Principles of Freedom | Page 6

perish. Where are now the empires of antiquity?
And the empires of to-day have the seed of dissolution in them. But the
peoples that saw the old empires rise and hold sway are represented
now in their posterity; the tyrannies they knew are dead and done with.
The peoples endured; the empires perished; and the nations of the earth

of this day will survive in posterity when the empires that now contend
for mastery are gathered into the dust, with all dead, bad things. We
shall endure; and the measure of our faith will be the measure of our
achievement and of the greatness of our future place.
V
Is it not the dream of earnest men of all parties to have an end to our
long war, a peace final and honourable, wherein the soul of the country
can rest, revive and express itself; wherein poetry, music and art will
pour out in uninterrupted joy, the joy of deliverance, flashing in
splendour and superabundant in volume, evidence of long suppression?
This is the dream of us all. But who can hope for this final peace while
any part of our independence is denied? For, while we are connected in
any shape with the British Empire the connection implies some
dependence; this cannot be gainsaid; and who is so foolish as to expect
that there will be no collision with the British Parliament, while there is
this connection implying dependence on the British Empire? If such a
one exists he goes against all experience and all history. On either side
of the connection will be two interests--the English interest and the
Irish interest, and they will be always at variance. Consider how parties
within a single state are at variance, Conservatives and Radicals, in any
country in Europe. The proposals of one are always insidious,
dangerous or reactionary, as the case may be, in the eyes of the other;
and in no case will the parties agree; they will at times even charge
each other with treachery; there is never peace. It is the rule of party
war. Who, then, can hope for peace where into the strife is imported a
race difference, where the division is not of party but of people? That is
in truth the vain hope. And be it borne in mind the race difference is not
due to our predominating Gaelic stock, but to the separate countries and
to distinct households in the human race. If we were all of English
extraction the difference would still exist. There is the historic case of
the American States; it is easy to understand. When a man's children
come of age, they set up establishments for themselves, and live
independently; they are always bound by affection to the parent-home;
but if the father try to interfere in the house of a son, and govern it in
any detail, there will be strife. It is hardly necessary to labour the point.

If all the people in this country were of English extraction and England
were to claim on that account that there should be a connection with her,
and that it should dominate the people here, there would be strife; and it
could have but one end--separation. We would, of whatever extraction,
have lived in natural neighbourliness with England, but she chose to
trap and harass us, and it will take long generations of goodwill to wipe
out some memories. Again, and yet again, let there be no confusion of
thought as to this final peace; it will never come while there is any
formal link of dependence. The spirit of our manhood will always
flame up to resent and resist that link. Separation and equality may
restore ties of friendship; nothing else can: for individual development
and general goodwill is the lesson of human life. We can be good
neighbours, but most dangerous enemies, and in the coming time our
hereditary foe cannot afford to have us on her flank. The present is
promising; the future is developing for us: we shall reach the goal. Let
us see to it that we shall be found worthy.
VI
That we be found worthy; let this be borne in mind. For it is true that
here only is our great danger. If with our freedom to win, our country to
open up, our future to develop, we learn no lesson from the mistakes of
nations and live no better life than the great Powers, we shall have
missed a golden opportunity, and shall be one of the failures of history.
So far, on superficial judgment, we have been accounted a failure;
though the simple maintenance of our fight for centuries has been in
itself a splendid triumph. But then only would we have failed in the
great sense, when we had got