Ireland. This action can only succeed if the Irish can be persuaded to
relinquish the national sentiments of Home Rule; and yet this was never
stronger or more vigorous than at the present time. It is supported by
millions of Irish settled in America and in Australia; and here I would
say that it has often struck me that the strong feeling of
dissatisfaction, or, I might say, of disaffection, among the Irish is
fed and nurtured by the marked contrast existing between the social
condition of large numbers of the Irish in the South and West of Ireland
and the views and habits of their numerous relatives in the United
States.

The social condition of many parts of Ireland is as backward, or perhaps
more backward, than the condition of the rural population of England at
the end of last or the beginning of this century. The Irish peasantry
still live in poor hovels, often in the same room with animals; they
have few modern comforts; and yet they are in close communication with
those who live at ease in the cities and farms of the United States.
They are also imbued with all the advanced political notions of the
American Republic, and are sufficiently educated to read the latest
political doctrines in the Press which circulates among them. Their
social condition at home is a hundred years behind their state of
political and mental culture. They naturally contrast the misery of many
Irish peasants with the position of their relatives in the New World.
This cannot but embitter their views against English rulers, and
strengthen their leaning to national sentiments. Their national
aspirations have never died out since 1782. They have taken various
forms; but if the movements arising from them have been put down, fresh
movements have constantly sprung up. The Press has grown into an immense
power, and its influences have all been used to strengthen the zeal for
Irish nationality, while, at the same time, the success of the national