History of the Irish People, Vol. 2

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Excerpt from History of the Irish People, Vol. 2: The Period From 1829 to the Land Act of 1881If I were an Irishman, I believe that I should, as vehemently as your Nationalists, desire law to be under Irish control. Looking to the past, I cannot blame any Irishman for desiring a total separation from English rule. As an Englishman, I think entire separation better for us, as well as for you, than a future like to the past. Even from a military point of view, a disaffected Ireland is worse to us than if she were as independent as the United States. Yet if we consent to a wisely-tempered Home Rule, which does not involve a double Executive, this, I believe, will be better for us, and to Ireland both safer and better.Not only so, but I fully believe that Ireland herself would very quickly so judge, if for a little moment she had full freedom (as Scotland had) to refuse legislative union. Scotland made her own terms with us Ireland was conquered, and her annexation, whether less or more complete, was always compulsory. No wonder that our yoke has always been irksome. Suspected disafi'ection, even since 1829, has led to a treatment of Irish legislators widely different from that of Scottish. But all this would at once be changed if Ireland joined us by her own free act. Then her upper classes would re¿ect, what would Wellesley and Wellington have been, if Ireland had been separate from England also, what preportion of the English high Executive have the Scots attained. In little communities like Holland, Belgium, or Greece, small is the range of action to an aristocracy, by the side of greater powers Able and aspiring men would naturally desire a larger field. Next, the mass of the com munity would not be slow to understand that, if really separated from us, they could not avoid the great burden of military and naval defence which in the present day, when armaments are costly in the extreme, could not be efficient without a taxation crippling to Ireland, stripped and peeled as she is. At least 50 years of rest and just laws and prosperity. And healing of religious enmities, are needed before Ireland could desire total isolation. I much regret that the bugbear of separation has been paraded in this argument.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.