h of any earthly tribunal. I have given them my
reasons for believing that, even if such a course were morally
admissible, the wit of man could not devise any means of inflicting a
blow upon England which would not react injuriously with tenfold force
upon Ireland. I have gone on to show that the sentiment itself, largely
the accident of untoward circumstances, is alien to the character and
temperament of the Irish people. In short, I have urged that the policy
of revenge is un-Christian and unintelligent, and, that, as the Irish
people are neither irreligious nor stupid, it is un-Irish. I well
remember taking up this position in conversation with some very advanced
Irish-Americans in the Far West and the reply which one of them made.
"Wal," said my half-persuaded friend, "mebbe you're right. I have two
sons, whom I have raised in the expectation that they will one day
strike a blow for old Ireland. Mebbe they won't. I'm too old to change."

I have chosen this incident from a long series of similar reminiscences
of my study of Irish life, to illustrate an attitude of mind, the
historical explanation of which would seem to the practical Englishman
as academic as a psychological exposition of the effect of a red rag
upon a bull. The English are not much to be blamed for resenting the
survival of the feeling, but it appears to me to argue a singular lack
of political imagination that they should still fail to appreciate the
reality, the significance, and the abiding force of a sentiment which
has so far successfully resisted the influence of those governing
qualities which have played a foremost part in the civilisation of the
modern world. The _Spectator_ some time ago came out bluntly with a
truth which an Irishman may, I presume, quote without offence from so
high an English authority:--"The one blunder of average Englishmen in
considering foreign questions is that with white men they make too
little allowance for sentiment, and with coloured men they make none at
all."[2] I am afraid it must be added that 'average Englishmen' make
exactly the same blunder in under-estimating the force of sentiment when
considering Irish questions, with the not unnatural consequence that
the Irish regard them as foreigners, and that, as those foreigners
happen to govern them, the sentiment of nationality becomes political
and anti-English.

There is one reason why this sentiment is not allowed to die which
should always be remembered b