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 Copyright 1913 
 
 By 
 P. J. CONLAN 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 DEC 27 1913 
 
 (C,.:i.Atf 58903 
 
A WORD OF INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following work has been a labor of 
 love to the writer, one who has loved Erin 
 earnestly and long; and has tried to serve her 
 as best he could always, and having now 
 reached the evening of life, is most anxious 
 to see her free, and dis-enthralled, before the 
 night closes in. 
 
 If this little book should lessen her suffer- 
 ings, which now, thank heaven, seem about 
 to end, or hasten the dawn of liberty, he will 
 be amply repaid for any labor it may have 
 cost him. He may truly say with Erin's 
 well beloved poet, Moore: — 
 
 "With thee were dreams of my earliest love; 
 
 Every thought of my reason was thine; 
 In my last humble prayer to the Spirit above 
 
 Thy name shall be mingled with mine! 
 
PREFACE 
 
 For much of the correspondence in the 
 following pages, and for some of the data, I 
 am indebted to the Irish World and its late 
 lamented editor, Patrick Ford. 
 
 Mr. Ford, by the tremendous fight which 
 he has waged on behalf of Ireland for the 
 last forty years, has done as much to place 
 the Irish cause in its present glorious position 
 as any other person, living or dead. 
 
 The Irish race owes his memory undying 
 gratitude which I am sure it will repay a 
 hundred fold. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 This work is dedicated to all lovers of liber- 
 ty the world over; but in a special manner to 
 the scattered children of the "sea divided 
 Gael," whose undying loyalty to the National 
 Ideal: Ireland a Nation, and whose cease- 
 less and untiring devotion to Motherland, 
 lasting all down the centuries, in good report 
 and evil report, has brought us in sight of the 
 Promised Land, to the "Threshold of Home 
 Rule." 
 
Page 
 
 Chapter I. How is Old Ireland, 
 
 and How Does She Stand ? 1 
 
 II. The Fight is On 14 
 
 III. The Fight Continued 32 
 
 IV. The Great Derry Victory 47 
 
 V. How it Appears to Outsiders . 61 
 
 VI. Complete Account of the Great Fight. .. . 75 
 
 VII. A New Daniel come to Judgment 85 
 
 VIII. English Taxation in Ireland 95 
 
 IX. English Efforts for an American Alliance. 101 
 
 X. Ireland's Struggle for National Life 115 
 
 XI. Prejudice Injected 128 
 
 XII. Destruction of Irish Industries 141 
 
 XIII. England Destroys the Irish Parliament. . 148 
 
 XIV. Ancient Tenure of Land in Ireland 155 
 
 XV. Irish Services to America 167 
 
 XVI. England's Diplomacy Checkmated 179 
 
 XVII. Ireland an Ancient Nation 188 
 
 XVIII. Ireland the Christianizer and Civilizer. . 196 
 
 XIX. The Dawning of Liberty 202 
 
Chapter I. 
 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 How is Old Ireland and how does she stand} 
 
 As the dawning of the day of Ireland's 
 redemption seems near at hand, the coming 
 of Home Rule, the day for which the Irish 
 people have hoped and prayed , and for which 
 so many of them for long and weary centu- 
 ries have suffered and died, in the prison, on 
 the scaffold and on the field, it is fitting we 
 should ask the old question found at the 
 beginning of this chapter: — 
 
 How is Old Ireland and how does she standi 
 
 It is a great, a momentous question , es- 
 pecially at this time, when, thank God, the 
 light of liberty is already shining on her 
 beaming face, so long alas bedewed with tears! 
 
 To-day, it looks indeed as if almost all her 
 fondest hopes were soon to be realized; as if 
 peace and good will, justice and fair play, 
 for the Irish people of every class and creed, 
 were about to descend on the dear Old Land, 
 and thus enable her to renew her youth, and 
 her standing among her sister nations of the 
 world. 
 
 At such a time then, with hope beckoning 
 us on, lovers of Ireland may well, I repeat, 
 ask the old question, so often asked by our 
 fathers in the olden days! 
 
2 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 We Irish exiles can say with Mr Con. 
 O'Leary in a recent number of the Irish 
 World:— 
 
 "Though he should be thousands of 
 miles away from the cradle-land of his 
 race, the waves will bear her the message 
 of a hungering heart — will bring to us a 
 question that was Napper Tandy's ques- 
 tion and the question of the generations 
 since then. 
 
 "How eager with passionate longing it 
 sounds, that cry, ever old, ever new; it is 
 inarticulate in the throbbing of the exile's 
 heart whenever green fields, turf fires 
 and the faces of the old folks throng, 
 like risen dead, before his mind's vision. 
 It accompanies the snatches of old melo- 
 dy that he finds himself humming in mo- 
 ments of solitude. It is present with 
 him above all in moods of gentle calm; 
 in his prayers he sends the question right 
 into Heaven, and he teaches the little 
 Yankee-Irish who cling around his knees 
 to ask the question too. 
 
 "It is the text of every "American 
 letter" read aloud at the fireside gather- 
 ings in the farmhouses of Ireland. It is 
 a question older than Napper Tandy, 
 and one that will outlive his memory — a 
 question as old as emigration ; yea, as old 
 as the English occupation. 
 
 "May we doubt that it was asked on 
 the first coffin ship? Was it not asked in 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 3 
 
 the Irish camp before Fontenoy? Two 
 rival armies united in asking it in the 
 American Civil War. It comes to chil- 
 dren of exiles with the dawning of reason, 
 and it will be blent with their dying 
 prayers. 
 
 "Prisoner O' Meagher Condon, when the 
 hangman's fatal rope dangled before you, 
 and you uttered your passionate prayer, 
 undaunted by the frown of an alien judge 
 whose fingers clutched at the cap of 
 death, you little thought that you were 
 bequeathing to your people an immor- 
 tal anthem of liberty. 
 
 "And brave Tandy, when you took an 
 obscure poet by the hand, had you any 
 inkling at all that the sobbing words you 
 uttered would live forever on the mouths 
 of your countrymen and keep your mem- 
 ory greener than gravestone or monu- 
 ment. 
 
 "A question this that springs from a 
 hundred questions, the postcript to our 
 history, and the beginning of our cate- 
 chism of nationality, and the passport 
 to our destined future. 
 
 "Cry, ever old, ever new, question asked 
 at the rising and setting of the sun, ques- 
 tion confronting 1913 on the threshold of 
 her new tenancy : 
 
 "How is poor Old Ireland and how does 
 she stand?" 
 
 "Parliament has risen for a brief Christ- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 mas vacation of ten days, and there is a 
 temporary lull in the war-bustle that for 
 many months has centered round the 
 future fate of Ireland. We may take 
 advantage of the breathing-space to at- 
 tempt an answer to the favorite question 
 of our race. Where has the past year 
 brought Ireland or left her? Does she 
 still stand unmoved above the sea? What 
 does the new year hide as it peeps through 
 the haze of futurity — is sunshine or sor- 
 row to be her destiny? 
 
 "But undying hope was always the 
 beacon on the hill, and time after time 
 she rose triumphant over despair, over 
 what seemed inexorable fate. 
 
 "And so it is that if today our outlook 
 were not laden with the ripe fruit of 
 promise, and the skies above our island 
 were fringed with leaden tints, she would 
 nevertheless be big with hope and secure 
 in the belief that the dawn of her destiny 
 only awaited the bursting forth of the 
 sun of victory, which lay hidden some- 
 where behind the dark canopy. But hap- 
 pily, victory and pride are her hand- 
 maidens today. 
 
 "In the year now dying she has passed 
 the novitiate to her freedom, in the year 
 coming to birth, 1914, the great work of 
 emancipation will be completed. Wherever 
 we look about our fields, the eyes seem 
 to catch the first unfolding of an eternal 
 springtime of which God Himself has 
 been the gardener. 
 
JOHN E. REDMOND, M. P. 
 Leader Irish Party. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 5 
 
 "The music of freedom is singing in our 
 hearts, the hightide of victory is swelling 
 in our souls. What hope, what strength, 
 what destiny lie behind the great op- 
 timism of the nation. Only a little time 
 and the land shall rise, smiling in her 
 freedom, to take her place as a respected 
 rival in the comity of nations. 
 
 "1912 was a remarkable year in the 
 history of the Home Rule movement. 
 It saw the introduction of the third 
 Home Rule Bill, the fullest, most gener- 
 ous and most comprehensive measure of 
 Irish amelioration ever sponsored by a 
 British ministry. 
 
 "In spite of an opposition of unprece- 
 dented violence and malignity it passed 
 its second reading by a majority of over 
 a hundred, and clause by clause on the 
 committee stage the Government forces 
 fought and conquered. 
 
 "The truth is that Home Rule has made 
 a real appeal to the reason and conscience 
 of the English democracy and in support 
 of the Government proposals they are 
 convinced, unanimous and enthusiastic." 
 
 Dear intensely Irish and patriotic Fanny 
 Parnell , how she longed and hoped and prayed 
 to see this day, and died broken hearted 
 because she didn't see it, as the reader may 
 judge by the following exquisite poem, written 
 by her a short time before her death. 
 
6 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 POST MORTEM 
 
 (By Fannie Parnell.) 
 
 Shall mine eyes behold thy glory, O my country? 
 
 Shall mine eyes behold thy glory? 
 Or shall the darkness close around them, ere the sun- 
 blaze 
 
 Break at last upon thy story? 
 
 When the nations ope for thee their queenly circle, 
 
 As a sweet new sister hail thee, 
 Shall these lips be sealed in callous death and silence 
 
 That have known but to bewail thee? 
 
 Shall the ear be deaf that only loved thy praises 
 When all men their tribute bring thee? 
 
 Shall the mouth be clay that sang thee in thy squalor 
 When all poets' mouths shall sing thee? 
 
 Ah! the harpings and the salvos and the shoutings 
 
 Of thy exiled sons returning 
 I should hear, though dead and moldered, and the 
 grave damps 
 
 Should not chill my bosom's burning. 
 
 Ah! the tramp of feet victorious! I should hear them 
 
 'Mid the shamrocks and the mosses, 
 And my heart should toss within the shroud and quiver 
 
 As a captive dreamer tosses. 
 
 I should turn and rend the cere clothes 'round me, 
 
 Giant-sinews I should borrow, 
 Crying, "O my brothers I have also loved her, 
 
 In her lowliness and sorrow. 
 
 "Let me join with you the jubilant procession, 
 
 Let me chant with you her story; 
 Then contented I shall go back to the shamrocks 
 
 Now mine eyes have seen her glory." 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 7 
 
 In the presence of the glorious army of 
 Irish Protestants, who have for centuries 
 fought and died to make Ireland a Nation, 
 of whom Fanny Parnell was not the least, 
 how mean, how despicable, is the contention 
 of the little Orange faction of Ulster, who 
 claim that under Home Rule the Irish 
 Catholics would be unjust to, and persecute 
 their friends and neighbors of the Protestant 
 faith! 
 
 Not only was Miss Parnell herself a Prot- 
 estant, but her whole family, including, of 
 course her famous, brother, the late Charles 
 Stewart Parnell, the one time leader of the 
 Irish National Party. 
 
 As every intelligent student of Irish his- 
 tory knows, a very large proportion of Ire- 
 land's heroic and martyred dead for two 
 centuries or more were Protestants, includ- 
 ing Emmet, Wolf Tone, Curran, Lord Ed- 
 ward Fitzgerald, Grattan, John Mitchell, 
 William Smith O'Brien, and so on, almost 
 without end. 
 
 These men had no fear that Home Rule 
 for their motherland would bring ruin to 
 them and all they held dear! 
 
 Thomas Davis, one of Ireland's most patriot- 
 ic sons, though a non-Catholic, had no thought 
 of, or fear of persecution, or ill treatment, 
 when he penned his stirring and immortal 
 poem "Our Own Again." 
 
8 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 OUR OWN AGAIN. 
 
 (By Thomas Davis.) 
 
 Let the coward shrink aside. 
 
 We'll have our own again; 
 Let the brawling slave deride, 
 
 Here's for our own again — 
 Let the tyrant bribe and lie, 
 March, threaten, fortify. 
 Loose his lawyer and his spy, 
 
 Yet we'll have our own again. 
 Let him soothe in silken tone, 
 Scold from a foreign throne; 
 Let him come with bugles blown, 
 
 We shall have our own again, 
 Let us to our purpose bide, 
 
 We'll have our own again — 
 Let the game be fairly tried, 
 
 We'll have our own again. 
 
 Send the cry throughout the land, 
 
 "Who's for our own again?" 
 Summon all men to our band, 
 
 Why not our own again? 
 Rich and poor, and old, and young, 
 Sharpsword, and fiery tongue — 
 Soul and sinew firmly strung, 
 
 All to get our own again. 
 Brothers thrive by brotherhood — 
 Trees in a stormy wood — 
 Riches come from Nationhood — 
 
 Shan't we have our own again? 
 Munster's woe is Ulster's bane! 
 
 Join for our own again — 
 Tyrants rob, as well as reign, 
 
 We'll have our own again. 
 
 Oft our father's hearts it stirr'd, 
 
 "Rise for your own again!" 
 Often pass'd the signal word, 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 9 
 
 "Strike for your own again!" 
 Rudely, rashly, and untaught, 
 Uprose they, ere they ought. 
 Failing, though they nobly fought, 
 
 Dying for their own again. 
 Mind will rule and music yield, 
 In senate, ship and field — 
 When we've our strength to wield, 
 
 Let us take our own again. 
 By the slave, his chain is wrought, 
 
 Strive for our own again. 
 Thunder is less strong than thought, 
 
 We'll have our own again. 
 
 Calm as granite to our foes, 
 
 Stand for our own again, 
 Till his wrath to madness grows — 
 
 Firm for our own again. 
 Bravely hope, and wisely wait, 
 Toil, join, and educate: 
 Man is master of his fate; 
 
 We'll enjoy our own again. 
 With a keen constrained thirst — 
 Powder's calm ere it burst — 
 Making ready for the worst, 
 
 So we'll get our own again. 
 Let us to our purpose bide, 
 
 We'll have our own again, 
 God is on the righteous side, 
 
 We'll have our own again. 
 
 The pretended fear of Catholic intolerance 
 by the Tories and especially by the Orange- 
 men of Ulster, is so absurd as to be ridicu- 
 lous especially when we recall the fact, so 
 well known to all honest students of history, 
 namely, that the Irish Catholic people have 
 never been known, in all their checkered 
 career, to persecute for conscience sake; never 
 
10 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 once; and all writers on Irish history, Protest- 
 ants, as well as Catholics, bear cheerful testi- 
 mony to that fact, Leckie, the Irish Protes- 
 tant writer, among them. 
 
 Besides nearly all that great body of Irish- 
 men who at the head of the patriot Volunteer 
 Army of 100,000 men, who wrung from Great 
 Britain, in 1782, the restoration of Ireland's 
 native Parliament, and who during the life 
 of said parliament made Ireland great and 
 prosperous were almost to a man Protestants: 
 as were nine tenths of the Volunteers! 
 
 As the Catholics possessed no civic rights 
 at the time and could not of course bear 
 arms, they could only aid the patriotic move- 
 ment with such means as lay within their 
 reach, sympathy and material aid, and these 
 they gave lavishly, according to their means. 
 
 At the beginning of the Volunteer move- 
 ment, the Catholics were rigidly excluded 
 from their ranks, but as the people became 
 more and more aroused, a broader spirit of 
 tolerance, justice and patriotism took posses- 
 sion of them, and this gradually extended to 
 the Volunteers themselves, so much so that 
 in a short time, between 1787 and 1780, we 
 find them at their different conventions 
 passing resolutions of sympathy for Catholics: 
 and in some instances demanding their rights! 
 
 About this time Catholics were, here and 
 there, gradually admitted into the ranks, but 
 always grudgingly and jealously. Irish Cath- 
 olics being naturally of a warlike race, as 
 soon as they were at liberty to do so, threw 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 1 1 
 
 themselves into the Volunteer movement 
 with all the ardor of a long suffering people, 
 a people who were now, after such long and 
 awful oppression, about to get a glimpse of 
 the promised land. 
 
 It was only a very short glimpse however, 
 for in a few years the Volunteers began to 
 return to their long inherited spirit of in- 
 tolerance and hatred, and again shut out 
 the Catholics. 
 
 By this act the Volunteers signed their own 
 death warrant, and in a very few short years 
 nothing remained of this one time splendid 
 body of soldiers, a body that had been the 
 pride and the glory as well as the hope of 
 Ireland, Protestants and Catholics, but a 
 memory! And with them departed, in less 
 than twenty years, the Parliament they had 
 been the chief means of establishing. 
 
 England, quick to see that the exclusion of 
 the Catholics from among the Volunteers had 
 prepared the ground for her old and long 
 used policy of sowing dissension among the 
 people, proceeded to do so at once; and its 
 first fruit was the overthrow of the Volun- 
 teers themselves, and without the firing of a 
 gun! 
 
 The Catholics were not as yet citizens, and 
 in the words of John Mitchell, Irish historian 
 and patriot, "if Catholics were permitted to 
 breathe in Ireland, it was by connivance; 
 and against the law! Plunged in poverty, 
 and ignorance; barred from all education, 
 both at home, and abroad ; a price set on the 
 
12 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 head of the priest and the schoolmaster; 
 despoiled of arms, rank and votes; excluded 
 from all offices, high and low; shut out from 
 the professions; unable to own land, or hold 
 mortgages, their condition was indeed a pitia- 
 ble one; so dreadful that a distinguished 
 writer says it was worse than that of the 
 early Christians during the ten persecutions 
 of the pagan Roman emperors! 
 
 And yet they had an instinctive feeling 
 that the independence of their country, even 
 when gained by the agency of the English 
 colonists among them, who had been their 
 bitterest oppressors — backed up always by 
 the might of England — meant their own 
 emancipation, sooner or later. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most generous acts of 
 forgiveness of injuries to be found in the 
 history of nations, and the return of good for 
 evil, is the incident told of the Catholics of 
 Limerick about this time. Being refused ad- 
 mission to the ranks of the Volunteers, they, 
 to show their intense practical sympathy and 
 interest with the movement, subscribed four 
 thousand dollars for the Volunteer treasury. 
 
 Notwithstanding the terribly fierce and 
 bitter opposition to home Rule by the Orange- 
 men and a comparatively small number of 
 factionists and office holders in the northeast 
 corner of Ulster, it can truly be said of Ulster, 
 as a whole, that she is the mother of an army 
 of Irish patriots and martyrs, and a very 
 large number of them Protestants, men and 
 women, who gave up everything that people 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE IS 
 
 value, life itself in many cases, for Ireland. 
 If further proof of the broad and tolerant 
 spirit of the Catholic Irish were needed, it is 
 found in the fact that of the 85 nationalist 
 members of the British parliament, 8 are 
 non-Catholics, and all chosen by Catholic 
 constituents! 
 
 They talk of intolerance ! Here is a sample 
 not of Catholic intolerance however, but 
 of Protestant intolerance, and in the North 
 East corner, in Belfast! 
 
 "From the salary lists of public boards 
 in Belfast, Catholics are rigidly excluded, 
 and 983^ per cent of all salaries go to 
 Protestants. The following are the figures 
 for 1911: 
 
 "Board of Guardians, out of $83,950 
 salaries, Catholics get $3,400. 
 
 "Harbor Board, out of $56,345 salaries, 
 Catholics get $1,250. 
 
 "Water Board, out of $26,980 salaries, 
 Catholics get $325. 
 
 "Corporation, out of $343,615 salaries 
 Catholics get $3,840. 
 
 "And among the twenty-five doctors 
 employed by the City Council there is 
 not one Catholic." 
 
 And these are people who preach about 
 "Catholic intolerance" in Ireland and 
 pretend to fear "Catholic persecution" 
 under Home Rule. 
 
Chapter II 
 THE FIGHT IS ON. 
 
 After months of bitter and tumultuous 
 debate, of charges and counter charges and 
 of threatened rebellion, often repeated by the 
 Unionists, but especially by the Orange por- 
 tion of the party, the Home Rule Bill was 
 passed in the House of Commons, January 16, 
 1913, and by the great majority of 110! As 
 the total Irish National vote is but 85, and 
 on this occasion, owing to sickness and death, 
 only 82 were able to vote, it is evident the 
 bill would have had a majority of nearly 
 thirty votes, made up, of course, of English, 
 Scotch, and Welsh votes, even if none of the 
 Irish had voted! 
 
 It was an epoch marking occasion; one of 
 the great historic days that will stand out for 
 all time, especially in Irish and English 
 annals! 
 
 The English Prime Minister seemed to 
 fully realize that fact, and as a consequence 
 he spoke, not to the Commons only, but to 
 the world ! Here I give a brief summary of 
 the great speech, as I find it in the columns 
 of the Irish World: — 
 
 "The deep feeling that ran like a strong 
 current through his speech emphasized 
 the fact that the emancipation of Ireland 
 has become the master passion in As- 
 quith's life. 
 
 14 
 
on the threshold of home rule 15 
 
 "Parnell's Deathless Words." 
 
 "He pointed out that Balfour misin- 
 terpreted Irish history when he thought 
 that the terminus from which discussion 
 should be begun was the Act of Union, 
 as if before then there was no such thing 
 at all as Ireland. The Irish question 
 stretched far behind the Act of Union, 
 and was the direct sequel of the old story 
 of conquest and reconquest, of planta- 
 tion, of devastation and expropriation. 
 "The Irish National movement," declared 
 the honorable gentleman, "has passed 
 from the stage of sentiment and of aspir- 
 ation and of abortive thought into what 
 it is today — an organized, practical, in- 
 evitable reality — the reality which has 
 confronted us ever since we enfranchised 
 the democracy of Ireland thirty years 
 ago, and which confronted our pre- 
 decessors, and which we cannot ignore. 
 "If you were to reject this Bill you 
 would find still standing in your path 
 what is and remains with undiminished 
 vitality the organized, articulate and per- 
 manent expression of the political de- 
 mands of the vast majority of the Irish 
 people. In face of these demands, 
 persisted in through the lifetime of a 
 whole generation with unwavering 
 strength and power, what are you going; 
 to do?" Asquith courageously quoted 
 the deathless words of Parnell: "No man 
 
16 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 has a right to set bounds to the march 
 of a nation." 
 
 "ASQUITH AND ULSTER'S DISCONTENT." 
 
 "Defending the retention of forty-two 
 members at Westminster after Home 
 Rule is granted, Asquith remarked that 
 the exclusion of the Irish members 
 by Gladstone was the rock on which the 
 Home Rule Bill of 1886 foundered. With 
 regard to the discontent in Ulster, he in- 
 sisted that to allow a minority of the 
 Irish people to over-ride a majority would 
 be to make democratic government im- 
 possible. 
 
 "Referring to Balfour's predictions that 
 evils would flow from the grant of Self- 
 Government to Ireland, the Prime Minis- 
 ter, recalled hearing Balfour predict, with 
 equal confidence and in equally lurid Ian 
 guage, the consequences that would fol- 
 low from what the Tory leader then des- 
 cribed as the most reckless experiment 
 that political folly ever conceived, namely 
 the grant of Self -Government to the 
 Transvaal ! 
 
 "The Spell of a Malignant Curse." 
 
 "His peroration was a passionate ap- 
 peal for the closing of the long-standing 
 quarrel between Ireland and Great Brit- 
 ain. "It is no use now," said the Premier, 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 17 
 
 "to analyze the shortcomings of the past, 
 or to attempt exactly to apportion, as 
 though you were weighing it in a balance, 
 the burden of blame on both sides, Not 
 only upon one side, but upon both sides, 
 bitter words have been spoken, bad things 
 have been done. 
 
 "What has seemed almost from the 
 first an unkindly fate has brooded over 
 these two islands to frustrate their com- 
 mon life and to sever their natural unity. 
 Time after time, when they were coming 
 together, the web which seemed about to 
 be woven of reciprocal interests and affec- 
 tions has been unraveled and torn asunder 
 as though under the spell of some malig- 
 nant curse. Let it be our part to ex- 
 orcise once and for all these baneful in- 
 fluences, and to join two peoples meant 
 to be one, whom the chances of history, 
 the seeming caprice of fortune, and the 
 follies and passions of men have kept 
 apart, in a fruitful and endearing union." 
 
 It is needless to add that the speech of 
 John Redmond, the distinguished leader of 
 the Nationalist party, was as worthy of him 
 as of the cause which he so gloriously repre- 
 sents, and of the occasion. The following are 
 a few extracts from his memorable speech 
 on that occasion: — 
 
 MR. REDMOND'S SPEECH. 
 
 "Undoubtedly the speech of the debate 
 
18 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 was that of John Redmond. He spoke 
 under the influence of strong emotion, 
 and the solemn beauty of his peroration 
 affected his audience like glorious music 
 swelling forth from an organ in some 
 majestic Cathedral. 
 
 He declared that there was not a 
 people or a country in the whole civilized 
 world that would not welcome as glad 
 tidings of great joy the announcement 
 that the British nation had been magnan- 
 imous enough and brave enough and 
 wise enough to undo an old national 
 wrong. He made special reference to the 
 desire with which this measure was a- 
 waited by the Irish in America, who 
 believed they were driven out of their own 
 country by misgovernment and oppres- 
 sion, and who had cherished in their 
 hearts an admitted hostility to the British 
 Empire, and the present Bill might go 
 far to reconcile them. 
 
 "In the words of Mr. Gladstone, "the 
 long period of time has once more run 
 out, and the star of Ireland is mounting 
 the heavens." An extraordinary scene 
 of enthusiasm took place on the announce- 
 ment of the figures, cheers being given for 
 Asquith, Redmond and Parnell. When 
 at length the demonstration subsided, 
 the distant sound of cheering was heard — 
 it was the London Irish, half delirious with 
 joy, cheering the rending of their fetters. 
 
 Mr. Redmond reiterated what he had 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 19 
 
 stated during the debate on the First 
 Reading of the Bill, namely, that 
 the Nationalists accepted the Bill. He 
 thought it would lead to the reconciliation 
 of all the interests at stake, between the 
 North and the South of Ireland. He 
 declared that the Nationalists refused to 
 regard Ulstermen as anything but bro- 
 thers, and invited them to join with the 
 Nationalists in the emancipation and the 
 government of their common country. 
 He went on: 
 
 "I believe that in spite of the House of 
 Lords the Home Rule Bill is going to 
 pass into law within the lifetime of this 
 Parliament. The House of Lords, we 
 know, is going to throw it out, but, al- 
 though the Lords still have teeth, they 
 cannot bite. 
 
 "For my colleagues and myself this 
 is a very serious and solemn moment. 
 Many of us have sat in this House with 
 one single object in view for more than 
 thirty years. We have met with dis- 
 aster, defeat and discouragement, but 
 never, even when faced with the tragedy 
 and the loss of our great and incomparable 
 leader, Parnell, did we despair of the 
 arrival of this day." 
 
 "The Long Fight Nearly Ended." 
 
 "Then Mr Redmond indulged in a 
 retrospect of modern Irish history, with 
 
20 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 its discouragements, its gleams of victory, 
 its tragedies and its baffled hopes. Four 
 generations of his own family, he said, 
 had been sent to the House of Commons 
 to fight for Ireland's rights, and now the 
 end of the long struggle was in view. Cen- 
 tred in the Bill were the hopes and aspir- 
 ations not only of the Irish in Ireland, 
 but the hopes of millions of Irishmen in 
 every part of the United States. His 
 reference to the millions of the Irish 
 race in America who were driven out by 
 misgovernment at home and were hostile 
 to the British, was loudly cheered. 
 
 "I believe, he continued, "there is not 
 a people or a country in the civilized 
 world which will not welcome as glad 
 tidings of great joy the announcement 
 that the British Nation has at last un- 
 done an old National wrong. In the 
 words of the late William E. Gladstone, 
 'the tide has once more run out and the 
 star of Ireland has mounted in the heav- 
 ens.' 
 
 "This peroration was received with a 
 sustained roar of applause, which was 
 none the less fervent for the adroit in- 
 sertion of the name of Gladstone in its 
 concluding sentences." 
 
 "A Union of all Classes and Creeds." 
 
 "Although the financial provisions of 
 the Bill are less liberal than expected, 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 21 
 
 they have come automatically to an end, 
 and there will be no opportunity of 
 revising them. We oppose the exclusion 
 of Ulster from the Home Rule Bill on 
 several grounds but the supreme ob- 
 jection is that nothing would compensate 
 the Nationalists for the mutilation of 
 their country. The Nationalists refuse 
 to regard Ulstermen as anything but 
 brothers and I invite them to join with 
 the Nationalists in the emancipation and 
 the government of their common country. ' ' 
 
 Perhaps the importance of Ireland's great 
 victory will be better understood and appre- 
 ciated from the following article in a recent 
 number of the Irish World: — 
 
 The majority of one hundred and ten 
 for the Home Rule Bill has a significance 
 which will be better understood by com- 
 paring it with the votes given for the 
 two previous Home Rule measures. In 
 1886 Mr. Gladstone's first attempt at 
 securing an instalment of justice for 
 Ireland was defeated by a majority of 30. 
 Seven years later, in 1893, he made a 
 second effort which was more successful, 
 so far as the House of Commons was con- 
 cerned. In that year the House of 
 Commons, by a majority of 34, declared 
 that Ireland should be invested with the 
 right of managing her own affairs. 
 
 That is the condensed history of the 
 
22 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 two previous Bills. From a minority 
 to a majority vote of 34 showed the rising 
 tide in favor of Home Rule twenty years 
 ago. It is still mounting, as is demonstra- 
 ted by the increasing vote at the different 
 stages of the Bill just passed in the House 
 of Commons. When it was first in- 
 troduced last Spring, it had a majority 
 of 94, which was increased to 100 on 
 the Second Reading. The 110 majority 
 on the Third Reading, carries with it a 
 notification to the Orangemen of Ulster 
 that their threats have not frightened 
 the parliamentary representatives of the 
 British democracy." 
 
 As the Home Rule Bill is one of the greatest 
 measures that has ever been enacted by any 
 legislative body, and one of the most far 
 reaching for peace and good will, not only 
 between Great Britain and Ireland, but for 
 the lasting peace of the world, the reader will 
 pardon me if I dwell upon it at some length. 
 
 As the Irish and English peoples are scatter- 
 ed all over the globe , and their relations to 
 each other are constantly being embittered 
 by the long standing enmities between the 
 two countries, this measure, if enacted into 
 law, and it looks almost like a certainty just 
 now, will wipe out old scores and bring the 
 two peoples together as friends and fellow- 
 workers for the welfare of all. 
 
 Such being the case then, I here present an 
 able account of the scenes and incidents on 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 23 
 
 the passage of the bill in the House of Commons 
 from a staff correspondent of the Irish World, 
 Mr Con O'Leary, from whose correspondence 
 I have treely copied. 
 
 HOME RULE PASSED ON THIRD 
 READING. 
 
 ''House Of Commons Sends it With a 
 Majority Of 110 To the House Of Lords. 
 Tories and Unionists Dumbfounded At 
 the Large Vote.— John Redmond Thanks 
 Irish-America For Its Help In Carrying 
 the Fight To a Successful Issue.— Bonar 
 Law Declares Ulster Will Never Recog- 
 nize the Measure." 
 
 "London, Jan. 17.— Amidst scenes of 
 fervid joy on the part of the members 
 of the Irish Party, shared in with hardly 
 less enthusiasm by the members of the 
 Liberal and Labor Parties, and the Welsh 
 and Scotch members, the third Home 
 Rule Bill to be introduced in the House 
 of Commons, and the second to pass 
 that assembly, was passed by a vote of 
 367 to 257 — a majority of 110. The 
 majority consisted of 248 Liberals, 82 
 Irish Nationalists, and 37 Labor members 
 
 "An Impressive Scene." 
 
 "When the figures were announced the 
 
24 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 Nationalists, Labor and Liberal members 
 arose and waving their hats and hand- 
 kerchiefs, cheered Premier Asquith, John 
 E. Redmond and the various Cabinet 
 Ministers. Mr. Redmond, who is usual- 
 ly passive, was carried away by the great 
 enthusiasm of his friends and entered 
 into the spirit of the demonstration as 
 effusively as they. Those who crowded 
 the lobbies received the figures with 
 another roar of welcome. 
 
 "Robert Cameron, Liberal member from 
 Durham, who was in favor of the meas- 
 ure, insisted upon being brought from 
 a sick bed to support the Bill, and was 
 carried into the lobby. Edward J. 
 Kelly, Irish Nationalist, left the Dublin 
 Hospital and traveled to London attend- 
 ed only by a nurse. The only Nation- 
 alist absentee in the final voting was 
 Joseph Patrick Nannetti, member for 
 the College Green Division of Dublin. 
 He was absent because he was stricken 
 with paralysis while preparing to start 
 for London. 
 
 "The passage of the Bill was the climax 
 of fifty-two days' debate in the House of 
 Commons, and for the eventful occasion 
 every possible vote of every Party had 
 been whipped up. No sooner had the 
 result been announced than the Orange 
 members resumed their "Will-Fight" tac- 
 tics. Frederick E. Smith, the Orange 
 firebrand from Liverpool, gave away the 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 25 
 
 whole case against the Bill. "If it were 
 possible," he said, "to have a concilia- 
 tion conference nobody would be better 
 pleased than I." 
 
 "Firebrand Smith Has His Say." 
 
 "The Orange leader covered this up by 
 a lurid picture of ' the possible shooting 
 of a hundred Orangemen by British troops 
 with a thousand to take their place. 
 But even the Tory Party was not res- 
 ponsive to such clap-trap oratory. Soon 
 after Mr. Smith left the House of Com- 
 mons, and at the head of a motley crowd 
 marched to the Constitutional Club, the 
 Unionists headquarters, where from an 
 open window he said that the outcome 
 would not be decided in the House of 
 Commons, but in the streets of Belfast. 
 To give light to the occasion, one of the 
 members of the Club set fire to a copy 
 of the Home Rule Bill. 
 
 "At the National Liberal Club several 
 thousand members appeared, and affect- 
 ing scenes were witnessed. It was here 
 that the Irish leader, flushed with the 
 heat of victory, made his way, support- 
 ed by many Liberal, Irish and Labor 
 members. He spoke gratefully of the 
 assistance received from the Irish race 
 in the United States and Canada, which, 
 he said, had greatly helped him and the 
 Irish Party to carry the fight to a sue- 
 
26 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 cessful issue, remarking: "It is a proud 
 day for them." 
 
 "Mr. Redmond's Thanks." 
 
 "Later Mr. Redmond gave out the 
 following statement: 
 
 "On behalf of the Irish Party and the 
 Irish people, I tender to the Liberal and 
 Labor Parties, to the Scottish and Welsh 
 members and to their supporters, both 
 in and out of Parliament, our gratitude 
 for the fidelity with which they have 
 championed to victory the cause of jus- 
 tice to Ireland. The passage of the Bill 
 into a law is assured, and the effect of its 
 operation in Ireland will be not only to 
 inaugurate a new era of peace and pros- 
 perity, but to weld together Irishmen of 
 every class and every creed in an in- 
 dissoluble bond of brotherhood and of 
 affection, for the promotion of the wel- 
 fare and happiness of their Motherland. 
 The granting of Home Rule will be hailed 
 with enthusiasm by the friends of justice 
 and of liberty, in every sovereign State 
 in the world." 
 
 "Soon after the vote was taken, the Bill, 
 tied up with green ribbons, and escorted 
 by a delegation of Nationalist members, 
 who were loudly cheered in crossing the 
 lobby from the House of Commons to 
 the House of Lords, was sent to the latter 
 House, which had specially met to receive 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 27 
 
 the Bill. Here it formally passed its 
 First Reading. 
 
 "The Tories were dumbfounded and all 
 Parties were surprised at the large major- 
 ity for the Bill, it being six larger than 
 the normal Government majority, allow- 
 ing for vacant seats. They were astonished, 
 too, at the good order of the members, 
 for violent demonstrations were expected 
 and at the depressed speeches of Bonar 
 Law and the Unionist leaders, who gave 
 the impression of realizing that their 
 game is up and of being ready to begin 
 angling for any compromise to save the 
 Orange face." 
 
 Home Rule being as already stated a matter 
 of intense interest to the world at large, as 
 well as to the Irish people at home and abroad, 
 the reader will excuse the giving of some ex- 
 tended press notices of the passage of the Bill. 
 
 These will show how it is regarded by 
 other than the Irish people and I need make 
 no apology to my readers for these many 
 extracts from the Irish World and other 
 sources because they are so pertinent and 
 cover the various phases of the subject so 
 thoroughly they leave nothing more to be 
 said. 
 
 The following from the N. Y . Globe is a 
 fair sample of American opinion: 
 
 "The most significant thing in connec- 
 
28 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 tionwith the passage of the Home Rule 
 Bill is that it would have passed if the 
 Irish members had not participated in 
 the division. The vote was 367 for the 
 Bill and 257 against. On the affirmative 
 side were 82 Irish Nationalists and on the 
 negative side were 20 other members from 
 Ireland. Home Rule thus had the sup- 
 port of 265 non- Irish members of Par- 
 liament and was opposed by 257 non- 
 Irish members. It has a majority of 
 the representatives of England, Scot- 
 land, and Wales as well as of Ireland 
 
 The Tory Campaign of Abuse. 
 
 The Conservatives, as so often happens 
 when a Tory Party finds that it is beaten, 
 kept up their campaign of abuse and of 
 incitement to disorder. Bonar Law prac- 
 tically invited Belfast and Ulster to rise 
 in armed rebellion. Many an Irishman 
 has languished in prison for saying things 
 less incendiary than came from the lips 
 of leading members of the opposition. 
 But the violent screaming and threatening 
 by scions of the aristocracy availed 
 nothing. Democracy was in the saddle 
 and would not be diverted from a meas- 
 ure of Democratic justice. 
 
 "You are told," said Gladstone in one 
 of his Midlothian speeches, "that edu- 
 cation, that enlightenment, that leisure, 
 that high station, that political experience 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 29 
 
 are arrayed in the opposing camp and I 
 am sorry to say I cannot deny it. I 
 painfully reflect that in almost every one, 
 if not in every one, of the greatest politi- 
 cal controversies of the last fifty years, 
 whether they affected the franchise wheth- 
 er they affected commerce, whether they 
 affected the abominable institution of 
 slavery, or what subject they touched, 
 these educated classes, these wealthy 
 classes, these titled classes, have been 
 in the wrong. 
 
 "So it will be shown again with respect 
 to Home Rule. An Irish Parliament 
 will not be an instrument of perfect 
 wisdom. The world is not able to get 
 such. But it is based on the sound and 
 enduring principle of the right of Self- 
 Government." 
 
 As the Irish World so well says : — 
 
 "Outside the ranks of the Orange fac- 
 tion in Ulster and of their Tory allies 
 in Great Britain, there is not a word of 
 adverse criticism. The good wishes of 
 mankind are enlisted on the side of 
 Ireland; against her are arrayed the 
 bigotry of Orange lodges and the stupid- 
 ity of Great Britain's hereditary legis- 
 lators in the House of Lords. The con- 
 joined forces of insensate bigotry and 
 blind stupidity will not carry the day. 
 
30 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 They are engaged in a losing fight. They 
 cannot block the march of progress. Our 
 Motherland cannot be turned back on 
 the path on which she has set her feet. 
 In this her hour of triumph, which pre- 
 sages a greater triumph in the near future, 
 her children in this and other lands send 
 her their heartfelt greetings. All hail 
 to her! 
 
 "It is just thirty- two years since Wen- 
 dell Phillips wrote, at a time when Irish 
 jails were crammed with Irish patriots: 
 'Ireland today leads the van in the 
 struggle for right, justice and freedom. 
 England has forfeited her right to rule, 
 if she ever had any, by a three hundred 
 years' exhibition of her unfitness and in- 
 ability to do so. The failure is confessed 
 by all her statesmen of both parties for 
 the last three hundred years. Discontent, 
 poverty, famine, and death are her 
 accusers.' Such was the terrible in- 
 dictment of English rule in Ireland, 
 framed in 1881 by one whose nobility 
 of soul endowed him with that clearness 
 of vision which penetrates outward shows 
 and gets at the heart of things. It was 
 that gift which enabled Wendell Phillips 
 to make this prediction, now verified, in 
 seemingly the darkest hour when Parnell, 
 Davitt and the other Irish leaders were 
 behind prison bars like common felons." 
 
 In the words of Mr. Samuel Young, an 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 31 
 
 Irish Protestant Nationalist Member of Par- 
 liamant, from Ulster, the real opposition to 
 Home Rule Bill, comes from: — 
 
 'The ascendant minority making their 
 last effort to retain place and power in 
 Ireland. 
 
 "That is the whole thing in a nutshell — 
 Orange Ascendancy wants to hold on to 
 place and power, and Home Rule it 
 knows will stop all that and give all 
 Irishmen a square deal. Against this 
 there is an impudent Orange Ascendancy 
 "argument" noted by Mr. Young: "The 
 Irish people fought for civil and religious 
 liberty from 1800 to 1829, and he saw the 
 tar barrels on the hills when the Act 
 (Emancipation Act) was passed in 1829. 
 They fought for the Commutation of 
 the Tithe Act in 1836, and they also 
 fought in 1869 for Disestablishment which 
 is now to be copied in Wales. They fought 
 the land law question in 1878, 1881, 1886, 
 and in 1903, yet to be copied by Great 
 Britain, and now they are to experi- 
 ment in proportional representation in 
 the formation of their Senate in Dublin. 
 These were the people who were unfit to 
 manage their own affairs." 
 
Chapter III. 
 
 FIGHT CONTINUED 
 
 In Mr. Justin McCarthy's account of the 
 introduction of Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule 
 Bill, in 1893, there is a beautiful reverie, in 
 which he brings on the stage a host of Ire- 
 land's patriots and martyrs, all of whom 
 suffered, and many of whom died to make 
 her a nation : — 
 
 "The Irish benches were crowded with my 
 enthusiastic colleagues rallying in ex- 
 ultation around the chosen leader of their 
 country and their cause faded — so it 
 seemed to my reverie — from my sight, 
 and in their room a legion of mighty and 
 mournful phantoms presented themselves 
 to me. Phantoms of many epochs 
 and of many ages rose in a great cloud 
 together, and my vision following the 
 lines of their dim ranks caught here and 
 there with the feverish rapidity of a 
 dream, well-known and venerated coun- 
 tenances dear beyond all phrase to Irish 
 memories. 
 "The white-haired, blind, old man, whose 
 stalwart frame was bowed by sorrow, 
 and whose sightless gaze had in it such 
 a wistful pathos, was not the exiled 
 Earl whose grave in Roman earth is now 
 the shrine of so many pilgrimages? Near 
 him, his soldier's face writhed with pain 
 
 32 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 33 
 
 or poison, came the great kinsman of his 
 house, Owen Roe. Sarsfield, with the 
 blood of Landen on his breast and hand: 
 Talbot of Tyrconnell's weary, haughty 
 face; Roger Moore, handsome, chivalrous, 
 devoted; William Molyneux, with the 
 "Case of Ireland" in his grasp; the small 
 fervid figure of the Dean of St. Patrick's 
 with "fierce indignation" blazing in his 
 wild, dark eyes; Lucas, with his volume 
 clasped in his embrace; the gallant bear- 
 ing of Charlemont; Grattan, in the uni- 
 form of the Volunteers; Flood, restless 
 and repentant; Curran, swaying with 
 stormy eloquence — these and many others 
 floated before me in proud succession. 
 
 "With them were yet livelier and loftier 
 presences; Edward Fitzgerald, his comely 
 body gashed with more scars than Cae- 
 sar, and by baser hands; Tone, with 
 that grim wound in his throat; Bagenal 
 Harvey and Father John; the Brothers 
 Sheares in death as in life undivided; 
 and Emmet, with the livid circle round 
 his young neck. On they came, the long 
 line of martyrs who had died to defeat 
 the fatal principles which the Act of 
 Union formulated, and who seemed now 
 to rise from their graves at the sound of 
 the knell of that principle." 
 
 ''All this ghostly army, multiplying in 
 bewildering rapidity, swayed and floated 
 silently forward, their pale faces shining 
 with wild emotions of hope and exulta- 
 
34 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 tion and hate. Then a great cry rose 
 up, a fierce, tumultuous yell of triumph 
 and salutation ; the grey hosts seemed to 
 shudder at the sound, and swiftly vanish- 
 ed as the clamor rose, to their place of 
 shades. St. Stephen's was itself again, 
 and the assembled, living, breathing mul- 
 titude were — the majority of them — 
 cheering themselves hoarse in welcome 
 of Mr. Gladstone, who had just risen 
 to his feet. 
 
 "As I listened to the orator, and heard 
 the impassioned words in which an 
 English Minister, for the first time in the 
 face of all the world, recognized the 
 rights of the Irish people, I felt that, in- 
 deed, the mighty dead might well be 
 content with that day's work, and 
 might, indeed, if it were permitted to 
 them, quit their resting-places to share 
 in the triumphs of a day which marks 
 an epoch in Irish history — an epoch which 
 seems as if it were destined to end the 
 old evil order of repression and revolu- 
 tion and open the new order of freedom 
 and of hope. 
 
 In connection with alleged fear of perse- 
 cution by the Orangemen, and to which 
 I have referred at length in another part of 
 this work, I may here state that more than 
 one half of these martyrs of Irish liberty 
 mentioned in Mr. McCarthy's Reverie were 
 Protestants ! 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 35 
 
 It is true, the Lords rejected the bill after 
 only four days debate, and by a vote of 326 
 to 69! 
 
 Although the majority is large, it is 121 
 less than they gave against the Gladstone 
 Home Rule Bill in 1893; and their vote for 
 the bill, on the present occasion, was 28 
 greater than for the former! 
 
 This shows that even the Lords, who have 
 by the way been the bitter and unrelenting 
 enemies of every measure, not only for the 
 benefit of the Irish, but for the British masses 
 as well, are beginning to see the light, and are 
 coming to realize that their days are num- 
 bered, that the old order is passing away, 
 and that the world does move after all! 
 
 In fifty years from now, possibly in less, 
 if the House of Lords should continue as 
 part of the legislative branch of Great Britain 
 it will in all probability be looked on as a 
 long worn out Institution; and the world will 
 wonder that even such a conservative people 
 as the British could endure so long such a 
 mouldy and mildewed body, especially as 
 it serves no useful purpose, if it ever did ! 
 
 Mr. William Jennings Bryan, our Secre- 
 tary of State, recently voiced the popular 
 sentiment, regarding the House of Lords; 
 and the great achievement of the Irish Nation- 
 al party in practically destroying the Lords 
 further power for evil, by the amendment 
 limiting their veto, power, when he said — : 
 The degradation of the House of Lords 
 is due to its opposition to the Home Rule 
 
36 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 Bill, which brought about an amend- 
 ment to the English Constitution, thus 
 making the concurrence of the House of 
 Lords unecessary after a Bill has passed 
 the House of Commons a third time. 
 The Irish can point to this as one of 
 the greatest achievements in history, hav- 
 ing brought to a virtual end hereditary 
 rule in the British Empire. 
 and further added : — 
 
 "The fighters for Home Rule are fighters 
 of a world-wide battle, and those who 
 oppose it have sounded the death knell 
 of hereditary government." 
 
 If the Irish Nationalist party had done 
 nothing more than to pull down and destroy 
 forever the unlimited governmental power 
 of the Lords, that hoary headed anachron- 
 ism of power, privilege and abuse, it has done 
 enough to deserve the everlasting gratitude, 
 not only of the Irish people but of the British 
 as well! For the Lords have always barred 
 the way to all true progress, not only in Great 
 Britain, but wherever their power could reach! 
 And this is especially true when the Liberals 
 are in power. Even when the Tories, their 
 own party, have charge of the Government, 
 no reformatory measure can be put through 
 except after the most intense pressure. 
 
 On the other hand, they have always 
 favored and clamored for every governmental 
 wrong and abuse, both at home and abroad. 
 As a few instances, I may mention that the 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 37 
 
 war against the American Colonists in 1776 
 to 1783 was largely their work, as was the 
 second war against the Americans from 1812 
 to 1814, as well as the letting loose of the 
 privateers, Alabama and Shenandoah, and 
 other vessels of a similar character, to prey 
 on our ocean commerce in the 60s. 
 
 At this time, when the life of our nation 
 hung trembling in the balance, the Lords, as a 
 body, gave almost their entire sympathy and 
 moral support to the South ! 
 
 They also, as one man, supported and up- 
 held the infamous war by which Great Britain 
 forced opium on the Chinese nation some 70 
 odd years ago, and Great Britain, to its 
 discredit be it said, is still forcing it on the 
 Chinese, in spite of a treaty that stands in 
 the way, and the protest of the New Chinese 
 Republic! 
 
 Needless to add, the Lords were always the 
 cheerful instrument for enacting, and en- 
 forcing, all that fiercely wicked English legis- 
 lation for Ireland that has been put into force 
 since the beginning of the English occupation. 
 
 It is, therefore, a most hopeful and cheering 
 sign of the times that the English Prime 
 Minister, Mr. Asquith, has given notice, in 
 the House of Commons, that he intends soon 
 to bring in a bill to abolish the House of 
 Lords, as at present constituted! 
 
 God speed the day! 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that if the present 
 Liberal government should remain in power 
 till June 1914, the Home Rule Bill, after its 
 
38 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 third reading by the Commons next year, 
 will become a law, by the signature of the 
 king, in spite of the Lords efforts to prevent it 
 The general opinion of the Lords action 
 is well expressed in the following extracts, 
 one from a recent number of the Irish World, 
 the other from London Daily News: — 
 
 "FUTILE OPPOSITION." 
 
 "The House of Lords did what was 
 expected of it. On Thursday, January 
 30, it rejected the Home Rule Bill by 
 a vote of 326 to 69. It was an exhibition 
 of anti-Irish hatred on the part of Eng- 
 land's hereditary legislators that, if 
 given a few years ago, would have killed 
 the measure with which Ireland's hopes 
 are bound up. The Lords, however, 
 have been shorn of the power they once 
 possessed. They can now delay, but not 
 permanently defeat justice to Ireland. 
 But even they have been affected by the 
 spirit of the times, as is shown by a com- 
 parison between the vote of the House of 
 Lords on Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule 
 Bill of 1893, and that by which the Lords 
 rejected the Home Rule Bill of 1913. 
 
 Twenty years ago 460 Lords con- 
 stituted the jury that determined the 
 question whether Ireland should have 
 the management of her own affairs. 
 Only forty-one members of that jury 
 voted in favor of Ireland. The remain- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 39 
 
 ing 419 were loyal to the anti-Irish tra- 
 ditions of their caste. On Thursday of 
 last week 395 Peers were assembled to 
 pass judgment on the Home Rule measure 
 that had received the approval of the 
 representatives of the Democracy of 
 Great Britain and Ireland. Of this num- 
 ber sixty-nine went on record as approv- 
 ing the action of the House of Commons; 
 326 stamped it with their disapproval. 
 One of them, Earl of Halsbury, thus 
 bemoaned the altered circumstances that 
 rendered the vote of the majority of the 
 Lords less decisive than that cast in 
 1893: "The position of the House is now 
 that Peers could express their views and 
 reject the Bill, but they could not pre- 
 vent it from becoming law." It was the 
 lament of privilege over the loss of power 
 that in the past was so often employed 
 to defeat the will of the British Democra- 
 cy. 
 
 Last week the Home Rule Bill mustered 
 twenty-eight more votes in the House of 
 Lords than a similar measure did two 
 decades ago. It shows that "the light 
 is spreading" even in the citadel of hered- 
 itary privilege. 
 
 "A TEDIOUS FARCE." 
 
 "The London Daily News and Leader, 
 commenting on the rejection of the Home 
 Rule Bill by the House of Lords, says: 
 
40 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "It is because the Lords, by identifying 
 themselves with a political faction, have 
 given up genuine debate and law-making 
 and reduced their proceedings to a te- 
 dious farce that there is no effective force 
 behind their speeches. The Parliament 
 Act has not done this thing ; the Lords 
 have done it themselves. The Parliament 
 Act merely registered the National 
 recognition of the fact and the National 
 determination to limit the degree to 
 which a perverted chamber could be 
 harmful until it made way for better 
 men. With sorrow the Unionist leaders 
 have had to admit that though they can 
 suspend a great reform with their votes 
 they cannot provoke the slightest sym- 
 pathy with their actions." 
 
 Many think because of the furious and long 
 continued opposition of a few demagogues in 
 Ulster, that that Province, at least, should be, 
 excluded from Home Rule control! Perhaps 
 the very best explanation I can give of the 
 political condition in Ulster today is that 
 given in a recent speech in the House of 
 Commons by Mr. Asquith: — 
 
 Speaking on an amendment to the Home 
 Rule Bill, offered by Sir Edward Carson, that 
 Ulster be excluded from the operation of 
 Home Rule, he said- — 
 
 "What is "Ulster?" Mr. Asquith asked 
 the question and he answered it. "If 
 this amendment," said he, "is carried the 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 41 
 
 whole of Ulster wilj be excluded. What 
 is Ulster? I have here a map in which 
 Ulster is colored and I find that dividing 
 Ulster according to its representation 
 between those who are in favor of and 
 those who are against Home Rule the 
 whole of the North-west, the whole of 
 the South, and a large part of the middle 
 of Ulster (the County of Tyrone) is 
 almost unanimously in favor of Home 
 Rule. That is a geographical fact about 
 which there can be no doubt. The whole 
 of Donegal, which returns a united Na- 
 tionalist representation, the whole of 
 Tyrone out of which three Divisions as 
 compared with one return a represen- 
 tation in favor of Home Rule, the whole 
 of Monaghan and Cavan, part of Fer- 
 managh, and parts of Armagh and Down, 
 all have a preponderating Nationalist 
 population and are represented by mem- 
 bers in favor of Home Rule and they 
 would be excluded from the benefit of 
 Home Rule. In point of fact there are 
 only two counties in Ulster which return 
 a uniform Unionist representation namely 
 Londonderry and Antrim." 
 
 The Irish World, commenting on Sir 
 Edward Carson's demand, well says: 
 
 "The cool impudence of Sir Edward 
 Carson and his eighteen Irish Tory Par- 
 liamentary colleagues in writing to Prime 
 Minister Asquith asking him to exclude 
 
42 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 Ulster from the Home Rule Bill, would 
 be amazing if these gentlemen were not 
 already so well known for that feature 
 of character. They first — in the begin- 
 ning of the discussion on the Bill — pro- 
 posed and demanded the exclusion of 
 four counties-the Northeast corner. Mr. 
 Asquith was not frightened by the threat- 
 ening letter with its suggestions of ' 'mo- 
 mentous consequences" and "righteous 
 resistance" to the Bill, if passed with 
 Ulster included. 
 
 "Of course that is the way the Home 
 Rule Bill will be passed. It will be passed 
 with Ulster in it and every part of Ulster. 
 The Bill will include all Ireland. Not 
 one spot on Irish soil must be excluded. 
 The Irish Nation claims Ireland from 
 shore to shore as her inheritance and 
 every inch of that inheritance must be 
 under the governmental jurisdiction of 
 Ireland's National Parliament. 
 
 "That is the National demand of Ireland 
 and it is recognized and conceded in the 
 Home Rule Bill. Sir Edward Carson 
 after making nothing of his threatening 
 letter to Mr. Asquith proposed an amend- 
 ment to the Bill, excluding all Ulster. 
 The amendment was defeated by a major- 
 ity of 97, which was the response of Great 
 Britain as well as of Ireland to the auda- 
 cious Orange claim that Ulster with its 
 Home Rule majority in a majority of its 
 counties should be left out of the Home 
 Rule Bill. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 43 
 
 "This important point was well ex- 
 pounded and emphasized by Prime Minis- 
 ter Asquith in his speech on the Carson 
 amendment — a speech showing that Mr. 
 Asquith thoroughly understands the situa- 
 tion in Ulster and is thoroughly familiar 
 with the facts of the case." 
 
 Speaking at a great meeting in Dublin, 
 Mr. Asquith put the Ulster opposition in 
 still another way; as follows: — 
 
 But to say that a minority, before 
 any actual wrong is done, or can be done 
 to them, upon the suspicion or appre- 
 hension that in defiance of the forms 
 of an act of Parliament and the supreme 
 authority of the Imperial Parliament 
 they may at some future time be injured 
 or oppressed ; to say that a minority may 
 be entitled, on such grounds, to defeat 
 the constitutional demands of the vast 
 majority of their fellow countrymen and 
 to frustrate a great international set- 
 tlement, is a proposition which in my 
 opinion does not and never will com- 
 mend itself either to the conscience or 
 to the judgment of the British people. 
 That is our answer. That is the statement 
 of our case in regard to Ulster. 
 
 "The body for which the above stated 
 claim is made is a minority both in Ire- 
 land and in Ulster. The latter fact, 
 
44 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 proved now at the ballot box in Derry, 
 had, of course, already been well-known 
 in the North. There has been no anti- 
 Home Rule Ulster in existence." 
 
 Ulster, which these fanatics would now rend 
 to pieces and tear from its love and alle- 
 giance to Ireland, has been in the past, as 
 I have stated elsewhere, the fruitful mother 
 of innumerable Irish martyrs and patriots, 
 and the majority of her people are today 
 as intensely Irish and patriotic as their 
 fathers, and as anxious for Home Rule! 
 
 In answer to Mr. Carson and his braggart 
 crew, we Irishmen say: Ireland wants every 
 inch of her soil, every single inch, North, 
 South, East and West; Ulster, Munster, 
 Leinster and Connaught; all are needed to 
 make up an Ireland , one and indivisable, now 
 and forever! 
 
 She wants all her children too, of every 
 class and creed, Catholic and Protestant, Jew 
 and Gentile; all are needed to build up the 
 new, the Greater Ireland, the regenerated 
 Ireland that is coming soon; an Ireland that 
 will not only rival but surpass her old time 
 self in all that is truly great; in learning, in 
 truth, in justice and in right. 
 
 Mr. Ford's paper, the Irish World, which 
 has made such a magnificent fight for Ire- 
 land, in season and out of season, and which 
 has raised so much money for the Irish strug- 
 gle and for the Nationalist Party, comment- 
 ing on the outrageous demand for the exclu- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 45 
 
 sion of Ulster from Ireland, because that is 
 really what the amendment meant, says: — 
 
 "In Ulster as a whole there were, 
 roughly speaking, nine Protestants to 
 every seven Catholics, and it was not 
 possible in the face of these figures, to 
 justify the exclusion of the whole Prov- 
 ince of Ulster. In the Bill the Gov- 
 ernment had dealt with Ireland as a 
 whole, and believed what was beneficial 
 to Ireland as a whole could not, in the 
 long run, be injurious to any part of it." 
 
 And just here, it seems fitting that I should 
 quote some lines from one of Ireland's best 
 beloved sons, one who loved her dearly and 
 suffered for her cheerfully, the late lamented 
 John Boyle O'Reilly :— 
 
 All thy life has been a symbol: 
 
 We can only see a part; 
 God will flood thee yet with sunshine; 
 
 For the woes that drench thy heart. 
 
 "The first glimmering of the dawn that 
 precedes the noonday splendor of Irish 
 legislative independence has been hailed 
 by the Irish race and by all true lovers 
 of freedom with an outburst of joy. In 
 the National House of Representatives 
 at Washington and in the State legisla- 
 tures of New York and Nebraska resolu- 
 tions of congratulation over the initial 
 
46 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 success of the Home Rule Bill fittingly 
 reflect American sentiment. The Amer- 
 ican press is unanimous in its expressions 
 of approval of the action of the House of 
 Commons." 
 
 Since the above was written, almost all 
 states in the Union have through their res- 
 pective legislatures, passed resolutions of sym- 
 pathy and congratulation. Our public men, 
 with scarcely an exception, have shown like 
 sympathy and friendship: Governors, Lieut. 
 Governors, U. S. Senators and Congressmen, 
 as well as others in public life. 
 
 This is true also of Canada and Australia 
 and all other British self governing possessions. 
 
 Ireland has the sympathy, respect and 
 good will of all the world, excepting the Tory 
 Party of Great Britain and a small faction 
 of Orangemen, in one or two of the Ulster 
 counties. These try to make up in bluster 
 and fury what they lack in numbers. 
 
 "Mr. Thomas W. Russell, M. P., a 
 high official of the Government in Ireland 
 and a Protestant, said at a recent meeting 
 in London that "the Orange mob of 
 Belfast have been rioting periodically for 
 the last half century, with nothing to riot 
 for save a ferocious hatred of their fellow- 
 countrymen — men who are Roman Cath- 
 olics. Let them," he continued, "not 
 talk to him about the religion of Belfast. 
 There is no religion in Orange tyranny; 
 it is downright savagery." 
 
Chapter IV. 
 THE GREAT DERRY VICTORY. 
 
 While telling of the passage of the Home 
 Rule Bill in the Commons and the exciting 
 and stirring events connected with it, I find 
 there is good news from Derry; gloriously 
 good news, for this city, an old time Tory 
 stronghold, has suddenly swung herself into 
 the Nationalists ranks, and after one of the 
 most exciting elections ever held, even in 
 Ireland, has elected Mr. David C. Hogg, a 
 Scotch Presbyterian, as its Nationalist rep- 
 resentative to the Brtitish House of Com- 
 mons ! 
 
 The election of such a man by a constituen- 
 cy almost wholly Catholic gives the lie direct 
 to the charge of Catholic intolerance! And 
 he himself says : — 
 
 I have lived fifty years in Ireland, and, in 
 my opinion, an Irish Parliament will not 
 endanger Protestantism in any form or man- 
 ner. 
 
 The capture of this Tory citadel by the 
 Nationalists leaves only Antrim to the Orange- 
 men; and even there a large portion of the 
 people want Home Rule! 
 
 This election in Derry is one of the most 
 important and far reaching in its effects of 
 any that has taken place in Ireland for a 
 hundred years, and all the more so, occurring 
 as it did on the very day after the rejec- 
 tion of the Home Rule Bill by the Lords! 
 
 47 
 
48 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 On that account, I shall give more space 
 to this event, than it would otherwise call for. 
 I shall begin by giving some correspondence 
 from Ireland to the Irish World, as this 
 able writer, Mr. O'Leary, was on the ground 
 at the time and as his descriptions are most 
 graphic: — 
 
 I here quote them : — 
 
 "Wild Demonstrations on Announce- 
 ment of Vote. — Ulster Returns 
 Home Rule Majority." 
 
 "Londonderry, Jan. 31. — The Irish 
 Home Rule party won a notable victory 
 over Unionists in the election of a mem- 
 ber of Parliament here yesterday. 
 
 "The poll, which as usual was very close, 
 resulted as follows: David C. Hogg, 
 Nationalist, 2,699; Col. H. A. Pakenham 
 Unionist, 2642. Majority, 57. 
 
 "Majorities in Londonderry elections 
 have always been small, ranging between 
 26 in 1892 and 105 in 1911. 
 
 "The seat has been held since 1900 by 
 the Marquis of Hamilton, recently going 
 to the Lords by the death of his father, 
 the Duke of Abercorn." 
 
 "Wild demonstrations followed announ- 
 cement of the result of polling. There 
 was a deafening tornado of cheers and 
 hisses, accompanied by firing of revolvers 
 in air, while green and red handkerchiefs 
 and Union Jacks fluttered over the surg- 
 ing crowd. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 49 
 
 "Nationalists sang "A Nation Once 
 Again," to which the Unionists responded 
 with "Rule Britannia" and "God save 
 the King." 
 
 "Mounted and foot police had to clear 
 the way and escort Mr. Hogg and Col. 
 Pakenham on their way to their hotels. 
 
 "Rival crowds of Home Rulers and 
 Unionists came into contact at one point, 
 and the police had to charge and dis- 
 perse the people. 
 
 "This victory of the Nationalists gives 
 them a majority from Ulster, in the House 
 of Commons. 
 
 "Extraordinary efforts were made to 
 bring every Unionist to the polls. 
 
 "Voters had been brought from Amer- 
 ica and other distant places. The sick, 
 dying, halt and blind were taken to the 
 polls. 
 
 "One Unionist voter dropped dead in 
 his home, while a motorcar with a doctor 
 was waiting to take him to the booth. 
 
 "Another, a paralytic, could utter only 
 half of Pakenham's (the Unionist candi- 
 date's) name, but his vote was allowed. 
 Still another voted in guise of an invalid. 
 He proved to be a man wanted by the 
 police. 
 
 "There was fear of violence among the 
 "Last Ditchers," but the constabulary 
 had little to do. 
 
 "Several anti-Home Rule voters had 
 been brought from the United States, 
 Canada, and other distant places. 
 
50 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "Col. Pakenham, the defeated Union- 
 ist candidate, commandant of the Lon- 
 don Irish Rifles, is a descendant of Gen. 
 Pakenham who suffered a crushing de- 
 feat at the battle of New Orleans, La., 
 January 8, 1815, by the American Army 
 led by Gen. Jackson, the son of Irish 
 parents." 
 
 THE NEWLY ELECTED NATIONALIST 
 MEMBER FOR DERRY IS 
 a Lifelong Anti-Unionist. 
 
 He is a member of the firm of Hogg and 
 Mitchell, shirt manufacturers, Derry. He is 
 a son of the late R. V. Hogg, Glendearg, 
 Melrose, Scotland, where he was born in 
 February, 1840. Though a Scotchman by 
 birth, he has been a half century in Ireland. 
 In 1868, he had a notable experience in elec- 
 tioneering in Derry. He was then supporting 
 Serjeant Dowse, afterwards Baron Dowse, 
 who, as a Liberal candidate, defeated Lord 
 Claude John Hamilton, the Conservative. 
 In the attack made on the old City Hall by 
 an Orange mob Mr. Hogg was savagely assail- 
 ed, was stabbed, and had his head badly 
 injured. His brother, the late Adam Hogg, 
 unsuccessfully contested Derry against Sir 
 Charles Lewis. 
 
 Even his opponents speak of him with 
 respect. The "Derry Standard, 1 ' one of the 
 local Unionist organs refers to him in the 
 following terms: "Mr. Hogg is a Presbyter- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 51 
 
 ian Home Ruler, and is held in very high 
 esteem throughout the community. Although 
 we differ from him in politics, we con- 
 sider the Nationalists are singularly fortunate 
 in their choice. Mr. Hogg will certainly 
 conduct his campaign with the dignity and 
 freedom from rancor which have uniformly 
 distinguished him." 
 
 The following is from the same writer, 
 dated a day or two later, and as it deals with 
 some new features of the great Derry victory, 
 and throws fresh light on the fight, I make 
 no apology for giving it here. 
 
 "THE ULSTER VICTORY." 
 Derry's Dramatic Answer to the 
 Boasts and Bluff of the Orangemen. 
 
 (From Our Correspondent.) 
 CORK, February 2, 1913. 
 
 Hogg 2.699 
 
 Pakenham 2 . 642 
 
 Nationalist Majority 57 
 
 "Such was Derry's dramatic answer to 
 the boasts and bluff of the Orange 
 garrison. After having been twelve years 
 outside the Nationalist pale, the Maiden 
 City has surrendered to progress and 
 reason and right — it has been wedded 
 to Home Rule. It has hastened from 
 the clutch of the black forest of Unionism, 
 and has found the National highway. So 
 
52 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 confident were the Orangemen of retain- 
 ing the seat that they fixed the polling 
 for the day after the Home Rule Bill was 
 rejected by the House of Lords, in order 
 that the voice of the Ulster commoner 
 might echo the wanton action of Ire- 
 land's arch-enemies, the Peers, Far dif- 
 ferent has been the answer of Derry. It 
 has made a dramatic rejoinder to theii 
 insolence. 
 
 "It has completed the discomfiture of 
 the Northern apostles of anarchy, and 
 burlesqued the pretensions of Lord Lon- 
 donderry, Carson, Craig and that crew 
 to represent the feeling of Ulster. It has 
 completely overwhelmed the last garrison 
 of National reaction, and blown Ulster 
 insurrections and Ulster provisional gov- 
 ernments sky-high. By its action Ulster 
 is represented by a Home Rule majority 
 in the House of Commons. When the 
 blatant voice of hooliganism was wont to 
 roar "Ulster will be right," it little knew 
 how soon it would come right in the 
 Nationalist sense. Yes, Ulster is right 
 at last. 
 
 "Paralyzing Stroke to Orangeism." 
 
 "Eighty-five out of the hundred and 
 three members from Ireland are now 
 Home Rulers, and eighty-two and a 
 half per cent of the Irish representation 
 is farmed with a mandate to fight for the 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 53 
 
 liberties of the country. If we except 
 the two members elected by the Tory 
 graduates of Trinity College, Dublin, 
 there is not a single Unionist sent to 
 Parliament from the three Southern 
 Provinces. And by virtue of Derry's 
 magnificent justification of itself and 
 Ireland, seventeen Home Rulers go to 
 Parliament to challenge and defy the 
 claim of sixteen. 
 
 The importance of the result cannot 
 be over-estimated. A paralyzing stroke 
 has levelled Orangeism and all its works 
 and pomps. The last argument against 
 Home Rule has been smashed into smith- 
 ereens. The tin cannon, wooden guns, 
 provisional manifestos, covenants, and the 
 thousand volumes choke-full of libels, 
 may now be consigned to a bonfire in the 
 streets of Derry, for the only part of 
 Unionism that can survive this tremen- 
 dous Orange holocaust is its ashes. 
 
 "The Defeat of Despotism." 
 
 "Ulster Anarchy has been given its 
 quietus, its death blow. Irish Union- 
 ism is a creed sickening to the grave. Its 
 greatest stronghold but one has surren- 
 dered, and the flag of Home Rule floats 
 proudly today over the historic walls of 
 Derry. It symbolizes the defeat of a 
 despotism, and heralds the certain frui- 
 tion of Irish hopes. We have heard the 
 
54 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 last of the partition of Ulster. Derry 
 has assured her destiny — Ulster's part 
 is in the Irish communion unto the end of 
 time. 
 
 "Lord Lansdowne told his plutocratic 
 friends in the Lords that Ireland was 
 growing indifferent to Home Rule. There 
 was but one issue in the Derry election 
 and the lesson taught by the result is 
 that even Ulster is growing enthusiastic 
 on the great question of questions, and 
 that the majority of her Parliamentary 
 divisions are eager to be free. The Home 
 Rule representation is now as great as it 
 was in the palmiest days of the Parnell 
 movement; but the tottering cause of 
 Irish Unionism is in the weakest position 
 that it ever was. In future we may talk 
 of our opponents as the Ulster minority. 
 Lord Lansdowne already was incautious 
 enough to be truthful — he spoke of "the 
 Ulster fraction." 
 
 "Pearl of the Irish Nation." 
 
 "The completeness of the Derry tri- 
 umph took the most sanguine Nation- 
 alists by surprise. A single figure major- 
 ity was the utmost limit of the Nation- 
 alist hopes: the Tories forecasted a 
 double-figure majority for Pakenham. 
 The repeated conquests of the past made 
 them arrogant and vainglorious. There 
 was no such word as defeat in the lexicon 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 55 
 
 of the successors to the Prentice Boys of 
 Derry. In 1900 the Unionist majority 
 was 67. In 1903 and 1906 the Unionist 
 was returned unopposed. In the election 
 of January, 1910, the Unionist majority 
 was 57, and in December, 1910, it rose 
 to 105. The seat, therefore, seemed the 
 poisoned grounds of Unionism. It has 
 been transformed into the pearl of the 
 Irish Nation. The Catholic vote was 
 2,679 and the Protestant 2,671. Three 
 Catholics — soldiers of an English regi- 
 ment — were known to have voted Unionist 
 so that twenty-three Protestants must 
 have voted for Hogg. 
 
 "The poll was an exhaustive one. If 
 the cemeteries were not polled, the in- 
 curable hospitals were. The halt and 
 maimed, the sick, dying and exiled walked, 
 drove or were pushed to the poll. Two 
 Australians voted for Pakenham, an Ulster- 
 Canadian voted on each side, a New- 
 Yorker voted on the right side, of course. 
 The Australians were on the high seas 
 when the vacancy was announced, but 
 all the others made the journey specially. 
 Very many outvoters came from various 
 parts of England and Scotland. Several 
 outvoters from America did not reach 
 their destination in time. All the local 
 shipping companies had to keep their 
 vessels in port, for the sailors refused to 
 go to sea until they had voted. 
 
56 on the threshold of home rule 
 "Survivors of a Great Battle." 
 
 "The blind and helpless, invalids and 
 cripples, filed into the booths like sur- 
 vivors of a great battle answering the 
 last roll call — as, indeed, it will be the 
 last call for many. George Atechson, 
 aged eighty-six, who fought in the Crim- 
 ean War under Col. Pakenham's father, 
 was carried into the booth to vote for 
 the son of his old commander. An old 
 man named Flood, who fought for the 
 North in the American Civil War, was 
 also carried to the poll. He is eighty and 
 paralyzed. He could not make the cross 
 on the voting paper, but there was a fire 
 in his eye as he gasped out "Hogg" to the 
 presiding officer, and when his card had 
 gone into the ballot box he gave a deep 
 sigh and was carried home to what will 
 probably be his death bed. 
 
 "But he returned happy, for David 
 Hogg shook him by the hand and thanked 
 him for his great courage. But for the 
 importation of twenty-seven Scots Fusil- 
 iers, who left the Derry station last year, 
 but whose names remained on the voting 
 lists, the Nationalist majority would have 
 been even greater. It was believed by 
 the Unionists that the soldier vote would 
 ensure the return of their candidate." 
 
 "Exhaustive Nature of the Poll." 
 
 "The total number of votes on the reg- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 57 
 
 ister was 5,445. The total number of 
 votes polled was 5,351. As there were 
 ten votes spoiled owing to being inaccu- 
 rately filled in, that left only 94 votes un- 
 polled. Thirty-three voters have died 
 since the register was struck. Twenty- 
 one voters were at the ends of the earth, 
 and could not reach Derry in time for 
 the election. Six voters on each side 
 were too ill to be brought to the poll, 
 and by mutual agreement of the two par- 
 ties were not disturbed. Over ninety- 
 eight per cent of the votes on the register 
 and 99 V4 per cent of available votes were 
 polled. The exhaustive nature of the 
 poll gives the Derry election an easy 
 record in this connection. 
 
 "The declaration of the result was at- 
 tended by scenes of considerable excite- 
 ment. An enormous crowd had assem- 
 bled outside Derry courthouse, the Na- 
 tionalists carrying green flags, while the 
 Unionists sported Orange favors or waved 
 Union Jacks. The Nationalists sang 
 "God Save Ireland" in chorus, and 
 cheered continually for David Hogg. The 
 Orangemen responded with the singing 
 of "God Save the King" and the dirty 
 anti-Papal jingle, "Dolly's Brae." 
 
 "Last Shots of Ulster Rebellion." 
 
 "When the figures were read out, the 
 jubilation of the Nationalists was intense, 
 
58 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 and the cheering having subsided, "A 
 Nation Once Again" was sung in mighty 
 chorus, and as the "Orange crowd 
 sought to conceal their mortification by 
 singing "The Walls of Deny," the two 
 tunes seemed to blend into artistic sym- 
 phony. For Orange and Green had car- 
 ried the day. When Hogg appeared on 
 the courthouse steps, he was saluted by 
 a salvo of cheers; albeit a few stones and 
 bottles were flung by some of Pakenham's 
 braves. But these missiles were regarded 
 as the last shot of Ulster rebellion, and 
 fortunately did no damage. 
 
 "The new member for Derry was es- 
 corted in triumph to St. Columba's Hall, 
 the Nationalist stronghold, where he ad- 
 dressed a great crowd of enthusiastic 
 supporters. The leading priests also ad- 
 dressed the meeting, and as the result 
 of the united appeals the Nationalists 
 took their victory quietly, and in spite 
 of much provocation did not retaliate 
 on the hooligan crowd who, deeply mor- 
 tified, tried to conceal their wrath by 
 a show of typical Orange "forbearance." 
 They are incensed by the fact that a 
 spirited little band of Protestant Home 
 Rulers gave Hogg a majority whose size 
 has dumbfounded them. 
 
 "A Bombshell to Anti-Home Rulers." 
 
 "The result was awaited in every 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 59 
 
 corner of Ireland and Great Britain with 
 breathless excitement. It was a bomb- 
 shell in the ranks of the anti-Home Rulers 
 and struck them to the very heart with 
 consternation and dismay. No election 
 for many a long day has aroused such 
 universal interest. It has caused as much 
 excitement as the Passing of the Third 
 Reading of Home Rule, and was an 
 emphatic answer to the House of Lords. 
 "The stars in their courses seem to be 
 righting for Irish liberty, and it seems that 
 nothing can go wrong with Home Rule, 
 which has assumed the figure of destiny 
 and a law of nature that it will require 
 a miracle to withhold. Ulster no longer 
 bars the way. She sends a Home Rule 
 Majority to Parliament in the Home 
 Rule year. For the past few weeks the 
 Derry election was the supreme subject 
 of public interest — now it passes into his- 
 tory. It cannot fail to convince Great 
 Britain, and one may almost find it in 
 one's heart to pity Carson as he totters 
 ignobly to his fall." 
 
 "Special Editions of British Press." 
 
 Special editions of the London news- 
 papers carried the result of the election 
 all over the British metropolis. Derry 
 has succeeded in surprising England and 
 confounding Belfast. In the House of 
 Commons the allied armies celebrated 
 
00 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 the result with vehement applause, and 
 the British Tories, who were awaiting the 
 expected announcement of the return of 
 Pakenham, had to drink the gall alone, 
 for the Carson band kept away from the 
 House in the dark and bitter day of 
 defeat. 
 
Chapter V. 
 
 HOW IT APPEARS TO OUTSIDERS. 
 
 The Derry election having stirred up a 
 world of interest, not only among the Irish 
 people, but among peoples of all races who 
 love liberty, it may be well to show how it 
 appeals to American lookers on , so I copy 
 the following from the Portland (Oregon) 
 Telegram : 
 
 Hard Stricken "Ulster." 
 
 It was a blue day in Londonderry for 
 the "Buffs" or the "Blues," whichever 
 color designated the Tory cause. The 
 very heart of revolutionary Ulster was 
 left torn and bleeding. But yesterday 
 Ulster was a nation, proud in its defiance 
 of every Home Ruler, whether sitting in 
 the halls of Parliament up in London, or 
 bearing a stout Irish heart over the vales 
 and bogs of Erin, anywhere from Gal- 
 way to Dublin or from Donegal to Water- 
 ford. 
 
 "There was a covenant in Ulster, sol- 
 emnly protested as in the days of Crom- 
 well, and the ark of it was to be borne 
 by the high-minded gentry and place 
 holders to the repulsion of the King's 
 soldiers, if necessary, rather than submit 
 to the dominance of Irish liberty on Irish 
 soil. Such was the status of Ulster 
 yesterday. 
 
 61 
 
62 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "But today without the King's soldiers, 
 and with no bloodshed, save possibly a 
 broken head or two, Home Rule is trium- 
 phant in the very citadel of revolt, the 
 ark of the covenant is broken, and Ulster 
 as a belligerent against the power of 
 Britain is wiped off the map. 
 
 It must have been a bitter pill for 
 those who had to swallow it. That such 
 misfortune might be forced upon these 
 Ulster patriots from without, the world 
 expected; that it should spring from 
 within, and by the election of a Home 
 Rule member from Londonderry, stag- 
 gers all credulity." 
 
 That we may get at the heart of the Orange 
 opposition to Home Rule, and in a nutshell, 
 I give the following question, asked in the 
 House of Commons by Sir Edward Carson, 
 one of the firebrand Unionist leaders, and 
 John Redmond's answer to the same: — 
 
 TWO QUESTIONS 
 
 "Are you going to coerce the North- 
 east corner of Ulster to live under a rule 
 they detest (meaning Home Rule)?" 
 
 "That was a question put to the Gov- 
 ernment in the House of Commons by 
 Sir Edward Carson. The question was 
 answered by John Redmond, who said: 
 
 "What did you do in the case of the 
 Union (the destruction of Ireland's Par- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 63 
 
 liament 112 years ago)? Remember that 
 the ancestors of these men (some of the 
 present Ulster Tories) were opposing 
 the Union, and you forced the whole 
 country under a rule they detested." 
 
 "In further answer, Mr. Redmond asked 
 a question, addressing the Tory Party: 
 "If this Bill (the Home Rule Bill) fail, 
 will you coerce the rest of Ireland to con- 
 tinue to live under a system of rule es- 
 tablished at the Union, and which they 
 loathe and have loathed from that day 
 to this?" 
 
 "Mr. Redmond's question was not an- 
 swered, from which it is fair to infer that 
 by the Tories the true answer would be 
 regarded as very awkward. 
 
 In the above question, and answer, there is 
 no mention of the long centuries of coercion 
 of the whole of Ireland by the ancestors of 
 the people whom Sir Edward represents, a 
 coercion so fierce and bloody, so inhuman and 
 fiendish that it is hard to believe it could have 
 been invented by human beings, and worse 
 still, enforced by human beings! 
 
 From the following interview, reported by 
 a special correspondent of the London Daily 
 Telegraph, it will be seen that the modern 
 Orangeman does not differ from his ancestor, 
 except in degree and methods of displaying 
 his bigotry: — 
 
64 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "A SAMPLE OF ORANGE BIGOTRY." 
 Orangeism in Action. 
 
 "The special correspondent of the Lon- 
 don Daily Telegraph in a dispatch from 
 Derry, pillories the Orangemen of that 
 city by the simple process of telling plain 
 unvarnished facts. This he does through 
 the medium of an interview with Mr. 
 Tillie, the head of the largest manufac- 
 turing firm of that city, which employs 
 fifteen hundred hands. He is neither 
 Catholic nor a Home Ruler, and yet he 
 has been placed under Orange boycott. 
 The head and front of his offending is 
 that he refuses to sign the Orange "cov- 
 enant" and thus enroll himself in Car- 
 son's Army of "last ditchers." He is 
 also guilty of the "crime" of not discharg- 
 ing his Catholic employees at the dic- 
 tation of the Orange lodges. In enumer- 
 ating the charges that make up the Orange 
 bill of indictment he says: "I refused 
 to sign their silly 'covenant'. I refused 
 to take any part in the proceedings by 
 which Sir Edward Carson and his friends 
 have made Ulster Unionism a laughing 
 stock; and above all — and this has been 
 the worst of all my crimes — out of 1,500 
 people I employ at least 1,300 are Roman 
 Catholics." 
 
 The London Daily Telegraph corre- 
 spondent in utter astonishment put the 
 question: Do I understand you to say, 
 
CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 First Leader Irish Party. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 65 
 
 Mr. Tillie, that Derry Unionists think it 
 wrong to employ Catholics?" The an- 
 swer to this brings out the true character 
 of the Orange bigots who object to Home 
 Rule for the alleged reason that they, 
 forsooth, might be made the victims of 
 religious persecution ! Here is Mr. Tillie's 
 answer: "Undoubtedly they do so and 
 any man who does so freely (give em- 
 ployment to Catholics) and cares nothing 
 about the religion of the people he em- 
 ploys, so long as they render him good 
 service, is marked down." Here we have 
 a practical exemplification of the spirit 
 of Orangeism. It is a spirit of religious 
 hatred that will stop at nothing to wreak 
 vengeance upon those who have aroused 
 it." 
 
 At a meeting which Mr. Redmond ad- 
 dressed in Scotland he put the Orange posi- 
 tion as follows: — 
 
 "WHAT WOULD THE SCOTCH DO?" 
 
 "If the Catholic minority in Scotland 
 objected to Home Rule for Scotland and 
 declared they would fight against it if 
 proposed, what would the Scotch major- 
 ity say or do? The question is easily 
 answered. It caused great amusement 
 when Mr. Redmond once put it at a 
 meeting in Scotland. He repeated it as 
 an"example" in his speech the other day 
 
66 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 at Coventry and there was much laugh- 
 ter at the idea. 
 
 "They (said Mr. Redmond referring 
 to Orange claim) will not permit Home 
 Rule for Ireland, and they say plainly to 
 you, the people of England, that if both 
 your parties here, Liberal and Tory, 
 united in passing a Home Rule Bill, it 
 would not affect them. They still would 
 stand out and by force of arms would pre- 
 vent the will of the Kingdom from being 
 carried out." 
 
 "That is the claim of the minority in 
 Ireland and the minority in Ulster. An 
 'absolutely intolerable claim,' as Mr. 
 Redmond describes it — a claim which 
 goes "deep down into the whole system 
 of democratic and representative insti- 
 tutions." 
 
 "Except on the principle of majority 
 rule representative institutions, of course, 
 could not exist. But the Orange party 
 in Ireland want only one representative 
 institution — Protestant Ascendancy. 
 
 From an able, and well informed writer, 
 I give an extract showing that Derry is not 
 as great a stronghold of Orangeism as is 
 commonly supposed: — 
 
 "To those who are familiar with local 
 conditions, it is well known that Derry 
 is not overwhelmingly Protestant, as the 
 Orangemen would have the world believe. 
 Out of a population of 40,760 the Catho- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 67 
 
 lies number 22,923, or fifty-six per cent 
 of the total. The minority, however, by 
 means of the system of plural voting and 
 by the control of the electoral machinery, 
 were enabled to outvote the majority. 
 Hence the Catholics of Derry, though 
 constituting fifty-six per cent of the 
 population, were in a minority of about 
 thirty on the registry. Such was the 
 political situation on the eve of an elec- 
 tion which was recognized by the friends 
 and foes of Home Rule as big with future 
 consequences. Mr. David Hogg, the 
 Nationalist candidate, in his address to 
 the electorate, stated the issue in these 
 clear cut terms: 'By electing me you will 
 enable me to support the enactment of 
 this great measure, which will bring unity 
 and prosperity to Ireland, and also to 
 support the Government Bill for sweep- 
 ing away the absurdities of the present 
 franchise and for giving one vote only 
 for every citizen.' " 
 
 Ireland, in her demands for justice, knows 
 neither creed nor class, and this is so well 
 known to all who care to know it that a 
 Philadelphia paper of recent date gives the 
 following : — 
 
 "The victory in Londonderry was not 
 won on religious lines, for the whole 
 question of home Rule is outside the 
 domains of sect or of class. In London- 
 
68 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 derry this is especially so. And the 
 people there decided at length to make 
 common cause with their countrymen in 
 Leinster and Munster and Connaught, 
 and stand shoulder to shoulder with them 
 in the now winning fight for home rule. 
 
 "It is alike significant of their sincerity 
 and of their patriotism that in their 
 maiden effort for political freedom all 
 religious lines should be obliterated, and 
 that at a mass-meeting of the Nation- 
 alists of the city, at which Catholics and 
 non-Catholics attended, the nomination 
 as candidate should be offered Mr. Hogg, 
 a loyal and devoted Presbyterian, who 
 accepted it and was subsequently elected 
 by the Catholic and non-Catholic voters 
 of the borough. Among those who most 
 vigorously advocated the selection of 
 Mr. Hogg was the Catholic bishop of 
 Derry, Doctor McHugh, whose act rec- 
 onciles with the absolute assurance that 
 home rule does not mean Rome rule, and 
 that under its regime religious intolerance 
 on the part of the majority would be 
 simply conspicuous by its absence, even 
 if no safeguards against it had been pro- 
 vided in the home rule bill, which the 
 English and Scottish peers have decided 
 that the men of Derry do not want. 
 
 "The selection and election of Mr. Hogg 
 gives the lie to the oft-repeated asser- 
 tion that all industrial Ulster is opposed 
 to home rule. Mr. Hogg is the largest 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 69 
 
 employer of labor in Londonderry and 
 one of the largest in all Ulster. Nearly 
 2000 names are on the payroll of the 
 enormous business he has built up, so 
 thus he takes his place with Lord Pirie, 
 Sir Hugh Mac, Mr. Shillington and Mr. 
 Glenning and the other merchant princes 
 of Ulster, Belfast included, who support 
 the principles of home rule for their 
 country." 
 
 I have devoted a great deal of space to the 
 Derry election because the Unionists have 
 claimed that the whole of Ulster and, of 
 course, Derry, as part of it, were bitterly op- 
 posed to Home Rule in any form, and would 
 fight to the death rather than submit to it. 
 They based their opposition largely on the 
 fact that the Unionists in the House of Com- 
 mons numbered 17 out of a total for Ulster 
 of 33, or a majority of one! 
 
 Now the Derry election has changed all this, 
 and turned the majority over to the Nation- 
 alists! and so the Orange bubble has burst, 
 leaving the Unionists in a minority in what 
 they claimed as their stronghold! 
 
 The people of the old city seem to fully 
 realize that the question of Ireland's right to 
 self-government is not, and should not be, 
 limited to any one county or province, to 
 any one class or creed. They see in it a 
 great national question in which the interests 
 and well being of all the Irish people are con- 
 cerned, and they have decided accordingly. 
 
70 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 It is in the very nature of things then that 
 the scattered children of the Gael should 
 rejoice at the prospect of the Old Land's 
 coming to her own again. We can shout out 
 with the old Irish woman at the meeting in 
 Australia recently: — We are Irish all the same! 
 
 "IRISH ALL THE SAME" 
 
 (At a meeting in Sydney, Australia, recently, Mr. 
 Higgins, M. P., asked the Irish-born and Australian- 
 born respectively to show hands, remarking that the 
 latter were a majority, when an old Irish woman, 
 sitting in the front row, interjected, amid an out- 
 burst of cheering: "They're Irish all the same.") 
 
 Oh bear we gladsome tidings back 
 
 O'er ocean's vast expanse, 
 'Twill flush the cheek, 'twill thrill the heart, 
 
 And Erin's soul entrance 
 Oh tell her that in far-off lands 
 
 The "Young Race" bless her name, 
 And tho' they never saw her hills, 
 
 "They're Irish all the same." 
 
 Oh tell her when her widow'd voice 
 
 In plaintive accents calls 
 They muster in the swelling throng 
 
 In foreign streets or halls, 
 And, join in prayer, in pledge and vow. 
 
 And like their fathers, claim 
 An Ireland free for Irishmen — 
 
 "They're Irish all the same." 
 
 Oh tell her tho' her heart's blood flows 
 
 In every foreign course, 
 Tho' gushing currents drain the fount 
 
 Of nationhood's deep source; 
 Tho' tainted springs would fain dilute 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 71 
 
 And null the patriot's aim, 
 That taintless blood begets its kind, 
 Tn "Irish all the same." 
 
 Oh tell her that by Coogee Bay, 
 
 And Yarra's placid stream, 
 On Hudson's banks and Afric's plains, 
 
 Her stalwart children teem; 
 That, Phoenix-like, regenerate 
 
 And fanning freedom's flame, 
 They're pledged to flaunt it on her shore — 
 
 "They're Irish all the same." 
 
 God bless that martyr land which gave 
 
 Such bounteous blood and worth 
 To freedom's cause and patriot ranks 
 
 In every land on earth ! 
 And may it be for filial hands 
 
 Upon her brow of fame, 
 To place the crown of liberty — 
 
 "They're Irish all the same." 
 
 God bless the faithful exiles who 
 
 Remain true Irish still; 
 God bless the "Young Race" sprung from these 
 
 And staunch thro' good and ill. 
 But woe to those, both old and young, 
 
 Who skulk away in shame, 
 While Ireland's deadly struggle's waged 
 
 By "Irish all the same." 
 
 M. C. O'Halloran. 
 
 On the evening of the Deny election, after 
 the battle had been fought and won, the 
 enthusiastic Nationalists paraded the streets 
 singing Thomas Davis's stirring patriotic 
 poem: — A Nation Once Again! 
 
 It was most fitting that the song should be 
 heard by the hosts of bigotry and prejudice, 
 
72 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 for Davis was himself a Protestant, but one 
 who believed in the justice and fair play of 
 all his countrymen, Catholic and Protestant! 
 A man who spent practically his whole life, 
 night and day, in his efforts to make Ireland 
 a free and independent Nation ! 
 
 A NATION ONCE AGAIN. 
 
 By Thomas 0. Davis. 
 
 When boyhood's fire was in my blood, 
 
 I read of ancient freemen, 
 For Greece and Rome who bravely stood. 
 
 Three Hundred men and Three men. 
 And then I prayed I yet might see 
 
 Our fetters rent in twain, 
 And Ireland, long a province, be 
 
 A nation once again. 
 
 And, from that time, through wildest woe 
 
 That hope has shone, a far light; 
 Nor could love's brightest summer glow 
 
 Outshine that solemn starlight: 
 It seemed to watch above my head 
 
 In forum, field, and fane; 
 Its angel voice sang round my bed, 
 
 "A Nation once again." 
 
 It whispered, too, that "freedom's ark 
 
 And service high and holy, 
 Would be profaned by feelings dark, 
 
 And passions vain or lowly: 
 For freedom comes from God's right hand, 
 
 And needs a godly train; 
 And righteous men must make our land 
 
 A Nation once again." 
 
 So, as I grew from boy to man, 
 I bent me to that bidding — 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 73 
 
 My spirit of each selfish plan 
 
 And cruel passion ridding; 
 For, thus I hoped some day to aid — 
 
 Oh! can such hope be vain? 
 When my dear country shall be made 
 
 A nation once again. 
 
 Not much fear of Catholic intolerance, or 
 persecution here, for Davis knew, as do all 
 intelligent and honest men, that the Irish 
 are all the most liberal and generous in the 
 world in all matters of conscience. 
 
 The following excerpts from a speech deliv- 
 ered by John Redmond in England recently 
 tells its own story as to Irish and British 
 intolerance: — 
 
 "A CONTRAST." 
 
 "As to the charges by English Tories 
 of religious intolerance against Irish Cath- 
 olic Nationalists, John Redmond, speak- 
 ing recently at a great meeting in Dalston 
 (London), put a question in this way: 
 
 "I want to know what right has this 
 country (England) to charge Irish Catho- 
 lic Nationalists with being prone to intol- 
 erance? We have in our Irish Party, and 
 always have had, a large proportion of 
 Protestant members elected by Catholic 
 constituencies. When this country 
 wants to talk to us about Catholic in- 
 tolerance, I answer by asking how many 
 Catholic members are there returned by- 
 English Protestant constituencies, al- 
 though there are over two millions of 
 
74 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 Catholic residents in Great Britain? 'Let 
 him that is without sin throw the first 
 stone.' " 
 
 "The answer to Mr. Redmond's ques- 
 tion and the contrast he suggests are 
 shown in these figures: 
 
 "Great Britain (England, Scotland and 
 Wales) sends 567 members to the House 
 of Commons, and of this number only 
 eight are Catholics. 
 
 "The Irish Party has 85 members, and 
 of this number seven are Protestants, 
 all elected in Catholic districts. 
 
 "No need to emphasize the moral thus 
 presented as to religious tolerance in 
 Protestant England and Catholic Ireland.' 
 
Chapter VI. 
 
 COMPLETE ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT 
 FIGHT TO DATE. 
 
 The following able account of the fight for 
 Home Rule in the Commons, and in the 
 House of Lords, in all its stages, showing the 
 different divisions and majorities for it on 
 all occasions from its first vote in the House 
 of Commons on January sixteenth to its 
 last rejection, by the Lords, in July, nineteen 
 hundred and thirteen, by James T. Sullivan, 
 will be found instructive and interesting: 
 
 When the English Parliament was pro- 
 rogued last week at London it brought to 
 an end the third chapter of the twentieth 
 century fight for Home Rule for Ireland. 
 There now remain two additional chap- 
 ters before the battle that has enlisted 
 the efforts of so many brilliant men on 
 either side is finished. 
 
 The three chapters that have added 
 pages to the world's history comprise 
 first, the passing of the Parliament Bill 
 that checked the power of the House of 
 Lords; secondly the passing of the Home 
 Rule Bill by the Liberal Government in 
 1912, and thirdly, the passage of the Bill 
 again this year. Chapter four will make 
 the passage of the measure in 1914 and 
 the final chapter will be written when the 
 Irish Parliament convenes in Dublin in 
 1915. 
 
 75 
 
76 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "When that time comes — and it is now 
 a foregone conclusion apparently, Irish- 
 men the world over will have every cause 
 for rejoicing, but none will have greater 
 cause for jubilation than the thousands 
 in America, who year in and year out 
 since Parnell began his propaganda back 
 in 1880 with the Land Leage movement 
 have contributed moral and financial 
 assistance to Erin. 
 
 "Gladstone made a brave fight in 1886, 
 but the prejudice was too strong at 
 that time to get the measure a second 
 reading even. But the venerable states- 
 man tried again in 1893 with better suc- 
 cess, for he succeeded in having the House 
 of Commons pass the measure. Still the 
 Lords proved the stumbling block and 
 with a majority of 378 it was killed. 
 
 "Out of Touch With People." 
 
 "That was not surprising to those 
 making the fight. Here again an entire 
 generation later finds the Lords killing 
 the bill in two successive years. But 
 when an analysis is made of conditions 
 it shows that the Lords are out of touch 
 with the popular feeling in Great 
 Britain, and the results that followed are 
 ample proof that when the people are 
 determined to rule they can find means 
 of sweeping away opposition. 
 
 "The great mass of people do not realize 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 77 
 
 what a momentous piece of legislation 
 was placed to the credit of England when 
 the> so-called Parliament Bill was passed. 
 Thoughtful students of government see 
 in that measure a real check against rev- 
 olutionary propagandas in the future, 
 for it is one of the big assets in a rule by 
 the people. 
 
 "When future historians write about 
 it, if they are sincere, they cannot fail 
 to give praise where it rightfully belongs, 
 that is to the Irish Nationalists, whose 
 battle for Home Rule brought the issue 
 to a head, and whose votes later aided in 
 making it a reality. 
 
 "It was on the issue whether the Lords 
 or the people should rule that the Liberal 
 Government was put in power with its 
 big majority when the parliamentary 
 act was placed before the people in the 
 last general election. And the masses 
 of Great Britain are friendly to Home 
 Rule if the aristocracy as represented 
 in the Lords are opposed to it. 
 
 "Home Rule a Reality." 
 
 "Once that measure was passed Home 
 Rule began to loom up as a reality on 
 the political horizon, and it carried with 
 it other measures of benefit to England, 
 Wales and Scotland. The Liberal Gov- 
 ernment swept into power on a tidal 
 wave of popular Government, has kept 
 faith with the people ever since. 
 
78 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "On Apirl 11, 1912, the Home Rule Bill 
 was introduced in Praliament. The first 
 test of the Liberal strength was shown on 
 April 16, when it passed the first reading 
 by a vote of 360 to 266, a majority of 94. 
 It gained strength as it went along, for 
 the vote on the second reading, May 9, 
 was 372 to 271, by a majority of 101. 
 
 "June 11 it reached the committee stage. 
 It went along its way then while section 
 after section was given consideration. 
 Like a bombshell out of a sky, however, 
 came a snap division when on one of the 
 financial sections, the vote was 228 
 against to 206 for it. Of course, the 
 Unionists in seeking every infinite parti- 
 cle of hope to defeat the Bill became 
 jubilant. 
 
 "But a snap division, which is sometimes 
 a carefully laid trap of those antagonistic 
 to the majority in Parliament, has been 
 robbed of its real power compared to the 
 past when ministers would resign and 
 have Parliament dissolved, necessitating 
 another election, if a negative vote were 
 passed even on a trivial matter. In the 
 parlance of every-day talk common sense 
 prevails now where dignity ruled so 
 overwhelmingly in the past as to make 
 government sometimes top-heavy." 
 
 "Unionists Disappointed." 
 
 "Moreover, as a few days before this 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 79 
 
 snap division the Liberal majority on a 
 similar section of the Home Rule Bill 
 was 121 and of the entire 670 members 
 of the House but 434 voted, leaving 236 
 absent, of whom but 40 were anti-Home 
 Rule members, Premier Asquith simply- 
 girded on his armor and proceeded to 
 fight with greater determination. 
 
 "There was no dissolution of Parlia- 
 ment, simply a delay of about a week, 
 during which the Unionists had their 
 pent-up anger while seeing the bill 
 roll along over them despite their plans 
 and orations. 
 
 "As an added incentive, to make them 
 more angry, was a cable from Boston 
 by Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, National treas- 
 urer of the United Irish League, sending 
 $10,000 to the Irish Nationalists with a 
 few words of good wishes. 
 
 "So on Dec. 12 the bill passed the com- 
 mittee stage and the Ministry had a 
 majority of 138 votes. The Christmas 
 recess checked the Bill until Dec. 30, 
 but it was a foregone conclusion then 
 of what would follow, and so, on the re- 
 assembling of Parliament the measure 
 reached the report stage Dec. 30. 
 
 "This year marked the culmination of 
 the efforts of those behind the Bill, for 
 on Jan. 16, by a vote of 367 to 257, it 
 passed the third reading, giving it a 
 a majority of 110, and this majority was 
 continued on the usual motion to reject 
 
80 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 when the vote stood 368 to 258. The 
 House of Commons was through with it 
 for the time being. 
 
 "The Bill went to the House of Lords, 
 where it was quickly rejected on Jan. 30 
 by a vote of 326 to 69, a majority of 
 257. This was an improvement, though 
 not very much so, over what happened 
 a generation previously when Gladstone's 
 bill was rejected by a majority of 378." 
 
 "Fight Begins Again." 
 
 "The fight was begun all over again 
 on April 1, last, when the Bill was re- 
 introduced to the Commons practically 
 as when it was first put in. On June 2 
 it received its second reading with a vote 
 of 368 to 270, or a majority of 98. On 
 July 1 it passed the committee stage au- 
 tomatically. 
 
 "This year there was no minute during 
 the progress of the Bill when its friends 
 were napping. The snap division taught 
 them a lesson. Other snap divisions 
 were planned but were check-mated. 
 When a motion to reject was made on 
 July 7 the majority was increased to 109, 
 the vote being 252 to 243, and it passed 
 the third reading then without a division. 
 
 "It was then sent up to the Lords, where 
 it was refused a second reading by a vote 
 of 302 to 64, the majority being 238. 
 This time the Marquis of Lansdowne 
 
MICHAEL DAVITT 
 Founder of the Land League. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 81 
 
 thought he discovered a plan to dodge 
 the issue by presenting a motion that 
 the House do not consider the measure un- 
 til it had been submitted to the people. 
 In order words, he wanted a referendum 
 vote on it. 
 
 "Under the new Parliament Bill it will 
 be introduced again next February, 1914, 
 and it should pass its various stages in the 
 House of Commons, for without any 
 General Election the Liberal Party will 
 remain in control with its same majority. 
 Then it will go to the Lords, where it will 
 be rejected again undoubtedly. It will 
 not matter one way or the other whether 
 the Lords pass or reject it, for it will have 
 passed its three successive Parliaments 
 with two years intervening between its 
 introduction and final passage, so it goes 
 then to the King for his signature." 
 
 "No Vacation for Members." 
 
 Now that Parliament has been pro- 
 rogued it does not mean that every one 
 is going to have a vacation until the 
 Legislative bodies convene next February. 
 True, there will be no General Election 
 to worry any one, but the Home Rule 
 measure is going to be fought to a finish 
 between the Unionists and the Liberals, 
 particularly the latter's Irish represen- 
 tatives. 
 
 "Up and down the length and breadth 
 
82 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 of Great Britain and Ireland Sir Edward 
 Carson and his band will travel making 
 speeches, disseminating literature, send- 
 ing communications to the newspapers 
 and doing everything possible to arouse 
 antagonism against the measure. They 
 have already started on their campaign 
 and it will continue until Parliament 
 meets again. 
 
 "The one great aim is to try to force 
 dissolution of Parliament in some way 
 after it has convened, and before the 
 Home Rule Bill can be passed, for they 
 make the claim that no provision has 
 been made in the Parliament Bill for a 
 dissolution in reference to a measure 
 that must be passed in three successive 
 sessions. 
 
 "There is no lack of funds for this 
 campaign. To let it go along unchecked 
 would be unwise. Therefore the burden 
 of combating the force of the Unionists 
 falls mostly on the Irish Nationalists. 
 Into every city, town, village and hamlet 
 where the Unionists go members of the 
 Irish Party will follow. And what has 
 been stated by the former will be con- 
 tradicted by the latter. That is why 
 no one of the Irish members can come 
 here this Fall to make speeches." 
 
 "Last Call for Funds." 
 
 "Now all this costs money. So the duty 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 83 
 
 of supplying the sinews of war falls 
 upon the members of the Irish race the 
 world over. This country pledged at 
 the last convention held at Philadelphia 
 $100,000 and there remains about $40,000 
 yet to be sent across the water. There 
 is no doubt that it will be raised before 
 the year is over. 
 
 "The passing of the Parliament Bill 
 and the introduction of Home Rule, the 
 Welsh Disestablishment Bill, and the 
 Bill against plural voting, so that one 
 man will have but one vote, presage a 
 new era of real rule by the people, grow- 
 ing stronger from time to time. 
 
 "Premier Asquith's plans to further 
 shear the power of the Lords shortly by 
 reducing their voting strength, elimin- 
 ating hereditary powers to some extent, 
 will bring that body in closer touch with 
 the people and make it a more stable 
 body, one that will not stand in its own 
 light, and whose vetoes of Legislative 
 acts passed by the Commons will have 
 some weight. 
 
 "Meanwhile Ireland and her sons and 
 daughters must wait until 1915 before 
 "Finis" is written in its new fight for 
 freedom. It has cost much, but it will 
 be worth the price." 
 
 It is evident that Home Rule is becoming 
 more popular every day in England, especially 
 since its last rejection by the Lords, in July, 
 
84 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 and is in fact sweeping everything before 
 it, as shown by the great Liberal victory in 
 the late by-election in Chesterfield, where 
 Mr. Barnet Kenyon, the Liberal candidate, 
 was triumphantly elected by over 400 more 
 votes than the Liberal received in 1910, and 
 this notwithstanding the fact that the Tories 
 made a tremendously strong and bitter fight, 
 and on the one supreme issue of Home Rule! 
 
Chapter VII. 
 
 A NEW DANIEL COME TO JUDG- 
 MENT! 
 
 Among other opponents of Home Rule, I 
 find an able English writer, a Mr. Sydney 
 Brooks. This gentleman wrote a short 
 time ago a series of articles entitled "The 
 New Ireland," which were published in the 
 North American Review. 
 
 Through practically all his articles, Mr. 
 Brooks concedes the thorough inefficiency of 
 British rule, its almost complete breakdown, 
 the enormous load of overtaxation which 
 Ireland is compelled to carry, and with it all, 
 as he says, one of the poorest educational 
 systems in the world ; and yet, almost incred- 
 ible to relate, he wants it continued! 
 
 No native rule could possibly be worse 
 than he admits British rule to be, and must 
 of necessity be better. Still in justice to Mr. 
 Brooks, it should be stated, he tries very hard 
 to be just and fair and even sympathetic at 
 times, as can be seen from the following ex- 
 tract from his writings: — 
 
 "It will be more convenient to round 
 off this superficial picture of Ireland's 
 condition by noting some of the more 
 obvious results of her connection with 
 Great Britain. One of these results is 
 that Ireland, though a poor country, is 
 obliged to maintain one of the most ex- 
 
 85 
 
S6 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 pensive governments in the world. She 
 is administered by an amazing medley 
 of overmanned, overlapping Boards, 
 with their headquarters in Dublin Castle. 
 It is a system that has most of the vices 
 of a bureaucracy and very little even of 
 its mechanical efficiency. A Russian 
 bureaucracy in Finland could not be more 
 utterly divorced from the sympathies 
 and confidence of the people it rules. 
 The stronghold of a small minority, of a 
 single class, almost of a single creed, 
 overrun with placemen impenetrable to 
 Irish ideas and Irish needs, uncontrolled 
 by Parliament in London or by any rep- 
 resentative body in Ireland, and pre- 
 sided over by a Viceroy who maintains 
 that most demoralizing and contemptible 
 of all social institutions, a sham Court, — 
 I scarcely know what merit it possesses 
 or what faults it lacks. With a slightly 
 smaller population than Scotland, Ire- 
 land is saddled with nearly three times 
 as many officials, a police force twice as 
 large and costing $5,000,000 a year more 
 for its upkeep, and a judiciary three 
 times as expensive in proportion to popula- 
 tion as the judiciary of England and 
 Wales. An example is thus set of jobbery 
 and extravagance that permeates the 
 whole conduct of government in Ireland. 
 Another result of the legislative union 
 with Great Britain is that Ireland is 
 grievously overtaxed. It is not that 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 87 
 
 taxes are imposed upon her which are 
 remitted in England, Scotland or Wales, 
 The exact contrary is the case, certain 
 taxes, mainly of an insignificant character, 
 which are collected from the other parts 
 of the United Kingdom, being remitted 
 in favor of Ireland. Irish overtaxation 
 is due to the fact that the capacity of the 
 people to bear taxation is below that of 
 the English, the Welsh or the Scotch, 
 and that identical imposts fall upon her 
 shoulders in consequence with a dispro- 
 portionate weight. She contributes a- 
 bout one-eleventh of the British revenue, 
 whereas her taxable capacity is not es- 
 timated to exceed one-twentieth; and the 
 burden falls all the more heavily on her 
 poor, inasmuch as over seventy per cent, 
 of the amount extracted from her is de- 
 rived from indirect taxes." 
 
 This is his picture of the result of British 
 control in Ireland, and if there be anything 
 worse in the wide world in the way of govern- 
 ment, it would be very hard to find it. 
 
 In the above extract, Mr. Brooks admits 
 enough to condemn forever any claim that 
 British rule might have for further continu- 
 ance. And he says elsewhere, he has not told 
 anything like the whole story ; and he has not, 
 as I shall show later on. 
 
 He tells us while Ireland's population is 
 less than that of Scotland, the government 
 officers are almost three times as many; the 
 
88 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 police force nearly twice as large, and costing 
 five millions more for its maintainance; and a 
 judiciary three times as expensive in propor- 
 tion to population as the judiciary of England 
 and Wales. In a word, English government 
 in Ireland, is the most expensive in the world. 
 Nor are we to suppose this enormous army 
 of officers are needed because of lawlessness 
 in the Irish people. The very reverse of this 
 is true, for there is no country in the world 
 with a like population so free from crime and 
 criminals as Ireland, as shown by the fact 
 that at nearly all the general assizes the 
 judges are presented with white gloves by 
 the sheriffs, indicating there are no crim- 
 inals to be tried. 
 
 In the above account, Mr. Brooks does not 
 mention that semi-military body of men 
 known as the Royal Irish Constabulary, 
 consisting of a force from ten thousand to 
 twelve thousand men. Nothing like this 
 body is found in any part of Great Britain. 
 It is not easy to define their duties, which are 
 supposed to be the enforcement of the reven- 
 nue laws . The real duties, however, seem to be 
 to act the part of country detectives, to keep 
 a quiet look out on the private lives of the 
 people. 
 
 It is needless to add, this half military body 
 requires a great deal of money for its upkeep: 
 and gets it, as it is a favorite with the powers 
 that be. The Irish people must maintain, 
 and that well, these pampered pets. Queer, is 
 it not, especially when we are so often told 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 89 
 
 that under the British flag all are treated 
 alike? It is safe to say, if Ireland had charge 
 of her own affairs, most of these men would be 
 obliged to find some honest employment, and 
 they as well as the country, would be the better 
 for it. 
 
 THE IRISH SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 
 
 As Mr. Brooks so well says: — There is 
 nothing so vital to the well being of a Nation 
 as Education. Let us see his account of how 
 Great Britain attends to this supremely im- 
 portant matter in Ireland: — 
 
 "There is nothing more vital to the well 
 being of a nation than its educational 
 system. Ireland has no educational sys- 
 tem; it has merely an educational chaos. 
 The defects of the primary schools may 
 be seen on the very surface of the stat- 
 istics. With about the same popula- 
 tion as Scotland, Ireland has about twice 
 as many schools and over 3,500 more 
 head teachers. The inference that she 
 is therefore twice as well educated is not, 
 however, a sound one. The Irish per- 
 centage of illiteracy is twelve times as 
 high as the Scottish figure. The ex- 
 planation of these anomalies is very 
 simple. The fierce and historic conflict of 
 sects in Ireland has stimulated each de- 
 nomination to provide its own schools. 
 Thus, in a village just capable of support- 
 ing one good school you will find two, 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 three and sometimes four. The Church 
 of England will have one, the Presby- 
 terians another, and the Catholics will 
 require two — one for the boys and one 
 for the girls. In this way a total of 
 nearly nine thousand schools is easily 
 reached. Over five thousand of them 
 are attended by pupils of one sex only, 
 and in the remainder one faith or the 
 other is usually in a great majority, a 
 "conscience clause" protecting the re- 
 ligious susceptibilities of the minority. 
 The results are that the Irish primary 
 schools, being far in excess of the re- 
 quirements of the population, are among 
 the worst built and the worst equipped; 
 their management is wholly in the hands 
 of the clergy ; their teachers are miserably 
 paid; the children play truant two days 
 out of every five; and each successive 
 generation is insensibly familiarized with 
 the idea that sectarian exclusiveness is 
 one of the natural conditions of civilized 
 life. Redundant schools, starved and 
 ill-taught teachers, clericalism in un- 
 challenged control, an almost total lack 
 of local interest, a curriculum wholly 
 divorced from the economic needs and 
 realities of the country, and, to crown 
 all, a National Board of educational ama- 
 teurs, nominated by Dublin Castle, in- 
 sensible to Irish ideas and representa- 
 tions, deliberating in secret and decreeing 
 without either consultation or explana- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 91 
 
 tion — such are the outstanding features 
 of the Irish "system" of elementary edu- 
 cation. Nor are the secondary schools 
 in much better plight. There are in 
 Ireland very few of those noble endow- 
 ments which are the glory of England 
 and America." 
 
 He continues: — 
 
 "The primary, and intermediate schools 
 are ludiciously imperfect, the latter 
 being managed by an independent board 
 of their own, whose contribution to Irish 
 education is a costly extension of the 
 pernicious system of payments by results. 
 "With technical instruction only a be- 
 ginning has been made; and all I need 
 say at present of the state of higher 
 education is, that there is but one univer- 
 sity with any pretension to be judged by 
 the standards of modern scholarship; 
 and that one is the rallying point for 
 Protestantism! and therefore shunned 
 by the Catholics, who form three fourths 
 of the population." 
 "Clearly from the above, it was time the 
 Irish people, as soon as they were freed from 
 the Penal Laws, and had the means, should 
 take as far as possible the education of their 
 children, into their own hands; and they have 
 done it. 
 
 "The London Times, one of the most bitter 
 and fiercest enemies of Irish Nationality in the 
 world, on last St. Patrick's day, published 
 
92 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 an Irish number, treating everything on which 
 it touched in a most friendly and sympathetic 
 spirit. This is what it said concerning 
 educational matters in Ireland: — 
 
 "IRISH CATHOLICS AND EDUCATION." 
 
 "In its St. Patrick's Day" Irish Number." 
 "The London Times gives much and 
 high credit to the Catholics of Ireland for 
 their work in education as soon as, by 
 the partial relaxation of the Penal Laws, 
 it became possible for them to take any 
 practical concern in educational matters. 
 What the condition as to educational 
 facilities was at the time for Catholic 
 and Protestant in Ireland the Times states 
 briefly and fairly. 
 
 "At the beginning of the last century," 
 it says, "the Protestants of Ireland were 
 well provided for educationally. They 
 had Trinity College, Dublin ; they had the 
 Royal Schools, the Erasmus Smith schools 
 diocesan schools, 'the Charter' schools, 
 the schools under Kildare Place Society, 
 all well endowed, and all conducted on 
 strictly Protestant principles." 
 
 "The Catholics, on the other hand, 
 had no endowments and were receiving 
 no financial aid from public sources ex- 
 cept the then small grant to Maynooth 
 College. Whatever schools they had 
 were built and supported out of their 
 own slender resources. The first grant 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 93 
 
 of public money for primary education, 
 in a form at all acceptable to Catholics, 
 did not come until 1831." 
 
 "Long before any public funds were 
 forthcoming," says the Times, "the teach- 
 ing orders (of the Catholic Church) 
 whether of men or women had been at 
 work building and equipping schools, 
 and providing education, both primary 
 and intermediate, not only in the large 
 centers of population, but also in many 
 country districts. It can safely be said 
 that the educational work of these orders 
 would compare not unfavorably with simi- 
 lar work done at that time in England 
 or in Protestant schools in Ireland. 
 When tested later on by the inspectors 
 of the (Government) National Board, 
 it was found that the schools of the teach- 
 ing orders more than held their own as 
 compared with the other schools through- 
 out the country." 
 After paying a glowing tribute to the re- 
 ligious orders and their great work for 
 education, the Times says: — ' 'They were insti- 
 tuted between 1791 and 1827; and would 
 seem to have come into existence to meet 
 the educational wants of the times." There is 
 something very striking in this springing up 
 of these six teaching orders within a short 
 period in a country as small as Ireland. 
 The simple facts were, that the time had come 
 when the Irish Catholics were at liberty to 
 open schools, and these six orders simulta- 
 
94 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 neously, as it were, came into being to help 
 them do so. To an Irish Catholic, it might 
 seem as if some of the seed shed by the old 
 monasteries and church schools had sudden- 
 ly sprouted, and bore fruit." 
 
 These are noteworthy words coming from 
 the Times, which for generations, from its 
 first number in fact, has been especially bitter 
 and hostile to everything Irish and Catholic. 
 This paper would never admit heretofore the 
 Irish were fit for self-government, and now 
 it practically concedes all it has so strenuously 
 denied in the past. 
 
Chapter VIII. 
 
 ENGLISH TAXATION IN IRELAND. 
 
 When we Irish have made charges against 
 English rule similar to those made by Mr. 
 Brooks, as we have for centuries, we were 
 laughed to scorn and told we were falsifiers 
 and sentimentalists; that we had the very 
 best government in the world, as well as the 
 most economical, in fact an ideal government ; 
 but such was our innate cussedness, nothing 
 could satisfy us, not even the blessedness and 
 luxury of British rule! Mr. Brooks shows that 
 whatever British dominion may mean else- 
 where, in Ireland it is one of the poorest and 
 most extravagant in the world. As a further 
 proof of this, I may mention that the total 
 amount of taxes raised in Ireland in 1907 
 were $47,500,000, or about double what well 
 informed men think would be necessary under 
 a native Parliament. Of this sum $38,392,000 
 was for Ireland itself, while $10,000,000 were 
 taken away to be spent for other than Irish 
 purposes, that is to say for imperial uses; 
 and in some of these, at least, Ireland had not 
 the slightest interest. Worse still, a great 
 part of this money was spent in the prose- 
 cution of the war against the Boers, an en- 
 terprise in which the Irish Nation had not 
 only no interest, but one to which three 
 fourths of the people were opposed, and all 
 this money taken from poor impoverished 
 Ireland for great, wealthy Great Britain. 
 
 95 
 
96 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 The late Mr. Gladstone, when introducing 
 the Home Rule Bill in 1893, declared the cost 
 of Irish Government per head to be double 
 that of England. This one fact is, in itself, 
 a sufficient condemnation of English rule, 
 and enough to justify the change for Home 
 Rule. 
 
 Mr. Thomas W. Russell, Vice President 
 of the department of Agricultural and Tech- 
 nical instruction, a gentleman who held im- 
 portant office in Ireland under a Unionist 
 administration, and who is neither Irish nor 
 Catholic, gives some of the minor abuses of 
 English control in Ireland. I introduce this 
 because it throws a side light on government 
 abuses, as showing how the great majority 
 of the people are ignored, and nearly all the 
 high offices given to a favored few. 
 
 Is it any wonder these grafters should 
 object to Home Rule or indeed to any just 
 rule. 
 
 "Of the six great officers of state at 
 the Castle, five are Protestants. There 
 are sixteen Superior Court Judges and 
 thirteen of them are Protestants. Of 
 the host of highly paid officials in the 
 Local Government Board Land Commis- 
 sion and Agricultural Department not 
 one-fourth are Catholics. The three 
 Commissioners of Public Works are all 
 Protestants. The Resident (paid) Mag- 
 istrates and police officers are largely 
 Protestants. In fact, through the whole 
 
JOHN DILLON, M. P. 
 East Mayo. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 97 
 
 official hierarchy the story is the same. 
 Leaving salaried offices and coming to 
 positions of trust (honorary offices), what 
 do we find? The Privy Councillors 
 and Lord Lieutenants of Counties and 
 cities are almost exclusively Protestants. 
 The predominance of Protestants in the 
 magistracy is enormous." 
 
 It is very easy to understand, in view of 
 these unjust conditions, the terribly fierce 
 opposition to the granting of self-government 
 to Ireland by the ascendency party , by the 
 small clique that holds the nation by the 
 throat. 
 
 In the past they have held nearly all the 
 offices of honor and emolument as they do 
 today, and they hate to let go their grip. 
 It is often said by unfriendly critics that 
 Ireland's grievances are largely sentimental; 
 in fact almost entirely so ; and have no solid 
 ground to rest on. This is one of the stock 
 charges, and is made so often by those who 
 do not know, or want to know the facts, that 
 they believe it themselves. Even Mr. Brooks 
 makes it, and this, too, in spite of the fact 
 that he has himself given it the most positive 
 and direct contradiction in a number of 
 places in his writings. To some of these, 
 I have already called the readers' attention. 
 For instance, when he shows the gross ex- 
 travagance, the load of overtaxation, the 
 inefficiency and the wretched system of 
 education, and soon. If these are not prac- 
 
98 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 tical grievances there can be none anywhere. 
 Then there are Mr. Russell's charges bearing 
 on very practical matters indeed, showing 
 how the representatives of three fourths of 
 the people are almost entirely barred from 
 office in their own country, and especially 
 from all the important, the higher offices. 
 Yet we are told, we really have nothing at all 
 to complain of, that we have only imaginary 
 grievances. 
 
 Let us examine this matter of overtaxation 
 a little more, for it is a vastly important 
 subject, particularly in a poor country like 
 Ireland. 
 
 Taxation is as far removed from sentiment 
 as possible. It deals only with the practical, 
 with the material, with dollars and cents. 
 
 Some years ago, in 1884 I think, a Royal 
 Commission was appointed in Great Britain, 
 to investigate certain important fiscal mat- 
 ters, and, among them, to show the amount 
 of money which the different parts of Great 
 Britain, England, Scotland, and Wales, as 
 well as Ireland, were paying into the imperial 
 exchequer annually. The Commission was 
 composed of fourteen members, the ablest 
 financiers to be found. 
 
 Though there were but two Irishmen in 
 the body it reported unanimously that since 
 the so-called Union in 1801, Ireland had been 
 overtaxed, and paying greatly in excess of 
 her just share, and since 1853 an average of 
 $13,500,000 a year more than her share. 
 
 Leaving out the excess paid between 1801 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 99 
 
 and 1853, a total of fifty two years, and taking 
 only the overcharge from the latter year 
 until now, it is seen that Ireland has paid 
 over and above her proportionate share of 
 imperial taxation, between three or four bil- 
 lions of dollars. Practical enough this surely, 
 and not a sign of sentiment. I can almost 
 imagine I hear the reader say, "but surely 
 there has been some redress; a portion of this 
 money, at least, has been returned." Not one 
 cent; but ten million dollars more have been 
 added to Ireland's share since, making a 
 grand total of twenty three millions and five 
 hundred thousand dollars more than she 
 ought to pay as her portion of the share of 
 the white man's burden, In one of the 
 articles of the union between Great Britain 
 and Ireland, it was expressly stipulated that 
 the debts of the two contracting parties 
 should never be united, and for the best of 
 reasons; for, while the debt of Ireland at the 
 time was only a little over one hundred mil- 
 lion dollars, that of England was two billion 
 two hundred and thirty million dollars or 
 about twenty two times the debt of Ireland! 
 
 It was also agreed that Ireland should 
 never be asked to pay more than her means 
 would warrant. 
 
 Both these conditions were and are being 
 broken. The debts of the two countries 
 were united in 1817. Since then, Ireland has 
 become responsible for England's enormous 
 debts, principal and interest, and, as Mr. 
 Brooks shows, while her resources are only 
 
100 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 one twentieth those of Great Britain, she is 
 compelled to pay one eleventh of the taxes! 
 Stupendous as was the British debt at the 
 time of the Union, it was comparatively small 
 to what it has since become! 
 
 England's present enormous debt, it is 
 hardly necessary to inform intelligent people, 
 was chiefly contracted during the last two 
 centuries, while carrying on the many wars 
 she then waged in all parts of the world, 
 wherever there was territory or plunder to 
 be secured, but chiefly during the two wars 
 against the Americans, the Revolutionary, 
 and the other war against them from 1812 to 
 1814; her wars with the great Napoleon 
 ending at Waterloo in 1815, and last, but not 
 least, the Boer war a few years ago. 
 
 And just here it seems fitting that I should 
 interrupt the matter of Irish taxation for a 
 few moments to refer to another subject 
 that demands attention here. 
 
Chapter IX. 
 
 ENGLISH EFFORTS FOR AN 
 AMERICAN ALLIANCE 
 
 During the Colonial war, just referred to, 
 this country was poor and weak and had few 
 friends, at least at first, and a strong and 
 powerful enemy, England. She, not content 
 with the ordinary usages of war, employed 
 the savage indians against the colonists; 
 paid them so much per scalp for those of 
 men, women and children. 
 
 In the second war from 1812 to 1814 our 
 condition as to strength and prosperity was 
 not much better than in the earlier days, 
 and we still had that same powerful and im- 
 placable enemy to contend against; England. 
 
 In the two years this second war lasted 
 England, true to her old time methods, rav- 
 aged our coasts, burned our cities, destroyed 
 the Capitol at Washington and all the public 
 buildings, as well as all the places on the 
 coast her forces could reach. 
 
 At the time of the Civil war in the 60s, 
 our country had become strong and powerful , 
 rich and prosperous, a rival on sea and land 
 to the great European nations; and again 
 we had an enemy at our gates: England! 
 Always England! 
 
 She had now become jealous of us as a 
 rival in trade and commerce. Besides the moral 
 effect of our great Democratic institutions 
 
 101 
 
102 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 was tearing away the foundation of her Aris- 
 tocratic system and threatening to destroy it. 
 
 For all these reasons, Great Britain wished 
 to destroy us, and did everything in her power 
 to that end. Everything short of actual open 
 war. Sent out her Alabamas and Shenandoahs 
 and other semi-pirate vessels to prey on 
 our commerce, and drive it from the ocean; 
 and succeeded too. And to such an extent that 
 to this day our ocean carrying trade has not 
 recovered from the blow then received. 
 
 That the Civil war was prolonged at least 
 two years by England's material aid and sym- 
 pathy to the South, is well known to all. 
 
 Today America is great and mighty and 
 powerful; among the greatest and mightiest 
 in the world , and all the big nations are tum- 
 bling over each other for her friendship. 
 
 Strangest of all, England is too! And as a 
 consequecne there is a hullabaloo of sound 
 and fury from her friends, both in Great 
 Britain and here; shouting about "hands across 
 the sea," "blood being thicker than water." 
 "a common language, literature and bible," 
 and so on, besides the claptrap and humbug 
 of the so-called one hundred years of peace. 
 
 It may be asked what all this has to do 
 with the Irish question? Much, for we Irish 
 are always grateful to the great nation which 
 opened wide its gates to receive us, and gave 
 us a refuge and a home when driven like 
 wild beasts from the land of our fathers. 
 And we want to warn and caution her a- 
 gainst the"Greeks bearing gifts, "against the 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 103 
 
 nation which under the guise of friendship, 
 is trying, by a thousand and one agencies, to 
 get the United States into something, any- 
 thing, that can be presented to the world as 
 American British Aliance! 
 
 It may be said that England has had a 
 change of heart since the Civil war and has 
 repented in sack cloth and ashes. There are 
 some uncharitable people in the world, how- 
 ever, who say that England's relations with 
 some of the great European countries are not 
 too friendly, especially with Germany, and 
 that fact, they say, explains John Bull's 
 sudden and fawning love for Uncle Sam . 
 
 Mr. Carnegie tells us this British love is 
 so deep, the British people will never be happy 
 again, never rest contented, until the United 
 States are reunited to Great Britain! And 
 then, he adds, in the last edition of Trium- 
 phant Democracy that the reunion of the 
 United States with Great Britain is as sure 
 as the rising of the sun to-morrow! When it 
 comes, Carnegie tells us, the United States 
 will fight England's battles, defend her on 
 land and sea, be responsible for most of her 
 public debts, a large portion of which was 
 contracted in the wars already referred to 
 against the Americans, and open wide our 
 markets to England's goods, free of duty. 
 
 Lest the reader should think I am romancing 
 I here give Carnegie's very words: — 
 
 "When the Union is restored it will be 
 upon a basis of uniting also the National 
 
104 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 debts as they stand, and making all a 
 common obligation of the Union, so that 
 the United Kingdom would be relieved 
 at once of the greater portion of its 
 National debt, and of at least one-half 
 of all its present heavy taxation, even 
 if no reduction of expenditure resulted 
 from having one general government. 
 
 "An Anglo-American Reunion brings 
 free entry here of all British products 
 as a matter of course. The richest 
 market in the world is open to Britain 
 free of all duty by a stroke of the pen. 
 
 "I do not hesitatee to say that Reunion 
 would bring with it such demand for 
 British products as would tax the pres- 
 ent capacity of Britain to the utmost. 
 
 "Were Britain part of the Re-United 
 States all that she would be interested 
 about in Europe would be fully secured; 
 namely, the protection of her own soil 
 and the command of the seas. No bal- 
 ance of power, no occupation of Egypt, 
 or any similar question would be of the 
 slightest importance. The Re-United 
 Nation would be prompt to repel any 
 assault upon the soil or the rights of 
 any of its parts." — Andrew Carnegie. 
 
 MORE ABOUT IRELAND'S TAXATION. 
 
 A nice little program has the little laird 
 of Skibo castle, marked out for Uncle Sam! 
 And let it be carefully remembered, he has 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 105 
 
 forty so-called peace societies in this country 
 working to bring about these results ; and these 
 societies are financed by him to the extent 
 of ten millions of dollars; a small part of the 
 four hundred million dollars the canny Scot 
 is said to have wrung out of American labor! 
 Is it any wonder the Star Spangled Banner 
 is being mutilated? and everything offensive 
 to England cut out, and that our school text 
 books are being made over, so that during 
 the Revolution England is made to appear 
 as almost the injured party, and the Colonists 
 as the oppressors! 
 
 IRISH SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. 
 
 Ireland had no interest in the prosecution 
 of any of the wars just mentioned. Any 
 interest she had was one of warm sympathy 
 for the victims of England's aggression, 
 especially for the Americans and the Boers. 
 
 And yet, Ireland which as a Nation, was 
 bitterly opposed to these savage wars, must 
 pay her share of the expenses. The bitter 
 opposition of the Irish people to the war on 
 the Americans in 1776 is shown by the fact 
 that as soon as the Irish soldiers in the English 
 army learned they were to be sent against 
 the Colonists they had to be chained and 
 manacled before they could be put on board. 
 
 Ireland, everywhere and always the friend 
 of liberty and justice, and in a special manner 
 of the Americans, is obliged to pay for En- 
 gland's attempt to rivet the chains of slavery 
 on them! 
 
1 06 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 As showing the sympathy and friendship 
 that has always existed between the United 
 States and Ireland back to Colonial days, 
 and coming down to the present time, the 
 following incident, one of hundreds that 
 might be selected, showing how Ireland trans- 
 lated her kindly feelings into acts, towards 
 Ethan Allen, the brave and gallant young 
 Colonial officer, while he was a prisoner on 
 board an English war ship in Cork harbor: 
 during the Revolution. I copy the follow- 
 ing from the Irish World: — 
 
 "During the early days of the Revolu- 
 tion the daring young patriot, Ethan 
 Allen, was sent by Gen. Montgomery on 
 a mission to Canada to endeavor to in- 
 duce the people to take up arms against 
 the English. Several hundred Cana- 
 dians volunteered. On his return to 
 camp he was detailed to attempt the 
 capture of Montreal. He was defeated 
 in his attack, and forced to surrender 
 with the condition of being honorably 
 treated. 
 
 "As soon as his men had laid down their 
 arms an attempt was made to slaughter 
 them by the Indian mercenaries in the 
 English service, and it was with great 
 difficulty that their lives were saved. 
 Prescott, the British general, threatened 
 Allen with "a halter at Tyburn," and 
 caused him to be put on board an English 
 man of war, where he was manacled and 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 107 
 
 his limbs cased in shackles, to which a 
 bar of iron eight feet long was fastened. 
 His men who were made prisoners, twen- 
 ty-eight in number, were treated in like 
 manner. 
 
 "Allen, after having been ironed, was 
 thrown into the hold of the ship, with 
 only a sailor's chest for his bed and seat, 
 and kept in this situation for five weeks, 
 when he was sent to Quebec, and trans- 
 ferred to another vessel. Here he ob- 
 tained a brief respite from the brutal 
 treatment to which he had been subjected 
 but on the approach of the American 
 army he was again heavily ironed, placed 
 on board an English warship about to 
 return home and, with a number of 
 other Americans prisoners, sent to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 "They were all crowded into a single 
 small apartment, and were not allowed 
 to leave it during the entire voyage, 
 which lasted forty days. When taken 
 ashore at Falmouth the prisoners were 
 still kept in irons and treated with 
 extreme brutality. Allen was repeatedly 
 threatened with execution as a traitor, 
 and the letters which he wrote to his 
 friends were suppressed. At length the 
 English Government resolved to send 
 the prisoners back to America — not, 
 however, as freemen, but to exchange 
 them for English soldiers taken prisoners 
 by the Revolutionary army. 
 
1 08 ON THE TH RESHOLD OF HOME RULE . 
 
 "On the passage out, the ship called at 
 Cork, where the people showed the great- 
 est possible sympathy for the brave and 
 ill-treated American patriots, and aided 
 them as far as possible. Allen himself 
 says: 
 
 "It was soon rumored in Cork that I 
 was on board the Solebay, with a num- 
 ber of prisoners from America. Upon 
 which Messrs. Clark and Hays, merchants, 
 and a number of other benevolently dis- 
 posed gentlemen contributed largely to 
 the relief and support of the prisoners, 
 who were thirty-four in number and in 
 very needy circumstances. A suit of 
 clothes, from head to foot, including an 
 overcoat or surtout and two shirts, were 
 bestowed on each of them. My suit 
 I received in superfine broadcloths, suf- 
 ficient for two jackets and two pairs of 
 breeches, overplus of a suit throughout; 
 eight fine Holland shirts and socks, ready- 
 made with a number of pairs of silk and 
 worsted hose, two pairs of shoes, two 
 beaver hats, one of which was sent me 
 richly laced with gold by James Bonwell. 
 
 "The Irish gentlemen, furthermore, 
 gave a large gratuity of wines of the best 
 sort, spirits, gin, loaf and brown sugar, 
 tea, and chocolate, with a large round of 
 pickled beef and a number of fat turkeys, 
 with many other articles for my sea stores, 
 too tedious to mention here. To the 
 privates they bestowed on each man two 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 109 
 
 pounds of tea and six pounds of brown 
 sugar. These articles were received on 
 board at a time when the captain and 
 first lieutenant were gone on shore. As 
 this munificence was so unexpected and 
 plentiful, I may add needful, it impressed 
 on my mind the highest sense of gratitude 
 towards my benefactors; for I was not 
 only supplied with the necessaries and 
 conveniences of life, but with the grand- 
 eurs and superfluities. 
 
 "Mr. Hays, one of the donators before 
 mentioned, came on board and behaved 
 in the most obliging manner, telling me 
 that he hoped my troubles were past and 
 that the gentlemen of Cork determined 
 to make my seastores equal to that of 
 the captain of the Solebay. He made an 
 offer of live stock to me, but I knew this 
 would be denied; and, to crown all, 
 did send me by another person fifty 
 guineas; but I could not reconcile re- 
 ceiving the whole to my feelings, as it 
 might have the appearance of avarice, 
 and, therefore, received but seven guin- 
 eas, only. 
 
 "I am confident, not only from the 
 exercise of the present well-timed gen- 
 erosity, but from a large acquaintance 
 with gentlemen of this nation, that as 
 a people they excel in liberality and 
 bravery. Two days after the receipt 
 of the aforesaid donations the captain 
 came on board full of envy towards the 
 
1 10 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 prisoners, and swore by all that was good 
 'that the damned American rebels should 
 not be feasted at this rate by the damned 
 rebels of Ireland.' He therefore, took 
 away all my liquors before mentioned, 
 all the tea and sugar given to the prison- 
 ers, and confiscated them to the use of 
 the ship's crew. 
 
 "Our clothing was not taken away, but 
 the privates were forced to do duty on 
 board. Soon after this there came a boat 
 to the side of the ship and the captain 
 of the Solebay asked a gentleman in it 
 in my hearing what his business was, who 
 answered that he was sent to deliver some 
 sea stores to Colonel Allen, which he said 
 were sent from Dublin, but the captain 
 damned him heartily, ordering him away 
 from the ship and would not suffer him 
 to deliver the stores. 
 
 "I was furthermore informed that the 
 gentlemen in Cork requested of the cap- 
 tain that I might be allowed to come into 
 the city and that they would be respon- 
 sible I should return to the frigate at a 
 given time, which was denied them." 
 
 "The prisoners after leaving Cork were 
 first brought to New York, whence they 
 were transfered to Halifax and kept in 
 a prison ship there until scurvy broke 
 out among them owing to the bad food 
 they received, when, after great efforts 
 to secure better treatment, they were 
 removed to the town jail. After a time 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. Ill 
 
 they were again conveyed to New York, 
 where Allen was allowed to go on parole 
 within certain narrow limits, and at 
 length was exchanged for an English 
 colonel." 
 
 In view of the above facts, we are not sur- 
 prised to find America duly grateful and 
 returning in full measure, on the occasion of 
 the passage through the Commons of the 
 Home Rule Bill, her expressions of sympathy 
 and respect. 
 
 The Irish World of recent date, well voices 
 the conditions existing between the two 
 countries as follows: — 
 
 "The bond of sympathy that has ever 
 existed between America and Ireland 
 has generated in both countries senti- 
 ments of mutual regard that find ex- 
 pression whenever it is a question con- 
 cerning the interests of either. When 
 the Continental Congress addressed an 
 appeal to the Irish people for their moral 
 support in the "times that tried men's 
 souls," it had no doubt as to the response 
 that appeal would elicit. Bemjamin 
 Franklin already had borne this testimony, 
 "All Ireland is strongly in favor of the 
 American cause." It was not, then, to 
 an indifferent people that the Continental 
 Congress appealed. "Your Parliament," 
 to quote its own words, "had done us no 
 wrong. You have been friendly to the 
 rights of mankind, and we acknowledge 
 
112 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 with pleasure and gratitude that the 
 Irish Nation has produced patriots who 
 have highly distinguished themselves in 
 the cause of humanity and America. 
 
 "Accept our most grateful acknowledg- 
 ments for the friendly dispositions you 
 have already shown us." 
 
 Ireland was never a fair weather friend 
 in the case of America. When the clouds 
 lowered over this country she ever proved 
 staunch and true. The news of disas- 
 trous defeats to the Union cause during 
 our Civil War were never hailed in 
 Ireland with rapturous cheers as they 
 were in England. 
 
 And now when Ireland's star is begin- 
 ning to rise above the horizon, it is only 
 right that America, remembering those 
 days of 'storm and stress' in which she 
 had Irish sympathy in unstinted measure, 
 should send words of cheer across the 
 Atlantic to a sister nation whose friend- 
 ship has never grown cold. Representa- 
 tive Goodwin of Arkansas gave formal 
 expression to the sentiments of the Amer- 
 ican people when he offered this resolu- 
 tion on the passage of the Irish Home 
 Rule Bill in the House of Commons: 
 
 "Whereas, the people of Ireland for 
 many years have been struggling for 
 Home Rule only to have from time to 
 time their aspirations blighted; and, 
 whereas, their struggles for liberty have 
 appealed to all true Americans who love 
 
T. P. O'CONNOR, M. P. 
 Scotland Division Liverpool. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 113 
 
 freedom; and, whereas, the House of 
 Commons on yesterday by a vote of one 
 hundred and ten (110) majority passed 
 the Home Rule Bill for Ireland: 
 
 "Therefore, resolved that the House of 
 Representatives of the American Con- 
 gress congratulate the people of Ireland 
 and the British House of Commons upon 
 the passage through the Commons of 
 the Home Rule Bin, and that the Secre- 
 tary of State be requested to forward a 
 copy of these resolutions to the Honorable 
 Henry H. Asquith, Prime Minister; Hon- 
 orable John E. Redmond, and the Hon- 
 orable Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary 
 for Ireland." 
 
 The resolution offered by Congressman 
 Goodwin may be designated the official 
 expression of the National House of 
 Representatives on the question of Ire- 
 land's claim to the management of her 
 own affairs. It was supplemented by a 
 cablegram of congratulation to Mr. Red- 
 mond sent by Congressman Michael 
 Donahue of Philadelphia at the request 
 of a large number of his fellow members 
 of Congress. It reads as follows: 
 
 "Friends of Ireland in American Con- 
 gress rejoice in triumph of Home Rule 
 and heartily congratulate you and the 
 other champions of freedom." 
 
 This cablegram is of value as showing 
 the personal interest the Congressmen 
 whose views it expresses, take in the Irish 
 
1 14 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 cause. With the resolution they have 
 voted for previously, it will have its 
 moral effect on the other side of the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 Resolution and cablegram furnish in- 
 disputable evidence of American sym- 
 pathy with Ireland in this her hour of 
 triumph. 
 
Chapter X 
 
 IRELAND'S STRUGGLE FOR NATIONAL 
 LIFE. 
 
 It is consoling and cheering to the Irish 
 to know that in this hour of their triumph 
 they have the sympathy and good will of all 
 the world, and especially of the American 
 people. 
 
 The following brief account from a 
 Philadelphia paper, the North American, of 
 recent date, of a few of Ireland's chief griev- 
 ances, and of the glorious and long contin- 
 ued struggle she has made, and is still making, 
 to redeem herself — the longest contest in his- 
 tory — will I trust have special interest for the 
 reader at this time. 
 
 IRELAND'S VICTORY OVER TORYISM. 
 
 The most magnificent example in his- 
 tory of the persistence of an idea is 
 Ireland's fight for Self-Government. For 
 more than seven centuries the people 
 of that country have been struggling 
 for the right to make their own laws, for 
 relief from a system of alien rule, econom- 
 ic injustice and legislative blundering 
 without parallel in the record of Nations. 
 The story of that long, dark period has 
 been summed up in a few brief and ter- 
 rible words by a Scotch Liberal member 
 of Parliament: 
 
 115 
 
1 16 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 "Seven centuries of rapine and violence. 
 Carelessness alternating with ferocity. 
 Not a gleam of humanity nor of political 
 wisdom. Not even the wisdom of the 
 peasant who takes care of his beast lest 
 it perish." 
 
 During all this night of wrong the Na- 
 tional spirit has never been extinguished. 
 It survives the twelfth-century raids of 
 the Saxon, the ruthless onslaughts of 
 Plantagenet soldiery, the pillage and 
 plantations of Tudor and Stuart sove- 
 reigns, the vengeance of Cromwell and 
 William. It was not quenched by the 
 Penal Laws of the eighteenth century, 
 nor by the misgovernment, injustice and 
 famines of the nineteenth. It lived 
 through the more recent years of cruel 
 indifference, took strength from the meas- 
 ures of tardy justice granted as the re- 
 sult of interminable rebellion, and ex- 
 ists today not only in greater vigor than 
 ever before, but as the conquering force 
 of a people soon to be free. 
 
 As there has been no National question 
 in history of like vitality, so there is none 
 that equals this in stirring world sym- 
 pathy. | The efforts of the present British 
 Government to do justice to Ireland are 
 supported not alone by the public opinion 
 of independent Nations such as the 
 United States, but by the free depen- 
 dencies of the crown. In Parliamentary 
 representation all of Wales, three-fourths 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 117 
 
 of Scotland and half of England are for 
 Home Rule, while for years there has not 
 been a session of the Legislature of Cana- 
 da and Australia which has not urged 
 this measure. The Bill which passed the 
 House of Commons on January 16 has 
 the indorsement of the whole Empire, 
 except that part represented by an invet- 
 erate Toryism and the devotees of a 
 medieval prejudice. 
 
 The measure passed the House of 
 Commons by a vote of 367 to 257; the 
 majority was made up of 248 Liberals, 
 82 Irish Nationalists and 37 members of 
 the Labor Party. The Tories had forced 
 164 separate divisions upon it, but they 
 met an average government majority of 
 115. The Lords will throw out the Bill. 
 It will be repassed by the Commons and 
 again rejected by the Upper Chamber. 
 Then, under a law adopted a couple of 
 years ago, the Bill will be passed a third 
 time by the Commons — provided the 
 Liberal Government remains in power — 
 and will become effective without con- 
 sent of the Peers. 
 
 What this measure will remedy is a sys- 
 tem of misrule which grew up during cen- 
 turies of conquest and injustice. The 
 monstrous evils of the land system, which 
 inflicted upon successive generations the 
 horrors of poverty, cruelty and famine, 
 have been largely eliminated by a suc- 
 cession of remedial Acts, the first of which 
 
118 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 was passed in 1887, and the most com- 
 prehensive in 1903. But these measures 
 of economic justice, beneficial as they 
 were, left the country groaning under the 
 intolerable burden of a system of govern- 
 ment which impartial writers have thus 
 described. 
 
 "The government of Ireland is the 
 most inefficient in the whole world." — 
 Lord Roseberry. 
 
 "Dublin Castle is not merely a foreign 
 power; it is at once hostile, anti-democrat- 
 ic, mercenary and irresponsible." — L. 
 Paul-Dubois, French historian. 
 
 "Irish administration is the most cost- 
 ly and least efficient in the world." — 
 The Earl of Dunraven. 
 
 "During these years (since the Act of 
 Union of 1800) the governed were, in the 
 main, helots and slaves; the governors 
 were, to a large extent, callous and heart- 
 less tyrants. Until Gladstone arose, no 
 subject people had ever been more basely 
 treated or neglected by a conqueror." — 
 T. W. Russell, Ulster Member of Par- 
 liament. 
 
 These references are to the nineteenth 
 century, during which, it is admitted, 
 much was done to remedy the wrongs 
 of preceding centuries. And it must 
 be remembered that Ireland for a period 
 did have her own Parliament. From 
 1782 until 1800 her own legislators — al- 
 beit the majority of the population were 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 119 
 
 excluded on religious grounds — sat in 
 Dublin and made her laws and historians 
 agree that during that period the Nation 
 knew for the first time the blessings of 
 peace and prosperity. 
 
 THE FOULEST PAGE OF BRITISH 
 HISTORY. 
 
 Then came the forced Union in 1800. 
 Against the vehement protests of all 
 classes and both religions, the Act was 
 passed by bribery more lavish and shame- 
 less than was ever resorted to before or 
 since. No less than $7,500,000 was ex- 
 pended in buying votes, in addition to 
 twenty-two Irish peerages, six English 
 peerages and twenty-two promotions, in 
 the Irish nobility. "There is no blacker 
 nor fouler transaction in the history of 
 man," declared Gladstone, "than the 
 making of the Union between Great 
 Britain and Ireland." 
 
 Self-Government, even in a restricted 
 measure, was thus destroyed in Ireland, 
 and England took upon herself the re- 
 sponsibility of administering affairs. 
 What has been the record of the one 
 hundred and twelve years? Until the 
 present generation it was a hopeless suc- 
 cession of complaints, indifference, re- 
 bellion, coercion and, finally, vacillating 
 and grudging concessions. "Your oppres- 
 sions," said Lord John Russell to his 
 countrymen, "have taught the Irish to 
 
120 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 hate your concessions, to brave you. 
 You have exhibited to them how scanty 
 was the stream of your bounty, how full 
 the tribute of your fear." 
 
 After the Union Came a Century of 
 Starvation. 
 
 It was twenty-nine years after the 
 Union before the pledge of Catholic Em- 
 ancipation was redeemed . 1 1 was not until 
 1869 that the burden of an Established 
 Church was removed from the backs of 
 millions of non-adherents. The first 
 measure for the relief of tenants, who had 
 been fighting starvation for a century, 
 was passed in 1870. The first Home 
 Rule Bill was introduced in 1886, and the 
 first one to pass the House of Commons 
 was passed in 1893. 
 
 The evils of misrule are written indeli- 
 bly in the economic history of the coun- 
 try. The population, which in 1801 was 
 5,500,000 and in 1841 had grown to 8,- 
 175,000, in 1901 had shrunk to less than 
 4,500,000. During the latter half of the 
 nineteenth century, 4,000,000 of the Irish 
 people fled from their land. By every 
 test that could be applied the system of 
 government was proved a ghastly failure. 
 
 Yet a considerable Parliamentary min- 
 ority still stands in stolid opposition to 
 the giving of Self-Government to Ire- 
 land. "You cannot impose this law with- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 121 
 
 out bloodshed!" shouts the Tory leader. 
 "The men of Ulster are ready to give up 
 their lives at the hands of British sol- 
 diers!" This, of course, is the veriest 
 fustian. The speaker would like to for- 
 get that in 1782 Ulster rebels stood for 
 the freedom of the Irish Parliament, and 
 that in 1798 many of them were in arms. 
 He would like the world to believe that 
 Ulster is unanimous for Toryism, whereas 
 seventeen of the thirty-three members 
 from that Province are Home Rulers. 
 
 The Ulster Fiction of Religion. 
 
 The strongest argument of the "Tories" 
 is the appeal to religious prejudice. As 
 a fact, this fiction that Nationalism is a 
 question of religion is refuted by its own 
 history. Of the heroes of the National 
 cause, the most noted have been Protes- 
 tants — from the days of Grattan, Fitz- 
 gerald, Tone and Emmet, of Mitchel, 
 Davis, and Smith O'Brien and Butt and 
 Parnell, down to the present time, when 
 the ruling Party in the British Parlia- 
 ment is overwhelmingly non-Catholic and 
 favorable to Home Rule. It is not for 
 religion that Toryism fights, but for 
 special privilege, as it fought Disestab- 
 lishment, Tenant Right, Land Purchase, 
 extension of the Franchise, Local Self- 
 Government and every other reform de- 
 manded. 
 
1 22 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 And since the fight is for special privi- 
 lege, it can end in but one way. It is 
 possible that Toryism may be able, 
 through obstruction by the Lords, to 
 hold up the Bill until a political change 
 overturns the Liberal Government. But 
 the final result is inevitable. This is the 
 day of Democracy, and British Toryism 
 can no more permanently withhold jus- 
 tice from Ireland than American Toryism 
 can continue to exploit the people of this 
 country. 
 
 Ireland's cries for justice have gone out to 
 all the ends of the earth, and the people have 
 heard her with respect and loving sympathy, 
 so much so, that a flood of public opinion has 
 been aroused great enough to compel even 
 England to bow before it, and with the glo- 
 rious result that one of the great British 
 parties is now endeavoring to right the wrong 
 of ages, and has just passed through the Com- 
 mons the New Charter of Irish liberty! And 
 if the Liberal party should retain power until 
 May, 1914, it will become a law, notwith- 
 standing the Lords' opposition! 
 
 The fact is, Ireland bars the way and must 
 be heard. Hers is the great question of 
 questions that will not down. A corre- 
 spondent of an Irish paper, writing in January 
 last on how Ireland ties up all British legis- 
 lation and insists on having her demands 
 heard, says: — 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 1 23 
 
 A cynical student of British institu- 
 tions might say that the modern House of 
 Commons is permitted to discuss one ques- 
 tion only — the Irish question. For the 
 last thirty years or so British statesman- 
 ship has never been able to lose sight of 
 that topic for any length of time. Topics 
 of the moment there have been, but here 
 is the question of questions, which shall 
 last as long as the Union lasts. It may 
 not be eclipsed or obscured or thrust on 
 one side; forever it seems to rise above 
 British interests as the waves rise out of 
 the sea. 
 
 No matter how independent of the 
 Irish vote new Governments appeared 
 to be, the old, old question has always 
 succeeded in occupying a great slice of 
 Parliamentary time. No Government 
 has ever been able to ignore Ireland as a 
 factor in the British political situation. 
 Deaf or hostile they mostly have been to 
 the demands of Ireland, but dumb or 
 pliant Ireland has never been. 
 
 The Power of the Irish Vote. 
 
 Tory Prime Ministers, signing coercion 
 proclamations, may affect to scorn the 
 Irish Party as an insignificant voting 
 machine that strong Governments must 
 ignore. Yet they have all felt the power 
 of the Irish vote in Parliament, and shud- 
 dered beneath the Irish frown. The par- 
 
1 24 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 iahs of yesterday's Parliaments are the 
 makers and masters of today's. 
 
 The old quarrel between England and 
 Ireland gradually shaped itself into a 
 battle to destroy or to preserve the Union ; 
 and the small nation has beaten the great. 
 At the close of the struggle there is no 
 harm in saying that in the campaigns 
 and tactics of Parliamentary warfare 
 little Ireland has always been able to 
 hoodwink and outflank proud England. 
 
 Ireland, Ireland; Always Ireland! 
 
 This train of thought suggests itself 
 by the fact that as before the Christmas 
 holidays the last word in Parliament 
 was of Ireland, so was the first word when 
 the House resumed on Monday. 
 
 And, indeed, during the week the 
 attention of Parliament has been mon- 
 opolized by the Report Stage of the Home 
 Rule Bill. 1912 closed upon a House 
 debating Home Rule, and 1913 opened 
 with discussion on the same subject. 
 
 A stranger, on becoming acquainted with 
 English government in Ireland, would say 
 at once that its sole and only object was to 
 exploit Ireland for the exclusive benefit of 
 English interests, and that regardless of every 
 consideration of justice and right! She took 
 the lands of Ireland from their rightful owners 
 and gave them to her own adventurers and 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 1 25 
 
 partisans. Irish churches and church lands 
 were taken in like manner from the ancient 
 church; and given to the brand new church, 
 by law established and founded by Henry 
 the Eighth and his mild and gentle daughter, 
 the virgin queen , Elizabeth ! Both noted char- 
 acters in their way, but not for the purity 
 and sanctity of their lives surely! 
 
 The old faith was banned, education was 
 made a crime, death was the penalty for 
 priest and teacher! Irish manufactures of 
 all kinds were deliberately and systematically 
 destroyed lest they should compete with 
 those of England! Ireland was made a purely 
 agricultural country that she might serve 
 as a store house for England; in a word, she 
 was designedly made poor! and kept so! 
 partly that England might be thereby en- 
 riched , and at the same time that Ireland might 
 be the more easily controlled. The weaker 
 country has not suffered in vain however; she 
 has made herself felt in a thousand ways, and 
 made the lot of the oppressor a hard one, 
 and at times dangerous! She has always 
 been ready and anxious to strike when the 
 opportunity came, and, weak as she is, has 
 tried at times to make an opportunity. 
 
 And this struggle she has continued for 
 centuries; long and weary centuries; gaining 
 a little here, losing a little there; but in the 
 main advancing, especially during the last 
 thirty years or so. During this time, under 
 such glorious leaders as Parnell, Davitt, 
 Dillon, and now under the matchless John 
 
126 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 Redmond, the cause has been rushing on like 
 a mighty torrent, sweeping all before it, 
 even the one time Orange stronghold, Deny! 
 So great was the momentum of the movement, 
 it has actually waked up the lords long 
 enough to vote against it, but, to their credit 
 be it said, by a much smaller majority than 
 in 1893! 
 
 And now we can see the dawn of Ireland's 
 coming morn of liberty, of good will, of peace 
 after all the long, long strife! Just here it 
 seems to me appropriate that I should copy a 
 beautiful little poem by the new English poet, 
 Alfred Noyes: 
 
 THE DAWN OF PEACE. 
 
 By A If red Noyes 
 
 Dreams are they? But ye cannot stay them, 
 
 Or thrust the dawn back for one hour; 
 Truth, Love and Justice, if ye slay them, 
 
 Return with more than earthly power; 
 Strive, if ye will, to seal the fountains 
 
 That send the Spring thro' leaf and spray; 
 Drive back the sun from the Eastern mountains; 
 
 Then — bid this mightier movement stay. 
 
 The hour of Peace is come! The nations 
 
 From East to West have heard a cry — 
 "Through all earth's blood-red generations 
 
 By hate and slaughter climbed thus high, 
 Here — on this height — still to aspire, 
 
 One only path remains untrod, 
 One path of love and peace climbs higher! 
 
 Make straight the highway for our God." 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 127 
 
 It may be said of the long drawn out strug- 
 gle between the two nations, it is the only 
 instance in history where the supposedly 
 conquered and subdued nation has kept up 
 the fight for over seven hundred years, in 
 one way or another, and where the weaker 
 and injured party has won, by moral means 
 alone! by appealing to and arousing the con- 
 science of the world! It may also be said 
 that Ireland has not, as yet, completely won 
 her battle , and that it is too soon to count the 
 chickens before they are hatched. In a 
 sense this is true, but Ireland has won so 
 much during the last thirty years, not only 
 for herself, but for the British masses as well, 
 that while Home Rule may be delayed, it 
 cannot be permanently defeated. The Irish 
 party will no doubt in the future, as in the 
 past, at least as long as they have the present 
 representation in Parliament, hold the balance 
 of power and make legislation in the House of 
 Commons difficult, if not impossible, until 
 Ireland's demands in the main are granted! 
 
Chapter XI. 
 PREJUDICE INJECTED 
 
 Doubtless the reader has begun to think 
 I have forgotten Mr. Brooks' articles to which 
 I called attention in an earlier part of this 
 work. Indeed I have not, but I have been 
 led into a little digression by reason of the 
 great events in the British House of Commons 
 recently, and among them, of course, the 
 passage of the Home Rule Bill. 
 
 If the Bill should become a law — and we 
 seem within sight of the promised land al- 
 ready, despite the Lords' rejection — it will do 
 much to right the wrongs of ages, to destroy 
 the old time enmities and hatreds and bring 
 two neighboring peoples to feelings of mutual 
 respect and friendship. It will bridge over 
 the bloody chasm of injustice, crime and wrong 
 and establish peace where before there was 
 only strife, heart burnings and bloodshed. 
 
 After reading some of Mr. Brooks' very 
 friendly Irish articles — and quite a number of 
 them are friendly indeed — one is apt to think 
 he is one of the last persons in the world to 
 be tinctured with the spirit of intolerance, 
 sectarianism or anything bordering on Orange- 
 ism; and yet, I am sorry to say, even he is not 
 wholly free from it. After assailing British 
 rule in Ireland bitterly, and at times savagely, 
 as I have shown, he suddenly seems to realize 
 that perhaps he has been too severe. At 
 any rate he begins to try to divide the re- 
 
 128 
 
HON. JOSEPH DEVLIN, M. P. 
 West Belfast. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 129 
 
 sponsibility , and finds, as he thinks, a scape- 
 goat in the faith of the Irish people, and says: 
 
 "It is not until one reaches London- 
 derry and Belfast that one feels oneself 
 in contact with the atmosphere and prob- 
 lems of a modern industrial city. Lon- 
 donderry, with its large coasting trade, 
 its shirt-making industry, its fisheries, 
 ship-yards, iron and brass foundries, 
 flour-mills, breweries and distilleries, 
 gives out an instant impression of confi- 
 dence, energy and success; and the in- 
 dustrial record of Belfast, the Chicago 
 of Ireland, constitutes one of the greatest 
 and most inspiring achievements in the 
 history of commerce. These two towns, 
 in tone and spirit, in their social structure, 
 their instinctive ways of looking at things, 
 and their economic formation, stand in a 
 category of their own and have little or 
 no affinity with Limerick, Cork, Water- 
 ford or Dublin ; while the gap that sep- 
 arates them from the smaller urban 
 centres, that except in Ireland would not 
 for a moment aspire to the name of 
 towns, is the gap of the entire industrial 
 revolution. 
 
 There we have it! It is the Catholic Faith 
 after all that is the cause of Ireland's troubles, 
 or at least a large part of them, This is the 
 only inference which can be drawn from the 
 above, and evidently, the only one he wanted 
 
130 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 drawn. Here it is clearly intimated, that if 
 the Irish people were Protestants, or at least 
 non-Catholic, all would be well; and the 
 country would be rich, prosperous, contented 
 and happy, like Protestant Ulster! 
 
 Notwithstanding his general intention to 
 be fair and just, and his desire at least at 
 times to place the responsibility for Ireland's 
 troubles where it justly belongs, on British 
 misgovernment ; and that he has himself 
 bravely done elsewhere, he now begins to 
 hem and haw, and so he trots out the old- 
 time stalking horse that has so long done 
 duty for English apologists in Ireland, the 
 Catholic faith! 
 
 This charge has been so often refuted, and 
 by so many distinguished men, some of them 
 non-Catholic and non-Irish, among them the 
 late Lord Salisbury, one time Tory Prime 
 Minister of Great Britain, that I am greatly 
 surprised such an able and at times such a 
 fair man as Mr. Brooks' is should descend 
 to it. 
 
 Now let us see whether there is any truth 
 in the so often alleged greater wealth and 
 prosperity of Ulster, in comparison with her 
 sister Provinces. 
 
 This argument has been used so frequently 
 that the ordinary man, the man in the street, 
 who has neither time nor interest enough to 
 find out the facts for himself, accepts it as 
 gospel and lets it go at that. But it is not 
 true. It is one of those pleasant little fictions 
 that has so long done duty as an argument 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 131 
 
 when nothing better could be found. Let 
 us for a few moments get away from dreams 
 and fancies and look at the facts as given 
 in the official government figures. 
 
 "A year ago Mr. MacVeagh, M. P., of 
 the Irish Party, quoted Rateable Valua- 
 tions per head of the four Provinces, in 
 which Leinster held first place. "Taken 
 by counties," Mr. MacVeagh went on to 
 state, "the rateable valuation per head 
 is higher in no less than thirteen Counties 
 in Leinster and Munster than in the high- 
 est County in Ulster." 
 
 "The argument of "wealthy Ulster 
 against Home Rule" is further confirmed 
 as an "absurd fallacy" by figures which 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer has re- 
 cently furnished at the request of Mr. 
 Flavin, M. P., (also a member of the 
 Irish Party), and quoted by the London 
 correspondent of the Dublin Freeman. 
 These show that the amount of Income 
 Tax per head in the Nationalist cities of 
 Dublin, Cork and Limerick is far greater 
 than that paid in Belfast and Derry. 
 More remarkable still, the correspondent 
 observes, is the fact that "the amount 
 paid per head in Cork — the capital of 
 the 'thriftless South' — is higher than in 
 Belfast 'of all the rich.' Even Limerick 
 with less of a population than Derry pays 
 more in Income Tax." 
 
 "So the argument of superior wealth 
 is proved to be as much of a fake and 
 
132 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 fraud as any of other points against 
 Home Rule." 
 
 If Ulster be more prosperous than her sister 
 Provinces, as alleged by Mr. Brooks and his 
 school, how account for the fact, for fact it 
 is, that emigration is as great from there, in 
 proportion to population, as from Catholic 
 parts. Indeed for the month of January, 1913, 
 the last available, the report says: Of the total 
 emigration from all Ireland 607, Ulster sup- 
 plied more than one-half or 311 ! 
 
 Belgium is one of the most Catholic coun- 
 tries in the world, distinctively Catholic; a 
 country where a larger proportion of the 
 people are Catholic than even in Ireland; 
 where Protestants are few and far between; 
 yet she is one of the most prosperous coun- 
 tries in the world! and one of the most truly 
 progressive; a thriving, prosperous and con- 
 tented country; a very beehive of industrial 
 activity of almost every kind and nature! 
 In Belgium there is scarcely any poverty, and 
 none at all of the appalling kind that seeths 
 and reeks in the large cities of Great Britain, 
 especially in London, Liverpool, Manchester, 
 Birmingham and Glasgow. 
 
 In Mr. McKay's work entitled, "The Social 
 Condition of the English people," quoting 
 Dr. Channing's "Duty of Free States." he says: 
 "The condition of the lower classes in England 
 at the present moment is a mournful comment 
 on English institutions and civilization. The 
 multitude is depressed to a degree of ignorance, 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 133 
 
 want and misery which must touch every 
 heart not made of stone! In the civilized 
 world there are fewer sadder spectacles than 
 the present contrast of unbounded wealth 
 and luxury, with the starvation of thousands 
 and tens of thousands, misery, famine and 
 brutal degradation, in the neighborhood 
 and presence of stately mansions, that ring 
 with gaiety and dazzle with pomp and un- 
 bounded profusion which shocks us as no 
 wretchedness does! 
 
 This was written many years ago, it is true, 
 but it is well known that the conditions have 
 as a whole grown steadily worse since the 
 above was written; that the gulf between 
 the wealthy and the poor, the masses, has 
 deepened and widened as shown in "Darkest 
 England and the Way Out," by the late 
 Gen. Booth, founder of the Salvation army. 
 It is almost needless to say there is nothing 
 in any Catholic country in the world, not 
 even in Ireland, to equal the horrible, the 
 almost incredible destitution, misery and 
 wretchedness therein described! 
 
 The distinguished British statesman, Joseph 
 Chamberlain, stated before the Tariff Com- 
 mission some years ago that there was no 
 country in the world where so large a propor- 
 tion of the people were so near the verge of 
 starvation as in Great Britain ! 
 
 The Catholic faith is surely not the cause 
 of such awful conditions, nor can it be for 
 that of Ireland. Where then is the cause of 
 Ireland's backward conditions? for cause there 
 
134 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 must be somewhere. All the world knows 
 what the trouble is, and where it is; and Mr. 
 Brooks does, too, when he allows his sense of 
 justice and right to have full reign, as he 
 does at least in half a dozen places in his 
 papers; and then he puts it on English mis- 
 government, as does everybody else. 
 
 If British rule in Ireland, were to be dis- 
 continued tomorrow, some of the evil effects 
 would undoubtedly remain, and that prob- 
 ably for generations. 
 
 You may break, you may shatter 
 The vase if you will, 
 The scent of the roses 
 Will hang around it still. 
 
 And so with serfdom or slavery, the marks 
 made by the chains of servitude will remain, 
 and affect, more or less, the people for many 
 long years. Take landlordism, with its 
 appalling record of evil of almost every possi- 
 ble nature: — The fear of it, the terror of it, 
 is frozen into the very marrow of the people's 
 bones, and cannot be gotten out in a day, or 
 two. 
 
 Their fear of some petty despot, some village 
 tyrant, dressed up in a little brief authority, 
 will not down at once. Though the thing it- 
 self has gone, the shadow still remains. 
 Strike off the shackles from the slave, but the 
 limbs that have been bound so long have 
 become stiff and awkward for want of use. 
 And this applies, not only to the physical 
 man, but to the mind also, to the Godlike 
 part of him. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 135 
 
 Ye see yon birkie ca'd a lord, 
 Wha struts and stares and a that, 
 Though hundred worship at his word, 
 He's but a coof for a that. 
 Yes, the birkie landlord has had his day, 
 and a long and terrible one it has been; and 
 so have all the representatives of British 
 authority, all those who ground the people 
 under their iron heel; but they are passing 
 away, like a bad dream, never to return, 
 never. It seems almost too good to be true, 
 but it is true nevertheless. 
 
 But even now the representatives of this 
 vile system are permitted to use the most 
 inflammatory and riotous language, without 
 let or hindrance. 
 
 Bonar Law, the leader of the Unionist 
 party in the House of Commons, tells the 
 people of Great Britain that if Home Rule 
 be granted Ulster will not accept it, that she 
 will wade in blood first! 
 
 Let us suppose John Redmond, or some 
 other representative of the Irish national 
 party, were to use similar language in case 
 the Home Rule Bill were defeated, what 
 would happen? And the Nationalist party, 
 be it remembered, has back of it practically 
 the whole of Ireland, Protestant as well as 
 Catholic, all except a small faction the Orange 
 Society. The members of this organization 
 have grown fat and arrogant at the national 
 crib; have held substantially all the offices of 
 honor and emolument for centuries, and are 
 now fierce in the opposition to the Nation's 
 
1 36 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 demands for justice, fearing they will be 
 compelled to surrender the spoils! 
 
 What a hue and cry would have been raised 
 if Ireland's representatives had used that or 
 similar language; and how every little bigot 
 would rush into print or on the platform to tell 
 us how completely unfitted for self-govern- 
 ment the Irish were! Perhaps one reason the 
 government has not prosecuted them is 
 because no one who knows them takes them 
 seriously. These valiant trencher men are 
 always out for the old flag and an appro- 
 priation especially the appropriation! They 
 have threatened time and again to wade 
 knee deep in blood, in fact every time their 
 ascendency or their fees were endangered. 
 Some time before the late Queen Victoria 
 came to the throne, fearing she was not a 
 dyed in the wool Protestant, of the Orange 
 stripe, because her mother, the Duchess of 
 Kent, was known to be a Catholic, our Orange 
 friends made deep threats to kick her crown 
 into the Boyne. They thought better of it 
 however, and let her wear it in peace. 
 
 When the late Mr. Gladstone was about to 
 disestablish the Protestant church in Ireland, 
 in 1869 I think, they muttered and talked 
 about ripping the Empire to pieces, smashing 
 it to smithereens, etc. Mr Gladstone went 
 on with his work however, and finished it; 
 the Orange heroes remembering that 
 He who fights and runs away, 
 May live to fight another day, 
 and that whether discretion be the better 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 137 
 
 part of valor or not, it is a very wise thing, for 
 even a warrior, to have around at times. 
 
 But they have saved all their ammunition 
 and arms and valor for the fight against 
 Home Rule! And now that self-government 
 for Ireland is coming, we must look out for 
 squalls for our long suffering friends have 
 reached the limit of endurance, and will not 
 leave a stone upon a stone of the British 
 Empire! The Orangeman's forefathers, who 
 received the lands of the famous clans of the 
 O' Neils and O'Donnels, came as receivers of 
 stolen goods, a little over two hundred years 
 ago, from England and Scotland, largely 
 from the latter country; and the Orange- 
 men have ever since lived up, or down, to the 
 reputation of their progenitors! In justice 
 to our Orange friends, it should be stated 
 however, that the forefathers of some of these 
 same men were, during the existence of the 
 Irish Parliament from 1782 until 1800, and 
 particularly during the brief attempt to over- 
 throw British rule in 1798, among the most 
 intense and ardent supporters of Irish nation- 
 al rights, and large numbers of them freely 
 gave up their lives in defence of Ireland's 
 Nationality. This Orange wickedness is one 
 of the evil outgrowths of British rule, a sort 
 of by-product, propagated by the British 
 to keep the people divided. It is so fierce, so 
 intense in its love for liberty for itself alone, 
 that like the French, Italian, and Portugese 
 Atheists, it has none left for those who differ 
 from it, and would if possible destroy all 
 such. 
 
138 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 Lest it be thought I have in any way exagger- 
 ated the intolerance of the Orangemen, either 
 as a society or as individuals, I here quote 
 an interview given by Mr. Marshall Tillie 
 of Londonderry, a gentleman of great local 
 influence, a Protestant and an anti-Home 
 Ruler. 
 
 "I am a Unionist," says Mr. Tillie. 
 "I do not believe that home rule is either 
 necessary or desirable for Ireland. I am 
 of opinion that the country is settling 
 down under the good effect of Mr. 
 Wyndham's land legislation, and if we 
 could banish politics and religious ani- 
 mosities from Ireland for 20 years we 
 should be as quiet as Kent or Cornwall. 
 "But I stop here. I am not only an 
 Irishman, I am a citizen of the United 
 Kingdom, and if the Parliament of the 
 United Kingdom, with the assent of the 
 crown, passes a home rule bill into law 
 I am prepared to make the best of it, and 
 for that I have been boycotted." 
 
 "I refused to sign their silly 'covenant' 
 proceedings by which Sir Edward Carson 
 and his friends have made Ulster Union- 
 ism a laughing stock, and above all — and 
 this has been the worst of my crime — 
 — out of the 1500 people I employ at 
 least 1300 are Roman Catholics." 
 
 "But do I understand you to say, Mr. 
 Tillie," asked the correspondent, "that 
 Derry Unionists think it wrong to employ 
 Catholics." 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 139 
 
 "Undoubtedly they do," was the reply, 
 "and any man who does so freely and 
 cares nothing about the religions of the 
 people he employs so long as they render 
 him good service is marked down. That's 
 why I intended to stand at this 
 election, as a protest against this narrow 
 bigotry and intolerance. I think it is 
 time that this old and cruel ascendency 
 spirit was attacked, and attacked by 
 those who believe in Protestantism and 
 Conservatism. It has poisoned the whole 
 of our national life in the north of Ireland 
 for centuries." 
 
 In the words of Mr. Tillie, this wicked spirit 
 of ascendency, of sectarian hate, of intolerance 
 and bigotry, has poisoned the national life 
 for centuries. It is a monster that should be 
 replaced by a spirit of tolerance, of justice, 
 of mutual respect and fair play for all. 
 
 As I have already intimated, our Orange 
 friend is as loud and persistent an office seeker 
 as some of our American politicians, the lovers 
 of their kind, who place themselves in the 
 hands of their friends, to be sacrificed on the 
 altar of their country. He and the Union- 
 ists generally have held nearly all the govern- 
 ment offices so long, and especially in his 
 own section of the country, that the thought 
 of losing his pull and his influence under 
 Home Rule, has driven him frantic, and turned 
 him into a furious and loud mouthed boaster. 
 
 Home Rule once established, and knowing 
 
140 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 he can have only his own share of government 
 pickings, he will in all probability become a well 
 disposed citizen. 
 
Chapter XII 
 DESTRUCTION OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. 
 
 In referring to Mr. Brooks and his articles 
 entitled "New Ireland," I stated that whenever 
 he gets away from the English atmosphere, as 
 he often does, he very quickly shows us the 
 source of Ireland's ills. 
 
 Here is his graphic picture of the destruc- 
 tion of Irish industries, a destruction that was 
 systematically planned and carried out in 
 the most cruel and cold blooded manner, 
 until each and every industry was destroyed, 
 agriculture alone excepted. 
 
 In the dark days of protection, says Mr. 
 Brooks, England deliberately strangled Ire- 
 land's nascent manufactures, woolens, glass, 
 cotton, sail cloth, sugar refining, shipping — all 
 went down, crushed out by legislation. Ire- 
 land has never recovered from that succession 
 of staggering blows. They killed not merely 
 her industries, but something more valuable, 
 they killed at the same time, or at least 
 fatally impaired, the industrial instinct and 
 the character, the aptitude, and the kind of 
 self discipline and self confidence that are so 
 essential to industrial progress. 
 
 Under such conditions is it any wonder that 
 Ireland lags behind? It would be strange if 
 she did not, in fact a miracle. And yet while 
 bad begins, worse remains behind, as we shall 
 presently see. 
 
 141 
 
142 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 The effect of these wicked and infamous 
 measures lasted down to the American Revo- 
 lution, the country sinking lower and lower, 
 as one industry after another was killed, and 
 the destitution of the people, always great 
 under British control, became more intense 
 and widespread than ever. During the war of 
 American Independence, matters had come 
 to a crisis. Finding England's hands tied 
 by her troubles with American and European 
 complications, the Protestants of Ireland raised 
 a Volunteer Army of one hundred thousand 
 men to repel a threatened invasion from 
 France. It should be borne in mind that 
 the Catholic people had no civic rights, no 
 political power whatever, either in Great 
 Britain or in Ireland, at the time, nor for 
 forty-three years later, until Catholic Eman- 
 cipation in 1829. Though shut out from 
 actual participation in the Volunteer move- 
 ment proper, they were, it is unnecessary to 
 add, heart and soul with it in its aims and 
 objects and gave it their hearty sympathy and 
 such moral support as they possessed, as well 
 as all the material aid in their power. This 
 was more especially true after the Volunteers 
 broadened out in their aims and purposes, 
 including in their program of civic reforms, 
 the removal of Catholic disabilities. The one 
 great principal reform demanded by the 
 Volunteers was the restoration of Ireland's 
 Native Parliament. 
 
 Under pressure of the American Revolu- 
 tion and various threatening troubles in 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 143 
 
 Europe, England reluctantly gave up her 
 hold on Ireland, and in part restored to the 
 Irish people the Parliament commonly known 
 as the Irish, or Grattan, Parliament. 
 
 IRELAND'S RESTORED PARLIAMENT. 
 
 And now the Irish Nation, for the first time 
 in centuries, stood on her own feet and had 
 the power to legislate on Irish soil, on purely 
 Irish matters. A new spirit seemed to take 
 possession of the people at once, a kindlier, 
 a more genial, and a more energetic spirit. 
 Now mark what followed! The very first 
 law enacted by the new parliament was 
 a protective tariff. This was introduced 
 by the then speaker, in a long and able 
 speech, and after some very lively sessions 
 was enacted into law, and went into op- 
 eration April, 1783, and amidst the un- 
 bounded rejoicings and enthusiasm of the 
 whole people, Protestant and Catholic, rich 
 and poor, high and low. For all believed in 
 the statement made by the speaker, when 
 introducing the bill into Parliament, that 
 Ireland's awful poverty was largely due to 
 the free entry of foreign goods into the country 
 and chiefly those from England, in other 
 words to what we now called. Free Trade. 
 He also called attention to the fact that En- 
 gland's great prosperity and her commanding 
 position among the Nations were in a large 
 measure due to her adherence to protection 
 for many centuries. The beneficial effects of 
 
144 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 this protective policy was almost magical, 
 and as sudden as it was great and far reaching. 
 In a few short years, Ireland became one of 
 the leading manufacturing countries in Eu- 
 rope. Foreign workmen flocked in from all 
 quarters of the world, each one bringing his 
 own quota of skill and knowledge of some 
 trade or calling. 
 
 The country rapidly became a very bee- 
 hive of industrial activity of almost every 
 kind and description; peace and plenty, like 
 guardian angels, hovered over the long time 
 poverty stricken and distracted land. 
 
 Lest it should be thought I have in any 
 way overstated the flourishing condition of 
 Ireland and of her people during the period 
 I have been referring to, I have decided to 
 insert here some statements from a few of 
 the distinguished men of the times, some of 
 them members of the Irish House of Com- 
 mons, and others of the House of Lords, and 
 therefore well acquainted with the conditions 
 they describe. 
 
 Lord Clare, speaking about 1792, that is, 
 about nine years after Ireland had secured 
 control of her own affairs, and telling of the 
 wonderful transformation, the extraordinary 
 change for the better, said: — 
 
 "There is not a civilized country on the face 
 of the earth which has advanced in culti- 
 vation, in agriculture, in manufactures, with 
 the same rapidity in the same period of time 
 as Ireland." About the same time, Lord 
 Plunkett, speaking on the same subject, says: 
 
PATRICK FORD 
 Late Editor Irish World. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 145 
 
 "Laws well enacted and administered, her 
 revenues, her trade, her manufactures, thriv- 
 ing beyond the hope or example of any other 
 country of her extent." This be it remembered 
 is from two of the prominent actors of the 
 times. 
 
 Sir Jonah Barrington, in his "Rise and fall 
 of the Irish Nation," says: — "Ireland arose in 
 wealth, in trade, in manufactures, and in 
 every branch of industry that could enhance 
 her value or render her people rich and pros- 
 perous." 
 
 Her nobles resided on their own domains, 
 and expended their great fortunes among the 
 Irish people. 
 
 The Commons, also, dwelt on their own 
 estates, and supported a tranquil and labo- 
 rious tenantry. 
 
 The peace of the country was perfect, no 
 standing army, no militia, no police were 
 needed for its preservation. The activity of 
 the Volunteeers had suppressed crime in 
 every district, religious prejudices were grad- 
 ually dying out, every means of amelio- 
 ration were in contemplation or in progress. 
 To further confirm the above, if it needs any 
 confirmation, I cite from Lord Grey, an 
 English authority, as saying in 1799: — 
 
 "Nothing in the progress of Scotland can 
 parallel that of Ireland." And Lord Sheffield, 
 another non-Irish witness, said in 1785, less 
 than three years after Ireland had secured 
 self government, "Perhaps the improvement 
 of Ireland is as rapid as any country has ever 
 
146 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 experienced." To close this part of my sub- 
 ject, I give Mr. O'Driscoll's account of the 
 condition of the country during this, the 
 golden era of Ireland's National life in com- 
 paratively modern times. Under the fos- 
 tering care of her new legislature, her trade in- 
 creased, her manufactures flourished, her agri- 
 culture climbed the mountains and spread 
 itself over the valleys. New roads, like the 
 veins and arteries of the human subject, 
 circulated the young blood of a rejoicing 
 country from the heart to the extremities; 
 and the Capitol lifted its head over all with 
 the dignity not unworthy of the days of Greece 
 and Italy. The nation suddenly started 
 into wealth, power and intelligence. 
 
 Here are presented two pictures, the first 
 one of wretchedness, destitution and poverty 
 indescribable, and this under foreign, under 
 British rule; and as a companion and contrast- 
 ing picture, the same country within less 
 than three years after British authority had 
 ceased; flowing with milk and honey, a 
 practically unbounded prosperity everywhere, 
 and peace and plenty among all classes of 
 the people and all under the egis of the newly 
 secured Native Parliament. If effects follow 
 cause in Ireland as elsewhere, then is British 
 rule solely responsible for Ireland's deplorable 
 condition, a condition that has been a byword 
 and a reproach to England for centuries. 
 And let it be here kept in mind that the 
 amount of self-government which Ireland 
 enjoyed during the period of which I have 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 147 
 
 written, from 1783 to 1800, was a very poor 
 and limited affair, indeed, compared with the 
 Home Rule Bill that passed in the House of 
 Commons on January sixteenth of this year, 
 J 913. If the former brought such relief, such 
 wonderfully improved conditions to a long 
 impoverished and greatly distracted country, 
 what may we not expect from the larger and 
 more far reaching measure soon, we hope, to 
 be enacted into law? 
 
 Ireland's extraordinary prosperity during 
 the period I have mentioned was; strange as 
 it may appear, as a matter of fact, the cause 
 of her downfall. 
 
Chapter XIII 
 
 ENGLAND DESTROYS THE IRISH 
 PARLIAMENT. 
 
 England's difficulties with the Americans 
 had ended about the year 1783, for they, aided 
 by France and Spain, had secured their in- 
 dependence and had begun to work out their 
 own salvation in their own way. England's 
 great final struggle with the First Napoleon 
 had not yet commenced ; so, having her hands 
 free, and no foreign entanglement to 
 speak of, on looking towards the west she saw 
 her neighbor, Ireland, flourishing and fairly 
 bursting with industrial activity, with manu- 
 factures of every kind; here, there, and every- 
 where, the people happier and more prosperous 
 than ever before, at least since the English 
 occupation. 
 
 This wonderful prosperity aroused En- 
 gland's jealousy, just as the attempt of the 
 Americans to start manufactures, had done 
 some years before in the Colonial days when 
 Lord Chatham declared the English govern- 
 ment would not permit the Colonists to make 
 even a hob-nail. And England determined to 
 destroy these industries or, better still, trans- 
 plant to English soil, if possible. 
 
 I fully realize this is a dreadful charge to 
 make, but it is the only one that can explain 
 the deliberate, the cold blooded and system- 
 atic destruction of Irish industries so graph- 
 ically told, in an earlier part of this story, by 
 
 148 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 149 
 
 Mr. Brooks, and the further act to which I 
 am now about to direct the reader's attention, 
 namely, the overthrow of the Irish parliament, 
 as the first step to the repeal of the protective 
 laws, under which Ireland had so gloriously 
 prospered. The Parliament being soon over- 
 thrown, Ireland was once more thrown back 
 into the slough of despond from which she 
 had recently been rescued. 
 
 The English historian, James Anthony 
 Froude, commenting onEngland's treatment of 
 Ireland says: — "England governed Ireland for 
 what she deemed her own interests, leaving 
 her moral obligations to acccumulate as if 
 right and wrong were blotted out of the 
 statutes of the Universe." 
 
 A more striking proof of the truth of the 
 above could not be found in the world than 
 the destruction of the Irish Parliament, and 
 the means used to bring it about. Mr. 
 Gladstone, in his speech introducing the home 
 rule bill in 1886, said there was nothing in 
 history to equal the infamy of the means used 
 to destroy the old Parliament. England fii*st 
 incited a rebellion, and quenched it in the 
 blood of the people, pulled down the Irish 
 Parliament, reunited Ireland to herself once 
 more, if the union of the lamb and the lion 
 may be called such, and this once secured had 
 the articles joining the two countries together 
 so arranged that the Irish protective duties 
 should be gradually reduced year by year for 
 twenty-one years. So here again we find 
 Ireland chained to her old time enemy and, 
 
150 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 as might be expected, with the old time re- 
 sults. Long before the time allowed for the 
 duties to end, twenty one years, Ireland had 
 dropped back to the old time horrible condi- 
 tion from which her own Parliament and laws 
 had rescued her. 
 
 One after another her industries were wiped 
 out, all going down before the fierce competi- 
 tion of her richer neighbor, a few industries 
 being put out of business this year, and more 
 the next, until all had gone. As soon as this 
 had been effected, Irish industries and the 
 Irish people were completely at the mercy of 
 the British manufacturers and the latter 
 gradually raised their prices to recoup them- 
 selves for any losses they might have incurred 
 at first; in a word, made the people pay what- 
 ever they pleased. 
 
 And now all manufacturing industries being 
 destroyed there remained only the land as a 
 means of livelihood. When the demand for 
 land is very great, and the land itself is limited 
 in extent, as in Ireland, for the island is only 
 about three hundred miles long and half as 
 many wide, and a large portion mountain 
 and bog, and when every one must have some 
 in order to live at all, it follows, as surely as 
 night the day, that land will be dear, very 
 dear, because of the fierce struggle to get it, 
 and that at any cost. But while land under 
 such circumstances is high, the products of 
 the land are cheap, fearfully and dreadfully 
 cheap. When all are engaged in farming, 
 A. B. and C do not buy from each other, be- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 151 
 
 cause each is engaged in raising like products, 
 and so the struggle for the land, which made 
 it dear, makes its products cheap. The peo- 
 ple of Ireland were ground between the two 
 heavy mill stones of dear land and cheap prod- 
 ucts. Thus when the Great Famine came, 
 lasting from 1847 to 1851, during which one 
 million one hundred and twenty-five thous- 
 and died, either of famine or diseases inci- 
 dent to famine, about three million people were 
 evicted and as many more emigrated. There 
 was food enough raised in Ireland each year 
 to more than supply the people's wants, as 
 vouched for by Dr. Kane, an English authority, 
 but so dear was land and so cheap its products 
 than when the people had sold all, there was 
 not enough money to pay the landlords, and 
 nothing left for their own use, so they died 
 by the million; and English law caused it. 
 As further proof that there was an abundance 
 of food, more than enough for the people's 
 wants, I call the reader's attention to a state- 
 ment in the St. Patrick's Day number of 
 the London Times. 
 
 "The facts of Irish destitution are 
 ridiculously simple. They are almost too 
 commonplace to be told. The people 
 have not enough to eat. They are suffer- 
 ing a real though an artificial famine. 
 Nature does her duty. The land is fruit- 
 ful enough. Nor can it be said that man is 
 wanting. The Irishman is disposed to work. 
 In fact, man and nature together do produce 
 
1 52 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 abundantly. The island is full and over- 
 flowing with human food. But something 
 ever interposes between the hungry 
 mouth and the ample banquet. The 
 famished victim of a mysterious sentence 
 stretches out his hands to the viands which 
 his own industry has placed before his 
 eyes, but no sooner are they touched 
 than they fly. A perpetual decree of 
 'sic vos non vobis' condemns him to 
 toil without enjoyment. Social atrophy 
 drains off the vital juices of the Nation." 
 
 Here we are told the island was overflowing 
 with human food, and still the people were 
 suffering an artificial famine. The Times 
 writer does not tell us what causes this artifi- 
 cial famine, but clearly implies it. English 
 free trade having destroyed all the other in- 
 dustries left the people wholly dependent on 
 the land, and the landlords, and these land- 
 lords with the foreign English church taking 
 advantage of the golden opportunity, seized 
 and gobbled up all the products of the land. 
 The Rev. Dr. Cahill, the famous Irish 
 orator, vividly and graphically describes, in one 
 of his great lectures, the appalling effects of 
 the free trade thus forced on Ireland, and 
 especially in the famine years, so called, from 
 1847 to 1851:— 
 
 "Two curses," said he, "have been 
 inflicted on Ireland — namely, the rack- 
 renting landlords, and the accursed tithes. 
 These two embodiments of malediction 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 153 
 
 have bent Ireland to the earth, and have 
 crushed her, body and soul; and, like a 
 swarm of locusts, they ate up every green 
 and living thing, and left nothing behind 
 but the flint of the land. After centuries 
 of this oppression, it suddenly pleases our 
 rulers to make a law of Free Trade. No 
 one, more than I do, advocates the prin- 
 ciple of cheap bread for the working man, 
 and of employment for his children in 
 the mechanical arts of commerce. But 
 the principle has introduced a scene of 
 woe, which no pencil can paint. 
 
 "The poor are exterminated, the ditches 
 are crowded with the weak and aged; 
 the poor-houses are charnel-places of 
 pestilence and death; and the emigrant 
 ship, like an ocean hearse, is sailing with 
 her flag of distress hoisted, moving slowly 
 through the waves, as she throws out her 
 putrid dead; and, like the telegraph com- 
 pany laying down their submarine wires, 
 the crews of the emigrant ships have 
 learned, by long practice, to tell of a line 
 of the Irish dead along the bottom of the 
 deep, and, at the same time, to sail six 
 or seven knots an hour. England has 
 practised them in the ocean sepulchre, 
 so that, before the end of the year 1849, 
 they could smoke, tell off the winding 
 sheets and sail, all at the same time, from 
 this dexterous, nautical, cholera practice. 
 
 "Men there are who assert that the 
 Government could not avoid this catas- 
 
154 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 trophe. I answer, it is a cruel lie. If 
 there must be a change in the laws of 
 trade, well, then, let it be made; but let 
 the law-makers bear the responsibility. 
 If they must have a new law, well, then, 
 let them pay for their whims; let them 
 make compensation for the damaging 
 results of their own free, deliberate acts. 
 They say the law is good in principle: 
 I answer, but bad in detail. They say 
 it has healthy premises: I reply, yes, and 
 a deadly conclusion. They say, it is 
 perfect in argument: but I assert, it is 
 murder in practise. 
 
 "They assert, it is the law; but I 
 resume, and say, so much the worse — 
 it legalizes and authorizes the public 
 massacre of the people. This is a legal 
 mockery, to hear the legislators tell the 
 dying, starving, rotting peasant that he 
 ought to be quite content with his lot; 
 since he dies a Constitutional death, he 
 will be buried according to law, in a 
 Parliamentary churchyard, and will sleep 
 till the Day of Judgment in a logical 
 grave." 
 
Chapter XIV 
 
 ANCIENT TENURE OF LAND 
 IN IRELAND 
 
 Mr. Brooks finds the best lands are given 
 over to bullocks, and the poorest lands to the 
 people, and adds: "The bullocks have made 
 a solitude." Oh, no, the English government has 
 made the solitude by evicting from their 
 humble homes about four millions of people, 
 between the year 1847 and the present time, 
 and under the most harrowing and awful 
 circumstances; evicted old and young, sick 
 and well, and often in the depth of Winter 
 threw them out on the roadside, and forbade 
 their friends, neighbors or relatives to aid 
 them in any way, to give them food, shelter, 
 or raiment, under penalty of being treated 
 in like manner themselves. And all this done 
 under the protection of British law, and carried 
 out by British soldiers, police and constabu- 
 lary. So, I repeat, the landlords of Ireland, 
 and the English government, have made these 
 vast solitudes, and these appalling places are 
 to be found all over Ireland, awe inspiring 
 and fitting monuments to British rule. 
 
 Many years ago, describing the horrors of 
 an Irish eviction, the late Mr. Gladstone 
 called it a sentence of death. Oh, how many 
 deaths will the landlords have to account for? 
 And the government also, which not only 
 permitted such awful atrocities, but actually 
 carried them out, as already stated. Mr. 
 
 155 
 
156 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 Brooks expresses surprise that so few of the 
 Irish emigrants go to any British possession. 
 It is a. wonder indeed that any of the poor 
 harassed people should go to any place over 
 which the British flag floats. 
 
 But some of them, just a few, do lose their 
 bearings for a short time, and before they 
 realize it find themselves somewhere in the 
 British possessions. They do not remain 
 long however, at least not many of them, but 
 soon find their way back to some snug harbor 
 elsewhere. 
 
 In order to get something like a clear idea 
 of the Tragedy of Ireland, it is necessary to 
 know something of the tenure of the land 
 before its occupation by England. Prior to 
 the English invasion, in 1169 to 1172, the Irish 
 tribes, or clans, owned the land directly, and 
 of course paid no rents of any kind for its 
 use. The chief, or head of the clan, had only 
 a life's interest in it, and then only on his 
 own part. Speaking of this phase of the 
 question, Mr. Brooks very innocently says: — 
 Tribalism penetrated the Irish mind with the 
 conviction that the Irish soil belonged to 
 them. Why not? Who had a right to it, 
 except the people to whom it had belonged 
 from time immemorial? Surely the English 
 invaders had no right to it, save that of high- 
 way robbers. And yet Mr. Brooks seems to 
 think they had. How true is the English 
 historian Froude's remarks that British rule 
 in Ireland proceeded as if the moral law had 
 no existence. At any rate the authorities 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 1 57 
 
 acted as if there were no right and no wrong 
 in the world, or, to put it in another way, what- 
 ever advanced British interests was right, 
 and anything that retarded those interests 
 was wrong, wholly regardless of every moral 
 and divine consideration. And our English 
 friend, Mr. Brooks, seems amazed that any 
 one should question their right to do so. 
 This want of thoroughly understanding the 
 difference between mine and thine, or wanting 
 to understand it, on the part of the British, 
 has led to all the evils, strife and bloodshed, 
 and all the iniquities that have been perpe- 
 trated in all the long and weary centuries. 
 But the bloody chasm of the bitter past 
 seems about to be closed up, and let us hope 
 forever. It is almost needless to remind 
 people with conscience that there is a difference 
 between mine and thine, a great, a far reaching 
 difference; that they are as far apart as the 
 poles; as heaven and hell. 
 
 It came to pass then, that as soon as the 
 English had conquered a chief, or his tribe, 
 or corrupted the former, they assumed or 
 pretended to assume that he owned the tribal 
 lands and as a consequence these lands fell 
 to them by right of conquest. This the clans- 
 men stoutly and valiantly denied and defen- 
 ded their denial with their lives, and it has 
 taken more than seven long and bloody cen- 
 turies to hammer into the English mind that 
 the clansmen were right. And thus commenced 
 that long and terrible struggle for the soil 
 of Ireland, one that has continued with very 
 
158 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 little intermission up to the present time. 
 From this contest has come more strife and 
 bloodshed, more calamity and wrong than 
 from any other one cause in the relations 
 between the countries. 
 
 As I have elsewhere shown, Mr. Brooks, 
 again and again, falls back on the last resort 
 of English apologists for the conditions in 
 Ireland; namely, that Ireland's grievances are 
 sentimental, or at least partly so. This is all 
 the more surprising from the fact that he 
 has himself given some of the best refutations 
 of the charge I have ever seen, and in more 
 than half a dozen places in his writings. 
 For he tells us of the great load of overtaxa- 
 tion that Ireland is compelled to stagger under 
 and he does not tell anything like the whole 
 of it at that, about her wretchedly poor sys- 
 tem of education, the gross injustice done to 
 three fourths of the people, the Catholics, by 
 denying them University education, until a 
 few years ago; and all this while the remainder 
 of the people, the Episcopalians and Presby- 
 terians, were blessed with everything they 
 could desire in this matter; were in fact pam- 
 pered favorites. Nor is this all, for in another 
 place he tells us how all the Irish lands were 
 taken from their rightful owners and given 
 to certain English and Scotch adventurers, 
 and some to favored English guilds. In 
 addition I may state that the ancient church 
 and monastery lands were also taken, and the 
 former given to the new Church by law es- 
 tablished, while the monasteries, which before 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 159 
 
 the so-called Reformation had supported the 
 poor and the indigent, were given to the 
 favorites of the English monarchs. In the 
 olden days before the Reformation, the monks 
 took care of the poor, fed them, housed them 
 and clothed them, both in Great Britain and 
 Ireland, from the produce of the lands, and 
 did it not only willingly, but cheerfully and 
 delightedly, regarding it as a precious work of 
 mercy, to take care of Christ's poor, and of 
 course without any cost whatever to the 
 nation, or any of its people. After the monks 
 were expelled, however, and their lands seized 
 and given to the king's or queen's hirelings, 
 the cost of maintaining the poor fell directly 
 on the people at large, and then for the first 
 time were invented the ominous words, 
 "pauper" and the "poorhouse," words and 
 institutions never before heard of. 
 
 DIFFERENT CONDITIONS IN 
 IRELAND. 
 
 Another thing that Mr. Brooks does not 
 mention, is the fine old British practice of 
 jury packing, in political cases, a practice by 
 which the forms of law were scrupulously 
 preserved, while the spirit was wholly ab- 
 sent. And when the people became too troub- 
 lesome even the form was abolished, the 
 habeus corpus was suspended, and any man, 
 woman or child might be arrested and thrown 
 into prison, and left there to rot, without trial 
 of judge or jury, without any charge being 
 
160 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 brought against them, on mere suspicion. 
 
 The reader will better appreciate what this 
 means when I say that during the century 
 from 1800 to 1900 the habeus corpus was sus- 
 pended eighty-seven times, and in the 
 year of Queen Victoria's jubilee was made 
 perpetual, though since repealed. If the 
 reader should still have any doubts as to 
 whether or not Irish grievances are real, hard 
 practical grievances, or merely fanciful, and 
 sentimental, I will here present still another 
 extract from our English friend, Mr. Brooks, 
 which will, I am sure, convince any honest 
 person that the Irish troubles are real griev- 
 ances indeed, with scarcely anything sen- 
 timental about them. Says Mr. Brooks: — 
 "Five centuries of Anglo-Irish history had 
 destroyed the native civilization, had dis- 
 possessed the people of their holdings, their 
 lands, had marshalled on either side of the 
 agrarian struggle the interests and antagon- 
 ism of social and religious strife, and had 
 centered in a small minority of Alien creed, 
 speech and temperament, practically all politi- 
 cal power and privilege of a social and terri- 
 torial ascendency." 
 
 I will let the reader reconcile as best he can 
 the above with- Mr. Brooks' statement that 
 Irish grievances are sentimental. After this 
 Mr. Brooks proceeds to tell us that Ireland is 
 under British law, and implies that is a reme- 
 dy for all political evils. I think Ireland has 
 learned that fact, with a vengeance, and he 
 innocently seems to think that is enough, 
 
MICHAEL J. RYAN 
 National President, U. I. L. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 161 
 
 and intimates if she is not prosperous and 
 happy, the fault is her own. He also over- 
 looks what should be apparent to all ; namely, 
 that if the conditions prevailing in Ireland 
 be radically different from those found in the 
 British islands, as they are; if her history, 
 traditions, ancient land ownership, faith, aspi- 
 rations; if all these as well as other things be 
 different, she demands and should receive 
 different treatment. 
 
 The laws, which might be perfectly satis- 
 factory and just under one set of circumstances, 
 it is easy to imagine, might be most oppres- 
 sive under other and different conditions. 
 This is so self-evident it should need no argu- 
 ment, but it seems it does. It is as unreason- 
 able to try to fit all peoples with the same sort 
 of laws and institutions, regardless of their 
 different customs, manners, history, religion 
 and speech, as it would be to try to cure all 
 manner of diseases with one remedy only, 
 or fit all men with one size shoes or garments. 
 And yet this is precisely what Great Britain 
 has been trying to do in Ireland for centuries, 
 and with the most lamentable and disastrous 
 results, as Mr. Brooks himself is compelled 
 to confess. 
 
 In England, Scotland and Wales the land- 
 lords are of the same faith and race as their 
 tenants, they live among their tenantry, share 
 their ups and downs, their joys and sorrows, 
 and are in close touch with them at all times, 
 and, in a word, they are in a sense part and 
 parcel of their people. Any improvements 
 
162 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 made on the land, fences, or outhouses, are 
 always paid for by the landlords in 
 Great Britain, and such is, and has been the 
 rule also in Ulster. 
 
 How has it been in the other parts of Ire- 
 land? There it has been entirely different, 
 until the recent remedial land measures. 
 The lands, as I have already shown, were taken 
 from their rightful owners and given to cer- 
 tain guilds, or organizations, mostly British, 
 the greatest portion of them to certain favor- 
 ed individuals. These new owners were alien 
 in speech, customs, manners and religion as 
 well as habits of thought from the natives, and 
 looked on the original owners as conquered 
 slaves, or serfs, and treated them according- 
 ly. There could, of course, be no community 
 of interest between them. They looked at 
 almost everything from different and oppos- 
 ing standpoints; one from that of the conquer- 
 or, the other that of the conquered. 
 
 As the new landlords were alien to the 
 people in almost everything, as might be 
 expected, they were wanting in sympathy, 
 that golden link that binds man to his fellow- 
 man in bonds of kindliness, friendship and 
 good will. The tenants regarded the new- 
 comer as a successful robber, who was enjoy- 
 ing what he had no moral right to possess, 
 their property, and the law not as a benefi- 
 cent instrument to right their wrongs, but 
 rather as a huge power for guarding and de- 
 fending the thief, and for seeing he should 
 not be disturbed in the enjoyment of his ill- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 1 63 
 
 gotten goods. And almost incredible to relate, 
 the English are surprised we Irish do not 
 fall down and worship such laws, enact- 
 ed by robbers, for robbers! It is scarcely 
 necessary to add that improvements in the 
 land were impossible under such a system. 
 Somewhere in Mr. Brooks' writings, he tells 
 us the Irish must learn the gospel of work. 
 Merciful heavens, who could work under 
 such almost incredible conditions? — under 
 such an appalling system? Does not it offer 
 a premium on idleness, on shiftlessness, on 
 improvidence, on ignorance? The wonder 
 is that any people could survive at all under 
 such an awful state of things. Wherever the 
 Irish people go, outside of their own land, 
 they are the ablest and most willing of all 
 workers, and along all lines of human en- 
 deavor. 
 
 In Great Britain, if the farmer finds the 
 conditions hard, unjust or oppressive, he can 
 sell out his interest in the place, and take his 
 family and himself to the nearest factory town 
 or city, where he may hope to begin life anew, 
 and better his condition. England took care 
 that Ireland should not be burdened with 
 mills or factories of any kind, as we have al- 
 ready learned. The Irish farmer is not how- 
 ever so fortunately situated. He can only 
 take himself and his dear ones to the poor- 
 house, a place of ill omen wherever known, 
 and a purely British institution. It can be 
 truly said of the Irish poorhouse: all who 
 enter here, leave hope behind. If he be for- 
 
164 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 tunate enough to have relatives or friends 
 abroad, who are able to pay his fare to the 
 new land, he may emigrate. When driven 
 from the home of his fathers, he always leaves 
 reluctantly and sorrowfully; and carries with 
 him a heritage of hate towards his oppressors 
 that finds vent later on every available op- 
 portunity. 
 
 We find largely as a consequence of such a 
 system that, while the population of Great 
 Britain has largely increased since 1847, near- 
 ly doubled in fact, that of Ireland has fallen 
 off by one-half. Ireland is the only country 
 in the civilized world where there has been 
 no increase in population, but rather where it 
 has declined, and, as I have said, by about one 
 half. 
 
 What a commentary on British rule! As 
 the reader knows, I have quoted freely from 
 Mr. Brooks both as to the facts he so ably 
 presents and his comments, his opinions on 
 the same, because I wish the reader to see 
 for himself how his facts and evidences con- 
 tradict his opinions on this matter of British 
 rule, his prejudice and prepossessions arguing 
 for the continuance of such rule, while his 
 large sense of justice demands its repeal. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 165 
 
 He makes at times the most amazing state- 
 ments, not as to opinions only — for there a 
 certain latitude might be expected — but as to 
 matters of facts, things that every schoolboy 
 at all acquainted with British government in 
 Ireland ought to know. For instance, he 
 says: — "The exceptional laws which apply to 
 Ireland, and do not apply to England, are few 
 in numbers and of little account." 
 
 The value of this statement may be seen 
 when it is known that: — 
 
 "Ireland has experienced since the pas- 
 sage of the act of union in 1800, no fewer 
 than 87 different coercion acts, or almost 
 one for each year since the union was 
 enacted." 
 
 "Mr. Brooks may regard it as of "little 
 account" that under its provision domi- 
 ciliary visits by the police to private 
 households are made legal, the habeas 
 corpus may be and has been suspended at 
 a moment's notice over Ireland, by the 
 Lord Lieutenant; defendants charged 
 with political offenses may be removed 
 from any one part of the country to any 
 other and tried by specially selected jurors, 
 that two magistrates specially appointed 
 by the government may imprison at will 
 anybody brought before them under the 
 act, and deny the right of appeal; and 
 
166 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 that other provisions equally repugnant 
 to the spirit of fair play and liberty are 
 likewise embodied in the act. Neither 
 of these provisions applies in England, 
 and most fair minded people will be in- 
 clined to differ with Mr. Brooks and feel 
 that they are not of "little account." 
 
Chapter XV. 
 IRISH SERVICES TO AMERICA. 
 
 What an awful record of exceptional treat- 
 ment have we here, and all this applied to Ire- 
 land alone, notwithstanding Mr. Brooks states 
 that the laws which applied to Ireland, and did 
 not apply to England, were few and of little 
 account. It can be truthfully said, if England 
 had displayed half the zeal in trying to make 
 Ireland prosperous and happy that she has 
 shown in making her poor, wretched and 
 miserable, Ireland would be her pride and 
 glory today, and her tower of strength in the 
 evil days that are ahead. But England chose 
 at first the evil way, and has continued in it 
 all down the centuries and must now pay the 
 penalty. Ireland blocks and bars the way at 
 every turn, and has done so in the House of 
 Commons for about thirty years, the Irish 
 Party holding the balance of power there. 
 Nor is that all, for here in America, too, 
 British diplomacy, always watchful, always 
 keen and shrewd, is checkmated at each and 
 every turn of the diplomatic game by these 
 same Irish enemies, whom her inhuman sys- 
 tem drove off as if they were wild beasts. 
 Ireland has indeed scored heavily against her 
 enemy, and that many, many times. She 
 made England pay dearly in the American 
 Revolution for, according to the statement of 
 some British officers, America was lost to 
 Great Britain through the Irish. And Gen. 
 Packenham, one of those who fought against 
 
 167 
 
168 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 the Continental Army, testifying before a 
 committee of the House of Commons, declared 
 one half of Washington's troops were Irish, 
 and that the Irish language was as much 
 spoken among them as English. And the 
 Irish were as conspicuous in their services on 
 sea, for the Colonists, as on land. Need I 
 remind the reader that the famous Captain 
 John Barry was the father and founder of our 
 American Navy, though bigots of the A. P. A. 
 stripe have been striving to rob him of his 
 laurels, and to show that John Paul Jones was 
 its founder. Jones was an able and a brave 
 man, but it can be said in all truth he had 
 nothing in common with American institu- 
 tions, that he was, in fact, an adventurer who 
 was willing to sell his service to the highest 
 bidder, and did so by joining the Russian 
 Navy. 
 
 In answer to a correspondent from Texas, 
 The Irish World, of recent date, gives the 
 following account of Commander Barry 
 and his career while at the head of the Con- 
 tinental navy: — 
 
 FATHER OF THE NAVY IGNORED. 
 
 "There was a time when the densest 
 ignorance prevailed as to the part Irish- 
 Americans took in making American his- 
 tory. When the Irish World first under- 
 took to dissipate this ignorance, even our 
 own people were astonished at the facts 
 we dug up from the debris of the past. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 169 
 
 The opinion, sedulously nourished by 
 Anglo-American writers, was that men 
 of our race had little or nothing to do 
 with securing for America the political 
 rights that made of a few scattered colon- 
 ies the greatest of nations. Irish- Amer- 
 icans were regarded as new comers, 
 strangers within the gates, who had not 
 borne the heat and burden of the day and, 
 therefore, should regard themselves as 
 beneficiaries of those who did. The the- 
 ory was that they should bear themselves 
 in a deferential manner toward the de- 
 scendants of the latter." 
 
 "J he Irish World proved by an array 
 of historic facts that men of our race, 
 from the very beginning, took a con- 
 spicuous part in the events that led up to 
 the birth of the Republic. Commodore 
 John Barry, the Father of the American 
 Navy, was one of those Irishmen who 
 rendered this sort of service. Yet in 
 certain quarters a disposition is mani- 
 fested to rob him of his well deserved 
 laurels. This note from a correspondent 
 is self-explanatory: 
 
 Houston, Texas. 
 
 "Dear Sir: Inclosed is a copy of a 
 communication circulated in this local- 
 ity. You will readily notice that the 
 name of Jack Barry is conspicuously 
 ignored. This prejudice should be vig- 
 orously exposed. — Respectfully yours, 
 
 Jas. P. Welsh." 
 
1 70 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "The communication referred to is a 
 circular addressed to the superintendents 
 of all Texas schools, signed by the Chair- 
 man of the "Committee on Silver Service 
 for the Battleship 'Texas." It suggests 
 that it would be appropriate to have for 
 the week prior to the presentation of the 
 silver service "especially assigned studies 
 for the history hour, regarding the Amer- 
 ican Navy." The writer of the circular 
 adds that Rear Admiral Vreeland "has 
 very kindly suggested as appropriate sub- 
 jects for study the following engagements 
 of the Navy, as representing its best 
 traditions of efficiency, bravery and patriot- 
 ism." 
 
 "Then follows a list of naval engage- 
 ments. The only names mentioned are 
 those of John Paul Jones and Hobson. 
 Commodore Barry is wholly ignored. 
 The pupils of the Texas schools are not 
 to hear his name even mentioned. He, 
 in the opinion of Admiral Vreeland, does 
 not represent the "best traditions of effi- 
 ciency, bravery and patriotism" of the 
 Navy which came into existence under 
 his supervision. Let us see who is the 
 naval hero who is not deemed fit to be 
 held up to the pupils of the schools of 
 Texas as worthy of their admiration." 
 
 "It is the Spring of 1776. The Decla- 
 ration of Independence has not yet been 
 penned. Barry sails from Philadelphia 
 down the Delaware in command of the 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 171 
 
 Lexington. He meets with the British 
 ship Edward, which was armed with 
 eight carriage guns and a number of 
 swivels, and captures it after some brisk 
 fighting. The action elicited from John 
 Adams the comment: "We begin to make 
 some little figure here in the Navy way." 
 Preble, in his Origin of the Flag, says 
 of this victory: "This Lexington of the 
 seas, therefore, occupies the position in 
 our naval annals that the Lexington from 
 whence she derived her name does from 
 having been the arena of the first con- 
 flict of the Colonies with England. * * * * 
 She was the first vessel that bore the 
 Continental flag to victory on the ocean 
 "It was the beginning of a brilliant 
 career in a navy with which Commodore 
 Barry, unlike Paul Jones, remained iden- 
 tified till his dying day. The next year 
 he was Senior Commander of the Amer- 
 ican Navy at Philadelphia, and as such 
 repulsed a British squadron sailing up the 
 Delaware. On the capture of the city 
 he greatly harassed the transports of the 
 enemy on the Delaware. On one occa- 
 sion he captured a schooner and some of 
 these transports. Of this exploit John 
 Laurens, in a letter to his father, Henry 
 Laurens, President of the Congress, wrote, 
 "You will be informed of Captain Barry's 
 success with two or three armed boats 
 on the Delaware. Two transports loaded 
 with forage, one of them mounting six 
 
172 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 four-pounders, attended by a schooner 
 mounting eight four-pounders and four 
 howitzers, fell into his hands by his gal- 
 lantry and address." Washington him- 
 self writing of Barry's achievement said: 
 "The exploit was considered highly cred- 
 itable to Captain Barry, on account of 
 the enterprise and daring he displayed in 
 going down the river when it was full of 
 the enemies' shipping and small craft." 
 (Spark's Writings of Washington, Vol. 
 V, p. 271.) 
 
 "The bravery exhibited by Barry on 
 this occasion was surely equal to that 
 displayed by Hobson in his dash into 
 Santiago harbor, and was far more pro- 
 ductive of beneficial results. Yet Amer- 
 ican youth are taught to admire the 
 latter act, whilst they are left in total 
 ignorance of the heroic deed that elicited 
 Washington's commendation. In ignor- 
 ing Barry an opportunity is lost for hold- 
 ing up to the pupils in the schools of 
 Texas a striking example of unpurchas- 
 able patriotism. When Sir William Howe 
 learnt of that capture of British trans- 
 ports in the Delaware he was quick to 
 recognize and appreciate Barry's ability 
 as a fighter. He lost no time in offering 
 the Irish-American sailor a tempting bait 
 in the shape of 20,000 guineas and the 
 command of a British frigate, if he would 
 abandon the American cause. Here is 
 the written reply to the attempt to wean 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 1 73 
 
 him away from the American cause: 
 "Not the value and command of the 
 whole British fleet can seduce me from 
 the cause of my country." What a 
 lesson for the youth of the land is em- 
 bodied in this patriotic declaration of 
 Commodore Barry. 
 
 "Then, too, if the author of the cir- 
 cular to the superintendents of the Texas 
 schools had been desirous of furnishing 
 the youth of that State with a story to 
 stir their young blood, what better choice 
 could be made than the account of how 
 Barry fought on board of the Alliance 
 against two British ships. It is a naval 
 engagement which, as told in Bailey's 
 Naval Biography, is replete with dram- 
 atic interest. Barry, wounded and weak 
 from the loss of blood, is carried below. 
 In the meantime the two British ships 
 are pouring broadside after broadside 
 into the Alliance, which seems to be 
 doomed. The lieutenant in command 
 thought the time had come for hauling 
 down the Stars and Stripes. Going to 
 the wounded Barry, he made his opinion 
 known to him. What followed is thus 
 described in Bailey's Naval Biography: 
 "'No', said he, 'and if the ship can't 
 be fought without, I will be carried on 
 deck.' When the lieutenant made known 
 to the crew the determination of their 
 brave commander, fresh spirit was in- 
 fused into them, and they one and all 
 
174 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 resolved to 'stick by him.' As soon as his 
 wound was dressed, he insisted upon 
 being carried on deck, but before he 
 reached it the enemy had struck." 
 
 "Of such stuff was the Father of the 
 American Navy made. In war, as in 
 peace, he loyally served his country. 
 He was selected as head of America's 
 infant navy, in the developing of which 
 he spent the remainder of his life. In 
 Judson's Sages and Heroes of the Revo- 
 lution we have this pen portrait of him: 
 "He was noble in spirit, humane in dis- 
 cipline, discreet and fearless in battle, 
 urbane in his manners, a splendid officer, 
 a good citizen, a devoted Christian, a 
 good patriot." To erase the memory of 
 such a hero from the pages of American 
 history would be a distinct national loss. 
 The manner in which he served his coun- 
 try in the days of its weakness teaches 
 a lesson of patriotism far more impres- 
 ive than any such study as suggested in 
 the circular addressed to the superin- 
 tendents of the schools of Texas. It does 
 seem strange that the American admiral 
 who suggested the matter of that cir- 
 cular should ignore the Father of the 
 American Navy with whose heroic deeds 
 he must be familiar." 
 
 I shall here supplement the above interest- 
 ing account of Commodore Barry and his 
 achievements for the American patriots by 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 175 
 
 quoting the official pronouncement of Mr. 
 Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant Secretary 
 of the United States Navy, recently deliv- 
 ered : — 
 
 "Barry left his own land to take part 
 in the Revolution, and offered himself 
 and his ship to the American Government 
 When the navy was started, the first 
 ship, the Lexington, was given to Barry; 
 and the first British flag ever struck to 
 an American naval officer was struck 
 to Barry. Off the coast of Cuba, he 
 engaged in the last sea encounter of the 
 Revolution. Washington commissioned 
 him Number One in the navy, and he 
 held his commission until he died. Lord 
 Howe, from New York, tried to win Barry 
 over, and you know the answer he got — 
 that Barry would not be seduced from 
 the cause of his country for the value of 
 the entire British Navy. 
 
 "The Government having spoken 
 through its accredited representative, the 
 matter may be regarded as definitely 
 settled: to Barry, not Jones, belongs the 
 hitherto disputed honor." 
 
 THE IRISH IN THE CIVIL AND SPAN- 
 ISH WARS. 
 
 The work of the Irish in the Spanish war 
 is perhaps best told in the magnificent poem, 
 by Joseph I.C. Clarke, entitled: The Fighting 
 Race : 
 
176 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "THE FIGHTING RACE" 
 
 By Joseph. I. C. Clark 
 
 "Read out the names!" and Burke sat back, 
 
 And Kelly drooped his head. 
 While Shea — they call him Scholar Jack — 
 
 Went down the list of the dead. 
 Officers, seamen, gunners, marines, 
 
 The crews of the gig and yawl, 
 The bearded man and the lad in his teens, 
 
 Carpenters, coal passers — all. 
 Then, knocking the ashes from out his pipe, 
 
 Said Burke in an offhand way : 
 "We're all in that dead man's list, by Cripe! , 
 
 Kelly and Burke and Shea." 
 "Well, here's to the Maine, and I'm sorry for Spain, 
 
 Said Kelly and Burke and Shea. 
 
 "Wherever there's Kellys there's trouble,'" said Burke. 
 
 "Wherever fighting's the game, 
 Or a spice of danger in grown man's work." 
 
 Said Kelly, "you'll find my name." 
 "And do we fall short," said Burke, getting mad, 
 
 "When it's touch and go for life?" 
 Said Shea, "It's thirty-odd years, bedad, 
 
 Since I charged to drum and fife 
 Up Marye's Heights, and my old canteen 
 
 Stopped a rebel ball on its way. 
 There were blossoms of blood on our sprigs of green — 
 
 Kelly and Burke and Shea — 
 And the dead didn't brag." "Well, here's to the flag!" 
 
 Said Kelly and Burke and Shea. 
 
 "I wish 'twas in Ireland, for there's the place," 
 Said Burke, "that we'd die by right, 
 
 In the cradle of our soldier race, 
 After one good stand-up fight. 
 
 My grandfather fell on Vinegar Hill, 
 And fighting was not his trade; 
 
THOMAS B. FITZPATRICK 
 National Treasurer, U. I. L. A. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 177 
 
 But his rusty pike's in the cabin still 
 
 With Hessian blood on the blade." 
 "Aye, aye," said Kelly, "the pikes were great 
 
 When the word was 'Clear the Way!' 
 We were thick on the roll in ninety-eight — 
 
 Kelly and Burke and Shea." 
 "Well, here's to the pike and the sword and the like!" 
 
 Said Kelly and Burke and Shea. 
 
 And Shea, the scholar, with rising joy, 
 
 Said, "We were at Ramillies; 
 We left our bones at Fontenoy 
 
 And up in the Pyrenees; 
 Before Dunkirk, on Landen's plain, 
 
 Cremona, Lille, and Ghent, 
 We're all over Austria, France and Spain, 
 
 Wherever they pitched a tent. 
 We've died for England from Waterloo 
 
 To Egypt and Dargai ; 
 And still there's enough for a corps or crew, 
 
 Kelly and Burke and Shea." 
 "Well, here is to good honest fighting blood!" 
 
 Said Kelly and Burke and Shea. 
 
 "Oh, the fighting races don't die out, 
 
 If they seldom die in bed, 
 For love is first in their hearts, no doubt," 
 
 Said Burke; then Kelly said: 
 "When Michael, the Irish Archangel, stands, 
 
 The angel with the sword, 
 And the battle-dead from a hundred lands 
 
 Are ranged in one big horde, 
 Our line, that for Gabriel's trumpet waits, 
 
 Will stretch three deep that day, 
 From Jehosaphat to the Golden Gates — 
 
 Kelly and Burke and Shea." 
 "Well, here's thank God for the race and the sod!" 
 
 Said Kelly and Burke and Shea. 
 
178 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 Clearly the Irish had much useful work to 
 do for the land that gave them a refuge and 
 a shelter, and well and nobly did they repay 
 the benefits received. All the world knows of 
 their glorious work in the Civil War. 
 
 Without in any way wishing to disparage 
 any other race or people, I feel perfectly safe 
 in saying that more men of Irish birth or 
 descent took part in defence of the Union 
 than of any other people, the natives alone 
 excepted. There is scarcely a doubt but 
 that at least thirty to thirty-three per cent 
 of all the land and naval forces of the United 
 States were either born in Ireland, or of Irish 
 origin, and many keen observers place the 
 number much higher. 
 
 Among the many distinguished officers of 
 Irish descent, to mention only a few, there were 
 Gen. George A. Meade, the victor at Gettys- 
 burg, Gen. John A. Logan, fighting Phil. 
 Kearney, Thomas Francis Meagher and the 
 invincible Philip H. Sheridan, of whom Gen. 
 Grant said to the late Senator Hoar of Mass. 
 that he, Sheridan, had no superior as an officer, 
 either in the ancient or modern world. 
 
 Eulogy has here exhausted itself, has said 
 all that can be said in the way of praise. 
 
Chapter XVI 
 
 ENGLAND'S DIPLOMACY 
 CHECKMATED 
 
 And now to come back from this little 
 digression touching the physical prowess of 
 the Fighting Race, a quality in which all 
 know they excel, and always have, to another 
 and different kind of effort; to diplomacy. It 
 goes without saying the English agents are, 
 from long experience and a somewhat calloused 
 conscience, past masters in the art, while 
 we Irish are supposed to be raw green hands. 
 And yet, even here, England has not the game 
 entirely in her own hands; far from it. The 
 Irish who, in the words of the London Times 
 fifty years ago, had gone with a vengeance, 
 have been "nursing their wrath to keep it 
 warm" and they, with aid of good and patriotic 
 Americans, of all races, have blocked the 
 artful little games of our dear British cousins 
 in their efforts for an American-British 
 alliance. It is well known, a kind of open 
 secret in fact, that there has been in this coun- 
 try for many years a little clique of pro- 
 Britishers, few in numbers, but loud and noisy, 
 and heavily financed by Andrew Carnegie's 
 millions, as stated already. This little coterie 
 is made up chiefly of people of British birth, 
 a few of them American citizens, but most of 
 them unnaturalized, with a few well meaning 
 but simple and gullible Americans, peace 
 visionaries. These people, whether citizens or 
 
 179 
 
180 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 not, are for Great Britain first, last and al- 
 ways, and play the English game unceasingly, 
 as shown by their recent demand that we give 
 England part of Alaska! They flood Congress 
 and Protestant churches with circular letters, 
 praying, urging, and even demanding a British- 
 American alliance, or something that can be 
 presented to the world as such, and try to 
 make themselves and the world believe that 
 if anything of this nature could be brought 
 about, we should have the millennium at 
 once, the lion would lie down with the lamb, 
 or rather with the eagle, our swords would 
 be turned to plow-shares, and, in one word, 
 there would be peace throughout the world. 
 A nice little game of the British, but deep. 
 It is no use, however; the world sees through it, 
 and the Irish and their friends have always 
 barred it, always. It does not need a great 
 exercise of memory to recall the fact that 
 Great Britain, which is so suddenly anxious for 
 peace that she is almost willing to fight for 
 it, waged more wars during the nineteenth 
 century, just closed, than all the other great 
 powers combined, and almost all wars of 
 aggression, and against the weak and defence- 
 less; over fifty wars in all, big and little, 
 during the reign of the late Queen Victoria; 
 and it is perfectly safe to say no two of them 
 justifiable on moral grounds. Great Brit- 
 ain has worked quite a number of these peace 
 games in this country during the last thirty 
 years or more, but all have failed, whether 
 done in secret, like Carnegie's present Al- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 181 
 
 liance peace game, or openly. It is unnecessary, 
 I am sure, to remind the reader of the many 
 treaties drawn up between the two countries, 
 during comparatively recent years, the osten- 
 sible object of all being for peace and good 
 will throughout the whole world, but especial- 
 ly between the two contracting parties. 
 
 Great Britain's real object, many think, 
 was just a wee bit different and this was to 
 have these treaties so drawn up, and especially 
 to have them so presented to the world, as to 
 make the United States appear as the friend 
 and ally of England. But all have failed, 
 due largely to the Irish and the truly patriotic 
 Americans. Besides, Ireland has made Eng- 
 land's name a byword and a reproach around 
 the world as the one nation that is forever 
 preaching and prating about liberty as the 
 one great, the one desirable thing, and yet, 
 forever crushing it, and trampling it in the 
 dust, whenever and wherever it interferes 
 with her designs or stands in the way of her 
 projects. Ireland and India tell the story. 
 Another instance, among the almost innumer- 
 able ones that might be cited, is the infa- 
 mously wicked act by which Great Britain 
 some 70 years ago forced at the mouth of her 
 cannon, on the defenceless Chinese nation, 
 her Indian-grown opium, and has continued 
 to do so up to this present time. 
 
 It may be asked what all this has to do 
 with the Irish question? Much, for until 
 England lets go her grip on Ireland there will 
 be no peace for her at home, no sympathy, no 
 
182 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 support abroad. For, as every one knows, it 
 is poor, weak, despised Ireland that has 
 stacked the cards against her here in America, 
 and barred the way against her diplomatic 
 games. 
 
 If any one doubts the strength of the Irish- 
 American vote and influence, which can al- 
 ways be counted on as against England's, 
 until she does justice to Ireland, I call his 
 attention to an incident in comparatively 
 recent times. 
 
 When the late President Cleveland w T as up 
 for re-election, a letter was sent to the British 
 ambassador, at Washington, Sir Julian Paun- 
 cefort, by a person from Lynn, Mass., who 
 represented himself as a British workingman, 
 asking advice as to the best person to vote 
 for to promote English interests. Sir Julian 
 fell into the trap at once, and wrote advising 
 his supposed countryman to vote for Cleve- 
 land. As the letter was a decoy, the whole 
 correspondence was made public immediately, 
 and fell like a bombshell among Cleveland's 
 friends. 
 
 Now note what followed: instead of being 
 thankful for the offered support, Cleveland 
 demanded of the British Government the 
 immediate recall of its Minister, a demand 
 that was speedily complied with. Why the 
 demand? Why the recall? Because it was 
 well understood that any candidate repre- 
 senting British interests, no matter how remote 
 ly, would meet the united and overwhelming 
 opposition of the Irish-American voters, 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 183 
 
 and would arouse certain latent jealousy 
 among a large number of American voters, 
 and that both factors would bury politically 
 anyone who dared to accept such aid. A 
 more striking instance of the strength and 
 influence of the Irish- American vote could 
 not well be given. 
 
 THE LATE BRITISH REMEDIAL 
 LEGISLATION 
 
 But it may be urged, indeed it is urged, and 
 with some show of reason, that Great Britain 
 has enacted quite a large number of beneficial 
 measures for the relief of Ireland during the 
 last one hundred years, and especially during 
 the last twenty-five or thirty years, — such as 
 the Catholic Emancipation Act, in 1829, the 
 disestablishment of the Protestant church in 
 Ireland, in 1869, thereby freeing the people, 
 at least in part, from the yoke of this foreign 
 institution; the various enactments during 
 this period in regard to the sale, tenure, owner- 
 ship and renting of lands, compensation for 
 improvements, etc., and commonly known as 
 the land measures; and finally the coming 
 Home Rule Bill. While cheerfully admitting 
 the great benefits derived from the above 
 laws, and the enormous gain that may be 
 expected to Ireland from the great Home 
 Rule measure (I am assuming it will become 
 a law) , it should be borne in mind that all the 
 evils, all the abuses which the above remedial 
 legislation was, and is, intended to correct 
 
184 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 and wipe out are solely of England's making, 
 and many others also for which as yet there is 
 no remedy in sight. And to make matters 
 worse, all the reformatory measures had to 
 be wrung from England slowly and grudgingly, 
 and by piecemeal forced from her under the 
 greatest possible stress and agitation, and on 
 two occasions, at least, only when threatened 
 with Civil war was relief granted. England 
 has spoiled all her gifts, if they can be called 
 gifts, by her manner of giving. Catholic 
 Emancipation was forced from her by fear 
 of war, and the disestablishment of the Prot- 
 estant church in 1869 by Fenian movement, 
 as admitted by Mr. Gladstone himself. 
 
 Mr. Brooks tells us with a great flourish 
 of trumpets that Ireland is under the egis of 
 British rule, and clearly implies that if she 
 is not happy and prosperous, the fault is her 
 own, and is because of something exceptional 
 in the Irish character, and then says: — 
 
 "She is the only failure under the English 
 flag!" 
 
 How about British India? Were there not 
 a great number of uprisings in that once great 
 country against this ideal rule with which 
 he is so enamoured— no less than six or seven 
 during the reign of Queen Victoria? 
 Every few years great famines sweep over 
 the land, carrying off millions at a time, 
 leaving wholesale ruin in their path, and this, 
 too, let it be remembered, in a land famous for 
 its wealth since the dawn of history. "The 
 wealth of Ind" has passed into a proverb. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 185 
 
 And it is well known the country is even now 
 seething with sedition and threatened with 
 rebellion. People do not ordinarily rise up 
 and slaughter their benefactors, those who 
 have showered blessings upon them. It is 
 almost needless to add that when a people 
 thus act, it is generally against those whom 
 they regard as oppressors. Nor should it be 
 forgotten that famines were rarely or ever 
 heard of before the coming of the British, 
 and I believe are of very rare occurrence in 
 the native states now. 
 
 How does Mr. Brooks explain the fact 
 that the American Colonists turned out and 
 fought a bloody war, lasting seven years, 
 rather than submit to live under these laws 
 and institutions that he thinks are the very 
 best for all peoples, and that since then they 
 have gone along by leaps and bounds, and 
 have become a mighty nation, one of the most 
 powerful in the world, the wonder of all. 
 Nor are the British colonies proper always 
 satisfied with their glorious English institu- 
 tions, that Mr. Brooks raves about, for I 
 find that twenty-six of her colonies are self- 
 governing: among them Australia, New 
 Zealand, the late Boer Republic of South 
 Africa, as well as the Dominion of Canada, 
 which rather than longer endure British con- 
 trol rebelled in 1837. Still more, the slight 
 bonds which have heretofore held these colo- 
 nies together more or less loosely are being 
 gradually snapped and broken. How ex- 
 plain Canada's demand a few years ago, 
 
186 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 for the withdrawal of British Military and 
 Naval forces from Canadian forts and waters, 
 a request, by the way, quickly complied with, 
 and Canada's refusal to be bound by any 
 treaty affecting her rights, honor or territory 
 unless she herself is a party to the same. 
 Even if Ireland's grievances were solely sen- 
 timental, as Mr. Brooks so strangely says, 
 she could even then make out a perfect case, 
 as I shall presently show. Let us suppose 
 that, by one of those great revolutions that so 
 often take place and which change the geo- 
 graphical lines and limits of nations, that 
 Great Britain were conquered by some great 
 power, say Germany, or the United States, 
 and that the victorious country gave her own 
 laws and institutions to the conquered En- 
 glish people. Would they be satisfied? They 
 would have under the new regime as much 
 liberty, fair play and justice as the natives 
 and citizens of the victorious party, but again 
 I ask, would they be satisfied? Would they 
 be contented with equal rights, equal privi- 
 leges and equal opportunities? 
 
 Of course they would not, even though 
 under the new conditions the state of things 
 might be more favorable to the bulk of the 
 British masses than under native rule. 
 England would sit back sullen and discontent- 
 ed' 'nursing her wrath to keep it warm," and 
 would plot and scheme to overthrow her 
 enemy. Why? The conditions for the toil- 
 ing millions might be much better; they could 
 not very well be worse. To anyone who 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 187 
 
 doubts this, I would recommend a reading 
 of "Darkest England and the Way Out," by the 
 late General Booth, founder of the Salvation 
 Army. And yet the people of England, or 
 Great Britain, as the case might be, would be 
 burning with indignation, and shame at the 
 humiliation that had fallen on them. 
 
 There would be cabals and whisperings, 
 and heartburnings, here and there and every- 
 where, and hopes for the future, and every 
 plan that man could devise would be gone 
 over to hit on some means to overthrow the 
 common enemy. Why? Because England 
 and the English people would want to have 
 their own again, would want to have sole 
 charge of their own affairs, and guide their 
 own destinies, and justly so, too, for the En- 
 glish people tell us that England has a great 
 and glorious history back of her running down 
 the centuries for a thousand years or more. 
 And this is her inheritance, her pride and her 
 glory, and she would naturally want it con- 
 tinued till time should be no more. There 
 is not a single argument that can be made for 
 England along these lines, not one that can 
 be used for continuing her national existence, 
 but can be made with equal force, and justice, 
 for Ireland's national life. 
 
Chapter XVII 
 IRELAND AN ANCIENT NATION. 
 
 Ours is an ancient nation, one of the oldest 
 in the world; not like the mushroom nations 
 of today. Most of these are belted and armed 
 ready to plunder and seize any country too 
 weak to resist. The height of their ambition 
 seems to be to sweep down on any territory 
 or people, despoil them of land and liberty, 
 wherever possible, and without any regard 
 whatever for the moral aspects of such pro- 
 ceedings or the rights of the people con- 
 cerned. 
 
 Our annals show the antiquity of the nation 
 and tell us that our ancient Gaelic laws, com- 
 monly called the" Brehon laws, were codified, 
 not newly made, in the year of Our Lord 438 
 when Laeghaire (pronounced Leary) was 
 Ardrig of Erin, monarch of the whole country, 
 and the work was begun in the fourth year of 
 his reign, which would make it the year 438 
 of the Christian Era, or just six years after 
 the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland. 
 
 This great work was finished in 441, when 
 Theodosius the Second was emperor of the 
 Roman world; and that these laws had come 
 down from time immemorial. The laws they 
 tell * us, were revised at the request of St. 
 Patrick, in order to purge them of anything 
 opposed to faith and morality, and that the 
 revision was made by nine persons, whose 
 names are given; three kings, three bishops, 
 
 188 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 189 
 
 and three shanachus or historians, the work 
 being presumably done by the latter ; and that 
 it was finished in A. D. 441. The point to 
 which I want to call the reader's special 
 attention is this: In the introduction to the 
 shanachus Mor, or The Great Law it is stated : 
 "Now, the judgment of true nature, which 
 the Holy Spirit had spoken through the mouth 
 of the brehon, judges, and just poets, of 
 the men of Erin, from the first occupation 
 of the island down to the reception of the 
 Faith, were shown by Dubhthach (Doovah), 
 to St. Patrick. What did not clash with the 
 word of God, in the written law, and with 
 the New Testament, and with the conscience 
 of believers, was confirmed in the laws of the 
 brehons, by the ecclesiastics and great men 
 of Erin; for the law of nature was quite right 
 except with regard to faith and its obligations, 
 and the harmony of the Church of the people. 
 
 Almost all the ancient Gaelic laws had 
 reached their full proportions and maturity 
 about the time that Alfred of England was 
 reducing to order the few scraps of elementary 
 law he found among his oeople. 
 
 From the above extract found in the in- 
 troduction to the Brehon laws, and written 
 by one of its ancient revisers, it is seen that 
 these laws had come down from the time of 
 the first occupation of the island. 
 
 Compare this antiquity with that of the 
 English law, which we first find merging into 
 light in the time of Alfred, towards the end of 
 the ninth century. 
 
190 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 Alfred the Great himself, as is admitted 
 by most students of ancient history, was 
 educated in Ireland, as were nearly all the 
 children of English nobility at the time, as 
 well as those from the Continental countries, 
 for Ireland was, in the time of Alfred, and for 
 centuries before and after, the " Island of 
 saints and scholars," the one great 
 nursery of learning and sanctity, the 
 one country which kept the torch of 
 civilization burning during the overthrow of 
 the Roman Empire. 
 
 When the English system was about be- 
 ginning, the Ancient code of Erin had nearly 
 reached its full maturity. Further growth 
 was impossible because of the invasion and 
 occupation of Ireland by the Danes, and after 
 their expulsion by the coming of the Anglo- 
 Normans in 1169-1172. 
 
 The English laws were forced on the En- 
 glish nation from the outside, in turn by the 
 Angles, Romans, Danes and last of all, by 
 the Norman French ; and none were the natural 
 outgrowth of the people themselves, nor were 
 they written in the English language until 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century, nor 
 the legal proceedings until the middle of the 
 eighteenth. Thus, it is seen, both the laws 
 and legal proceedings carried the badge of 
 the conquerors until comparatively recent 
 times. And even now the royal assent is 
 given in a language never understood by En- 
 glishmen. 
 
 Irish laws, on the contrary, not being im- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 191 
 
 posed by any outside despot, or conqueror, 
 not given as a threat, or command, but being 
 the natural outpouring of the spirit of justice, 
 and equity of the nation itself, and inspired 
 by the ablest, wisest and best minds among 
 the people, were, as might be expected, 
 written in the language of the people. The 
 laws thus made were broadly just and fair 
 to all interests and to all parties, and protect- 
 ed every right and every interest of their 
 simple lives. This is shown in many ways, 
 but especially by the extraordinary tenacity 
 with which the people clung to them, through 
 every vicissitude; through good and evil 
 report. 
 
 A nation, with such an ancient record, with 
 such a history, going back to the very dawn 
 of man's earthly existence, surely should have 
 some right to a national and independent 
 life. If it be said, as it may, that Ireland has 
 cut no great figure of late, made no great con- 
 quest by land or sea, in war or in commerce, 
 that she is not great in the sense of having 
 overthrown kingdoms and empires, and de- 
 stroyed millions of human lives, I answer — all 
 this is true, there is no blood of murdered 
 nations on her hands, there are no monuments 
 erected to her glory built on the disgrace, the 
 sufferings, and the humiliations of murdered 
 peoples. Ireland can hold her head high, for 
 she has always been, since she accepted the 
 Gospel, the standard bearer of true civiliza- 
 tion, of liberty, of peace and good will, of 
 fair play and honest dealing among nations. 
 
1 92 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 We can say of Ireland in the words of the 
 late lamented, John Boyle O'Reilly: — 
 
 Island of Destiny, Innisfail, for thy faith is 
 thy payment near, 
 
 The mine of the future is opened and the 
 golden veins appear: 
 
 Thy hands are white, and thy page unstained ; 
 
 Reach out for thy glorious years, 
 
 And take them, as a recompense for thy forti- 
 tude and tears. 
 
 Ireland's ideals, are so different from those 
 of the great modern nations of today that it 
 is difficult and almost impossible to form 
 comparisons between them. The nations 
 nowadays are drunk with lust of conquest, 
 which they call civilization, and of plunder 
 which they call commerce and trade. The 
 blood of the weaker peoples, is on their hands, 
 the blood of all the just upon the earth, and 
 is crying to heaven for vegeance. In the 
 ancient days, when Ireland was mistress of 
 her own destinies, in the times of her glory, 
 she sought to protect the weak to instruct all, 
 and to cultivate the arts of peace. 
 
 The following extracts from a lecture deliv- 
 ered in N. Y. City, on St. Patrick's day, by 
 the Rev. T. J. Shealy, S. J., eloquently des- 
 cribes the ideals by which Ireland was govern- 
 ed, in the past and will be again with the 
 blessing of Heaven in the future, as soon as 
 she is allowed to have charge of her own 
 affairs: — 
 
JOHN O'CALLAGHAN 
 Late National Secretary, U. I. L. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 1 93 
 
 "The ideal of a nation may be military 
 glory and the feats that are writ in blood, 
 whose emblem of strength is the 
 sword, and the ravenous beast the 
 symbol of victory," said Rev. T. J. 
 Shealy, S. J., in his Carnegie Hall address. 
 
 "It may be the glory of art and the 
 splendor of form which exults in the 
 creations of beauty and worships at 
 their shrine, and it may be the idea of 
 wealth and commerce which spreads a 
 table to fortune and gives to Mammon 
 the keys of the city." 
 
 "The one attribute preeminent in the 
 Celt, in the olden time and in the new, 
 in all the dramatic changes in fair and 
 adverse fortune, in all the strain and 
 struggle of a marvelous if inscrutable his- 
 tory, is his supersensuous aspiration, his 
 spiritual mindedness. Whatever be his 
 shortcomings or virtues, the Celt stands 
 amongst the races of the world for the 
 things of the spirit. This constitutes his 
 sovereign dignity and resource. It is 
 the power by which he has become a 
 mighty leaven, a vitalizing force in civil- 
 ization. By virtue of such an ideal he 
 labored and battled. For it he suffered 
 and died. In it and by it he triumphs 
 even in his failures. 
 
 "What a leavening and counteracting 
 influence such a race of spiritual and moral 
 power has had upon our modern age 
 proud with the dogmatism of physical 
 
194 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 science, sick and feverish with the ab- 
 sorbing and unfortunate demands for 
 physical comfort, and mad with every 
 passion of eye and ear in the vaudeville 
 of fashion and folly. 
 
 "We need the Celtic mind, quick with 
 spiritual discernment and the Celtic heart, 
 instinct with spiritual power and sugges- 
 tion. The Celt is a wanderer in the world 
 but all his way is marked by the asser- 
 tion and vindication of the things of the 
 spirit. He is an apostle of the Evangel 
 of Christ in all the earth. He has made 
 the world brighter, happier, warmer, for 
 his passing through. America could ill 
 afford to be without his genial, generous 
 fellowship and inspiration." 
 
 "With the graphic words of one who 
 knew whereof he spoke, Father Shealy 
 depicted the courageous efforts of the 
 Irish people in preserving their faith and 
 maintaining their system of moral and 
 religious education in the face of century- 
 long oppression." 
 
 "There is another marked character- 
 istic of Ireland's idealism," he continued 
 "one of the deepest and oldest ideals in her 
 unbroken life. I mean her impassioned 
 love of freedom, her indomitable spirit 
 of nationality, her chivalrous devotion to 
 the cause of patriotism and human rights. 
 She is called a land of failures. Failures 
 if you will — but glorious failures. What 
 is national failure? Is it poverty — 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 195 
 
 suffering — the desecrated shrine — the dis- 
 mantled halls of princely chief? 
 
 "No; these are ruins, not failures. The 
 one awful failure to a nation is to fall 
 from her ideals, to give up striving, to 
 sell her soul to power and avarice or 
 aught that serves the sordid sway of 
 pride and passion. That, indeed, is fail- 
 ure which succeeds at the price of virtue 
 and honor. Ireland might have been 
 rich and favored. She might have merged 
 her identity and her faith in an alien 
 empire and alien worship. But she 
 fought and died; she starved and agon- 
 ized; and in defeat she has conquered. 
 Her spirit still lives on. 
 
 "If the Gael is the martyr and the 
 inspiration of civil liberty, he is no less 
 the martyr and champion of social and 
 economic liberty. He led the way in the 
 industrial awakening, for there was a 
 social question in the world long before 
 the doctrinaires of exploitation injected 
 their sophistries into the field of labor. 
 There was a social question in Ireland, 
 not inspired by the Marxian gospel of 
 values and atheism, but by the natural, 
 inherent, inalienable, and therefore God- 
 given rights of man." 
 
Chapter XVIII 
 
 IRELAND THE CHRISTIANIZER 
 AND CIVILIZER 
 
 Ireland as a nation and free to act for her- 
 self, was constructive, and sought to save, to 
 build up; and not to pull down, to rend, to 
 destroy, as do the nations of today. During 
 the overthrow of the Roman Empire, when 
 the great barbarous hordes poured forth from 
 the northern forests, resolved to destroy every- 
 thing that men prize, all that goes to constitute 
 society, learning, arts, science, literature, in a 
 word, civilization, and Christianity, Ireland, 
 through her great army of Christian mission- 
 aries, came to the rescue and saved the world 
 from its wouldbe destroyers, by conquering 
 the conquerors, by christianizing and civil- 
 izing them. 
 
 And thus the Christian world became more 
 indebted to Ireland than it can well realize 
 today ; owes her more than it can ever repay. 
 
 At this most critical moment, when all 
 the priceless heirlooms and treasures of the 
 ancient world were threatened with destruc- 
 tion, when war, strife, rapine and bloodshed 
 raged throughout almost the whole of the 
 then known world, the Christian missionaries, 
 mostly monks of the different religious orders, 
 came to the rescue and saved the world and 
 its people. 
 
 And among the earliest and most zealous 
 as well as most numerous of these mission- 
 
 196 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 197 
 
 aries were hosts of Irish monks, as stated by 
 the famous French writer, Montalembert, 
 in his Monks of the West. 
 
 This great missionary movement began 
 about the commencement of the sixth century, 
 and continued with increasing numbers and 
 force until about the middle of the tenth 
 century, and with lessening numbers for some 
 time longer. 
 
 These champions of the cross spread them- 
 selves throughout the whole of the known 
 world, and many think they even reached 
 America with St. Brendan and his follow- 
 ers. So numerous and so zealous were they 
 that the Protestant writer, Carl Zimmer, in 
 his work "The Celtic Element in Medieval 
 Civilization" says: They were the principal 
 and almost sole agents for the rechristianizing 
 and re-civilizing of practically the whole of 
 Europe, but particularly the following coun- 
 tries: — France, Italy. Switzerland, Germany, 
 parts of Hungary, Holland, Poland, Russia, 
 Sweden, the Feroe Islands, North of England, 
 Scotland, Wales and Iceland. 
 
 So great was the work of these missionaries 
 that Zimmer gives us to understand most of 
 the great ancient seats of learning on the con- 
 tinent of Europe were establishecd by them, 
 as were those in England, among the latter 
 being Malmsbury, Lindisfarme and Melrose. 
 
 Perhaps I can give the reader a better idea 
 of Ireland's glorious work for true civilization 
 and for man's real uplift in those far off times, 
 by an extract from a speech delivered a short 
 
1 98 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE. 
 
 time ago by the late Cardianl Moran, of 
 Australia: — 
 
 THE MIRACLE OF IRELAND. 
 
 "The other day," said the late Car- 
 dinal Moran, "I read in a discussion the 
 remarks made by an Englishman, and a 
 member of Parliament, who said: 'Ireland 
 is a miracle!" That was a short phrase; 
 still it was very emphatic, and one that 
 could not be excelled. In the first place, 
 Ireland was a miracle by the fact of the 
 apostolate of St. Patrick, who in his short 
 life gathered the whole of the country 
 into the field of the Catholic Church. A 
 second feature was the fact that Ireland 
 was a sanctuary of enlightenment and 
 divine truth, and its people became so 
 enthusiastic in the paths of virtue that 
 Ireland became known as the Isle of 
 Saints." 
 
 "Another feature was the wonderful 
 missionary spirit which led the sons of 
 Ireland to the various countries of Europe 
 overrun by barbarians, there to spread 
 the blessing's of enlightenment and relig- 
 ion, and to give to those nations true 
 Christian civilization. Then came the 
 miracle of Job. They had read of that 
 great patriarch, who in the midst of 
 his prosperity had been reduced to the 
 greatest sufferings and humiliations, and 
 yet submitted to God's will. So, too, in 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 199 
 
 Ireland, after three centuries of English 
 invasion and persecution, Ireland re- 
 tained its faith and devotion to God. 
 That was its fourth feature. " 
 
 "A fifth feature of the miracle was the 
 heroism and devotion of the martyrs of 
 Ireland, which could not be surpassed. 
 And the sixth feature was more remark- 
 able. It was Ireland coming forth from 
 the tomb. During the past hundred 
 years, Ireland had laid aside its sorrows 
 to rejoice in the path of piety and faith, 
 to spread out in every country the bless- 
 ings of religion. Any one who looked 
 forward to decay of the Irish race 
 would look in vain. It was an old saying 
 that St. Patrick had prayed that the 
 Irish race would retain its faith to the 
 last day of Judgment, and I may tell 
 my good friends here that when they see 
 the traditions of the Irish race beginning 
 to decay, they may look out for a safe 
 spot, as the end of the world is coming." 
 
 Ireland has been so long maligned, slan- 
 dered and misrepresented in every way so per- 
 sistently trampled en and thrown aside from 
 the pathway of the nations, by those who had 
 an interest in thus treating her, that people 
 nowadays, even some of her own, find all this 
 hard to believe, and almost incredible, but 
 it is true nevertheless, and well known to 
 students of history. 
 
 While her sons were thus engaged abroad, 
 
200 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 planting the seeds of religion and civilization, 
 Ireland herself had become the great sanctuary 
 for all the learning of the times, the one oasis 
 in those disturbed and troublesome periods 
 where civilization found a home and refuge. 
 
 For many reasons Ireland was especially 
 fitted for the great work she was engaged in, 
 both at home and abroad. A Roman soldier 
 had never trodden on her soil. She was far 
 removed from the theatre of bloodshed and 
 strife, and after receiving Christianity from 
 St. Patrick in 432, began at once to cultivate 
 the arts of peace, and gradually established 
 great universities everywhere throughout the 
 land, and to these schools flocked the students, 
 not only from all parts of Europe, but from 
 countries as far distant as Egypt. All were 
 received with open arms, and were fed, housed 
 and clothed free of charge ;in a word, provided 
 for them in every way, and were instructed 
 in all the learning of the times, and by the 
 ablest masters to be found. Oh! how are the 
 mighty fallen ! when the country that conferred 
 such blessings and benefits on the world, 
 and at a time when such were sorely needed, 
 is now given little or no credit for her then 
 great work, and was until lately spoken of 
 only to be flouted and jeered at. Perhaps 
 it is too much to expect gratitude from nations 
 any more than from individuals, at any rate 
 it is not always forthcoming. I may say here, 
 however, that Ireland is just now more con- 
 cerned about justice than gratitude, and 
 needs it more. And the truest form of jus- 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 201 
 
 tice is to let her have "her own again," to 
 give her charge of her own affairs. 
 
 That she might make mistakes and blunders 
 here and there, and at times make false steps, 
 goes without saying. If indeed she commits 
 no crime against her own people, or her sister 
 nations, she will be far ahead of others that 
 have had long experience of self-government 
 and will have much cleaner hands! 
 
Chapter XIX. 
 THE DAWNING OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Like individuals, most nations during their 
 lives do make mistakes, not only at the 
 beginning, but all through their lives. En- 
 gland has surely made her share. Not to go too 
 far back, — her war against the Americans was 
 not only a blunder, but a huge crime, and is so 
 admitted by practically all Englishmen to- 
 day, as shown by the effort now being made 
 to erect a monument to Washington in En- 
 gland. 
 
 Her whole history in Ireland is one long 
 series of crimes and blunders, each series 
 worse than the other. 
 
 And Mr. Brooks admits it, as do all fair- 
 minded and reasonable men. Ireland could not 
 possibly do worse for herself in the way of 
 self-government than England has done for 
 her. Any change must be for the better, 
 none could be for the worse. 
 
 She could, and would, deal justly and fairly 
 with all her own people of every class and 
 creed, notwithstanding what Orange bigots 
 say to the contrary. 
 
 In the bloody chasm of the past she would 
 bury the old time enmities, hatreds, and heart- 
 burnings, and so let the dead past bury its 
 dead. She would encourage her own trade, 
 what little there is left of it, develop her great 
 natural resources, open up her mines, improve 
 her fine and commodious harbors, among the 
 
 202 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 203 
 
 finest in the world, and which are now largely 
 idle. 
 
 Thus the sunshine of hope and cheer and 
 encouragement would displace the clouds of 
 sullen discontent which have until now, like 
 a pall, covered the land and people. 
 
 She would then take her rightful place in 
 the world, she would become a leader in 
 everything that is noble, just and true; in 
 short, she would renew her youth, and again 
 teach the nations, as of old, that might is not 
 necessarily right, and that truth and liberty 
 and justice are still worth striving for. 
 
 I fully realize that these sentiments will 
 be regarded as the supremest folly by many 
 people, by all those, in fact, who believe the 
 end justifies the means, especially where there 
 is no punishment in sight, and among them 
 I may mention those statesmen who shape 
 the policies of nations, and particularly those 
 nations that ride roughshod over the lives 
 and liberties of the weaker peoples of the world, 
 as if the moral law were blotted out of the 
 universe, and right and wrong were unknown. 
 
 Ireland can truly say of herself with the 
 poet : — 
 
 What stronger breastplate than a heart un- 
 tainted? 
 Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just; 
 And but naked, though locked in steel, 
 Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted. 
 
 Just now new life is springing up in the Old 
 Land, and new energy born of the hope that 
 she will soon have Home Rule, that she will 
 
204 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 be a nation once more. The land is com- 
 ing back to its rightful owners; it is, in fact, 
 almost theirs already, and will be entirely 
 in their possession within fifteen or twenty 
 years. 
 
 What a glorious prospect for Ireland, after 
 she has trodden the winepress alone for so 
 many centuries, derided scourged, and cru- 
 cified, and now triumphant! 
 
 And her ancient language, too, though not 
 receiving the encouragement it should from 
 the powers that be, is not laughed to scorn 
 and flouted as of old, nor is it now a crime to 
 speak it, as it was in times not very remote. 
 
 In spite of many obstacles in its path, it 
 is making its way into the hearts and affec- 
 tions of its people, and teaching them to ex- 
 press themselves along the lines of their 
 hereditary genius. Later on, it may help to 
 bar out the immense mass of vile literature, so 
 called, that is flooding the world at the present 
 time. 
 
 The Irish language is the outgrowth of a 
 simple, primitive people, whose ideals all 
 tend to the spiritual side of man, towards the 
 higher things of life. 
 
 The tongue of Conn, of Finn, and of Ossian, 
 of Brian, Patrick, and Bridget, the tongue of 
 our warriors, our saints, and our sages as 
 well as our free born sires, is still with us, 
 to sooth, to charm, to cheer, and enliven us. 
 
 The language of a nation is its true soul, 
 and, this gone, its real national life is departed. 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 205 
 
 But the old tongue is not dead, though every- 
 thing that wealth and power and human in- 
 genuity could do were resorted to in order 
 to kill it, but in spite of all it has survived 
 somehow, as has the nation that gave it 
 birth, and is coming back to its own again, 
 and with it are coming, too, Irish music, folk- 
 lore, traditions, sports, pastimes, and last, but 
 by no means least, Irish history. For Ire- 
 land has a history, let it not be forgotten, 
 that would put to shame some of those nations 
 that now lord it over the world. She was old 
 and great before many of them were born, 
 as I have shown elsewhere, and as she was 
 present at their cradles she will in all probabil- 
 ity see many of them buried. 
 
 She is arising from the ashes of her desola- 
 tion, to take her rightful place in the world, 
 a place from which she has long been a stran- 
 ger, so long that her name is almost forgotten, 
 but she comes to it by right, but by right of 
 having always been true to principle, to truth, 
 and liberty. And this not only in Ireland 
 itself, but everywhere around the world 
 where liberty and justice were assailed and 
 needed a champion. Had Ireland temporized, 
 had she gene in for expediency, had she sacri- 
 ficed principle, she might have feasted sump- 
 tuously every day, and at the tables of kings, 
 but she preferred righteousness, truth and 
 honor to everything else, and as a consequence 
 she has been thrust out into the cold, beaten 
 and trampled on, her nationality almost 
 blotted out, her faith, her language, her learn- 
 
206 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 ing banned, her teachers exiled, under penalty 
 of death, her history, traditions, her music, 
 and everything she held dear, derided, scoffed 
 and jeered at. And yet, miracle of the ages! 
 she has survived. How? and why? God 
 alone knows, for there is a divinity that shapes 
 the ends of nations, as well as those of indi- 
 viduals. It is not given to us to penetrate 
 the designs of Providence, but it does seem 
 to be reasonably sure that the preservation 
 of Ireland, under such long continued adverse 
 circumstances, is that she may serve some use- 
 ful purpose among the nations. And it goes 
 without saying, this can best be done by allow- 
 ing her to work out her own salvation in her 
 own way, and without let or hindrance from 
 any other quarter. 
 
 If this be thought too impractical in this 
 very practical age, I may remind the reader 
 that all the great reforms, all the mighty 
 achievements of the ages, were regarded by 
 those who opposed them, by nearly all the 
 people at the times as being impractical. 
 The independence and self-government of the 
 American colonies were most impractical 
 and chimerical to the English of the times 
 and were to them, in fact, the sheerest folly 
 which must surely end, and that very soon, 
 in the total destruction of the Colonial gov- 
 ernment, and by their own people, as soon 
 as they had come to their senses, which would 
 be very soon. And so too, the freeing of the 
 slaves by the proclamation of President 
 Lincoln during the Civil war. And so it 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 207 
 
 goes; everything calculated to benefit men, 
 or nations, is opposed by those whose inter- 
 ests are threatened or endangered. Ireland, 
 having been thrust aside from among the 
 nations, is now coming to the front to take her 
 rightful place in the family circle. It is 
 quite probable that her step may be a little 
 timid and faltering at first, because of her 
 lack of recent experience, but with time will 
 come experience, later on confidence, and 
 finally success. 
 
 The San Francisco Post well voices the 
 sentiments of Irish hearts at this time, and 
 says : — 
 
 TRIUMPH OF IRISH SPIRIT. 
 
 ''With the passage of the Home Rule 
 Bill by the House of Commons the in- 
 domitable spirit of Irish Nationalism 
 approaches a realization of centuries. 
 The passage of the Bill is of world-wide 
 importance, for the ubiquitous Irish popu- 
 late all of the countries of the globe and 
 have preserved the National instinct from 
 generation to generation. Even had Ire- 
 land itself been entirely depopulated of 
 men and women of the Celtic race, the 
 resentment against the crushing of the 
 Irish race would survive in the world. It 
 never could be killed. The recognition of 
 its right to survive vindicates its support- 
 ers and glorifies the cause. 
 
 "There are new strings on the Harp of 
 Tara. The National Melodies will sound 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 upon it again, sweetly as in the olden 
 Minstrel days, and its tones will be 
 stronger because of the new hope which 
 was won through suffering. It will play 
 upon a brighter theme, but its notes will 
 always tell of patriotism that endures." 
 
 It seems fitting and most appropriate at 
 this time, when Ireland's hopes and the hopes 
 of her friends are high, that I should quote, 
 as a shout of joy and a new alleluia, the stirr- 
 ing poem of "Erin's Flag, 1 ' by the late Rev. 
 Father Abram Ryan, the poet priest of the 
 South. 
 
 ERIN'S FLAG 
 
 Unroll Erin's flag; fling its folds to the breeze; 
 Let it float o'er the land, let it flash o'er the seas; 
 Lift it out of the dust! let it wave as of yore! 
 When its chiefs, with their clans, stood around it 
 
 and swore 
 That never! no never! while God gave them life! 
 And they had an arm, and a sword, for the strife! 
 That never, no never, that banner should yield 
 As long as the heart of a Celt was its shield ; 
 While the hand of a Celt had a weapon to wield ! 
 And his last drop of blood was unshed on the field! 
 
 Lift it up ! wave it high ! 'tis as bright as of old ! 
 Not a stain on its green ! not a blot on its gold ! 
 Though the woes and the wrongs of three hundred 
 
 long years; 
 Have drenched Erin's Sunburst with blood and 
 
 with tears, 
 Though the clouds of oppression enshroud it in gloom, 
 And around it the thunders of tyranny boom, 
 Look aloft! Look aloft! the clouds drifting by; 
 There's a gleam through the gloom; there's a light 
 
 in the sky! 
 
ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 209 
 
 Tis the sunburst resplendent, far flashing on high ! 
 Erin's Dark night is waning, her day dawn is nigh. 
 
 I can say of Ireland, with the late lamented 
 John Boyle O'Reilly:— 
 
 We have wronged no race, we have robbed no land, 
 We have never oppressed the weak; 
 And this, in the face of heaven, is the nobler thing 
 to speak. 
 
 Our poet, Moore, beautifully expresses 
 Ireland's rising hopes, at this time, in the 
 following exquisite poem: — 
 
 THE NATIONS HAVE FALLEN 
 By Thomas Moore 
 
 The nations have fallen and thou art still young 
 Thy sun is but rising, when others are set; 
 
 And tho' slavery's cloud o'er thy morning hath hung 
 The full noon of Freedom shall beam round thee yet, 
 
 Erin, oh Erin, tho' long in the shade, 
 
 Thy star shall shine out when the proudest shall fade. 
 
 Unchill'd by the rain, and unwaked by the wind, 
 The lily lies sleeping thro' winter's cold hour, 
 
 Till Spring's light touch her fetters unbind, 
 
 And daylight and Liberty bless the young flower, 
 
 Thus Erin, oh Erin, thy winter is past, 
 
 And the hope that lived thro' it shall blossom at last. 
 And so God save Ireland! 
 
 In closing this little tribute to Motherland 
 let me say, as did the immortal Henry Grattan 
 on a certain memorable occasion in the old 
 Irish House of Commons: — 
 
210 ON THE THRESHOLD OF HOME RULE 
 
 "I have no ambition, unless it be the 
 ambition to break your chain and 
 contemplate your glory. I never will 
 be satisfied so long as the meanest cot- 
 tager in Ireland has a link of the British 
 chain clanking to his rags. He may be 
 naked — he shall not be in iron. And I 
 do see the time is at hand, the spirit is 
 gone forth, the declaration is planted; 
 and though great men should apostatize, 
 yet the cause will live, and though the 
 public speaker should die, yet the im- 
 mortal fire shall outlast the organ which 
 conveyed it, and the breath of liberty, 
 like the word of the holy man, will not 
 die with the prophet, but survive him." 
 
 END.