The Open Secret of Ireland | Page 2

merit. At the same time, in order to prevent
misunderstanding, it is necessary for me to state that I do not commit
myself to acceptance or endorsement of everything which the book
contains. I content myself with stating, from personal experience, that
nothing which Mr Kettle writes about Ireland can fail to be worthy of
notice by everyone interested in the Home Rule controversy, and that I
believe the circulation of this volume will serve to stimulate thought
about Ireland, and so to hasten the advent of that brighter day when the
grant of full self-government to Ireland will reveal to England the open

secret of making Ireland her friend and helpmate, the brightest jewel in
her crown of Empire.
J. E. REDMOND.
_12th December, 1911_.

PRELIMINARY
After an intermission of nearly twenty years Ireland once again blocks
the way. "Finally rejected" by the House of Commons and the English
electorate in 1886, "finally rejected" by the House of Lords in 1893, the
Home Rule idea has not only survived but waxed stronger in the
wilderness. Time and events have altered its shape only to clothe it
with a richer significance.
Will Great Britain decide wisely in the choice to which she is now put?
Naturally, I do not speak of the Parliamentary future of the Home Rule
Bill: that is safe. I have in mind rather that profound moral settlement,
that generous reconciliation which we have seen in South Africa, and
desire to see in Ireland. What of it? Did reason and the candid vision of
things, as they are, control public affairs, there could be little doubt as
to the issue in this choice between friendship and hatred, between the
formula of freedom and that of domination. But, unhappily, we have no
assurance that Philip sober rather than Philip drunk will sign the
warrant. There exists in England, in respect of all things Irish, a
monstrous residuum of prejudice. It lies ambushed in the blood even
when it has been dismissed from the mind, and constitutes the real peril
of the situation. No effort will be spared to reawaken it. The motto of
militant Unionism has always been: When in doubt throw mud. Such a
programme naturally begets a predilection for ditches, and when certain
orators speak of the "last ditch" they must be taken to mean that which
has most mud in it. The old methods are already once more in operation.
The wicked lying of previous campaigns no doubt cannot be repeated:
bigotry will make no further experiments in Pigottry. But a resolute
attempt, lavishly financed and directed by masters of the art of
defamation, will be made to blacken Ireland. Every newspaper in every
remotest country-town in England will be deluged with syndicated
venom. The shop-keeper will wrap up his parcels in Orange posters,
and the working-man will, I hope, light his pipe for years to come with
pamphlets of the same clamant colour. Irishmen, or at all events

persons born in Ireland, will be found to testify that they belong to a
barbarous people which has never ceased from barbarism, and that they
are not fit to govern themselves. Politicians who were never known to
risk a five-pound note in helping to develop Ireland will toss down their
fifties to help to defame her. Such is the outlook. Against this campaign
of malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness it is the duty of every good
citizen to say his word, and in the following pages I say mine. This
little book is not a compendium of facts, and so does not trench on the
province of Mr Stephen Gwynn M.P.'s admirable "Case for Home
Rule." It does not discuss the details, financial or otherwise, of a
statesmanlike settlement. Such suggestions as I had to make I have
already made in "Home Rule Finance," and the reader will find much
ampler treatment of the whole subject in "The Framework of Home
Rule," by Mr Erskine Childers, and "Home Rule Problems," edited by
Mr Basil Williams. In general, my aim has been to aid in humanising
the Irish Question. The interpretation of various aspects of it, here
offered, is intended to be not exhaustive but provocative, a mere set of
shorthand rubrics any one of which might have been expanded into a
chapter. Addressing the English reader with complete candour, I have
attempted to recommend to him that method of approach, that mental
attitude which alone can divest him of his preconceptions, and put him
in rapport with the true spirit of the Ireland of actuality. To that end the
various lines of discussion converge:--

Chapter I
is an outline of the pathology of the English mind in Ireland.

Chapters
II and III present the history of Ireland as the epic, not of a futile and