Lord and King, swearing to be loyal to him and his successors forever.

Such was England's brutal and unjustifiable conquest of Ireland.

Ireland was not a nation, it was a tribal chaos. The Irish nation of that
day is a legend, a myth, built by poetic imagination. During the cen-
turies succeeding Henry the Second, were many eras of violence and
bloodshed. In reading the story, it is hard to say which side committed
the most crimes. During those same centuries, violence and bloodshed and
oppression existed everywhere in Europe. Undoubtedly England was very
oppressive to Ireland at times; but since the days of Gladstone she has
steadily endeavored to relieve Ireland, with the result that today she is
oppressing Ireland rather less than our Federal Government is oppressing
Massachusetts, or South Carolina, or any State. By the Wyndham Land Act
of 1903, Ireland was placed in a position so advantageous, so utterly the
reverse of oppression, that Dillon, the present leader, hastened to ob-
struct the operation of the Act, lest the Irish genius for grievance
might perish from starvation. Examine the state of things for yourself, I
cannot swell this book with the details; they are as accessible to you as
the few facts about the conquest which I have just narrated. Examine the
facts, but even without examining them, ask yourself this question: With
Canada, Australia, and all those other colonies that I have named above,
satisfied with England's rule, hastening to her assistance, and with only
Ireland selling herself to Germany, is it not just possible that
something is the matter with Ireland rather than with England? Sinn Fein
will hear of no Home Rule. Sinn Fein demands independence. Independence
Sinn Fein will not get. Not only because of the outrage to unconsenting
Ulster, but also because Britain, having just got rid of one Heligoland
to the East, will not permit another to start up on the West. As early as
August 25th, 1914, mention in German papers was made of the presence in