Home Rule | Page 7

the early nineties. They were all agreed that a great
change had taken place in the internal condition of Ireland. They
noticed a great increase of self-confidence, of prosperity, of hope.
Many who entered upon that tour with doubts as to the power of the
Irish people to take up the burden of self-government came back
convinced that her increase in material prosperity would form a firm
and secure basis on which to build the new fabric.
What does this new prosperity amount to? The new Census figures
leave us in no doubt as to its existence. For the first time there is a real
check in that deplorable wastage of population that has been going on
for more than half a century. The diminution of population in Ireland
revealed by the 1901 Census amounted to 245,000 persons. The
diminution revealed by the 1911 Census amounts to 76,000. In other
words, the decrease of 1901-11 is 1.5 per cent., as against 5.2 per cent,
for 1891-1901, or only one against five in the previous decade[12].

This is far and away the smallest decrease that has taken place in any of
the decennial periods since 1841; and this decrease is, of course,
accompanied by a corresponding decline in the emigration figures.[13]
What is even more refreshing is the evidence which goes to show that
the population left behind in Ireland has become more prosperous. For
the first time since 1841, the Census now shows an increase--small,
indeed, but real--of inhabited houses in Ireland, and a corresponding
increase in the number of families[14].
It is the first slight rally of a country sick almost unto death. We must
not exaggerate its significance. Ireland has fallen very low, and she is
not yet out of danger. There is no real sign of rise in the extraordinarily
small yield of the Irish income tax. That yield shows us a country, with
a tenth of the population, which has only a thirtieth of the wealth of
Great Britain--a country, in a word, at least three times as poor[15]. The
diminution in the Irish pauper returns is entirely due to Old-age
Pensions.[16] The much-advertised increase in savings and bank
deposits, always in Ireland greatly out of proportion to her well-being,
is chiefly eloquent of the extraordinary lack of good Irish investments.
The birth-rate in Ireland, although the Irish are the most prolific race in
the world, is still--owing to the emigration of the child-bearers--the
lowest in Europe. The record in lunacy is still the worst, and the dark
cloud of consumption, though slightly lifted by the heroic efforts of
Lady Aberdeen, still hangs low over Ireland.[17]
Finally, while we rejoice that the rate of decline in the population is
checked, we must never forget that the Irish population is still declining,
while that of England, Wales and Scotland is still going up.[18]
But still the sky is brightening, and ushering in a day suitable for fair
weather enterprises. Perhaps the surest and most satisfactory sign of
revival in Irish life is to be found in the steady upward movement of the
Irish Trade Returns.[19] That movement has been going on steadily
since the beginning of the twentieth century.[20] It is displayed quite as
much in Irish agricultural produce as in Irish manufactured goods; and
in view of certain boasts it may be worth while to place on record the

fact that the agricultural export trade of Ireland is greater by more than
a third than the export of linen and ships.[21] Denmark preceded
Ireland in her agricultural development, but it must be put to the credit
of Irish industry and energy that Ireland is now steadily overhauling her
rivals.[22]
The mere recital of these facts, indeed, gives but a faint impression of
the actual dawn of social hope across the St. George's Channel. In order
to make them realise this fully, it would be necessary to take my
readers over the ground covered by the Eighty Club last summer, in
light railways or motor-cars, through the north, west, east and south of
Ireland. Everywhere there is the same revival. New labourers' cottages
dot the landscape, and the old mud cabins are crumbling back--"dust to
dust"--into nothingness. Cultivation is improving. The new peasant
proprietors are putting real work into the land which they now own,
and there is an advance even in dress and manners. Drinking is said to
be on the decline, and the natural gaiety of the Irish people, so sadly
overshadowed during the last half-century, is beginning to return.
It is like the clearing of the sky after long rain and storm. The clouds
have, for the moment, rolled away towards the horizon, and the blue is
appearing. Will the clouds return, or is this improvement to be sure and
lasting? That will depend on the