overlooked. Ireland is a poor country of about the population of
Belgium; it is occupied by a people far less wealthy than the
inhabitants of England; and, moreover, by a people divided among
themselves by marked differences of race, religion, and historical
tradition. Is it really to be feared that such a neighbour could, even
if both independent and hostile, be half the peril to England that
Germany is to France, or France to Italy? Money constitutes now more
truly than ever the sinews of war, and it will be a long time before
Ireland is a country abounding in money. There is, to say the least,
something ignominious in the dread that Englishmen could not hold their
own in the face of an Irish Republic, which would certainly be poor, and
would probably be a prey to violent factions. Grant again--and this is
granting a good deal--that Ireland might become a province of France,
there is still some difficulty in seeing why Englishmen can live without
fear within sight of Boulogne, and yet must tremble at the thought of
French regiments assembling in Dublin. The command of the sea moreover
would, whether Ireland were or were not aided by foreign allies, be a
complete protection for England against invasion. If England's naval
supremacy were lost, the power of the British Empire would in any case
be gone. The vital matter for us is to retain command of the seas. Our
capacity for doing this would not be greatly affected by Irish
independence. America, further, and France are the only allies to whom
Ireland could look for aid. The notion that the United States would
consent to receive Ireland under any terms into the Union must appear to
any one who has studied American politics the wildest of dreams. It
supposes that the Americans would, without any gain to themselves,
disarrange the whole balance of their constitution, and by involving
themselves in all the complexities of European politics depart from the
path which they have continuously pursued, and which is marked out to
them by the plainest rules of common sense, and, it is hardly an
exaggeration to say, by the laws of nature. A people who decline to
annex Cuba, and are fully willing to wait till circumstances bring
Canada into the Union and give America possession of Mexico, are not
likely to incorporate Ireland. The alliance of France is a different
matter. Reflection, however, mitigates the dread of its occurrence.
Active alliance with Ireland would mean war with En