Englishmen refuse a request made by millions of Irishmen, by far the
least irritating form of refusal is open avowal that the reason for
denying a separate Parliament to Ireland is the irreparable injury which
Home Rule will work both to Great Britain and to the British Empire.
This assertion has the merit, which even in politics is not small, of
truth. If the Parliamentary independence of Ireland threatened as little
damage to England as the Parliamentary independence of Victoria, an
Irish legislature would meet in Dublin before the end of the year.
Englishmen, it is true, do not believe that Ireland would in the long
run gain by the possession of legislative independence. It is not,
however, the doubt as to the reality of the blessing to be conferred on
Ireland, but the certainty as to the injury to be done to England, which
causes their opposition to Home Rule. To base this opposition upon the
probable inconsistency between a Home Rule policy and the true interests
of Ireland, involves the assumption that Englishmen are better judges of
what makes for the true interest of Ireland than are the majority of
Irishmen. The soundness of this assumption must seem to any man, who
either recalls the most obvious facts of Irish history, or notes the
depth of ignorance as to all things Irish which prevails even among our
educated classes, to be open to reasonable question. What is not
questionable is that the assertion, in whatever form it be made, that
three millions of Irishmen do not understand what is good for themselves
must arouse in their hearts deep and natural anger. If indeed the claim
of Great Britain to look in this matter of Home Rule solely to the
effect of Home Rule on British interests, were equivalent to the
assertion that because England is strong she ought wherever her own
interests are at stake to reck nothing of justice, such cynical scorn
for all considerations except the possession of superior power would
kindle just resentment in the soul of every man, whether in Ireland or
in England, who believes that national morality is more than a mere