 potatoes, and keeps pigs, goats and poultry. In the 
 case of herds and some others of the more skilled 
 men, cows are not infrequently kept. Upon the 
 sale of eggs, fowls and pigs many of the Irish farm 
 
 276 
 
Appendix A 
 
 labourers are said to rely for an addition to their 
 incomes. Farm labourers regularly attached to the 
 staffs of farms are said to live more comfortably than 
 some of the small farmers.' 
 
 " This qualification suggests that it is always diffi- 
 cult to compare wages, especially in the agricultural 
 industry in different districts. Conditions of employ- 
 ment in Ireland are so totally different from those 
 which are customary in England as to make any 
 such comparison exceptionally difficult in the present 
 instance. While it may be true that the average 
 cash wages in Ireland are considerably lower than in 
 the rest of the United Kingdom, it is a remarkable 
 fact that in Ireland the estimated increase of wages 
 is greater than in England and Wales. According to 
 the same report (page 5) between 1850 and 1903, 
 wages in England and Wales have increased by 
 fifty-eight per cent, and in Ireland by eighty per 
 cent. Since 1870 wages in England and Wales have 
 increased by twenty-three per cent., but in Ireland 
 by forty-two per cent. Since 1880 the increase was 
 eleven per cent, in England and Wales, and twenty- 
 five per cent in Ireland; since 1890 the increases 
 have been the same in both countries. 
 
 " It is difficult to see how in the face of these facts 
 taken in connection with the enormous decrease of 
 pauperism and increase of saving (which you are 
 unique among economists in regarding as evidence of 
 ' decay ') your question as to whether ' Ireland has 
 shared in any degree in the universal prosperity,' can 
 be answered in any other way than the very opposite 
 of that which you have adopted. It must be 
 
 277 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 remembered that Ireland started sixty-five years 
 ago from a much lower level than England or 
 Scotland. Although wages and wealth are still far 
 below the height reached in the sister islands, her rate 
 of progress has been much greater. It is also true 
 that Ireland has not reached the stage attained by 
 Denmark and Switzerland ; but she started much 
 later in the race, and her people, gifted with many 
 interesting and attractive qualities, do not for the most 
 part possess the serene temperament and steadfast 
 perseverance of the Scandinavians, nor the passionate 
 industry of the Swiss. It was not until, through the 
 disinterested efforts of Sir Horace Plunkett, the 
 Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction 
 was a few years ago started in Ireland, that any 
 serious attempt to develop the latent capacity of 
 her people was made. It is doing a great and 
 growing work, but has not yet had time to fully 
 develop. 
 
 '* One would gather from your article that the 
 prosperity of the south and west is checked by the 
 hostility of the north. Never was a more unfounded 
 belief The Northerns joined with the people of the 
 south and west in asking for the creation of the 
 Department of Agriculture, which was instituted 
 chiefly for those parts of Ireland where industries did 
 not exist, and have given hearty support to it since 
 its establishment. The Northerns are as desirous of 
 the welfare of this country as the natives of other 
 parts. They are not unmindful of iEsop's fable of 
 the * Belly and the Members ' and are too ' good 
 men of business ' (as you describe them) not to 
 
 278 
 
Appendix A 
 
 recognise that if one member suffer all the members 
 suffer with it. Therefore, for reasons not purely 
 altruistic, they desire the prosperity of their country. 
 The great gulf that yawns between Protestants 
 and Roman Catholics cannot be said to be of the 
 Protestant creation. The authorities of the Roman 
 Catholic Church look with disfavour on association 
 between the laity of the two creeds, with the result 
 that, although the State has provided elementary 
 schools and a university on a purely secular basis 
 and free from any religious bias, the youth of the 
 country are obliged to grow to manhood without 
 any opportunity of mingling or of learning mutual 
 respect and tolerance. 
 
 " Ireland has shared in the prosperity of the last 
 sixty-five years and would have advanced much 
 further but for the endemic political agitation which 
 has been persistently fomented by persons seeking 
 and finding their own advantage in its perpetuation. 
 This unceasing agitation has disturbed the minds of 
 the people and withdrawn them from attention to 
 their regular pursuits. It has repelled the influx of 
 capital, which is the life-blood of Industry. Morally, 
 socially, and materially, it has made its evil influence 
 felt. 
 
 " In conclusion I venture to think I have succeeded 
 in showing that you have failed to make good your 
 original propositions, and that candid readers will 
 agree that Ireland is not a land 'from which the 
 people are flying as from a plague-stricken country,' 
 where 'the people have no effective voice in the 
 management of their own affairs,' and which ' has 
 
 279 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 failed to enjoy a full share of the prosperity of the 
 last sixty-five years/ 
 
 " I remain, Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " Irish Manufacturer." 
 
 With regard to the employment of what may be 
 called the emigration argument, Lord Dufferin's 
 pamphlet published in 1867, on Irish Emigration 
 and the Tenure of Land in Ireland^ contains much 
 interesting information. For instance, he points out, 
 p. 63, that:— 
 
 "The total number of holdings in Ireland con- 
 taining fifteen acres and upwards has increased 
 enormously since 1841. In fact, there are now (1862) 
 nearly twice as many small farmers — using the term 
 in what in England would be thought its most modest 
 acceptation — as there were before the famine. This 
 will undoubtedly be considered an extraordinary 
 statement, but it is nevertheless the fact that holdings 
 of between fifteen and thirty acres have increased by 
 61,000 or 78 per cent, within the last twenty years, and 
 holdings above thirty acres by 109,000 or 224 per cent, 
 during the same period, while those between five and 
 fifteen acres have decreased by less than half those 
 amounts ; the emigration, so far as it has extended to 
 the occupying class at all, having been chiefly confined 
 to the poor people who attempted to get a living out 
 of bits of land ranging from half an acre to five or six 
 acres, and whose destiny no custom or law of tenant 
 right, however liberal, could materially affect. This 
 is sufficiently established by the fact of something 
 
 280 
 
Appendix A 
 
 like 100,000 holdings 
 disappeared in Ulster." 
 
 of this description having 
 
 TABLE SHOWING THE SIZE OF FARMS IN IRELAND 
 FROM 184I TO 1901. 
 
 
 Number. 
 
 Per 
 
 Cent. 
 
 Decrease 
 
 in No. of 
 Holdings 
 
 per 
 Decade. 
 
 I84I. 
 
 Above I Acre and not exceeding 5 Acres . 
 5 Acres ,, „ 15 ,, 
 „ 15 .. >. M 30 .. 
 ..30 
 
 310.436 
 
 252,799 
 
 79.342 
 
 48,625 
 
 44-9 
 36-6 
 1 1 -5 
 
 7-0 
 
 — 
 
 Total above 1 Acre 
 
 691,202 
 
 100 -o 
 
 — 
 
 1851. 
 
 Above I Acre and not exceeding 5 Acres . 
 5 Acres ,, ,, 15 ,, 
 
 M 15 M .. .. 30 M 
 
 .. 30 
 
 88,083 
 191,854 
 141.311 
 149.090 
 
 15-5 
 33-6 
 24-8 
 
 26-1 
 
 — 
 
 Total above i Acre ..... 
 
 570,338 
 
 100 -o 
 
 120,864 
 
 1861. 
 
 Above I Acre and not exceeding 5 Acres . 
 5 Acres ,, ,, 15 ,, 
 
 .. 15 .. .. .. 30 M 
 
 .. 30 
 
 85,469 
 
 183.931 
 141,251 
 ^57.^33 
 
 15 "o 
 
 32-4 
 
 24-8 
 27-8 
 
 — 
 
 Total above i Acre 
 
 568,484 
 
 100 -o 
 
 1.854 
 
 1871. 
 
 Above I Acre and not exceeding 5 Acres . 
 5 Acres ., ,, 15 ,, 
 ., 15 .. .. ., 30 ,. 
 
 .. 30 M 
 
 74.809 
 
 171.383 
 138.647 
 
 159.303 
 
 137 
 31-5 
 
 25-5 
 29-3 
 
 — 
 
 Total above i Acre 
 
 544.142 
 
 loo-o 
 
 24.342 
 
 1881. 
 
 Above I Acre and not exceeding 5 Acres . 
 5 Acres ,, „ 15 ,. 
 ., 15 .. .. M 30 .. 
 .. 30 „ 
 
 67,071 
 164,045 
 135.793 
 159.834 
 
 127 
 
 3I-I 
 
 25-8 
 
 30-4 
 
 - 
 
 Total above i Acre 
 
 526,743 
 
 100 -o 
 
 17,399 
 
 281 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF FARMS IN IRELAND {continued). 
 
 
 Number. 
 
 Per 
 
 Cent. 
 
 Decrease 
 in No. of 
 Holdings 
 
 per 
 Decade. 
 
 I89I. 
 
 Above I Acre and not exceeding 5 Acres . 
 5 Acres ,, ,, 15 ,, 
 
 .. IS .. ., .. 30 „ 
 
 ..30 
 
 63,464 
 156,661 
 
 133.947 
 162,940 
 
 12-3 
 
 30-3 
 25-9 
 31 'S 
 
 — 
 
 Total above i Acre 
 
 517,012 
 
 100 -o 
 
 9.731 
 
 1901. 
 
 Above I Acre and not exceeding 5 Acres . 
 5 Acres „ „ 15 ,, 
 .. 15 .. .. M 30 .. 
 ..30 
 
 62.855 
 154,418 
 134,091 
 164,483 
 
 12-2 
 
 29 "9 
 26-0 
 
 31*9 
 
 — 
 
 Total above i Acre ..... 
 
 S15.847 
 
 100 "O 
 
 1.165 
 
 Even after the emigration caused by the Great 
 Famine, there were more people in Ireland to the 
 acre, engaged in different forms of agriculture, than 
 there were in almost any agricultural country in 
 Europe. To quote Lord Dufferin again : — 
 
 " From the foregoing statistics it would appear 
 that the same amount of labour which is found 
 sufficient in England to cultivate eleven and a half 
 acres in a highly efficient manner is employed in 
 Ireland in the imperfect cultivation of six acres. In 
 other words, whereas in Ireland it takes four men to 
 raise fifteen tons of grain off twenty-four acres, in 
 England only two men are required to raise eighteen 
 tons off twenty-three acres." 
 
 The following figures are taken from a pamphlet 
 issued by the Irish Union Alliance ; these statistics 
 have been gathered from official sources. 
 
 282 
 
Appendix A 
 
 " As regards commercial progress under the Union 
 Ireland has had an abundant share. In 1852 the 
 revenue of Ireland was four and a half millions. In 
 1885 it had advanced to eight millions. In 1905 
 (Thom's Directory, 1906) the amount is ;^i 1,340,500. 
 The shipping of Ireland entering Irish ports in 1852 
 showed a tonnage of five millions. It is now over 
 thirteen millions. In 1852 the Excise Duties of 
 Ireland were one and a half millions. These have 
 grown (in 1905) to ;^5,47 1,000. Railways taken col- 
 lectively afford a good measure of material progress. 
 In 1842 there were in Ireland fourteen miles of 
 railway, with ;{^5 7,000 receipts. In 1890 there were 
 2,643 niiies, with ;63,042,ooo receipts. In 1904 the 
 mileage was 3,296 and the receipts ;^4,i 39,948. 
 Deposits in Joint Stock Banks amounted in 185 1 
 to ;^8,263,ooo; in 1890 to ;^33, 325,000 ; in 1905 to 
 ;^44,999,ooo. The Post Office Savings Banks, which 
 are the popular banks with the Irish poorer classes, 
 had in 1870 deposits amounting only to ;6'583,i65. 
 In the year 1888 they had grown to ;^3, 128,000. 
 The deposits in 1905 amounted to ;£"8o,037,ooo." 
 
 283 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 The Globe of March 9, 1907, contains the following 
 paragraph : — 
 
 We have received the following copy of a handbill 
 which, we are informed, is being circulated among the 
 domestic female servants of Dublin and its suburbs. 
 The document is one of the most disgraceful and 
 scandalous pieces of sedition ever perpetrated even by 
 Irish disloyalists — 
 
 "IRISH GIRLS! 
 
 " Ireland has need of the loving service of all her 
 children. Irishwomen do not sufficiently realise the 
 power they have to help or hinder the cause of 
 Ireland's freedom. If they did, we should not see the 
 sad sight of Irish girls walking through the streets 
 with men wearing the uniform of Ireland's oppressor. 
 
 " No man can serve two masters ; no man can 
 honestly serve Ireland and serve England. The 
 Irishman who has chosen to wear the English uniform 
 has chosen to serve the enemy of Ireland, and it is the 
 duty of every Irishwoman who believes in the freedom 
 of Ireland to show her disapproval of his conduct by 
 shunning his company. 
 
 " Irish girls who walk with Irishmen wearing Eng- 
 land's uniform, remember you are walking with 
 
 284 
 
Appendix B 
 
 traitors. Irish girls who walk with English soldiers, 
 remember you are walking with your country's 
 enemies, and with men who are unfit to be the com- 
 panions of any girl, for it is well known that the 
 English Army is the most degraded and immoral 
 army in Europe, chiefly recruited in the slums of 
 English cities among men of the lowest and most 
 depraved characters. You endanger your purity and 
 honour by associating with such men, and you insult 
 your motherland. Hearken to the words of Father 
 Kavanagh, the Irish Franciscan patriot priest, who 
 pronounces it a heinous crime against Ireland for 
 Irishmen to join the forces of robber England. Do 
 you think it is less a crime for Irish girls to honour 
 these men with their company? Remember the 
 history of your country. Remember the women of 
 Limerick, and the glorious patriot women of the great 
 rebellion of '98, and let us, who are their descendants, 
 try to be worthy of them. What would those noble 
 women think if they knew their daughters were 
 associating with men belonging to that army, which 
 has so often wrought ruin and havoc in Ireland, and 
 murdered in cold blood thousands of Irish women and 
 children. What English soldiers have done in Ireland 
 in the past they would do again if ordered to do so. 
 They would slaughter our kith and kin, and murder 
 women and children in those horrible concentration 
 camps, where ten thousand little Boer children died 
 from want and suffering. 
 
 " Irish girls, make a vow, not only that you will 
 yourselves refuse to associate with any man who 
 wears an English uniform, but that you will also try 
 
 285 
 
Ireland To-day and To-morrow 
 
 and induce your girl companions to do the same. 
 Women's influence is strong. Let us see, fellow- 
 countrywomen, that we use it to the fullest for the 
 Glory of God, and for the honour and Freedom of 
 Ireland (here are introduced some words in Gaelic 
 characters). ... are very anxious to get the co- 
 operation of any girl who reads this^ handbill and 
 feels she would like to help in working for Ireland's 
 freedom and trying to save innocent country girls 
 from the great danger which their thoughtless associ- 
 ation with soldiers exposes them to. The Secretaries 
 are always to be seen on Thursday evenings between 
 8 and lo o'clock at (more Gaelic words) 22, North 
 Great George's-street, Dublin, and we appeal to all 
 Irishwomen to help us in this great social and national 
 work." 
 
 286 
 
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, 
 
 bread street hill, e.c., and 
 
 bungay, suffolk. 
 

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