IRELAND'S 
 
 OPPORTUNITY 
 
 A PLEA FOR SETTLEMENT 
 BY CONFERENCE 
 
 BY 
 " UNIFICUS " 
 
 SCHOLAR OP TRINir? 
 COLLEGE, DUBLIN 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 W. F. TRENCH, Litt.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OP ENGLISH LITERATLTUE IN 
 TRINirr COLLEGE, UtTBLIN 
 
 LONDON 
 
 P. S. KING & SON, LTD. 
 
 ORCHARD HOUSE, WESTMINSTER 
 
 1916 
 
O'NBLLLIBRARY 
 BOSTON COLLEGE 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The main part of this pamphlet had been written 
 before the recent deplorable revolt, and has now 
 to be pubHshed without extensive revision, to 
 which cause I must ask my readers to attribute 
 any statements or turns of expression which 
 may now appear out of date. It had been my 
 intention not to pubUsh till the War was nearing 
 its end, but recent events have so reopened the 
 '* Irish Question " in its entirety that the present 
 seems to be the opportune moment to make this 
 appeal. 
 
 Before the rising any discussion of Irish affairs 
 seemed irrelevant, but it is now plain that what 
 seemed then a mere matter of domestic politics 
 is in reality of Imperial importance. A speedy 
 and satisfactory settlement of the Irish difficulties 
 has now a most vital connexion with that one 
 great purpose on which all our hearts are set — 
 the winning of the War. 
 
 Some change in the government of Ireland is 
 acknowledged to be a necessity. My purpose 
 is to indicate a method, the only method, I 
 beHeve, by which a really good government can 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 be set up, and a lasting settlement of our difficulties 
 secured. This pamphlet does not purport to 
 give in itself a solution of the difficulties ; it is 
 meant rather as a finger-post, pointing out the best 
 road along which a solution may be reached. 
 If any one hopes to find here an incantation to 
 exorcise party spirit, or a cut-and-dried scheme of 
 a settlement on the Home Rule question, he will 
 be disappointed. He ^^ill, however, find a state- 
 ment of the present situation and suggestions 
 as to a pohcy which would lead to a settlement. 
 \Miat is set do\Mi here is nothing new or briUiant 
 or original, but a frank statement of the case for 
 an Irish Conference. This pamphlet should not 
 be an end but a beginning. If it gives food for 
 thought, excites others to express their opinions, 
 and generally sets the ball rolhng, it \nll have 
 accompHshed its purpose. 
 
 \Miile my appeal is mainly to Irishmen, I 
 may perhaps be allowed to say a few words here 
 to EngHsh readers in regard to this subject 
 which is of such \-ital importance to us all. Though 
 I beHeve that it is Irishmen alone who can find 
 a remedy for the difficulties of Ireland, yet much 
 depends on the Enghsh attitude at present. I 
 beg that EngHshmen may refrain from recrimina- 
 tions about the past, and especially about the 
 revolt and its causes. It is of httle value to fix 
 the blame for this heartrending outbreak ; what 
 is of value is to ensure that no such outbreak 
 will ever happen again. That can be ensured 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 only if we think tolerantly and act wisely now. 
 Secondly, I beg that so far as possible the settle- 
 ment may be left in Irish hands. We are much 
 more likely to reach an agreement if left to our- 
 selves, than if an attempt is made to drive us. 
 Lastly, I beg that^ England may judge of Ireland 
 not by the actions of a few misguided men at 
 home, but by the actions and the sacrifices of 
 those many Irishmen who have laid down their 
 lives on every battle-field of this War. 
 
 In a situation which is changing so rapidly 
 as the present it is impossible to see how matters 
 win stand even at the time when this pamphlet 
 comes into the hands of its readers. It is possible 
 that by then some kind of Irish Advisory Council 
 such as is mooted at present may actually be set 
 up. If that be so, the Council might in practice 
 become a Conference of the nature outhned in 
 these pages. If a Council is formed it cannot be 
 more than a temporary expedient, paving the 
 way for a final and permanent settlement. In 
 finding such a settlement a Council or Conference 
 will need the continual backing of all who have 
 at heart the interests both of Ireland and of the 
 Empire as a whole. 
 
 " UNIFICUS " 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION. By W. F. Trench, 
 
 Litt.D. xi 
 
 I. THE WAR AND IRISH POLITICS i 
 
 11. POLICIES FOR IRELAND-PAST AND 
 
 FUTURE 12 
 
 III. SETTLEMENT BY CONFERENCE 21 
 
 IV. A CONFERENCE IN BEING 34 
 
 V. PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE- 
 
 («) ULSTER 43 
 
 VI. PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE- 
 {b) THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 HOME RULE ACT 54 
 
 VII. THE TURNING-POINT OF IRISH 
 
 HISTORY 65 
 
 IX 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 This pamphlet is the work of a young graduate 
 of Dubhn University, who, after a distinguished 
 academic career, obtained a commission and left 
 Trinity College to serve his King and Country 
 in the War. 
 
 It is, as its title declares, an appeal for a Con- 
 ference, between men of different schools of 
 political thought, respecting the mode of Irish 
 Government. Attempts thus to start joint con- 
 structive action have hitherto been unsuccessful. 
 
 Early in 19 13, when many thought it was 
 clear that the Government of Ireland Bill would, 
 in some form, become law in 1914, some, holding 
 that the chief duty of men of goodwill was to 
 secure its satisfactory amendment, formed in 
 Dubhn the " Non-Party Committee," which 
 sought to represent all who desired " the conclu- 
 sion of an agreement between NationaUsts and 
 Unionists as to the form and machinery of Irish 
 Government." In spite of a measure of encourage- 
 ment received in the following autumn from 
 the Enghsh Unionist press, our labours were in 
 vain, because we failed to get enough support in 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Ireland to justify us in coming prominently for- 
 ward, the majority of Irish Unionists preferring at 
 that time to rely upon the physical-force movement 
 in Ulster. The fact that response to appeals for 
 settlement was meagre was due to our being divided 
 not so much by distinctions of real thought and 
 feehng as by membership of separate poHtical 
 groups in which we were born and brought up. 
 Loyalty to our traditional grouping has often 
 seemed to forbid fresh thought on the part of 
 any of us. 
 
 The occasion upon which the Government of 
 Ireland Bill was passed, in 1914, to come into 
 operation, along with a promised Amending 
 Bill, at some future date, did not seem an occasion 
 opportune for action on our part. But in the 
 autumn of 19 15, when it seemed to some that 
 constructive work might be attempted during 
 the winter, I addressed to the Unionist press 
 communications which were widely quoted and 
 generously commented upon by the NationaHst 
 press both in Ireland and in America. I urged 
 that " those Protestants and Conservatives who 
 desire an Irish reconcihation should be drawing 
 together," and that it was '' not too late to re- 
 Hnquish our time-honoured but now almost 
 meaningless party shibboleths, and to strike 
 out in a new direction, resolved no longer 
 to hold aloof, vainly mourning loss of power, 
 resolved on the contrary to co-operate with 
 our fellow-countr3niien, and to do our share of 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 work towards building up a new and a better 
 Ireland." 
 
 If I refer to my own attitude, it is merely 
 because it must be typical of the attitude of many. 
 I confess that my interests are with the Conserva- 
 tives, that I regard the Constitution as of im- 
 measurable worth, and am concerned chiefly 
 for the stabiHty of the State. And for many 
 years I have had to watch the steady decline of 
 Conservative influence in Ireland, in a country 
 which, by virtue of its agricultural interest, 
 of its peasant proprietorship, of its religion, of 
 its aristocratic predilections, might have been 
 expected to become a steadying influence in the 
 hasty world. And one could not but recognize 
 that the decHne was largely due to the mental 
 attitude of Irish Unionists. Yet in that body of 
 men, if even now something can be done to 
 secure their participation in local government 
 and pubHc business, there will be found to be 
 still much of what is best and most useful in 
 Ireland, no matter how ineffective they have 
 collectively proved as a separate section of the 
 body poHtic. 
 
 As deplorable as the decline of the Conservative 
 interest has been that of the Protestant interest. 
 Of course our decline was inevitable, in that our 
 position in the country was artificial, enjoying 
 as we did a social prerogative conferred by the 
 State for the poUtical purposes of long ago. But 
 this natural decline has been much increased 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 by the identification of Protestantism, in the 
 mind of the country, with opposition to change 
 in the mode of Irish government. When the 
 change, in spite of us, comes, it will not do away 
 with religious differences, but it will make it 
 impossible for Hnes of cleavage in religion to 
 coincide any longer with Hnes of cleavage in 
 politics. This will be greatly to the advantage 
 both of reHgion and of politics. 
 
 But clear though it ought to be that it is to the 
 interest of Irishmen in general, and of Protestants 
 and Conservatives in particular, to secure a 
 settlement in Ireland, there is a wider issue 
 to-day ; there is the need of the Empire, and the 
 responsibihty of Britain to see to it that a settle- 
 ment is really reached. It is a pity that the 
 Empire should have to be worried with the Irish 
 problem now that there is the Great War to 
 prosecute. But the Irish problem really is not 
 a side issue. ImperiaUsm is on its trial to-day 
 where they sing '' Rule, Britannia ! " as well as 
 where they sing " Deutschland iiber Alles " ; 
 and it is on its trial in a very special sense in 
 Ireland. When Home Rule has come into opera- 
 tion, it will then be Irish NationaHsm that will 
 be on its trial. But the question for the moment 
 is whether the new Imperialism can accept 
 and can adapt itself to the principle of National- 
 ism. 
 
 For it must be remembered that the Irish 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 question is partly practical and partly senti- 
 mental. The practical case for reform is that the 
 bureaucracy is a clumsy instrument of govern- 
 ment, and has failed. If it be suggested that 
 it is only the administrators that have failed, 
 the answer is that if we once have a good ad- 
 ministrator in Ireland, he is sure, by all analogy 
 of our past history, to be succeeded by a bad one ; 
 there are no constitutional means of securing 
 continuity of poHcy. But the Irish question 
 is even more a matter of sentiment. Poli- 
 ticians seem Hable to forget that sentiment 
 counts for more than aught else in human life, 
 that many people hold such sentiments as love, 
 loyalty, patriotism, to be the things best worth 
 Hving for or d5dng for. Nor can the sentiment of 
 nationality be destructible in a country which 
 has had a history so entirely pecuHar as that of 
 Ireland. If Imperialism, then, can adapt itself 
 to the principle of Nationalism, it will thereby 
 have achieved an Imperial triumph indeed. 
 
 The destructive forces in our social system 
 bursting forth of late have laid a substantial 
 part of our metropoHs in ruins, while many homes, 
 in Ireland and in England, are left to mourn the 
 loss of precious lives of brave soldiers who did 
 their duty, or of ardent ideahsts lured to a criminal 
 enterprise. That is what the forces of destruction 
 can do. And are the forces of construction 
 now to have another chance ? It ought, at any 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 rate, to be understood that everything is at 
 stake ; the cause of law and order, Ireland's 
 relation to the Empire, the stability of society, 
 the whole range of the interests of civiUzation, 
 all this is at stake in Ireland to-day. 
 
 W. F. TRENCH 
 
 Trinity College, Dublin 
 June I, 1916 
 
Ireland's Opportunity 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE WAR AND IRISH POLITICS 
 
 The history of Ireland during the last few years 
 is one of opportunities missed and new oppor- 
 tunities strangely given. The course of the Home 
 Rule controversy before the War alternated 
 between outbursts of intense party bitterness 
 and genuine attempts to reach a settlenient, 
 but for one reason or another these attempts 
 always proved failures. 
 
 For many months we witnessed a situation 
 which gradually but surely grew worse, a drift 
 towards disaster which most of us felt absolutely 
 powerless to check. Towards the end of July 
 came the failure of the Buckingham Palace 
 Conference and the shooting at Bachelor's Walk. 
 Then, at the instant when our worst fears seemed 
 on the point of being reahzed, came those swift 
 and tremendous events which changed all. On 
 the very brink of the precipice which we had 
 seen and yet were plunging over, we were caught 
 
 I A 
 
2 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 by a mightier force and hurled back. Some 
 greeted the War almost with joy ; all agreed 
 that if it had to be it could not have come at a 
 better time for Ireland. 
 
 It may be that if we could have foreseen 
 then as we see now the fearful character of the 
 struggle on which we were starting we should 
 have felt that peace in Ireland was being purchased 
 at far too high a cost. And yet, even now when 
 we do know something of the horror and misery 
 of War, of the lives poured out like water, and the 
 griefs which every one of us has had to bear, 
 even now we can still have a feeUng that civil 
 strife at home would have been worse (in its 
 spirit if not in its results), that it is better to be 
 fighting a united fight in a high cause than to have 
 engaged in an unnatural and dishonourable 
 struggle of Irishman against Irishman. 
 
 The War gave a new opportunity for an Irish 
 settlement, but this was not seized as it might 
 have been. When the first tlirill went through 
 the country all were ready to hail one another 
 as brothers, but mistakes were again made on 
 all sides, and as the future was left uncertain 
 discontent was soon allowed to rise once more. 
 
 Nevertheless the War worked many changes 
 for the better. Though a small section of Irish- 
 men held sullenly aloof, yet the fact remains 
 that the great bulk of our people and practically 
 all the leaders of importance agreed that this 
 fight was our fight, and that Ireland must play 
 
THE WAR AND IRISH POLITICS 3 
 
 her part to the best of her power. A war in 
 defence of freedom and justice against tjnranny 
 found nearly all Ireland united in support of the 
 Empire and of the free States of Europe . 
 
 At the same time we were gaining a new sense 
 of nationaUty in Ireland, a new sense of pride 
 in being neither Unionists nor Nationalists but 
 simply Irishmen. The thrill we felt in the deeds 
 of our Irish Regiments was Httle affected by 
 whether they hailed from North or South. All 
 gloried in the exploits of both the Inniskillings 
 and the Munsters. All were proud to think 
 what an extraordinary proportion of the foremost 
 generals and admirals were Irishmen. In home 
 affairs also we were drawn closer together. Re- 
 cruiting committees were composed of men of 
 very divergent views in poHtics. All the various 
 schemes of relief work and the agencies which 
 the War brought into being were run on similar 
 lines. 
 
 The nation, as a whole, was finding itself, 
 finding that it is a part of the Empire, and that it 
 has at the same time its own individuaUty and 
 internal unity. We had hope that that unity 
 might be found to be lasting, and that through 
 our common trial we might come to real peace at 
 home. 
 
 Nevertheless, we were always conscious of a 
 disquieting undercurrent which might overthrow 
 our hopes of peace. We knew that pre-War 
 controversies were not really settled, and that 
 
4 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 some among us at any rate were only awaiting 
 an opportunity to raise them afresh. At the 
 beginning of the War we aU had buried the hatchet, 
 but every man marked carefully the spot where 
 his hatchet was buried, against the time he should 
 need it again. 
 
 This uncertainty, combined with many other 
 factors, gave the extremists their opportunity. 
 Their scheming we knew, but the actual outbreak 
 came as a surprise. It seemed to be the final 
 blow to all the hopes of peace in Ireland. These 
 men who claimed to love Ireland, and to be 
 fighting for Ireland; had dealt her the cruellest 
 blow of all. 
 
 Suddenly, almost miraculously, out of this 
 terrible disaster came a new hope, and we are 
 now presented with an opportunity better than all 
 those that preceded it. The division in Ireland 
 has taken a new Hne ; the fight is now seen to be 
 not between Unionist and Nationalist, but be- 
 tween the forces of order and the forces of anarchy. 
 If order is to prevail, an agreement between the 
 constitutional parties in Ireland is essential. 
 The " Irish question " is seen to be an Imperial 
 question ; in its settlement the interests of the 
 whole Empire are involved. 
 
 Moreover, the system of Dublin Castle Govern- 
 ment has been proved utterly unsound. The 
 Irish Executive commanded the respect of no 
 single section of the country — Unionist, National- 
 ist, or Sinn Feiner. For a system so entirely 
 
THE WAR AND IRISH POLITICS 5 
 
 discredited a substitute must be found, and 
 it can only be found by agreement among 
 Irishmen. 
 
 We now have a great opportunity, but it is the 
 last opportunity. Either agreement will be 
 reached now, or if not, if Home Rule again be- 
 comes a party question, then whichever party 
 triumphs it will, in reality, be a triumph 
 for anarchy, and we may say fareweU to all 
 hopes of peace in Ireland for a generation to 
 come. 
 
 There is an old comparison of the situation 
 in Ireland to our national vehicle, the jaunting- 
 car. On one side sits the Unionist looking at 
 the panorama at his side of the road. On the 
 other sits the Nationahst, viewing a totally 
 different landscape. Neither troubles to turn 
 round to glance at the other's view, and it is 
 inconvenient for them even to enter into con- 
 versation with one another. On the box seat 
 sits the EngHsh Government, looking straight 
 ahead at yet a third view, paying no attention 
 to those whom he is driving, intent simply on 
 keeping his horse on its feet as he traverses a 
 very uneven road. 
 
 Now, however, we may say that the driver 
 has proved himself wholly incapable of managing 
 his car ; the horse has fallen ; the driver is un- 
 seated ; all is at a standstill. The travellers 
 are forced to ahght. This, however, has im- 
 mediate advantages. They now can look one 
 
6 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 another straight in the face, and can also look 
 at each other's landscape, unseen before. The 
 old driver is impossible, but their journey must 
 continue. If they are sensible men they will soon 
 come to an agreement by which they can con- 
 tinue their journey, better friends now on account 
 of their mishap. 
 
 At present the situation may be summed up 
 by saying that while we have amongst us the 
 spirit which makes a settlement possible, that 
 spirit needs to be focused in a plan. Our diffi- 
 culties are not of the kind to which we can 
 apply the principles of solvitur amhulando. The 
 obstacles are great and thorny and cannot be 
 overcome by ignoring them, or by pious hopes 
 and the feeHng of goodwill. Clear thought is 
 needed, honest grappling with the subject, a 
 considered and definite policy. 
 
 That political thought in Ireland has been 
 up to now practically non-existent may seem a 
 strange statement to some. It appears on the 
 surface that Ireland has been absolutely obsessed 
 with politics, but much of it has been merely 
 the politics of fishwives, consisting of catchwords 
 and abuse. Our discussions have been too much 
 about persons, and too little about policies. 
 Real thinking and education on poHtical matters 
 have been at a very low ebb. To take the most 
 obvious instance, what does the average Irishman, 
 of either party, really know about Home Rule ? 
 He can shout for it or abuse it with the utmost 
 
THE WAR AND IRISH POLITICS 7 
 
 vigour, but of what it would actually be like he 
 has very httle idea. It is positively amazing 
 how Httle attempt has been made to explain to 
 the people the provisions of the Home Rule 
 Act, or how it would work in practice. It is 
 almost impossible to discover any books, pam- 
 phlets, or articles which attempt to forecast the 
 work before an Irish Parliament, or the machinery 
 of government which it might evolve. The 
 Nationalist party and the NationaHst press ought 
 surely to have started long before now on a cam- 
 paign of education in the responsibilities and the 
 tasks of a self-governing Ireland. This is but 
 one example of the prevaiHng lack of knowledge. 
 Examples as damaging to the Unionist side could 
 easily be given. 
 
 Most of the thinking on Home Rule seems to 
 have been d6ne in England. Nationalist Ireland 
 has been content to say that she wants it, but 
 Englishmen have drawn up the BiU, and arranged 
 the details, details which in some cases all of us 
 in Ireland thoroughly dislike. There has been 
 in recent years a plentiful output of books on 
 Ireland, but nearly all seem primarily intended 
 for English consumption. Nearly all have been 
 critical and descriptive, giving " new light on 
 the Irish problem," or holding up our country 
 as a mass of perplexing contradictions. These 
 books are many of them well written, brilHantly 
 epigrammatic and paradoxical, but scarcely any 
 of them with a constructive purpose. There are 
 
8 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 exceptions, of course, such as Mr. G. W. Russell's 
 Co-operation and Nationality or Mr. Erskine 
 Childers's Framework of Home Rule, but their 
 general trend has been mainly critical, and calcu- 
 lated to mystify as much as to enhghten. 
 
 We have all had our eyes fixed not so much 
 on Ireland as on the British voter, and we have 
 written to instruct him, that he may vote aright. 
 Much of our poHtical speech-making has had the 
 same object, and has greatly lost its real effect 
 thereby. 
 
 Are we not rather weary of spending so much of 
 our energy in trying to persuade EngUshmen 
 that our own party's point of view with regard 
 to Ireland is the right one (a task not dificult, for 
 the Enghshman is ready to take on trust any kind 
 of absurdity with regard to Ireland), not caring 
 what he really thinks so long as we can safely 
 shepherd him into the right fold at the next 
 general election ? All this has been as bad 
 for English as for Irish poHtics. 
 
 At present, however, we know that, notwith- 
 standing the rising, England can take only a 
 comparatively small interest in our affairs, while 
 after the War there will be so many difficult 
 matters for her to decide that for a long time 
 Ireland will be but a side issue. But if the Irish 
 question becomes again a side issue for England, 
 it will still remain absolutely vital for us. English 
 politicians might indeed patch up some kind of 
 makeshift settlement at the end of the War, 
 
THE WAR AND IRISH POLITICS 9 
 
 but it would be hastily and awkwardly con- 
 structed by men whose best thoughts were being 
 given to other matters. Can we in Ireland 
 permit questions of such importance to the whole 
 future of our country to be decided in so hap- 
 hazard a fashion ? 
 
 As matters stand only Irishmen themselves 
 will give much thought to Irish affairs, but for 
 Irishmen this thought is a duty. It may, of 
 course, be said that the one and only thing to be 
 thought of now is the War, and that any diverting 
 of attention to other issues is something like 
 treachery. But, speaking seriously, is there a 
 single man left at home at present (and it is mainly 
 to the older men who are left at home that we 
 must look) who finds that his entire attention 
 is devoted to the War ? The only possible ex- 
 ceptions are those few painstaking but misguided 
 individuals who spend the entire day in trying 
 to master contradictory reports in the newspapers 
 and the opinions of popular novelists posing as 
 war experts. Even for such people some change 
 of subject is probably the only hope of avoiding 
 a lunatic asylum. 
 
 Moreover, the fact is that in England and 
 every other belligerent country the wiser men 
 are already thinking out the problems which 
 v^iil arise at the end of the War. It will be 
 simple folly if we in Ireland do not follow their 
 example. 
 
 Irishmen really know best what is wanted in 
 
10 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 Ireland. This is of course axiomatic with 
 Nationalists. Though it might appear to be less 
 in accordance \\ith Unionist principles, yet in 
 reality the attitude of Ulster throughout the 
 controversy has been the same — namely, that 
 Ulster and Lister alone knows what is good for 
 her, and all the opinion of others to the contrary 
 is not to shake her determination. 
 
 We can now manage without disturbance to 
 open negotiations among ourselves. Nationalist 
 Ireland can try to do what Sir Edward Carson 
 once complained she had never tried, to " win " 
 instead of bullying Ulster. Unionist Ulster, 
 not now a mere minority fearing to be coerced, 
 but a province standing on her own feet as she 
 has proved her right to stand, can negotiate 
 directly with NationaHst Ireland. Southern 
 Unionists, one might hope, may take on themselves 
 the function of mediators. 
 
 No one can say that if negotiations are entered 
 on they are certain to succeed, but they do hold 
 out a big hope of success. It is time we said 
 good-bye to some of our pessimism, and, looking 
 at the things which have already happened to 
 draw us together, face our difficulties fairly, and 
 see if as honest and patriotic men we can find a 
 way to surmount them. 
 
 It is a great task which hes before us now, to 
 grapple with difficulties which have baffled 
 statesmen after statesmen for generations, to 
 
THE WAR AND IRISH POLITICS ii 
 
 seek by peaceful means the settlement of a con- 
 flict too long conducted in illwill and obscured 
 by partisanship, and so to bring into being the 
 united Ireland of our dreams. It is a task worthy 
 of our best efforts ; if we put them forth now 
 we can succeed. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 POLICIES FOR IRELAND— PAST AND 
 FUTURE 
 
 The lines of action possible in the Home Rule 
 controversy may be conveniently classed under 
 four headings. We may term them the Nationalist 
 Policy, the Unionist Policy, the EngHsh PoUcy, 
 and the Irish Policy. It will be shown here how 
 of these four the first three have been tried and 
 have all been found wanting, either because they 
 were purely party poHcies, and so were too narrow 
 to grasp the whole problem, or, in the case of the 
 EngUsh Policy, because framed by men who did 
 not thoroughly understand the situation. The 
 last, the Irish Policy — that is, an agreed settlement 
 among Irishmen — is as yet untried, and it alone 
 holds out a real prospect of success. 
 
 The Nationalist Policy 
 The full success of the Nationalist Policy would 
 mean that the Home Rule Act should be brought 
 into complete operation for the whole of Ireland, 
 even against the wishes and in face of the re- 
 sistance of a section of the people. To some 
 
POLICIES FOR IRELAND 13 
 
 Nationalists this may still seem the right course, 
 but to all who are not bUnd to the facts of the 
 situation in the North of Ireland it must be 
 apparent that however desirable it is imprac- 
 ticable. The Ulster Unionists are determined that 
 they will not be driven under an Irish ParUament 
 against their will. To drive them means the use 
 of force, and the use of force means resistance 
 and bloodshed. Coercion would very probably 
 fail, and it is still more certain that public opinion, 
 especially after the War, would never aUow it to 
 be attempted. Even supposing that Ulster's 
 resistance could be forcibly beaten down, and an 
 Irish Government established on the wreckage, 
 could any true NationaHst look on that with 
 satisfaction ? Could any peace or order or good 
 government follow such an ill-omened inaugura- 
 tion ? Even to attempt the coercion of Ulster 
 would be a denial of those very principles on 
 which NationaHsm takes its stand, the rights of 
 freemen to choose their own government and to 
 develop as they will. It would be a repetition of 
 the tragedy which took place in the last century 
 in Hungary, where the Magyars, after their 
 heroic struggle for national Hberty, immediately 
 used that hberty to suppress the rights and 
 aspirations of other races. 
 
 The Unionist Policy 
 The thoroughgoing Unionist Policy, opposition 
 to any form of Irish Parliament, is equally 
 
14 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 impracticable, since it fails utterly to take into 
 account the strength and persistance of Irish 
 Nationalism. The oft-repeated statement that 
 Ireland does not really desire Home Rule has 
 been disproved by many events in recent years. 
 One example is the rapid rise of the Volunteers. 
 It is notable also that nearly all the successful 
 recruiting appeals in Ireland have been appeals 
 to national feehng. To say that " Ireland does 
 not want Home Rule " is sheer and downright 
 nonsense. 
 
 To suppose that if the present scheme was 
 wrecked Ireland would settle down happily under 
 the Union is simply to misunderstand the whole 
 driving force of Irish Nationalism. With most 
 Nationalists the question is not one of expediency 
 or material advantages, but simply of right, the 
 right of a nation to control its national destiny. 
 And, after all, this is the principle which all of us, 
 EngHsh and Irish aHke, are accepting as axiomatic 
 in the present War, that the small nations of 
 Europe have their rights as nations, against 
 which the will of the stronger must not be allowed 
 to prevail. Another defeat for Home Rule would 
 never be looked on as a final defeat, for Ireland 
 would not accept what she believes to be unjust. 
 She would simply start again on the old fight, 
 which to the Unionist appears so unfruitful and 
 to the NationaHst so glorious, the fight for what 
 she beheves to be her rights and Hberties. 
 
 The struggle would, however, recommence with 
 
POLICIES FOR IRELAND 15 
 
 renewed bitterness. If Home Rule did not come 
 there would certainly be bloodshed. Any Govern- 
 ment which should repeal the Act would have to 
 be prepared to exercise the strongest measures in 
 suppressing public opinion, and to apply anew 
 the whole machinery of coercion, such as existed 
 last century and is now generally condemned. 
 There is no other alternative. 
 
 There would also be an outburst of anti- 
 Enghsh feeHng which would be shared by many 
 who are now most anxious to see friendly relations 
 between the two countries. Never again would 
 Ireland put any trust in the word or honour of 
 England. The feeling in Ireland would be some- 
 thing as follows : " England at last offered us 
 our just rights and passed the Bill. On the 
 strength of that she claimed our support in the 
 War and we gave it, claimed our men and we 
 gave them. Now when she has conquered and is 
 secure she flings our trust and our confidence back 
 in our face. Here is treachery as bad as any we 
 had suffered from before. The Sinn Feiners and 
 anti-recruiters were right. We were fools to have 
 trusted England, and never again will we trust her. ' ' 
 
 There can be small doubt that such would be 
 the result of a rigid Unionist PoHcy after the War. 
 It would play right into the hands of the extremest 
 sections. It may be just possible, though only 
 by coercion and bloodshed. On considerations 
 of honour, and no less on those of expediency, it 
 is out of the question. 
 
i6 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 To force through the full poHcy of either 
 opposing party is bound then to land us in 
 disaster. During the latter part of the con- 
 troversy in 1 9 14 this was practically admitted by 
 both sides. The Liberal Party expressly declared 
 that no attempt would be made to coerce Ulster, 
 and although the Unionists made no such definite 
 declaration, yet the many suggestions as to 
 " Home Rule All Round," the exclusion of Ulster, 
 and so forth, showed that most of them recognized 
 that some change from the present position was 
 inevitable. Both in England and Ireland the 
 widespread feehng was that a compromise had 
 to be found, and the months immediately pre- 
 ceding the outbreak of War were mainly spent in 
 seeking it. 
 
 The finding of a compromise, of some kind of 
 modus Vivendi for the two opposing parties, is the 
 real question before us now. What are called 
 here the EngHsh Policy and the Irish Policy are 
 two different methods of reaching it, either by 
 negotiations between EngHsh parties or by 
 agreement among Irishmen themselves. 
 
 The English Policy 
 In nearly all the negotiations and " conversa- 
 tions " regarding a settlement which took place 
 during the Home Rule controversy one cardinal 
 mistake was made. The negotiators were EngUsh 
 party leaders, not Irishmen, though Irishmen 
 were chiefly concerned in the result. From this 
 
POLICIES FOR IRELAND 17 
 
 it came about that a solution was sought along 
 entirely wrong lines. 
 
 After a period of uncertainty, English opinion 
 hardened into the belief that the solution must 
 be the exclusion from Home Rule of those parts 
 of Ireland which were opposed to it. From that 
 time the controversy raged round the extent of 
 that exclusion, four counties or six counties, or 
 a " clean cut " of the whole of Ulster. The 
 proposal is a characteristic example of the English 
 love of the via media, the belief that, given two 
 opposing parties, the right course is to grant part 
 to one and part to the other, so probably satisfying 
 neither. '' Three-quarters of Ireland a nation." 
 *' No Home Rule " — for Ulster. 
 
 Even in England few recommended exclusion 
 on its merits. It was put forward mainly as the 
 best available means of avoiding civil war, a 
 disagreeable necessity to be endured in order to 
 avoid worse evils, just as a man submits to the 
 amputation of a limb in order to save his life. It 
 found many apologists, but no friends. The 
 truth was expressed by Lord Loreburn in the 
 House of Lords when he said, " The policy of 
 exclusion has not a single friend that I am aware 
 of in this House or out of it.'* 
 
 It is, nevertheless, most probable that if war 
 had not intervened, English statesmen would 
 have put the expedient into operation, simply 
 through inability to see any better course. But 
 in Ireland the proposal has always been looked 
 
i8 IRELAND^S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 upon with deep distrust and dislike, mingled with 
 contempt. Ireland has often been a dumping- 
 ground for unwanted and hastily concocted 
 experiments, but few of them have been less 
 wanted or worse concocted than this. 
 
 Leaving aside the initial difficulties, as to how 
 much of Ulster should be excluded, the other 
 drawbacks to the scheme are immense. It seems 
 impossible to conceive that somewhere on the 
 railway line between Dublin and Belfast one 
 would come into a different country, with different 
 laws and different regulations. Exclusion means 
 among other difficulties all kinds of compHcations 
 of governmental machinery, the duplication of 
 our already far too numerous boards, continual 
 friction where the two sections of the country 
 come into contact. It would create endless 
 difficulties for the Irish Government, and would 
 leave Ulster in a most unsatisfactory position, 
 neither in England nor in Ireland, sharing the 
 disadvantages of both, and gaining few of the 
 benefits of either. To nearly every one in Ireland 
 the poUcy of exclusion has seemed ludicrous, 
 and, though possible, yet totally inadequate. It 
 means, to adapt the old phrase, " Relegating 
 all the laws of statesmanship to Saturn," and, 
 we may add, all hope of Irish unity to the Greek 
 Kalends. 
 
 The truth is that while each of the Irish parties 
 has made a show of solemnly discussing it, yet 
 they have all the time believed it to be unwork- 
 
POLICIES FOR IRELAND 19 
 
 able. They have been hoping that eventually the 
 impracticability of the scheme would become 
 evident, and that with the collapse of the poHcy 
 of compromise the whole Home Rule question 
 would be settled in their own favour. With this 
 hope in their minds, Irishmen have never given 
 the exclusion proposal the severe criticism it 
 deserves. 
 
 The situation seems much like the old story of 
 Solomon and the babies. England Hke a modern 
 Solomon has been holding up before us the living 
 body of Ireland, and saying, " You cannot both 
 have aU, so it must be cut in two, and part given 
 to one and part to the other. '* Up to now all 
 we have discussed is where the sword is to fall, 
 how much of the body is to be given to each. 
 None of us has seemed really alive to the atrocious 
 indignity of it. Cannot we now speak out and 
 say that we cannot allow such an atrocity to 
 be perpetrated, that from the love we all bear 
 to our country we cannot permit her to be rent 
 asunder ? 
 
 Another consideration enters into the subject 
 since the War began. On all hands exclusion was 
 spoken of as not good in itself, but as a makeshift 
 necessary to avoid civil war. As things turned 
 out civil war has been avoided. Is it not folly 
 now if we continue to adopt a makeshift poHcy 
 when the reasons which led to its adoption are 
 gone, and when we have time and opportunity to 
 devise a better ? 
 
20 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 The Irish Policy 
 
 We have seen that no purely party policy will 
 settle our difficulties. We have also seen that 
 the lines of compromise hitherto suggested by 
 EngHsh statesmen are open to the gravest objec- 
 tion, and will in effect leave the whole controversy 
 open, to be fought over again at a later date. 
 There remains one course of action before us, 
 what is called here the Irish PoUcy. A better 
 name would perhaps be the All-Ireland Policy. 
 
 To the explanation of this Irish PoHcy the rest 
 of this pamphlet is devoted. It is as yet a thing 
 intangible, since no effort has up to the present 
 been made to reach an All-Ireland settlement, but 
 the main conception may be set down in a few 
 words. It is that we in Ireland should fall back 
 on our own resources, that among ourselves we 
 should attempt to find a solution of the Home 
 Rule problem, not by means of a party triumph, 
 but by an agreement among all the parties 
 concerned. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 SETTLEMENT BY CONFERENCE 
 
 An Irish Conference to settle the Home Rule 
 question is no new suggestion. Throughout the 
 controversy it has been in the air, but up to the 
 present there have always been good reasons 
 against its adoption. In considering its advisa- 
 bility now it will be well to give a brief history of 
 the proposal, noting the points which have been 
 urged in its favour, and the causes which have in 
 the past rendered it impracticable or inopportune. 
 The latter, it will be found, have practically all 
 ceased to exist. 
 
 The suggestion had been made long before the 
 Home Rule Bill was introduced into Parliament. 
 For instance, Mr. Erskine Childers, at the end of 
 his book. The Framework of Home Rule, published 
 in 1911, writes as follows : " If a Home Rule 
 Constitution, passed into law in the heat of a 
 party fight at Westminster, proves to be perfect, 
 a miracle will have been performed unparalleled 
 in the history of the Empire. At this moment a 
 committee of Ireland's ablest men of all parties 
 
 should be at work upon it, with an instructed 
 
 21 
 
22 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 public opinion behind them. So only are good 
 Constitutions made, and even the very best need 
 subsequent amendment. Is it altogether idle to 
 hope that some such body will yet come into 
 existence, if not in time to influence the drafting 
 of the Bill, at any rate to bring to bear upon its 
 provisions the sober wisdom, not of one party 
 only in the State, but of all ; and so, if it were 
 possible, to give to the charter of Ireland in her 
 ' new birth of freedom * the sanction of a united 
 people ? " (The Framework of Home Rule, pp. 
 
 338, 339.) 
 
 Under our existing party system a proposal 
 
 such as this was impossible to carry out. The 
 
 Bill had to come before Parliament as a definitely 
 
 party measure, and to be discussed in a party 
 
 spirit. One side was concentrated on pushing it 
 
 through, and the other on opposing it might and 
 
 main. It was clearly impracticable that men 
 
 should amicably deliberate on the details of a 
 
 proposal on whose fundamentals they entirely 
 
 disagreed. A case Hke this shows the party 
 
 system at its very worst. One cannot help 
 
 wishing that some method might be devised by 
 
 which the main Hnes of a proposal should be first 
 
 settled by a party vote and details then amicably 
 
 discussed. In lesser Bills the system of Select 
 
 Committees has some such effect, but in a 
 
 Committee of the Whole House it is impossible. 
 
 The debates in Parliament grew more and 
 
 more bitter, till finally a pitch of exasperation 
 
SETTLEMENT BY CONFERENCE 23 
 
 was reached such as the House of Commons had 
 not seen for many years. Meanwhile in Ireland 
 the danger of an appeal to force was becoming 
 every day more real, thus gradually shifting the 
 centre of the dispute from political parties to 
 the rival Volunteers. But while parliamentary 
 action was on the verge of a breakdown the pro- 
 posal for a Conference was heard not once but 
 frequently. 
 
 In a modified form the suggestion was acted 
 upon, for " Conversations," " Negotiations," 
 *' Exchanges of Views " took place among the 
 political leaders, culminating in the Buckingham 
 Palace Conference. All the hopes placed in these 
 negotiations proved illusory, but the reasons are 
 obvious. The atmosphere of ParHament at the 
 time, the " scenes " and fierce recriminations 
 which were a feature of the debates, rendered it 
 impossible that successful negotiations should 
 take place in private between men who were 
 attacking one another so bitterly in public. It 
 was moreover a mistake that the negotiations 
 were almost confined to the English leaders, the 
 Irish rarely taking part. A still greater obstacle 
 was, of course, the warlike preparations in 
 Ireland. So long as the Volunteers were the real 
 masters of the situation, there was Kttle hope of 
 reason being brought to bear. 
 
 In the end it appeared that the Bill was to be 
 forced through Parliament by the sheer weight 
 of the party steam-roller, and the controversy 
 
24 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 settled outside of Parliament by violence and 
 bloodshed. Nevertheless through all this un- 
 happy time the idea of a settlement by Conference 
 was never very far away, and it found its clearest 
 expression at the very last moment, when too late 
 to bring it about. This was in a really remarkable 
 debate which took place in the House of Lords 
 on the Amending Bill on July i, 2, and 6, 1914, 
 the sort of debate which proves the real use of a 
 Second Chamber. 
 
 The note was first struck in a remarkable 
 speech by the Archbishop of York, in which he 
 said : " You will find that then there appears to 
 be a suggestion always standing ready and 
 waiting — the suggestion, I mean, that with a 
 sufficiency of goodwill it might be possible for 
 Irishmen themselves to arrive at a measure of 
 self-government which would meet their respec- 
 tive desires, and which would not be inconsistent 
 with any scheme of devolved government through- 
 out the United Kingdom." Again : " Until this 
 question can be got right away from the discus- 
 sions and explosions of party feelings which arise 
 in that House [of Commons] like storms on a 
 Highland lake, I see little chance of agreement. 
 But if Parliament will say to the two sections of 
 the Irish people, ' We will stand aside for awhile ; 
 we recognize that there may be a truce in this 
 matter ; we will give you a fair field in which 
 you can consider these matters together with a 
 view to the unity and welfare of your whole 
 
SETTLEMENT BY CONFERENCE 25 
 
 country/ I dare to believe that Irishmen on both 
 sides would rise to the opportunity." 
 
 It is not strange that the suggestion should 
 have come from one who was not a poHtician, 
 and in reading the Archbishop's speech one feels 
 that here at last the public, which is not interested 
 in party triumphs so much as in a settlement, 
 was finding a mouthpiece. This speech set the 
 lines of the debate. Nearly aU the succeeding 
 speakers, who included many of the best known 
 Enghsh and Irish Peers, were favourable to the 
 idea of a Conference. Lord Dunraven and Lord 
 Macdonnell strongly advocated it. Lord Curzon 
 beheved that it was going to come, but not yet. 
 Lord Meath expressed very strong views as to 
 making it altogether Irish. " I would say let no 
 Enghshman, Scotsman, or Welshman be in it. . . . 
 I believe all our difficulties are caused through 
 the intermixing of the British who are not Irish. 
 That has been the trouble. If we Irishmen 
 could only get together and get rid of the EngHsh- 
 men, Scotsmen, and Welshmen I beheve we could 
 settle our differences in a very short time." 
 These are remarkable words in the mouth of a 
 Unionist. 
 
 One argument and one argument alone was 
 brought against the proposal — namely,the extreme 
 urgency of the crisis with which the country was 
 faced. At a time when any trivial incident in 
 Ireland might mean the outbreak of violence, it 
 seemed foUy to run the risk which would be 
 
26 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 incurred in waiting for a Conference to do its 
 work. Something had to be done at once, and 
 the exclusion of Ulster or part of Ulster seemed 
 the only course possible. For that reason, 
 sufficient at the time, the proposal was again set 
 aside. 
 
 From then events marched quickly. In less 
 than a month we had seen the failure of the last 
 attempt at agreement, the Buckingham Palace 
 Conference, and a few days after we were at war. 
 
 Since the War began, a Conference was impos- 
 sible till a few weeks ago. Now it is not merely 
 possible, but almost a necessity. 
 
 The arguments in favour of a Conference 
 remain as strong as ever, but the former urgent 
 objections have passed away. If the diagnosis 
 of the situation given in chapter ii is in any 
 degree correct, than a settlement by consent is 
 as necessary as ever before. The atmosphere is 
 now as favourable to a Conference as formerly it 
 was unpropitious. We have been purged of 
 much of the worst evils of party spirit. We are 
 no longer in danger of an outburst in Ireland, 
 driving us to seek some temporary makeshift in 
 order to avoid disaster. We have time to think 
 and to plan, to erect a permanent structure 
 instead of a makeshift. 
 
 Many plans were formerly tried to settle the 
 Home Rule question, and they led us to the 
 brink of destruction. By a miracle destruction 
 was avoided, and we were given a second chance. 
 
SETTLEMENT BY CONFERENCE 27 
 
 It will be sheer folly if we rely again on those 
 same methods which so nearly ruined us before. 
 Is it not merely common sense, that now, when 
 the opportunity is given us, we should lay hold 
 on that method, which, while it was impracticable, 
 was pronounced to be the best ? 
 
 In following this course, which has been so 
 often and so strongly advocated, we would not 
 be attempting something unheard of in the 
 world before. Conferences such as that proposed 
 have on numerous occasions proved the most 
 successful methods of political action in situations 
 closely resembling our own. It may be worth 
 while here to give a very brief account of some 
 past Conferences. There is no need to dip into 
 far distant history. We can take three examples 
 from practically our own day, the South African 
 Conference of 1906, and two Irish instances, the 
 Recess Committee, and the Land Convention. 
 
 In the opening years of the present century 
 South African statesmen were faced with a 
 pecuharly difficult task, of reconciling and weld- 
 ing together two races which had just been 
 engaged in an exceptionally long and determined 
 war. After the war the two defeated provinces 
 had been granted a large measure of self-govern- 
 ment, enabling them to stand on the same footing 
 as Cape Colony and Natal. But disputes among 
 the four were frequent, and the attempts made 
 to deal with them were unsuccessful. It appeared 
 that rivalry betw^een the provincial interests, 
 
28 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 combined with the old racial bitterness, was to 
 keep the country in a permanent state of friction 
 and distrust. Sectional selfishness was to be the 
 rule. 
 
 The new factor which brought about a settle- 
 ment was the rise of a new conception of South 
 African unity, of a South African nation com- 
 prising both British and Dutch, rising above 
 those smaller things which kept them apart. 
 Men began to see that to work together for the 
 advancement of their whole country was a finer 
 thing than to strive each for his own ends. 
 
 The result of this new spirit was a Convention 
 of men from all the four provinces, which met 
 for a considerable time in 1906, and which drew 
 up the Constitution for the South African Union. 
 In a gathering of men of two distinct races and 
 holding many divergent views, there naturally 
 was great difficulty in arriving at a working 
 agreement. There had to be compromise, but 
 these men were found ready to sink something of 
 their own desires, and to allow for the opinions 
 of those who thought differently from them, 
 realizing that thus alone they could attain the 
 agreement they were set upon. We know the 
 result. The Conference drew up a plan of Union 
 which passed through the Imperial Parliament 
 practically as they had made it. The new Con- 
 stitution has now been in force for some years 
 and the conception of a united South Africa has 
 become a settled one. It has proved its effective- 
 
SETTLEMENT BY CONFERENCE 29 
 
 ness in the present War. There have, it is true, 
 been a few who still think of themselves as Dutch 
 first and South Africans after, but they have 
 been of but small account against that all- 
 embracing party, British and Dutch combined, 
 led by that truly great man who once fought so 
 stoutly against Great Britain and who now has 
 shown himself the best friend of the Empire and 
 of both sections of his own people. Have we no 
 man who will prove the Botha of Ireland ? 
 
 To come nearer home, we may glance at our 
 former Irish Conferences. In August 1895, after 
 the downfall of Parnell and the break-up of his 
 party, Sir Horace Plunkett made the suggestion 
 of a small gathering of representative men to 
 consider " A proposal affecting the general welfare 
 of Ireland " — namely, the formation of a Govern- 
 ment department to assist agriculture and kindred 
 pursuits. After some difficulty a very representa- 
 tive committee, which came to be known as the 
 " Recess Committee " was got together. The 
 larger section of NationaHsts, the Anti-Parnellites, 
 held aloof, but the ParneUites under the leader- 
 ship of Mr. John Redmond took their share. 
 Unionism, North and South, was well represented. 
 The Committee also included many non-politi- 
 cians, business men in particular. After pro- 
 longed discussion, and investigations both in 
 Ireland and other countries, it drew up definite 
 proposals for the formation of a " Department of 
 Agriculture and Technical Instruction." 
 
30 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 The recommendations made by the Committee 
 found support throughout the country, and, 
 though postponed for some time, in 1899 an Act 
 was passed through Parhament setting up the 
 department on the Hues suggested. The Recess 
 Committee is a very definite landmark in Irish 
 history, being the first occasion on which a 
 legislative proposal of magnitude was carried 
 through with the consent of all classes of Irish- 
 men and as a result of their own dehberations. 
 It struck to the ground the old fallacy that we 
 could never arrange any matter amicably among 
 ourselves. 
 
 The subject under discussion at the Recess 
 Committee was not one which had previously 
 aroused any violent ill-feeUng, and so was con- 
 siderably easier to settle than that mth which 
 the next Conference dealt. The Land Convention 
 put its hand to one of the thorniest problems to 
 be found in Ireland. Land Purchase had for 
 some time been under discussion, both inside and 
 outside Parhament, but all the suggestions on the 
 subject had proved fruitless. It seemed impos- 
 sible, so far as parliamentary action went, to 
 find any course of action satisfactory to both 
 landlords and tenants. Under these circum- 
 stances a meeting was suggested of representatives 
 of those most closely concerned, and at the end 
 of 1902 the Conference took place, consisting of 
 landlords and of members of the Nationahst 
 party, under the presidency of Lord Dunraven. 
 
SETTLEMENT BY CONFERENCE 31 
 
 The upshot was that an agreement was reached 
 as to the general Unes which Land Purchase 
 ought to take, and eventually the recommenda- 
 tions of the Convention were embodied in the 
 Wyndham Act of 1903. In this instance we see 
 most clearly the advantages of the method of 
 " Settlement by Conference." Men who could do 
 nothing but disagree so long as they harangued 
 in Parliament or on platforms, found that when 
 they were brought face to face their difficulties 
 could be surmounted. In matters of this kind 
 privacy and quiet conversation are infinitely 
 more effective than speechmaking. 
 
 These two Irish Conferences are of most 
 hopeful augury. While it cannot be maintained 
 that the problems solved by them were so large 
 or so difficult as that which confronts us now, 
 nevertheless they were of considerable moment, 
 and the Land question at any rate was one 
 which had aroused ill-feehng for many years. 
 The difficulties before the Land Convention are 
 the same in kind though less in degree than those 
 before us at present. 
 
 The three Conferences mentioned here had 
 many points in common. In each case there was 
 a long-standing quarrel, in which both sides held 
 honestly and steadfastly to their convictions, but 
 which was seen to be injurious in its effects. In 
 each case a widespread desire for peace was 
 manifest, but many believed the difficulties in 
 the way to be insurmountable. In each case 
 
32 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 men were found ready to risk their personal 
 reputations and to attempt an extremely difficult 
 task ; and in each case when these men met 
 they were able to reach an agreement satisfactory 
 to them all. Finally, after each of these Con- 
 ferences, when the men whom their fellow- 
 countrjmien could trust had put forward their 
 recommendations, these were gladly accepted by 
 the nation at large. 
 
 Can we at present reproduce these conditions 
 and these results ? We certainly have a long- 
 standing dispute to settle, and a widespread 
 desire to settle it. Have we statesmen who will 
 risk all in order to bring about an agreement ? 
 Have the Irish people the loyalty and the 
 patriotism to support a Conference and to accept 
 its conclusions ? 
 
 The answers to these questions time alone can 
 give. It will, however, show that we are as a 
 people at an extraordinarily low ebb, if at such a 
 time as this we cannot find leaders broad enough 
 and patriotic enough to seek not party gains or 
 the enhancement of their own reputations, but 
 the attainment of that peace which our country 
 so urgently needs. The situation is much com- 
 pUcated by personal rivalries and antipathies, 
 but the country has a right to demand that in so 
 vital a matter personal feelings should not stand 
 too much in the way. 
 
 The answer to the second question is easier. 
 We have been called a " leader-loving " people, 
 
SETTLEMENT BY CONFERENCE 33 
 
 in fact we are sometimes only too ready to follow 
 unthinkingly a leader to whom we once have 
 given our trust. In the present case this charac- 
 teristic will be to the good. A policy backed by 
 twenty or thirty representative men would almost 
 certainly be hailed not merely with rehef but 
 with delight. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A CONFERENCE IN BEING 
 
 While considering in this chapter the personnel, 
 methods, and objects of an Irish Conference, we 
 must continually keep in mind the general con- 
 ception of what it is to be. The ideal is a free, 
 informal gathering of the wisest and most trusted 
 men in the country, chosen partly as representa- 
 tives of various points of view, but mainly as 
 being patriotic and honest men. Their purpose 
 would be to devise means by which an agreed 
 settlement on the Home Rule question may be 
 reached, so avoiding a possible calamity, and 
 bringing permanent peace to Ireland. 
 
 Most of the details as to the composition and 
 work of such a Conference can best be arranged 
 when it is being summoned, but there are certain 
 oroad and general considerations which can be 
 deduced from the history of past Conferences 
 and from the facts of the present day. 
 
 As regards size, it has been the universal 
 experience in the past that a Conference of this 
 kind should be as small as possible, consistent 
 with being thoroughly representative of the 
 
 34 
 
A CONFERENCE IN BEING 35 
 
 country as a whole. No important point of 
 view should be unrepresented, but at the same 
 time the gathering must be kept within the 
 limits of a committee, and not grow into a 
 debating assembly. From this we may deduce 
 that the delegates ought to number not less than 
 fifteen and certainly not more than thirty, about 
 twenty being perhaps the ideal number. One 
 reason which might be given for twenty is that 
 that is about the largest number of men which 
 can be comfortably seated round a table ! 
 Whether round the proverbial table or not, it is a 
 convenient size for a real working committee. 
 
 The method of selection of delegates requires 
 great care. It may appear at first sight that the 
 whole Conference might be composed of repre- 
 sentatives of the parhamentary parties, but 
 by such a course we would not secure by any 
 means the best possible delegates. Without 
 throwing any slur on our present members of 
 Parhament, it will readily be admitted that they 
 do not contain within their ranks all or nearly all 
 the most capable public men who can be found. 
 This would be true in any parliamentary country, 
 but particularly in Ireland. Up to now the whole 
 purpose of being in Parliament in any Irish party 
 has been to vote straight for or against one 
 particular measure. Concentration on a single 
 issue, and the necessary evil of pledge-bound 
 parties, has brought it about that the members of 
 each party are very much of a type. There 
 
36 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 has been little room for diversity or originality. 
 The independent man, and also the moderate 
 man, has been crushed out. Men of constructive 
 and administrative abihty have had practically 
 no inducement to enter ParHament. 
 
 This position of affairs we may hope to see 
 greatly altered in an Irish ParHament, and the 
 change must begin at our Constitutional Con- 
 ference. In it we vnU. certainly need the strong 
 party man, but we wiU also need the man who can 
 see the point of view of his opponents, and the 
 man who owns allegiance to no party at all. 
 
 The politicians would, however, naturally form 
 the nucleus, and the first step might be to induce 
 the parliamentary parties to select a fixed 
 number of delegates out of their own ranks. 
 These delegates should number less than half of 
 the total membership contemplated. 
 
 It would then be possible to foUow the example 
 of the Recess Committee and let the other members 
 be added simply by co-option, but on the whole 
 it seems better that some at least of them should 
 be chosen by other means. 
 
 Some delegates might be chosen by pubUc 
 bodies, but it is not very easy to determine 
 what bodies should be given this right. Suppose, 
 however, by way of example, that the Corporations 
 of Dublin and Belfast, the County Councils' 
 General Council, and the Council of Agriculture 
 sent delegates, we should then secure two re- 
 presentatives each of urban and rural interests. 
 
A CONFERENCE IN BEING 37 
 
 Perhaps the Chambers of Commerce might be 
 represented, or such organizations as the Irish 
 Agricultural Organization Society. 
 
 It would be well that some members should 
 be nominated by a neutral party. The best 
 person to do this might be the Lord Lieutenant, 
 if a Lord Lieutenant is now appointed, acting, 
 however, not in his official capacity as Lord 
 Lieutenant, but as a gentleman closely in touch 
 with Irish affairs, who yet by very reason of his 
 position cannot be identified with any party. 
 This question of nominations is not one about 
 which there need be any heart-burnings, lest it 
 should be used to weight the scales in any party's 
 favour. It is suggested as the best way to secure 
 the participation of certain men (as, for example, 
 some members of the House of Peers), whose 
 voice and influence would be of the utmost value, 
 but who are unUkely to be chosen as delegates 
 otherwise. 
 
 Representatives of poHtical parties and pubHc 
 bodies, with those nominated, would account for 
 the great majority of the delegates. As well 
 as these the Committee should have considerable 
 powers of co-option. These powers should be 
 exercised in two ways. First, it would probably 
 be necessary to bring in as regular members of the 
 Conference several men whom the former pro- 
 cesses of election and nomination had passed 
 over. Secondly, men of expert knowledge might 
 be co-opted for those parts of the deUberations 
 
38 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 in which their advice would be particularly 
 valuable. For instance, when the special subject 
 under discussion was Finance it would be ad- 
 visable to call in some financial experts, whose 
 position and influence in the country might hardly 
 warrant their participation in the whole of the 
 proceedings. 
 
 If these lines of selection were adopted a Com- 
 mittee of twenty might be constituted somewhat 
 as follows : 
 
 Unionist Party .... 4 
 
 Nationalist Party ... 4 
 
 O'Brienite Party . . . i 
 
 Representatives of Pubhc Bodies 4 
 
 Nominated. .... 4 
 
 Co-opted * .... 3 
 
 Total . . 20 
 
 This scheme of selection is not put forward as 
 the best possible, but merely by way of suggestion. 
 It may serve as a starting-point for discussion 
 with a view to devising the best. Such a combina- 
 tion of election, nomination, and co-option ought 
 to result in a varied and thoroughly representative 
 assemblage, including men of some classes which 
 at present are almost unrepresented in Parlia- 
 ment. The delegates should include business 
 men, some of the landed gentry, men of leisure 
 
 * Exclusive of those who might be from time to time 
 co-opted for special purposes as suggested above. 
 
A CONFERENCE IN BEING 39 
 
 and learning. It would be well also if some 
 younger men who are not widely known in politics 
 should be included, for the views of the younger 
 men at present often differ widely from those of 
 the older leaders of the same party. The diffi- 
 culty here is that most are now abroad. 
 
 It may be well to point out here that there is 
 no need to aim at any exact numerical balance 
 of parties. If a party has but few delegates it 
 wiU still be able to make its voice heard sufficiently, 
 and there will be Httle chance of minorities being 
 voted down. Except in matters of small detail 
 decisions must be arrived at unanimously, and 
 in the last resort there is always open to any 
 aggrieved minority the possibiHty of withdrawing 
 altogether from the Conference. The withdrawal 
 of any considerable section would, however, so 
 shake the authority of the whole Conference 
 that it would be greatly to the interests of a 
 majority to avoid any action which would lead to a 
 secession. 
 
 The question of Chairman may present some 
 difficulty, as it is next to impossible to find any 
 Irishman who is not already ticked off with a 
 party label (in Ireland even the very fact of 
 belonging to no party is in itself a party label), 
 while it would be against the whole spirit of the 
 proceedings to introduce as Chairman one who 
 was not an Irishman. The simplest plan might 
 be to allow the members, or some of them, to 
 preside in rotation. 
 
40 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 In order to prevent pressure being put on the 
 delegates the meetings ought to be held in camera, 
 and newspaper reporters excluded. The members 
 would be better able to speak with the needed 
 frankness if they knew that their remarks were 
 not Hable to be pulled to pieces and twisted out 
 of all recognition by enterprising journaHsts 
 writing leaders in the next day's papers. Any 
 definite progress made or decision reached could 
 be communicated to the press as a report. 
 
 An important point is that the dehberations 
 should be unhurried. The successful Conferences 
 mentioned in the preceding chapter all extended 
 over a considerable time, running in some cases 
 into many months. It would be safest to count 
 on the Conference lasting quite six months, if 
 we allow for the fact that it would not be able to 
 sit continuously. This is an additional reason 
 why steps should be taken soon to bring it into 
 being. 
 
 The subjects for discussion by the Conference 
 will be considered in some detail in the follo^^ing 
 chapters. Here it will suffice to say that the 
 tangible result ought to be a series of very definite 
 recommendations, needing only to be drafted 
 into an Amending Bill to the Home Rule Act. An 
 Amending Bill is certain in any case ; the purpose 
 of a Conference would be to make it an agreed 
 Bill, one which could pass through ParHament 
 with the consent and backing of Ireland. It 
 can hardly be questioned that if the Conference 
 
A CONFERENCE IN BEING 41 
 
 could issue a definite agreed scheme for the Bill 
 it would receive the backing both of the people 
 of Ireland and of the British ParHament. Both 
 would hail with gladness a real settlement of 
 a question which has been a burden to them so 
 long. 
 
 For this reason the delegates ought not to 
 hesitate to put forward, if they think it best, 
 a solution on some new lines, entirely different 
 from any previously suggested. When we re- 
 member how the present Act was drawn up with 
 the object of fitting as many interests as possible, 
 with a concession here and a safeguard there, 
 when we remember also how haphazard and 
 unhelpful much of the discussions on it in 
 Parliament were, then it will seem very prob- 
 able that Irishmen meeting now in a new 
 atmosphere of peace will change it in important 
 respects. 
 
 In concluding this chapter it may be well 
 to glance at one definite objection to a Conference. 
 It will be said that the course proposed is un- 
 constitutional ; that it means setting up by the 
 side of Parliament another body which will be 
 in effect a legislative body. A Conference will 
 not, however, usurp the functions of Parliament, 
 for on any recommendations which it may put 
 forward Parliament will have the final voice. 
 The most important thing to remember is that 
 in the period before the War the Irish question 
 had reaUy passed beyond parhamentary control. 
 
42 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 The snccessful issue of a Conference would bring 
 it under that control again. In a difficulty of 
 this kind, where ordinary constitutional means 
 have been found unavailing, some extra-con- 
 stitutional procedure seems to be necessary. 
 
CH-\PTER V 
 
 PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 
 (a) ULSTER 
 
 This and the following chapter are devoted to a 
 consideration of the two great tasks which will 
 confront an Irish Conference. These are, first 
 and foremost, the settlement of the Lister question 
 by agreement between Unionists and NationaHsts ; 
 secondly, the improvement of the Home Rule 
 Act. In many respects the two tasks are closely 
 intertwined. 
 
 Before entering on a consideration of how these 
 questions may be dealt with, one word of caution 
 is necessar}'. The main purpose of this pamphlet 
 is to advocate a Conference, not to attempt the 
 impossible feat of forecasting its results. All the 
 suggestions which will be made in these chapters 
 are to be looked on as purely tentative ; some of 
 them may turn out to be thoroughly bad sugges- 
 tions. But even if that be so, it does not in the 
 least follow that a Conference is not our best 
 course, for a gathering of our ablest and wisest 
 men will surely be able to think out plans of 
 
 43 
 
44 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 action much better than any which can be put 
 forward at present. 
 
 The status of Ulster is now as formerly the 
 most difficult problem. If it be the case, as was 
 pointed out in chapter ii, that Home Rule in 
 some form must come, and that Home Rule with 
 Ulster excluded is disliked by all sections of 
 Irishmen, then the chief task for a Conference is 
 to devise some means by which Home Rule may 
 be made acceptable to Ulster, so that without 
 loss of her own principles she may unite with the 
 rest of Ireland. 
 
 In the past the insuperable stumbling-block 
 has been that neither side has been ready so 
 much as to look at its opponent's point of view. 
 NationaHsts have simply shouted that Ulster 
 must come in willy-nilly ; Ulstermen have 
 shouted back, " We will not have Home Rule." 
 Each side has continued shouting so loudly that 
 it could hear nothing except its own voice. We 
 can now adopt a more reasonable procedure. It 
 rests with Nationalists to point out the substantial 
 advantages which will be gained by the inclusion 
 of Ulster. It rests with Ulster to show how 
 inclusion may be made acceptable to her. In this 
 chapter we may consider the question from these 
 two points of view. 
 
 Granted that some kind of Home Rule is 
 coming, the arguments in favour of including all 
 Ireland in its scope are overwhelmingly strong. 
 To take the widest aspect first, the interests of 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 45 
 
 the Empire as a whole demand the inclusion of 
 Ulster, for if there be any fear of a self-governing 
 Ireland showing tendencies towards " separatism," 
 then the addition to the Irish electorate of a 
 body of men with the staunch Imperial loyalty 
 of the Ulster Protestants is the best possible 
 antidote. 
 
 Next, from the point of view of the United 
 Kingdom as a whole it is altogether desirable to 
 make Ireland one unit, and so to remove the 
 m.any causes of friction which would arise if 
 Ulster were excluded. 
 
 Turning to Ireland, it is certain that among 
 South of Ireland Protestants the prospect of the 
 exclusion of Ulster is looked on with the utmost 
 dislike. When first proposed they regarded it as 
 treachery on the part of Ulster. Without Ulster 
 they would be an insignificant minority ; with 
 Ulster they would have an important place in 
 the country, and would obtain a safeguard 
 against any intolerance such as some of them 
 dread. 
 
 For NationaHsts the advantages of the inclusion 
 of Ulster are too obvious to need mention. While 
 Home Rule could be made a success without 
 Ulster, yet the difficulties would be vastly 
 increased. 
 
 It remains to consider the effect of exclusion 
 on Ulster herself. One evil result of the last 
 phase of the Home Rule controversy being 
 centred on the question of exclusion is that most 
 
46 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 of us have now got the idea firmly fixed in our 
 minds that, whatever the other merits or demerits 
 of the proposal, for Ulster at any rate exclusion 
 would be advantageous. This notion is, however, 
 entirely erroneous. Exclusion has never been 
 advocated for any positive advantages, but 
 merely as a makeshift to avoid civil war. If 
 the people of Ulster will take the trouble to 
 examine the proposal they will find out that, 
 even looking at the matter selfishly, they will 
 make the greatest possible mistake if they insist 
 upon being excluded. 
 
 One disadvantage of exclusion is well pointed 
 out by Sir Horace Plunkett in his pamphlet 
 published just before the War, The Better Way ; 
 a Plea to tflster not to desert Ireland, in which he 
 maintains that Ulster industries will greatly 
 suffer if cut off from the economic life of the rest 
 of the country. It seems to be the opinion both 
 of economists and of practical statesmen that a 
 country flourishes best with a mixture of agri- 
 culture and manufactures. To separate the 
 agricultural and manufacturing districts into 
 watertight compartments would be injurious to 
 both, especially the latter. 
 
 An excluded Ulster would probably lose most 
 of her trade with the rest of Ireland. Whether a 
 regular boycott was instituted or not, it is certain 
 that many persons in the south would be chary 
 about buying the produce of those who had 
 deliberately cut themselves off. Belfast might 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 47 
 
 lose her pre-eminence as a distributing and 
 exporting centre. 
 
 Let us glance at the poHtical status of an 
 excluded Ulster. Supposing, for the sake of 
 argument, that six counties were excluded, that 
 would give Ulster twenty-five seats in the 
 British ParHament. These seats are at present 
 held by sixteen Unionists and nine National- 
 ists. Such a small array of voting strength 
 would put Ulster on the level of a single 
 EngHsh county, and that not one of the largest. 
 Save in most exceptional circumstances Ulster 
 could be disregarded by the British parties ; her 
 wishes and grievances would find a deaf ear in 
 the House of Commons. If, on the other hand, 
 she will throw in her lot with the rest of Ireland, 
 she will have a larger representation than any 
 other province, and by using her power to 
 mould Irish poHcy her influence on wider 
 Imperial matters will in the end be greatly en- 
 hanced. 
 
 These industrial and political disadvantages 
 are but some of the many drawbacks under 
 which an excluded Ulster would labour. The 
 anomalous position of the province or of the six 
 or five or four counties would be a constant 
 source of friction and annoyance. Disputes with 
 the rest of Ireland would be continually arising, 
 small in themselves, but troublesome. Differences 
 of laws, even slight, would be a constant source 
 of vexation to those living on the frontier, or to 
 
48 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 those whose business lay partly in one section of 
 the country and partly in the other. Ulster 
 people would have to endure many of the disad- 
 vantages of Home Rule, without enjoying any 
 of its benefits. Ulster would be neither in 
 England nor in Ireland, but in that proverbially 
 perilous position, between two stools. 
 
 Such are some of the disadvantages of an 
 excluded Ulster. What would an included Ulster 
 gain ? First of all, if the matter is amicably 
 settled by an Irish Conference, she will secure a 
 lasting settlement, instead of having to look 
 forward to years of uncertainty. She wiU gain 
 stabihty for her industries, an improved market 
 throughout Ireland for her produce, a large 
 votii3^ strength in the Irish ParHament, giving 
 her a voice which in some cases may be the 
 decisive voice. 
 
 Perhaps the most important gain would be 
 something which it is hard to put into words, but 
 which may be expressed by saying that Ulster 
 would become the most popular part of Ireland. 
 Throughout the controversy respect for Ulster 
 was growing, and if now she should decide of her 
 own accord to unite with the rest of Ireland, she 
 would immediately attain a commanding position 
 in the country. A declaration of comradeship 
 from Ulster would work wonders, for trust begets 
 trust. To those who argue their poHtics entirely 
 in pounds, shillings, and pence such a " mere 
 sentiment " may seem of httle value, but in 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 49 
 
 reality it will make all the difference between 
 success and failure under the new regime. 
 
 One result of a new comradeship of this kind 
 would very probably be to give Ulster a con- 
 siderable share in the Government. This is not 
 the place to discuss the probable grouping of 
 parties in an Irish ParHament, though it is 
 certain to be widely different from the present. 
 There are, however, many reasons for urging that 
 the first Irish Cabinet should be a kind of CoaUtion, 
 comprising the very best men in the country, so 
 as to inspire confidence and give the best possible 
 start to self-government. If such a CoaHtion 
 were formed, Ulster ought to be represented in 
 it. If our ablest statesmen had met in Con- 
 ference already and come to agreement it would 
 not be difficult to form an Administration out of 
 their number. 
 
 A Coalition would undoubtedly break up after- 
 wards, but it would at any rate tide the country 
 over the early stages of Home Rule, and cause 
 the eventual grouping of parties to be on new 
 and better lines. 
 
 Having considered some of the arguments 
 which should influence Ulster in the direction of 
 inclusion, we may now turn to the stipulations 
 which Ulster on her part might make. On this 
 there is very Httle to guide us, since Ulstermen 
 have never gone so far as to suggest any altera- 
 tions which might make Home Rule more 
 tolerable. A Httle Hght is thrown by a remark 
 
50 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 made long ago by Sir Edward Carson, that what 
 he dreaded under Home Rule was not legislative 
 injustice, but injustice in the conduct of admini- 
 stration and in the exercise of patronage. This 
 would point to leaving in the hands of Ulstermen 
 a considerable control over their own local 
 administration, in fact to setting up what has 
 been called '' Home Rule within Home Rule." 
 This pleasant-sounding phrase has never been 
 exactly defined, but the Hues such a scheme 
 might take may be learnt from the Amendments 
 to the Bill which were put before the House of 
 Lords by Lord Macdonnell on July 8, 1914. 
 Translating the proposals from the language of 
 Statutes to human speech, the salient points are 
 as follows : 
 
 1. The Province of Ulster, while coming under 
 the Home Rule Act, is to be regarded as a *' special 
 area." 
 
 2. For this " special area " an Ulster Council 
 is to be set up, consisting of the Ulster Members 
 elected to the Irish ParUament. 
 
 3. This Ulster Council is to have control over 
 certain matters, known as the " divided services/' 
 in so far as they apply to Ulster. 
 
 The " divided services " are to be : 
 
 (a) Education. 
 
 (b) Matters now administered by the Local 
 Government Board. 
 
 (c) Matters now administered by the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture and Technical Instruction. 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 51 
 
 (d) Any other matters which may be trans- 
 ferred by Orders in Council. 
 
 4. The money required for the " divided 
 services " is to be allotted to the Irish ParHament 
 and the Ulster Council respectively by the Joint 
 Exchequer Board. 
 
 5. A vote may be taken on the petition of 
 one-fifth of the inhabitants of Ulster as to whether 
 it is desirable to bring the Ulster Council to an 
 end, and reunite the " divided services " under 
 the Irish Parliament. 
 
 These proposals give the general lines of 
 " Home Rule within Home Rule," but are, of 
 course, capable of considerable variation. Of 
 the particular matters which it is suggested 
 should be left to Ulster the most important is 
 education. If an Ulsterman is pressed as to 
 definite points on which he is afraid of meeting 
 with ill-treatment, he generally mentions educa- 
 tion first of all, and it must be admitted with a 
 good deal of reason. He would probably feel 
 much happier if education were to be left in his 
 own care. 
 
 " Home Rule within Home Rule " is not, 
 however, the only course possible. Other pro- 
 posals have been made, such as that of Sir Horace 
 Plunkett, that Ulster should join with the rest 
 of Ireland at first, but after a trial of Home Rule 
 should be allowed to vote herself out afterwards 
 if she desired. A clause to this effect might be 
 inserted as a safeguard. NationaHsts could feel 
 
52 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 confident that if self-government proves as suc- 
 '^ssfnl as they expect, a vote for exclusion will 
 iever become necessary. 
 
 Such a proposal as that of giving Ulster a 
 representation in Parliament larger than that 
 to which her population entitles her is hardly 
 feasible, and savours too much of artificial 
 constitution-building. Proportional representa- 
 tion, however, might be found desirable, so as to 
 safeguard the interests of minorities. 
 
 A more important gain to Ulster than all these 
 safeguards would be the improvement of the 
 Home Rule Act. WTiile to an absolutely uncom- 
 promising Unionist one kind of Home Rule 
 may seem to be equally the devil's work as 
 another, there are very many Unionists whose 
 objections are not so much to the idea in itself 
 as to the form in which it is embodied. By a 
 Conference the present Act may be moulded 
 into a form which would remove many objections. 
 Some of the possible improvements are suggested 
 in the following chapter. 
 
 The greatest difficulty in attempting to satisfy 
 Ulster is, however, that Ulster has never put 
 forward any demands, but simply a blank non 
 possumus. Will not some Ulstermen come forward 
 even now and say what can be done in order to 
 meet their wishes ? 
 
 It will be seen that there are large grounds for 
 hope that by means of a Conference we may yet 
 bring into being a united Ireland in our genera- 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 53 
 
 tion. We cannot, however, be certain that a 
 Conference would succeed in this aim. Ulster 
 might still insist on exclusion. But even so a 
 Conference might not wholly fail, for it would 
 probably effect a reconciliation between Nation- 
 alists and the Unionists of the south. This would 
 be but a poor second-best compared with uniting 
 all Ireland, and yet even such a second-best would 
 be well worth attaining. 
 
 One point in conclusion. Suppose it to be 
 found that exclusion is, after all, the only course, 
 is there no better plan than to leave Ulster 
 simply as she is at present, directly under the 
 Imperial Parliament ? Such a course is perhaps 
 the least desirable of all. It would be far better 
 to give Ulster a Government of her own, standing 
 on the same sort of footing as the Irish ParUa- 
 ment. This would hardly be disagreeable to 
 Ulster, and would be a less violent dismember- 
 ment of Ireland than the kind of exclusion put 
 forward in 1914. It might prove a step on the 
 road to unity. If two Governments were set 
 up in Ireland, it would soon be found necessary 
 for them to enter into relations with one another, 
 and (as happened in the case of South Africa) 
 when an avenue of approach was once established 
 a fusion might ultimately take place. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 
 
 (b) THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 HOME RULE ACT 
 
 Whether a Conference takes place or not, it is 
 certain that the Home Rule Act must be amended. 
 The purpose of a Conference would be to insure 
 that the amendment is in a direction acceptable 
 to Ireland, and such as will improve, not merely 
 compHcate, the existing measure. 
 
 The clauses of the Act which have come in for 
 the severest criticism are those dealing with 
 Finance, and all have to admit that some at any 
 rate of the criticisms have been well founded. 
 Such a book as Mr. A. W. Samuels' Home Rule 
 Finance makes out a very strong case against 
 many of the provisions. And it is not only 
 Unionists who have criticised. Strong National- 
 ists are exceedingly dubious as to how the arrange- 
 ments would work. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter again into any de- 
 tailed explanation or criticism of the Finance of 
 the Act. Those who are interested in such matters 
 have discussed it to their hearts' content, and the 
 majority who never try to understand figures mil 
 not do so because they are set out here. 
 
 54 
 
 I 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 55 
 
 In the very roughest outHne the financial 
 scheme is as follows. Irish taxes are to be col- 
 lected by the United Kingdom authorities, and 
 from the United Kingdom authorities Ireland 
 is to receive back the greater part of her income 
 in the form of a '* Transferred Sum." This 
 " Transferred Sum " is to be composed thus : 
 
 (a) A sum representing the cost of Irish Ser- 
 vices (that is, of the Irish Administration in 
 general, except the " Reserved Services ") at the 
 time of the passing of the Act. 
 
 (b) A sum of ;£5oo,ooo gradually diminishing 
 to £200,000. 
 
 (c) A sum equal to the proceeds of any new 
 taxation imposed by the Irish Parliament. 
 
 To the " Transferred Sum " is to be added a 
 smaU amount to be derived from fee stamps 
 and the revenue from the Irish Post Office. 
 Taking the provisional figures given in the White 
 Paper which explained the Bill (they are given 
 here as summarized in Mr. Samuels' Home Rule 
 Finance), we find the revenue of Ireland in the 
 first year to be roughly as follows : 
 
 Sum representing the cost of £ 
 
 Irish Services (a) . . 5,627,000 
 
 Sum of £500,000 {b) . , 500,000 
 
 Post Office . . . 1,354,000 
 
 Fee Stamps . . . 81,000 
 
 Total . . . £7,562,000 
 
56 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 Of these sums {a) will remain constant and 
 (b) will diminish, while the only way in v/hich 
 the amount can be increased is by the imposition 
 of fresh Irish taxation. The principal hope 
 for the improvement of Ireland's financial con- 
 dition is placed in economies which may be made 
 in expenditure. In this direction something can 
 be done, for Irish Government has been in- 
 ordinately costly, but it would be folly to expect 
 any enormous saving, especially as all present 
 salaries and pensions of civil servants are 
 guaranteed under the Act. 
 
 The fact remains that this seven and a half 
 millions is to continue to be the main feature 
 in Irish Budgets, and can be increased only with 
 great difficulty. This fixed sum is admitted to 
 be at present only barely sufficient, and it cer- 
 tainly would be quite insufficient to set on foot 
 those many schemes of reform which it is hoped 
 an Irish Government would undertake. 
 
 We need not enter here on the clumsy machinery 
 of the Joint Exchequer Board, and the numerous 
 complications which may arise under the dual 
 financial control of the Irish Exchequer and that 
 of the United Kingdom. These and other diffi- 
 culties have been pointed out so frequently 
 that only allusion to them is necessary. The 
 whole scheme is complicated, inelastic, and 
 thoroughly parsimonious towards Ireland. 
 
 It is, however, waste of time now to discuss the 
 Act in detail, for the War and the new war taxation 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 57 
 
 have made revision essential. This revision may 
 be conducted in either of two ways. It may be 
 an attempt to patch up the old scheme so as to 
 make it work somehow, preserving the main 
 features as before ; or we may recognize that the 
 whole scheme is obsolete, and that we have to 
 alter it so radically as to make it entirely new. 
 
 The whole basis of the Finance of the Act has 
 been overturned by the war taxation. The finan- 
 cial clauses were expressly drawn up to meet a 
 situation in which Irish expenditure over- 
 balanced Irish revenue. The exact contrary 
 is the case now. Irish revenue overbalances 
 Irish expenditure, and in addition Ireland 
 is contributing several millions for Imperial 
 pvirposes. On the estimated Treasury figures, 
 given by Mr. McKenna in January, Ireland's 
 revenue from taxation has risen from £9,627,000 
 to £17,457,000, while her expenditure remains 
 fairly constant. We can now say with certainty 
 that Ireland " pays her way." 
 
 We have, therefore, before Home Rule has come 
 into force, reached the situation contemplated 
 in Section 26 of the Act. That Section lays it 
 down that when it shall be found that Irish 
 revenue exceeds expenditure there shall be a 
 " Revision by the Parhament of the United 
 Kingdom of the financial provisions of this Act, 
 with a view to securing a proper contribution 
 from Irish revenues towards the common ex- 
 penditure of the United Kingdom, and extending 
 
58 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 the powers of the Irish ParUament and the Irish 
 Government with respect to the imposition and 
 collection of taxes." 
 
 The measure was framed in the expectation 
 that such a state of things would not be reached 
 till Home Rule had been for some time in opera- 
 tion. By untoward circumstances it has been 
 reached even before the starting of Home Rule. 
 This being the case it would seem only reasonable 
 that the revision should take place at once, and 
 that the probationary period which in normal 
 circumstances would have come first should be 
 omitted altogether. Now, if ever, is the time to 
 recast the Finance of the Act. 
 
 The revision foreshadowed in the clause just 
 quoted is first of all to secure " A proper con- 
 tribution from Irish revenues towards the common 
 expenditure of the United Kingdom." The 
 " common expenditure of the United Kingdom " 
 is in these days mainly for purposes of national 
 defence, and after the War it wiU mainly be de- 
 voted to paying the expenses of the great con- 
 test. Towards safeguarding her against German 
 rule, Ireland must be ready to pay her share, 
 just as in the War she is giving her share of men. 
 It might be well if Ireland's contribution was ear- 
 marked for these special purposes of defence. 
 
 The second purpose of the revision is "To 
 extend the powers of the Irish Parliament and 
 the Irish Government with respect to the imposi- 
 tion and collection of taxes." It is hardly to be 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 59 
 
 supposed that those who drew up the Bill had 
 thought out what Hues the revision might take, 
 but they obviously contemplated that it would 
 give the Irish ParHament increased and perhaps 
 complete control of its revenue and expenditure. 
 It has been frequently urged that complete con- 
 trol would give the best results both from an Irish 
 and an English point of view. Wise direction and 
 control of revenue and expenditure lie at the 
 very foundation of all schemes for the better- 
 ment of Ireland, and the less hampering restric- 
 tions there are the better. EstabHshment of 
 dual or triple control, as in the present Act, is 
 the very way to ensure that money will be wasted 
 and the resources of the country not used to the 
 best advantage. Any simplification would be 
 to the good. 
 
 Now that Ireland is more than paying her own 
 expenses cannot we get rid of the Joint Exchequer 
 Board and the other restrictions which would 
 keep the Irish Government as it were in leading- 
 strings ? While some restrictions may have to 
 remain, the regulations as to Customs for instance, 
 yet the Irish Government should so far as pos- 
 sible be given a free hand. The collection of 
 taxes should cease to be a " Reserved Service." 
 Revenue ought to be paid direct into the Irish 
 Exchequer. 
 
 It may appear to some that this extension 
 of the powers of the Irish Parliament would 
 increase the apprehensions of those who dislike 
 
6o IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 Home Rule, but in reality it would tend to satisfy 
 them. The attitude of most Irish Unionists 
 has been that while they dislike Home Rule, yet 
 if it is to come it should be as elastic and un- 
 fettered as possible. Home Rule may be bad, 
 but the very worst form is Home Rule with in- 
 sufficient money and insufficient scope — " A 
 nation in a strait- waistcoat," as some Irish 
 Unionist has termed it. While EngUsh critics of 
 the Act have complained that it went too far, 
 Irish opponents have always attacked it as not 
 going far enough. For instance, an EngHsh writer 
 like Mr. F. S. Oliver, in advocating " Federalism," 
 continually urges the retention under the Central 
 Government of a number of matters — the control 
 of labour disputes, for instance — which are just 
 those which Irish Unionists would wish Ireland to 
 deal with, if Home Rule has to come. The wider 
 the scope of self-government the better will all 
 in Ireland be pleased. 
 
 *^ A Conference would very probably recommend 
 the transfer of several of the " Reserved Ser- 
 vices." The collection of taxes has already 
 been mentioned. National insurance is a ser- 
 vice which could certainly be better adapted to 
 Irish needs. At present a scheme intended for 
 an industrial country has been applied without 
 adaptation to an agricultural one. Labour ex- 
 changes stand on a similar footing. Both should 
 be transferred, and other services with them. 
 On a rather different footing stands the Royal 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 6i 
 
 Irish Constabulary, which, under the Act, is 
 to be placed in Irish control after six years. The 
 reason of this postponement was to allay the fears 
 of Irish Unionists ; but if Home Rule starts by 
 agreement there seems no reason why the step 
 should not be taken at once. 
 
 These are but a few examples of what might 
 be done by an Irish Conference towards the im- 
 provement of the finance of the Act. There are 
 also a number of smaller matters which claim con- 
 sideration in the work of revision. As an instance 
 we may take the anomalous position in which 
 the Act stands with regard to proportional 
 representation. The principle of proportional 
 representation was introduced by Amendments 
 in the House of Lords, and we have now a strange 
 medley of that system and the old one. For the 
 Irish House of Commons, ** In any constituency 
 which returns three or more members the election 
 shall be held on the principle of proportional 
 representation " ; in smaller constituencies on 
 the old lines. In figures, 31 members will be 
 chosen by the former system, 133 by the latter. 
 This is a curious patchwork. While proportional 
 representation may be good or bad, surely the 
 whole House ought to be elected on a uniform 
 system, by one method or the other. The Senate 
 is to be elected uniformly on proportional lines, 
 and here the method is probably the best. But 
 as at present arranged each province is to form 
 a single constituency. A constituency returning 
 
62 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 14 members (as in the case of Ulster) is surely too 
 large, even under proportional representation. 
 
 This is one of several comparatively small 
 matters which need revision. More important 
 is the question of Irish representation in the Im- 
 perial ParHament. At present Ireland is to be 
 represented, but on a lower scale than she would 
 be entitled to on a basis of population. She 
 would be under-represented at any discussion 
 which concerned her ; and over-represented on 
 the many subjects which would not concern her 
 at all. Some more equitable system than this 
 ought to be discoverable. 
 
 In discussing these and other details in an 
 Irish settlement, we must not keep our eyes so 
 entirely fixed on Ireland as to ignore a new factor 
 which may set all our Irish affairs on a fresh foot- 
 ing. For years many of the wisest men through- 
 out the Empire have been feeUng their way 
 towards some kind of Imperial Federation, 
 and through the War it has been brought within 
 the sphere of practical poUtics. The unbounded 
 loyalty of the self-governing colonies and the splen- 
 did achievements of their armed forces have knit 
 the Empire together, and given Canada, Aus- 
 traHa, South Africa, and the rest a new importance. 
 They must have a voice in arranging the terms 
 of peace, and in the future that voice must be 
 heard on other matters as well. It seems that we 
 must devise some means to gather the general 
 consensus of opinion of the Empire, some kind 
 
PROBLEMS FOR A CONFERENCE 63 
 
 of Council, leading up, perhaps, to the estabhsh- 
 ment of an Imperial ParHament which will be 
 really imperial as representative of the whole 
 Empire. How this might come about we are 
 not concerned with here. It is enough to point 
 out that it might mean a complete transformation 
 of the Irish question. Irish difficulties would 
 largely fade away if Ireland could come in as one 
 unit under an Imperial scheme. 
 
 It may indeed be said that even under Imperial 
 Federation the United Kingdom must remain a 
 single unit, but it can be strongly urged that the 
 differences between Ireland and England are 
 probably as great as those between Canada and 
 Australia. Ireland is of sufficient importance 
 to have a voice of her own. If we are inchned 
 to look on ourselves as a smaU people on a small 
 island, and to shrink from comparison with the 
 enormous size of the colonies, we can regain 
 confidence if we look not on the square miles 
 they cover but on their population. Ireland has 
 a population four times that of New Zealand, 
 three times the white population of South Africa, 
 and that of the whole continent of AustraUa 
 only exceeds ours by about half a million. Look- 
 ing at these comparisons can any deny our right 
 to a place of our own ? 
 
 During the later stages of the Home Rule 
 dispute we heard much of " FederaUsm," meaning 
 devolution within the United Kingdom, as a 
 means of settlement. After the War cannot we 
 
64 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 take a wider sweep and settle the Irish question 
 by means of a higher kind of Federahsm embracing 
 the whole Empire ? The British Empire is a 
 new thing in the world's history ; scattered 
 everywhere, yet as we now see united in spirit 
 and in aim ; most loyal where most free ; unity 
 in the widest diversity ; a type and a prophecy 
 of that " Federation of the world " which mankind 
 may hope one day to see. The War is making 
 the unity closer and the loyalty more intense, 
 but if we are to see the spirit which now exists 
 still lasting in times of peace, it will be by a 
 firmer knit and more organic unity. In the midst 
 of such a union are we still to see a discontented 
 Ireland ? No, rather in that union Ireland, 
 which so long found the Empire irksome, may at 
 last take her rightful place as an influential 
 member of a great brotherhood of free peoples. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE TURNING-POINT OF IRISH HISTORY 
 
 Ireland is to-day more nearly a united nation 
 than she has ever been before. This may seem a 
 bold and unwarranted statement when we think 
 of the deep cleavages and the strong hostilities 
 which exist in our national Life ; yet if we com- 
 pare the present with the past we will see that the 
 differences now^are not nearly so great as those 
 which have separated Irishmen at nearly every 
 former period. Ireland has always been a land 
 of disunion and faction. The unity which we 
 may attain now will not be the restoration of 
 something which has formerly existed, but a new 
 thing in Ireland's history. 
 
 This thought should give us hope ; in fact, 
 the greatest cause for hopefulness is to be found 
 in comparing the present with the past. If any 
 are incHned to despair when they look at the 
 many evils amongst us, their best tonic will be 
 to read some description of Ireland fifty or a 
 hundred years ago. 
 
 The history of the last hundred years is the 
 
 history of the gradual building up of a united 
 
 Ireland. The process has been slow and set- 
 65 E 
 
66 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 backs have been numerous, but the change is 
 unmistakable. It may be traced in the numerous 
 Acts of Parhament which have removed injustices 
 and have set all Irishmen on an equal footing — 
 measures such as Catholic Emancipation, the 
 Land Acts, the Education Acts (especially the 
 Universities Act), and the establishment of 
 County Councils. 
 
 It may be traced in the numerous movements 
 for social and industrial betterment in which 
 Irishmen of all creeds and parties have taken a 
 share — for instance, the co-operative movement, 
 the efforts for improvement of health or of 
 housing, the Gaelic League, the call to " support 
 Irish industries." It may be traced, perhaps, 
 most clearly in such semi-poUtical efforts as the 
 Recess Committee and the Land Convention. 
 Both as a cause and as a result of all these hap- 
 penings we find that a new spirit has been per- 
 vading the national life of Ireland, drawing 
 Irishmen together, showing them that in their 
 greatest interests they are united, and that all 
 hope for themselves and for their country Hes in 
 their being united. There must be a vast diffe- 
 rence between the feehngs of the present-day 
 Unionist and Nationalist towards one another 
 and those of their respective great-grand- 
 fathers. Instead of looking on one another 
 as natural enemies in every sphere of life, we 
 see that friendship and co-operation are essential. 
 The process of reconcihation has already gone far. 
 
TURNING-POINT OF IRISH HISTORY 67 
 
 Up to now, in the formation of any movement 
 which needed this co-operation a proviso has 
 always been made that it had nothing to do with 
 either poHtics or rehgion. It seems to be taken 
 for granted that, while Irishmen can work together 
 in almost any other sphere, yet as regards poUtics 
 and rehgion they must remain in constant 
 antagonism to one another. 
 
 Though this is not the place to enter on a 
 discussion of the " religious difficulty, '* yet a few 
 words on the subject may be necessary. There 
 is no question that the rehgious cleavage is great 
 and will remain, tending to divide us into two 
 sections. Among men who hold their religious 
 convictions strongly, as both sections of Irishmen 
 do, a difference in rehgion is bound to be a big 
 obstacle in the way of unity. But, we may ask, 
 cannot men hold firmly to their own religious 
 behefs and yet be ready to work with those who 
 differ from them ? Is bitterness any real part of 
 rehgion ? Is it not rather the negation of reh- 
 gion ? It is not from real religious convictions 
 that our troubles arise, but much rather from 
 unnecessary excrescences upon religion. More- 
 over, it has been proved again and again in recent 
 years that differences of creed do not prevent 
 Irishmen joining together and accomphshing 
 most useful work for the good of their country. 
 Rehgion is no insuperable obstacle to a true 
 Irish unity. 
 
 The other matter on which antagonism has 
 
68 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 been preserved is politics. Politics, however, 
 ought not to be something apart from the or- 
 dinary affairs of Ufe, but ought to reflect the 
 real spirit of the country. What is needed now 
 is to apply to pohtics — and in Ireland that 
 means the Home Rule question — that new spirit 
 of tolerance which elsewhere has stood us in such 
 good stead. 
 
 As a cHmax to the unifying process has come 
 the War. Here at last is a great issue on which 
 the vast majority of us are united. Irishmen of 
 all classes and parties are fighting as comrades 
 and dying side by side. If in the past years 
 constant rubbing had been wearing away the 
 stone of division which stood between us, the 
 remnant of it is now being blown away as though 
 by dynamite. It may be that the horrors of the 
 War were necessary for Ireland, that by the pouring 
 out of tears and blood we may be purified and 
 made reaUy one. This may well prove to be the 
 darkest hour which precedes the dawn. 
 
 It cannot, however, be too strongly or too often 
 insisted that to secure unity we must reach a 
 settlement of the Home Rule question. Oppor- 
 tunities like the present pass by if they are not 
 seized. Unless we are wise enough to make use 
 of an advantageous situation while it exists, we 
 may find that the best chance Ireland ever had 
 is gone for ever, and that we have sUpped back 
 into the old round of hostihties as before. 
 
 Very few will doubt the benefits of settling 
 
TURNING-POINT OF IRISH HISTORY 69 
 
 once and for all the Home Rule question. It is 
 unnecessary to point out more than one advan- 
 tage here. The prolongation from decade to 
 decade of this one great controversy has put an 
 insuperable barrier in the way of many reforms 
 and schemes of development which are most 
 urgently needed. No question which arises in 
 Ireland is discussed on its own merits, but merely 
 on its effect for or against Home Rule. Abuses 
 left thriving ; unnatural grouping of parties ; 
 men divided who ought to be united ; suppression 
 of freedom of thought by the party machine ; 
 the hounding out of pubHc life of any men who 
 will not shout the party catchwords — such are 
 some of the results of the country's obsession with 
 the one great controversy. Both sides have been 
 to blame, though it is hard to see how we can 
 hope for anything better so long as the question 
 remains open. Now we can settle it — if only 
 we will. 
 
 There are several ways in which an Irish 
 Conference may come about. Perhaps some of 
 our party leaders may take the first step, but 
 there is no conceaHng how difficult that might be. 
 Political leaders must live in constant dread of 
 every action they take being misrepresented, 
 especially in these days v/hen the press has 
 carrie'd misrepresentation to a fine art. Any 
 honest advance towards a settlement on the part 
 of either party may very hkely be regarded by 
 opponents as the overtures of a beaten foe, who 
 
70 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 now knows that he is beaten and is trying to make 
 what terms he can. The difficulties are increased 
 by the personal dislikes and suspicions which 
 exist. It is hard for men who have spent all 
 their lives in attacking and manoeuvring against 
 one another to bring themselves to meet in friendly 
 discussion. 
 
 But no true man will be deterred from doing 
 his duty by such difficulties as these. The party 
 man who makes the first step towards agreement 
 may have to meet taunts from his opponents, 
 and, what is still harder, from his supporters, but 
 he will gain a greater thing, the lasting gratitude 
 of his fellow-citizens and of future generations of 
 Irishmen. The names of the men who bring 
 peace to Ireland now will live in the hearts of a 
 grateful people. 
 
 It may, nevertheless, be more likely that the 
 first movement will come from men who have 
 taken small active part in politics. What is 
 needed at present is a thorough discussion of the 
 whole situation in Ireland, and in this unknown 
 men who have something to contribute can make 
 themselves heard. Any sincere voice will be 
 listened to now. This pamphlet is not meant 
 to be an end, but the beginning of a discussion. 
 If any can suggest other or better courses than 
 those suggested here, then in the name of all they 
 hold dear let them speak out. It is the duty of 
 every one who has a vote or a voice to do what 
 he can now to bring about a settlement. 
 
TURNING-POINT OF IRISH HISTORY 71 
 
 Perhaps the greatest obstacle to a settlement 
 is simply the pessimism which so many Irishmen 
 share. Seeing how often we have been dis- 
 appointed when things looked brightest, they 
 believe that in Ireland every bright hope is bound 
 to fade, that all the old evils are bound to flourish 
 still. Each new generation is to repeat the 
 mocking catchwords of the last generation ; the 
 party drums are to beat from now on to eternity. 
 Some look on party strife as in some strange way 
 inherent in our national character ; whatever else 
 happens to Ireland she is always to have unrest. 
 They put it down to our fighting spirit : we must 
 always be breaking one another's heads except 
 when, as at present, we can be provided with 
 convenient heads to break belonging to a third 
 party. As Mr. Yeats puts it, " Here neighbour 
 wars with neighbour, and why there is no man 
 knows." 
 
 Now even granted that we are a combative 
 people, are there not advantages in changing the 
 subject of dispute ? There will still be party 
 contests under Home Rule, but they will be on 
 questions definitely related to national develop- 
 ment, not on lines that retard that development. 
 As it is, we have spent generations over one 
 issue, which itself is merely a starting-point. It 
 is as though two football teams should spend all 
 the time allotted to a match in wrangling over 
 choice of ends. 
 
 But there are higher reasons for a settlement 
 
72 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 than this, and securer hopes for its accomplish- 
 ment. The progress which Ireland has made in 
 recent years in all spheres of Ufe ; the better 
 feeling which has been brought about by the 
 War ; the desire for peace at home which is shared 
 by nearly all — these things give us strong grounds 
 for confidence. We may recall the noble words 
 of Henry Grattan, spoken on the day when all 
 the work of his life seemed shattered to pieces : 
 " For I do not despair of my country ; she is not 
 dead, but only sleeping." If hope was possible 
 on one of the darkest days in Irish history, have 
 we any right to despair when so much looks 
 bright ? Ireland is now neither dead nor sleeping, 
 but alive and awake, ready to start on a new and 
 better epoch of her history. 
 
 In this pamphlet no attack has been made on 
 any class of Irishmen, not because there are no 
 evils to attack, but because our principal need is 
 to look at the good rather than the bad sides of 
 one another. But there is one type of man (to 
 be found in every party) who deserves the 
 severest censure, that is the pessimist. We all 
 know him, the man who believes that all our 
 people are slack and selfish, that all our leaders 
 and parties are self-seeking and crooked, that by 
 some strange decree of Providence we must 
 always live like a nation of Kilkenny cats. Such 
 a man will criticize splendidly, but will do nothing 
 to counteract the evils he sees at work. He is a 
 type for which Ireland, and indeed every other 
 
TURNING-POINT OF IRISH HISTORY 73 
 
 country, has no use, as he poisons the very 
 springs of action for himself and others. It 
 ought to be \\Titten in large letters on the boun- 
 daries of the new Ireland : " Notice — All pessi- 
 mists will be shot at sight." 
 
 It is, of course, not to be expected that a 
 settlement of the Home Rule question wiU of 
 itself transform Ireland. No legislative measure 
 can of itself bring prosperity, and a constitutional 
 change perhaps least of all. If any fervent 
 Home Ruler believes that on the day after the 
 Act comes into operation all Irishmen will be 
 prosperous and contented, he is bound to be 
 thoroughly disillusioned. He will be Uke a 
 mountain climber, who, when he thinks he has 
 reached the summit, looks up and sees it towering 
 high above him still. The road of national 
 progress is long and arduous and there are few 
 short cuts. And yet the settlement of the Home 
 Rule question would be a very definite landmark 
 on the road. Until that is reached, the way to 
 other objects which we wish to attain is almost 
 hopelessly barred. It is just because there are 
 so many tasks waiting to be done that all must 
 wish for a final ending of that dispute which has 
 absorbed far too much of our energies. 
 
 The future historian will say that this present 
 time marked a crisis in the history of Ireland. 
 What kind of verdict he will pass depends on the 
 actions of us into whose hands is committed the 
 present destiny of our country. He may have to 
 
74 IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 point to us as the men who let sUp the fairest 
 opportunity our country has ever had. He may 
 be able to say that from our time dates the 
 beginning of brighter days for Ireland. On no 
 past generation of Irishmen has rested a greater 
 responsibility. The Ireland of the future will be 
 what we make it now\ 
 
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