difference of temperament and mental outlook. The English mind has never
understood the Irish mind--least of all during the period of the 'Union
of Hearts.' It is equally true that the Irish have largely misunderstood
both the English character and their own responsibility. The result has
been that their leaders, despite the brilliant capacity they have shown
in presenting the unhappy case of their country to the rest of the
world, have rarely presented it in the right way to the English people.
There have been many occasions during the last quarter of a century when
a calm, well-reasoned statement of the economic disadvantages under
which Ireland labours would, I am convinced, have successfully appealed
to British public opinion. It could have been shown that the development
of Ireland--the development not only of the resources of her soil but of
the far greater wealth which lies in the latent capacities of her
people--was demanded quite as much in the interest of one country as in
that of the other.

Here, indeed, is an untilled field for those to whom the Irish Question
is yet a living one. If I could think that each country fully realised
its own responsibility in the matter, if I could think that the
long-continued misunderstanding was at an end, nothing would induce me
to trouble the waters at this auspicious hour, when a better feeling
towards Ireland prevails in Great Britain, and when the Irish people are
fully appreciative of the obviously sincere desire of England to be
generous to Ireland. But an examination of the events upon which the
prevailing optimism is based will show that, unhappily,
misunderstanding, though of another sort, still exists, and that Ireland
is as much as ever a riddle to the English mind.

Now this new optimism in the English view of Ireland seems to be based,
not upon a recognition of the development of what I have ventured to