(Passed by Censor)
The following pages are an attempt at a simple narrative and criticismof what must appear the most inexplicable occurrence in Irish history.
The climax of a century of arguments, futile only because of theproverbial dullness of the race to which they were addressed, the risinghas lifted the Home Rule controversy at one stroke from the region ofthe village pump into the very midst of the counsels of Europe, for itwas a challenge—of madmen, if you like—to the greatest Empire in theworld, at the very moment of its gravest crisis, upon the mostfundamental portion of its policy of interference with the affairs ofthe Continent, namely, England's claim to be the champion of smallnationalities.
Unless Ireland can be shown to be held by her own free consent, inperfect contentment, the whole of our contention falls to theground—for our policy in Ireland is only in microcosm our policy ofEmpire; and Germany will be able to point the finger of scorn andridicule at us, and prove thereby to France and Russia that, tyrants athome, we only used them to fight a battle we dared not fight alone.
I say nothing here of the motives that inspired the rebels, nor theimmediate causes that provoked them to rise, nor the nature of themethods by which they were "stamped out"; I only state the moral oftheir failure, and I must take this opportunity to thank Lord Decies,the official Press censor, for the freedom with which he has allowed[Pg iv] meto speak at what I feel to be a very critical juncture in the history ofmy country and of our common Empire; for I have gone upon the principlethat it is far better to distribute the blame all round than to try andmake the Sinn Feiners the scapegoats of faults which each partycontributed towards the catastrophe.
There never was, I believe, an Irish crime—if crime it can becalled—which had not its roots in an English folly; and I repeat herewhat the late Mr. Stead always impressed upon me: Ireland is our schoolof Empire, and the mistakes which would lose us Ireland would lose usthe Empire.
It is England's move next: we have protested in blood; the eyes ofEurope await her decision.
At the same time I cannot help blaming Irishmen as well for thecatastrophe, for politicians of all parties have been tending towardsisolating their followers in the old ancestral bigotries, instead ofdrawing them together in sympathy, as Mr. William O'Brien has beenadvocating for years, with the result that we are now threatened withpermanent constitutional separation for another generation.
It is a mistake which all the younger men deplore, and which couldeasily have been avoided by bringing in the men of Ulster into thenational deliberations, as they have every right, in the name of theirSouthern followers, and then giving them the option to veto theapp