Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Peril of Home Rule (Author: Peter Kerr-Smiley)
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Chapter 1
Historical
If we were to accept as an established fact what the Irish Nationalists say about Ireland, we must believe that it was an Island of Saints until the appearance of the English some seven hundred years ago. Unfortunately history does not agree with their description. It shows that from the earliest times the people of Ireland were composed of antagonistic clans split into warring factions, and, in fact, it was only by the infusion of the more solid and peaceful Saxon element that order has been brought out of chaos, and that unrestrained lawlessness has been gradually replaced by more civilised methods. Ireland's history has always been interesting, but rarely peaceable, as is evidenced by the fact that out of two hundred ancient kings of whom we have memorials, not more than thirty of them came to a natural death. The peasants lived in hopeless poverty, in fear of their tyrannical rulers. We are asked to believe that at one time, before the advent of the English,
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Ireland was an independent, homogeneous nation governed from one centre, and that it was then a land enjoying peace and plenty. At no period in its history has Ireland been a united country. The Redmondite, the O'Brienite, and the Healyite factions had their counterparts in bygone days, and then as now they tried to compose their differences by physical force. Rival kings were as plentiful in those days as rival leaders are to-day. Fortunately or unfortunately, there was then no organised police force, and the rival factions settled their disputes by force of arms.
From the date of Strongbow's landing in Ireland (1170) as the emissary of Henry II. to carry out the Bull of Hadrian IV. (which gave Henry control of Ireland) until 1542, when Henry VIII. sent over an army to enforce allegiance to him, Ireland enjoyed between three and four hundred years of Home Rule Government, and that period is marked by feuds, plunderings and massacres by marauding bands. For centuries Ireland had refused to acknowledge the ecclesiastical pretensions of Rome, but ultimately she submitted to the Pope, and became a devoted, and in later ages a blind supporter of the Papacy, not only in religion, but in politics also. To this fact is mainly to be attributed a good deal of the friction between England and Ireland since the Reformation. When Protestant England threw off
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the power of the Pope Ireland continued her allegiance to Rome, and she was constantly used by the Jesuits and foreign intriguers for the purpose of creating trouble for the Protestant Government of England. The chiefs of the Irish clans were in alliance with Spain and the Pope, and twice during the reign of Elizabeth Spanish expeditions landed in Ireland for the purpose of supporting rebellions against England. These rebellions naturally led to severe repressions, and so the trouble, fomented industriously as it was by foreigners, became more embittered. England was not strong enough to enforce her will on all parts of the country, and the Irish were not strong enough or united enough to drive out the English, and so both parties led a cat and dog life. The early attempts at colonising Ireland did not show much statesmanship. James I. was the first English ruler who devised a scheme of colonisation, which has exercised a lasting influence in Ireland. His plantation of Ulster with settlers drawn chiefly from Scotland was a bold measure of State policy, and has resulted in bringing what was one of the poorest and least favoured provinces to a state of prosperity which compares favourably with the conditions to be found in any other part of the British Isles. King James' colony of Protestants was formed in 1609, and in 1641 a carefully planned insurrection took place, which had for its object the destruction of all Protestants
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in Ireland by a general massacre. Thousands of men and women and children were brutally murdered, simply because they were Protestants. Monro with an army of Scots was sent to Ulster to restore order, but he was defeated near Armagh in 1646, and the outrages on Protestants continued with unabated fury.
The task of subduing the Irish and of establishing protection for the Protestant settlers was then entrusted to Cromwell, who, on his landing in Ireland, said: We are come to ask account of innocent blood that hath been shed, and to endeavour to bring to an account all who by appearing in arms shall justify the same. Cromwell certainly set about his work in a thorough manner, and the severity of his measures has been the chief theme of Nationalist speeches for many years. Those who condemn him forget that the people against whom he fought had been guilty of terrible atrocities. Cromwell challenged his enemies to give an instance of one man since my coming into Ireland, not in arms, massacred, destroyed, or banished. Those who are loudest in their condemnation of Cromwell's campaign always forget that it was occasioned by the massacre of the Protestants in Ireland. They also neglect to mention that at the same period more severe methods were adopted as a common practice by Roman Catholic Governments in Europe towards their Protestant subjects. As Green the
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historian points out, the result of Cromwell' campaign was that peace and order were restored and a large incoming of Protestant settlers from England and Scotland brought a new prosperity to a wasted country. Above all, the Legislative Union which had been brought about with Scotland was now carried out with Ireland, and thirty seats were allotted to its representatives in the general Parliament. Cromwell held that if then was to be a prosperous, strong, and united kingdom there must be one Parliament, and one Parliament only, exercising authority over the three countries. It was a great pity that the union which was devised by Cromwell lasted for such a short time, having been dissolved by Charles II in 1660.
James II., who was an undisguised Romanist, when he saw that the people of England were opposed to him and his policy, thought that the best way of arresting the progress of William III. was to place Ireland in such a position of independence that she might serve as a refuge for his Catholic subjects. It is worth noting that James' idea is the one which actuates the overwhelming majority of those who are now agitating for Home Rule. Underlying the whole Home Rule movement is the strong desire to make Ireland an entirely Roman Catholic country, which may be used at a suitable moment as a base for attack upon the Protestantism of England. James II. set about
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his work in Ireland with more energy than he had ever displayed in England. A Protestant Lord Lieutenant was dismissed, and the Earl of Tyrconnell, a Roman Catholic, appointed in his place. Protestants were driven out of every position of honour or trust, and their places given to Roman Catholics. Every judge, privy councillor, mayor, or alderman of a borough was required to be a Roman Catholic. A massacre similar to that of 1641 was expected every day, and large numbers of Protestant families fled in terror from the South of Ireland. James' Parliament in Dublin promptly set to work to confiscate by legislative enactment all the property owned by Protestants. In the North the Protestants concentrated at Enniskillen and Londonderry for self-defence. Tyrconnell was enraged at the defiant spirit displayed by the Northern Protestants, and as soon as he had received men and ammunition from France he sent in 1689 a large army to Londonderry to crush them.
The city was defended by a weak wall on which a few old guns were mounted. Tyrconnell's force laughed at the very idea of a few thousand untrained men attempting to hold the city against such a strong besieging army. But what the men inside the walls lacked by way of munitions of war and military skill they more than made up for by courage and a grim determination never to surrender. The governor of the city, Lundy, was a
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time-server, and, failing in his attempted betrayal, deserted them. At first they were without leaders, and in addition to the lack of arms and ammunition food was very scarce. But, as Macaulay, the historian, writes:Within was that which has often retrieved the fallen fortunes of nations. Betrayed, deserted, disorganised, unprovided with resources, begirt with enemies, the noble city was still no easy conquest. Whatever an inquirer might think of the strength of the ramparts, all that was most intelligent, most courageous, most high-spirited amongst the Englishry of Leinster and of Northern Ulster was crowded behind them. The number of men capable of bearing arms within the walls was seven thousand, and the whole world could not have furnished seven thousand men better qualified to meet a terrible emergency with clear judgment, dauntless valour, and stubborn patience. They were all zealous Protestants, and the Protestantism of the majority was tinged with Puritanism. History of England. , Chap. xii.
Before the fight had gone on many days the Irish and French army saw that there was not much chance of capturing Londonderry by assault, and then it was decided to starve the garrison to death. The invading army drew its lines so tightly around the city that it was impossible to get in fresh supplies of food. The Protestants died of hunger and of the diseases which come from
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hunger, but even in the most terrible straits the cry which rose from the lips of the famishing and diminished garrison was No surrender. Rosen, the cruel French general, gathered all the Protestants he could find in the surrounding country, and dragged them to the walls of the city in the hope that their pitiable condition would compel the defenders to yield. These poor creatures, thousands of whom were dying from hunger and exposure, regardless of their own sufferings, entreated those inside the city never to surrender. The siege lasted one hundred and five days, and in that time the defenders were reduced from seven thousand fighting men to three thousand. Only two days' food remained in Londonderry when an English ship broke the boom which had been placed across the river by James' army to block the passage. Then James' army quickly retired southward, and its retreat was turned into a panic by the Enniskillen men, who charged and routed an Irish force twice their number. The subsequent defeat of James at the Boyne shattered all his fond hopes of establishing a Roman Catholic kingdom in Ireland, and laid wide and deep the foundations of civil and religious liberty. The men of Ulster, who are the descendants of the same stock as the heroes who dared so much and suffered so much for freedom in the defence of Londonderry, are naturally proud of these great deeds, and it would be surprising if they meekly submitted to have the
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old yoke of ecclesiastical tyranny fastened around their necks and the necks of their children. They can never forget that they belong to a race which may be destroyed, but will not easily be subjugated. As Macaulay well says: The descendants are justly entitled to celebrate the anniversaries connected with the siege of Londonderry, for a people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants.
No one who reads history with an open mind will deny that the penal laws which were passed subsequent to the reign of William III. bore heavily upon Roman Catholics, but Home Rulers who harp on the penal laws of long ago generally omit to state that Irish Presbyterians, who are now among the strongest upholders of the Union, were under almost as many disabilities as Roman Catholics. Whatever the grievance of this or that denomination may have been in the past no man is under any disability in Ireland to-day because of the religious opinion he holds. It does not strengthen the arguments for Home Rule to reiterate, as the Nationalists often do, that the Roman Catholics suffered under the rule of Cromwell or of Queen Anne. The important fact to bear in mind is that still greater miseries existed and greater injustices were perpetrated under the Irish Parliament when controlled by Roman Catholics.
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It was then simply a case of one religious party oppressing the other when it had the power. But, under the strict and impartial government of the Imperial Parliament, ascendancy of every kind has been shattered, and all Irishmen now occupy an equal position before the law, and they share equally with Englishmen and Scotsmen the great privilege of being partners in the most glorious Empire the world has ever seen. If there is a grievance at all it is with the people of Great Britain, for Ireland is represented in the Imperial Parliament greatly in excess of the number of her population.
The peace, prosperity and good government of Ireland no less than the safety of England demand that there shall be only one supreme and controlling authority in the United Kingdom. Even before Cromwell's day there were great statesmen in England who saw that nothing but mischief and disaster could result from having rival Parliaments in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh. The policy of unification which these far-seeing statesmen advocated for the common good of the whole kingdom has been adopted in later years by almost every leading nation in Europe, to say nothing of the United States, which made such great sacrifices half a century ago rather than allow the country to be separated into two antagonistic parts.
Mr. Lecky, the historian, in a striking passage, says:
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In the lifetime of those who have attained middle age three great works have been accomplished in the world which far transcend all others in importance, and of which it is probably no exaggeration to say that the memory can never pass while the human race remains upon this planet. One of them, which is connected with the great name of Cavour, was the movement of unification by which the old and illustrious, but weak because divided, States of Italy were drawn together, and fused into one great and prosperous kingdom.
Another, which is chiefly connected with the name of Bismarck, was that movement of unification which has made Germany the most powerful nation upon the Continent. The third, which may, I believe one day be thought the most important of the three was due much less to the genius of any statesman than to the patriotism and courage of a great democracy. It was the contest of America with the spirit of secession which had arisen within its borders, and although that spirit was spread over a far larger area than Ireland, although it existed over that area in a far larger proportion of the population than in Ireland and was supported by an immeasurably greater amount of earnestness and self-sacrifice, it has now disappeared, and the present generation of Americans have in all human probability secured for centuries the unity of the great Republic of the West.
These great works of consolidation have been the contributions of other nations to the nineteenth century. Shall it be said of English statesmen that
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their most prolific and characteristic work has been to introduce the principle of dissolution into the very heart of their Empire?
History as well as experience points to the folly of setting up separate Governments in three countries which must for a variety of reasons remain one Kingdom, controlled by one common Parliament.
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