We would willingly have it from Parnell and Davitt,
But we'd sooner be slaves than accept it from them!




MR MORLEY'S APOLOGY (1893)

We statesmen of Erin, Archbishops, M.P.'s,
and Leaders of National Thought,
Pray explain to your friends that I'm anxious
to please, if I do not succeed as I ought!
When I sympathize quite with their notions of right,
it is hard, as I'm sure you'll agree,
That an agent should come with a dynamite bomb,
which perhaps was intended for me!

My views on the tenants evicted for debt
are identical wholly with yours,
And the fact that they're not in possession
as yet no statesman more deeply deplores:
I approve of explosives--they're often a link
which our union may serve to complete--
But they're dangerous too, as I venture to think,
when employed in a populous street.

I planned the Commission; I packed it with men
opposed to the payment of rent;
No landlord had ever evicted again if they
only had done what I meant: