I
ask our national extremists in what mood do they propose to meet
those who return, men of temper as stern as their own? Will these
endure being termed traitors to Ireland? Will their friends endure
it? Will those who mourn their dead endure to hear scornful speech
of those they loved? That way is for us a path to Hell. The
unimaginative who see only a majority in their own locality, or,
perhaps, in the nation, do not realize what a powerful factor in
national life are those who differ from them, and how they are
upheld by a neighboring nation which, for all its present travail,
is more powerful by far than Ireland even if its people were united
in purpose as the fingers of one hand. Nor can those who hold to,
and are upheld by, the Empire hope to coerce to a uniformity of
feeling with themselves the millions clinging to Irish nationality.
Seven centuries of repression have left that spirit unshaken, nor
can it be destroyed save by the destruction of the Irish people,
because it springs from biological necessity. As well might a
foolish gardener trust that his apple-tree would bring forth grapes
as to dream that there could be uniformity of character and
civilization between Irishmen and Englishmen.
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