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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41448 ***
+
+THE OPPRESSED ENGLISH
+
+BY
+IAN HAY
+
+Author of "The First Hundred Thousand,"
+"Getting Together," "A Safety Match," Etc.
+
+[Illustration: Logo]
+
+GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
+DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
+1917
+
+_Copyright, 1917, by_
+IAN HAY BEITH
+
+_All rights reserved, including that of
+translation into foreign languages,
+including the Scandinavian_
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+
+As a Scotsman, the English people have my profound sympathy.
+
+In the comic papers of all countries the Englishman is depicted--or was
+in the days of peace--as stupid, purseproud, thick-skinned, arrogant,
+and tyrannical. In practice, what is he? The whipping-boy of the British
+Empire.
+
+In the War of to-day, for instance, whenever anything particularly
+unpleasant or unpopular has to be done--such as holding up neutral
+mails, or establishing a blacklist of neutral firms trading with the
+enemy--upon whom does the odium fall? Upon "England"; never upon France,
+and only occasionally upon Great Britain. The people and press
+interested thunder against "England's Arrogance." Again, in the neutral
+days, when an American newspaper published a pro-British article,
+Potsdam complained peevishly that the entire American Press was being
+bribed with "English" gold. A German school teacher is greeted by her
+infant class with the amiable formula: "Good morning, teacher. _Gott
+strafe England!_" (Never "Britain," as a Scotsman once very rightly
+complained to me.) On the other hand, when there is any credit going
+round--say, for the capture of a hitherto impregnable ridge on the
+Western Front--to whom is that credit assigned? Well, it depends. If the
+Canadians took the ridge, Canada gets the credit; and the world's press
+(including the press of London and England generally) pays due tribute
+to the invincible valour of the men from the Dominions. Or, if a
+Scottish or Irish regiment took the ridge, the official report from
+General Headquarters makes appreciative reference to the fact. But how
+often do we see the phrase: "The ridge was stormed, under heavy fire, by
+an English regiment?" Practically never. A victory gained by English
+boys from Devon or Yorkshire appears as a British victory, pure and
+simple.
+
+Now why? Why should the credit for the good deeds of the British Empire
+be ascribed to those respectively responsible--except the English--while
+the odium for the so-called bad deeds is lumped on to England alone? To
+a certain extent, England herself is to blame. When a Scotsman speaks of
+Scotland he means Scotland. An Irishman, when he speaks of Ireland,
+means Ireland and nowhere else. But when an Englishman speaks of
+"England," he may mean Scotland, or Ireland, or even Canada! This
+playful habit of assuming that England is the Empire, and that the
+Empire is England, does not always make for imperial fraternity, even
+though in the vast majority of cases not the slightest offence is
+intended. To the average Englishman it seems simpler to say "England."
+
+But there are other and deeper reasons. England is a big nation, while
+the others are small. There are more people in London than in the whole
+of Scotland, or Ireland, or, until recent years, Canada. And a small
+nation is always intensely sensitive, and assertive, of its own
+nationality. The English, too, are an exceedingly placid nation. Their
+enemies call them self-satisfied, but this is hardly just. Scotsmen and
+Irishmen celebrate the mysteries of St. Andrew's Day and St. Patrick's
+Day with a fervour only equalled by that of the average American citizen
+on the Fourth of July. But if you were to ask the average Englishman
+the date of St. George's Day, he probably would not be able to tell you:
+and under no circumstances would he dream of celebrating the occasion.
+
+"Of course I am proud of being an Englishman," he says in effect; "but
+everybody realizes that. So why advertise the fact unnecessarily? Why
+make a cantata about it?"
+
+It is this same attitude of mind which causes an Englishman to care
+little, provided a piece of work is _well_ done for the cause in which
+he is interested, who gathers the credit. Instinct and tradition have
+taught him to set the cause above the prize. It is this characteristic
+which makes him such an amazingly successful subordinate official,
+whether in the Services or in commerce. He is not vitally interested to
+climb to the top. His job, for its own sake, suffices him. He is content
+to work below the waterline, and if the Ship goes forward he is
+satisfied. So he smiles paternally on these aggressively patriotic
+little brethren of his; allows them to absorb all possible credit for
+their respective achievements; and philosophically shoulders the
+responsibility for the shortcomings of the British Empire. It saves
+trouble; it saves explanation; and an average Englishman would rather be
+scalped than explain.
+
+This stoical attitude is all very well, but it can undoubtedly be
+carried too far. Patience is a virtue, but an overthick skin is not. The
+courage of one's convictions can sometimes merge into blind indifference
+to the opinions of other people. From here it is a mere step to "You be
+damned!"
+
+Let us consider the Englishman as he appears to the other inhabitants of
+the globe, be they relatives, friends, or foes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+
+An Englishman and an American, in the earlier stages of their
+acquaintance, are a complete mystery to one another. It seems incredible
+that two such different persons should speak the same tongue.
+
+The points of difference are not fundamental, but superficial. However,
+things on the surface are always more conspicuous than things
+underneath. For instance, the Englishman and the American are both
+naturally warm-hearted. But when an American is glad to see you, he
+shakes your hand for quite a while, and possibly will continue to hold
+it until he has concluded his address of welcome. The Englishman shakes
+your hand vigorously, drops it like a hot potato, and murmurs some
+stereotyped greeting to his boots. He feels somehow that it would be
+indecent to go farther.
+
+In the subsequent conversation the American speaks as he thinks, clearly
+and with cohesion, articulating every syllable in a well-rounded
+sentence. To an Englishman, a well-rounded sentence savours of pedantry;
+so he clothes what is sometimes a most interesting remark in a few
+staccato phrases and a "Don't you know?"
+
+The chief thing that an Englishman dreads at the outset of an
+acquaintanceship is expansiveness. The more the stranger expands, the
+more the Englishman contracts. The only way to win his confidence is to
+show yourself as reticent and as perfunctory in conversation as himself.
+He will then recognize in you that rare and precious object, a kindred
+spirit, thaw rapidly, and unbosom himself to a surprising extent.
+
+The characteristic of the Englishman which puzzles the American most is
+his apparent lack of interest in serious matters, and the carelessness
+or frivolity with which he refers to his own particular subject or
+specialty. The American, like the Athenian of old, is forever seeking
+for some new thing. And when he encounters that new thing, nothing can
+prevent him getting to the roots of it. Consequently, when an American
+finds himself in the company of a man who possesses certain special
+skill or knowledge, it seems right and natural for him to draw that man
+out upon his own subject. But when dealing with an Englishman he usually
+draws a blank. He is met either by a cold stare or a smiling evasion.
+The man may be a distinguished statesman, or soldier, or writer; but to
+judge from his responses--half awkward, half humorous--to your shrewdest
+and most searching queries, on the subject of politics, or war, or
+letters, you will be left with the impression that you have been
+conversing with a flippant and rather superficial amateur. To an
+American, who is accustomed to say his prayers to the gods of Knowledge
+and Efficiency, and who, to do him justice, is always willing to share
+knowledge with others, such conduct savours of childishness--nay,
+imbecility.
+
+What the American does not realize--and one can hardly blame him--is
+this, that the average Englishman is reared up from schoolboyhood in the
+fear of two most awful and potent deities: "Side" and "Shop." It is
+"side" to talk about yourself, or your work, or your achievements, or
+your ambitions, or your wife, or anything that is yours. This is perhaps
+no bad thing, but it certainly handicaps you as a conversationalist,
+because naturally a man never talks so well as upon his own subject. The
+twin deity, "Shop," is an even more ruthless tyrant. Never, under any
+circumstances, may you discuss professional matters out of official
+hours. To talk "shop" is perhaps the most accursed crime in the English
+Secular Decalogue (set down hereafter). For instance, in an English
+military Mess, a junior officer who referred at table to matters
+connected with the life of the regiment would render himself liable to
+stern rebuke. At Oxford or Cambridge, an undergraduate who ventured,
+during dinner, upon a quotation from the Classics, would be fined pots
+of ale all around.
+
+In short, the more highly you are qualified to speak on a subject, the
+more slightingly you refer to it; and the more passionately you are
+interested in a matter, the less you say about it.
+
+However, perhaps it would be simpler to set down the Englishman's
+Secular Decalogue at length, appending thereto the appropriate comments
+of the proverbial Man from Missouri. Here it is.
+
+_The Englishman's Secular Decalogue_
+
+(1) Thou shalt own allegiance to no man, save The King. Thou shalt be
+deferential to those above thee in station, and considerate of those
+below thee. To those of thine own rank thou mayest behave as seemeth
+good to thee.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "I own allegiance to nothing on earth but the
+American flag. As a democrat, I recognize no man as being either above
+or below me in station."]
+
+(2) Thou shalt worship thine ancestors and family connections.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "You got nothing on me there. We worship our
+Ancestors, too. Did you ever know an American who hadn't got his
+pedigree worked out to three places of decimals? Besides, that is why
+many of us have got such a soft spot for that funny old island of
+yours."]
+
+(3) Thou shalt not talk "shop."
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "That strikes me as punk. As a business man,
+without any mildewed delusions about ancestral acres, or the vulgarity
+of trade, my aim in life is to _do_ business, and do it all the time,
+and never worry about hurting the feelings of the family ghost."]
+
+(4) Thou shalt not put on side.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "But you _do_!"
+
+_The Englishman_: "No, we _don't_! That stiffness of manner is due to
+shyness."
+
+_The Man from Missouri_: "Very well, then. Let it go at that."]
+
+(5) Thou shalt not speak aught but flippantly of matters that concern
+thee deeply.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "There you puzzle me to death. When I feel
+glad about anything, or bad about anything, or mad about anything--well,
+it seems only common sense to say so. Can't you _see that_?"
+
+_The Englishman_: "No. It isn't done."]
+
+(6) Thou shalt never make public thy domestic affairs. Above all, thou
+shalt never make open reference to thy women, in places where men gather
+together, such as the Club.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "Yes, that is sound. Still, I consider that as
+a nation you rather overdo the Secrets of the Harem proposition."]
+
+(7) Thou shalt make War as a Sportsman. Thou shalt play the game. That
+is to say, thou shalt not study the science too laboriously beforehand,
+for that would savour of professionalism. And when thou dost fight thou
+shalt have strict regard for the rules, even if it be to thine own hurt.
+Moreover, thou shalt play for thy side and not for thyself. Thou shalt
+visit no personal affront upon thine enemy when thou dost capture him,
+for that is not the game.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "Yes, I'm with you there all the time. Perhaps
+a little more seriousness and a little less pipeclay might help your
+Army, but no one denies their clean fighting."]
+
+(8) Thou shalt never be in a hurry. Thou shalt employ deliberation in
+thought.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "Yes, sir, I know all about that! It used to
+make me hot under the collar to sit and listen to an Englishman's mind
+working--on its first speed _all_ the time. Now that I know you better,
+I am getting used to it; but I confess, right now, that there was a time
+when I regarded your entire nation as solid ivory from the ears up."]
+
+(9) Thou shalt not enter into friendly relations with a stranger, least
+of all a foreigner, until thou shalt have made enquiry concerning him.
+When thou hast discovered a common bond, however slight, thou shalt take
+him to thy bosom.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "Yes, that's right. I once shared a ship-cabin
+with an Englishman on a seven-day trip. For three days we never got
+beyond 'Good morning,' although I could see by the look in his eye that
+he was kindly disposed, and was only held back by want of a reference.
+However, the fourth day out he asked me if I had ever been in
+Shropshire. I said no, but my sister had once visited there, with some
+people whose name I have now forgotten. But that was enough. It appeared
+that he knew the people; he was their vassal, or overlord, or mortgagee,
+or something. After that he wanted to adopt me."]
+
+(10) Thou shalt render thyself inconspicuous. Thou shalt not wear
+unusual apparel, or thou shalt be committed to a special hell reserved
+for those who, knowing better, wear made-up ties, or who compass
+unlawful combinations of frock-coats, derby hats, and tan boots.
+
+[_The Man from Missouri_: "Oh, you Clarence!"]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+
+The Scotsman, in many ways, regards the Englishman from the same angle
+as the American. He shares the American's unconcealed anxiety to get to
+the root of the matter, and cannot understand a man who pretends that he
+does not want to get to the root of the matter, too. To a Scotsman, "ma
+career" (as John Shand used to call it in Barrie's play) is the one
+important fact of life; and although the most reserved creature in the
+world, he possesses none of the Englishman's self-consciousness; and it
+never occurs to him to do anything so palpably insincere as to disown
+his legitimate ambitions. To a Scotsman, then, the English are a
+frivolous, feckless race, devoid of ambition, and incapable of handling
+weighty matters with the required degree of seriousness. So he comes to
+London and takes the helm. To-day a Scot is leading the British Army in
+France,[1] another is commanding the British Grand Fleet at sea,[2]
+while a third directs the Imperial General Staff at home.[3] The Lord
+Chancellor is a Scot[4]; so are the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the
+Foreign Secretary.[5] (The Prime Minister is a Welshman[6], and The
+First Lord of the Admiralty is an Irishman.[7]) Yet no one has ever yet
+brought in a bill to give Home Rule to England!
+
+Take the Dominions again. What is the attitude of Canada, Australasia,
+and South Africa to the mother country? Well, previous to the War it
+must be confessed that the sons of the Empire regarded their parent with
+a certain good-humoured tolerance, not unmixed with irritation. The
+British Dominions overseas are peopled by an essentially independent and
+sturdy race. They are descended from folk who left their native land and
+braved the unknown, not because they were sent, but because an
+adventurous spirit bade them go forth and better themselves. The British
+colonies and dominions were all founded by younger sons, or men in
+search of a career. They were never in the first instance fathered by
+the State, as such. It was only after British interests in these distant
+lands grew too great and unwieldy for private control that the British
+Government reluctantly and tardily took over their management
+officially. Men sprung from such a stock are naturally impatient of
+stay-at-home folk who regard the British Empire as "England," and who
+speak patronisingly of "Colonials."
+
+These little differences were purely superficial, and by the subtle
+irony of fate it was left to Germany to demonstrate how very superficial
+they were. But they undoubtedly existed, very largely owing to the fact
+that some--only some--of the later immigrants into the Dominions were of
+a less hardy and desirable type than formerly--men who had come abroad
+not from any spirit of enterprise or adventure, but because they had
+been a failure at home. Such men were neither industrious nor adaptable.
+It was this class that was responsible for the occasional appearance in
+Canada and Australia of the legend: "No English need apply." Another
+injustice to England as a whole!
+
+India, again. Here "Pax, Britannica" exists in its highest and most
+creditable form. India is mainly governed by English university men,
+selected after laborious preparation and searching examination, from all
+walks of life. Each of these men is a living exemplification of the
+British supreme talent--the talent for efficient departmental work in a
+subordinate position. He may rule a district containing several million
+souls, and so long as he rules it, he will rule justly according to his
+lights, and he will not make a penny out of the operation. In due course
+he will return to England, and live in honourable obscurity upon a
+modest pension. But all this will not save him from being denounced as a
+tyrant and interloper. The hill tribes of the north will cast resentful
+glances upon the man who represents the power which holds them back from
+the delectable plunderland of the south; while in Bengal over-educated
+Babus will bleat indignantly, regardless of the inevitable consequences
+to their property and their women, for the immediate withdrawal of the
+officious and unnecessary British rule from India. A thankless
+existence, my masters, yet somehow worth while, despite endless
+drudgery, absence of personal distinction, and years of absence from
+home and children. The Ship goes forward!
+
+On the Continent of Europe, again, the English are regarded with varying
+degrees of affection or dislike; but their appraisers are all unanimous
+in regarding them as slightly demented. To the French, for instance, the
+English Tommy, with his uncanny frivolity in the face of death, his
+passion for tea and jam, and his eternal football games behind the
+trenches, is a standing enigma and jest. But Frenchmen will always
+remember how the little British Army hurled itself to certain
+destruction, in August, 1914, at the mere call of friendship, and French
+women will never, never forget the exemplary behaviour of the British
+soldiers toward the civil population behind the line.
+
+As for the German, his opinion can be succinctly summarised. Before the
+War he regarded the Englishman from a military point of view as a
+negligible quantity, from the commercial point of view as a back-number,
+and from the diplomatic point of view as the easiest thing on earth.
+Now, according to latest official intelligence from Potsdam, it was the
+reptile statesmanship of England that conspired with France and Russia
+to invade peaceful Germany, and it is "English gold" that has lured the
+people of America to disastrous participation in the common doom of the
+Allies. As a soldier, the Englishman has done better than Potsdam
+expected: but only by shameful contravention of the usages of war. The
+Prussian is a great stickler for etiquette in this respect. War to him,
+whether he be emitting chlorine gas or sinking a hospital ship, is a
+serious--nay, sacred--business. But the imbecile English persist in
+regarding war as a game. What is worse, they win the game. Not long ago
+a regiment of "Kitchener's Army" captured a strongly fortified village
+from the Prussian Guard. That was bad enough, but the manner in which it
+was done amounted to nothing less than an outrageous breach of
+professional etiquette. They went to the assault kicking a football!
+Their commander kicked off, and they never stopped until they had kicked
+the ball, riddled with bullets, into the trench and captured the
+garrison. And yet the English have the temerity to complain of German
+breaches of International Law! Yes, I fear the English are most harshly
+spoken of in Germany just now.
+
+There remains one other point of view to consider, and that is the Irish
+point of view. It must have a chapter to itself. Ireland usually gets a
+chapter to herself.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Sir Douglas Haig.
+
+[2] Admiral Beatty.
+
+[3] Sir William Robertson.
+
+[4] Lord Findlay.
+
+[5] A. Bonar Law, who is half Canadian, and Arthur James Balfour.
+
+[6] David Lloyd George.
+
+[7] Sir Edward Carson.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+
+One of the first queries put to a Briton by an American after the pair
+have achieved a certain degree of intimacy, is: "Why can't you people
+settle the Irish Question?"
+
+The form of the query varies in intensity. Earnest well-wishers say: "I
+don't profess to understand the ins and outs of the matter, but wouldn't
+it save a deal of trouble all round if you were to _give_ them Home Rule
+and have done with it?" Candid friends say, quite simply: "If you
+English can't run Ireland yourselves, why not let the Irish have a
+try?" (Here again we may note that England, not Great Britain, gets the
+blame.) Finally, a well-meaning but ferocious lady wrote to me the other
+day from the Middle West, to enquire: "How does England dare to pose as
+the champion of Belgium, when all the while she is grinding poor Ireland
+under her heel?"
+
+All this is very illuminating, and at the same time distressing, to the
+stay-at-home Briton, who had always imagined that his domestic troubles
+were his own property, and were not causing concern to other people. But
+it is an undoubted fact, and cannot be too strongly impressed upon the
+English people, that the failure of Great Britain to settle the
+so-called Irish Question is a distinct bar to a complete entente
+cordiale with America, and, to a certain extent, with the British
+Dominions overseas.
+
+But before plunging more deeply into the matter, let us make one thing
+clear. It is not from want of effort or from lack of good will on the
+part of the English people that the Irish problem still remains
+unsolved.
+
+This is not, thank Heaven! a disquisition upon the pros and cons of the
+Home Rule Question. Home Rule is coming quite soon, anyway. But it is
+permissible to set down here, briefly, the reasons why the English
+people have so steadily declined to accede to Ireland's persistent
+demand for a separate Parliament for so many years.
+
+The first rock upon which both sides split is the difficulty of
+determining what, exactly, is meant by "Home Rule."
+
+When a responsible leader of the Irish Nationalist party states his case
+to an audience which is friendly without being bigoted--in Canada, say,
+or at a meeting of moderate English Liberals--he clothes his appeal in
+some such words as these:
+
+"All we ask is the right, as a little nation, to conduct our affairs in
+our own way, without interference from the officials of another and more
+powerful nation. Ireland free, and Ireland a nation, can then take her
+proper place as a loyal daughter of the Empire, side by side with Canada
+and Australia."
+
+Well, nothing could sound more reasonable or unexceptionable than that.
+But two comments present themselves. In the first place, you will note
+that the orator says "We." "We" means the Nationalist Party,
+representing about seventy per cent.--possibly more--of the Irish
+nation, and ignores the existence of the minority--a minority which,
+before the War, had deliberately and openly declared its intention, and
+was fully prepared, to fight and die rather than be forced out of the
+Union. Such a determination was doubtless very indefensible, but there
+it stands. It is recorded here as one of the trifling factors which
+prevent the Irish Question from being settled out of hand by the mere
+wave of some amateur magician's wand. Secondly, it implies that Ireland
+is not free. Now here is a statement that can be refuted at once.
+Ireland is just as free as England and Scotland and Wales. In one
+respect her freedom is very much greater, for she is heavily
+over-represented in the House of Commons. An Irish member, returned by a
+remote Galway fishing village of fifteen hundred voters, can balance the
+vote, say, of an English member representing a great working-class
+constituency of forty or fifty thousand. If a redistribution of seats,
+on a basis of proportional representation, were to be ordered in the
+House of Commons to-day, Ireland would automatically lose about thirty
+seats. The Irish members, then, wield a power in the councils of the
+United Kingdom to-day quite out of proportion to the population of the
+country which they represent.
+
+In another respect Ireland enjoys a freedom not vouchsafed to the
+nations of the sister isle. In the dim and distant days before the War,
+Mr. Lloyd George was engaged in a campaign of what his friends called
+Social Reform, and his victims Rank Piracy. One of his most unpopular
+flights of legislation was the Land Valuation Act, and another was his
+National Insurance scheme. Neither of these acts has ever been visited
+upon Ireland, for the simple reason that the Irish people refused to
+entertain them at any price; so the oppressed English, as usual, gave
+way, and paid the piper alone. Again, last year, when the Military
+Service Act, imposing conscription upon every able-bodied man between
+nineteen and forty-one, became law, Ireland was once more exempted. To
+the black shame and grief of every true Irishman, Ireland to-day stands
+officially aloof and alone in the struggle for liberty and humanity. The
+thousands of her gallant sons who are fighting in the trenches alongside
+their English and Scottish and Ulster comrades find difficulty in
+filling up the gaps in their ranks, because certain of their brothers
+prefer to stay at home--to make political bargains, or to engage in the
+profitable task of supplying the demands of depleted Great Britain for
+ablebodied labour.
+
+So much, then, for the little flaws underlying the responsible
+Nationalist's earnest appeal. But a greater shock to the sentimental
+supporter of Home Rule, as such, comes when he is confronted with this
+same modest proposal translated into the actual terms of an Act of
+Parliament. The Home Rule Act, the storm-centre of the summer of
+1914--so severe was the storm that it quite dispelled the fears of
+Germany lest Great Britain should step in and interfere with the great
+_coup_ planned for August--contained the following provisions; and
+these provisions were the irreducible minimum which the Nationalist
+Party (who held the balance of power in the House) were prepared to
+accept:
+
+(1) A Parliament to be established in Dublin.
+
+(2) Ireland to be exempt from Imperial taxation. Great Britain was to
+pay for the entire upkeep of the Army and Navy, but to continue to pay
+the Irish Old Age Pensions, together with an annual subsidy to Ireland.
+In other words, England and Scotland were to find the money, and The
+Irish Executive were to spend it. The sum involved, including both
+direct payments and remissions of taxation, amounted to an annual free
+gift of about thirty-five million dollars.
+
+(3) About forty Irish members were to be retained in the House of
+Commons.
+
+There were many other clauses, but these three will suffice to show the
+difference between a Home Ruler indulging in sentimental aspirations and
+the same gentleman engaged in the transaction of business. The second
+clause might have passed muster; for the Englishman, with all his
+faults, has never been niggardly. But Clause Three broke the camel's
+back.
+
+To the average Englishman the one redeeming feature of Home Rule was the
+prospect it offered of getting rid, once and for all, of the Irish
+members from Westminster. The gentle intimation that forty of these
+would still remain, to assist in the counsels of England and Scotland,
+and incidentally to glean such further pickings for Ireland as could be
+secured by the help of forty skilfully manipulated votes, was too much
+even for the much-enduring Englishman. The worm turned, and the storm
+broke. It is difficult to understand why such an astute leader as Mr.
+Redmond should have insisted upon such a condition; for it automatically
+destroyed the claim upon which he based his plea for the sympathy of the
+United States and the Dominions--namely, the plea that Ireland should be
+permitted to govern herself after the fashion of Canada and Australia,
+neither interfering with or being interfered with by the Parliament at
+Westminster.
+
+Further into the political merits of the case we need not go. As already
+stated, the purpose of this disquisition is not to prove a case for or
+against Home Rule, but to point out to friends whose knowledge of the
+subject has been derived almost entirely from the perfervid orations of
+imaginative gentlemen with Irish surnames and (too often) German
+salaries, who have abandoned their beloved land for the more sympathetic
+and lucrative atmosphere of New York--firstly, that England during the
+past fifty years has stopped at nothing, short of the disintegration of
+the United Kingdom, to remove and assuage the ancient grievance of
+Ireland; and secondly, that the chief bar to a complete and speedy
+settlement of the affair is, and always has been, the inability of a
+lovable but irresponsible people to agree amongst themselves as to what
+they really want.
+
+The task of redressing wrongs has not been confined to one Party. Fifty
+years ago the Church of England was the Established Church of
+Ireland--an obvious injustice to a people of whom the great majority
+were Catholics. Therefore the Church of England in Ireland was
+disestablished, by a Liberal Government under Mr. Gladstone. Again, for
+generations the cry had gone up from Ireland that Irish land was owned
+by great landlords of English descent, who spent most of their time in
+London, and confined their energies as lords of the manor to evicting
+such of their tenants as could not or would not pay their rent. This was
+obviously a very wrong state of affairs, and fifteen years ago a
+Unionist Government set out to put it right. Parliament passed George
+Wyndham's Land Purchase Act, the object of which was to enable the
+tenant-farmers of Ireland to _buy_ their farms from the landlords. The
+tenant was invited to state the sum which he could afford to pay for his
+farm, and the landlord was invited to state the sum which he was
+prepared to accept. This was indeed a gorgeous opportunity for both
+tenant and landlord. The two amounts, having been stated, were adjusted
+and confirmed by a Board, and the intervening gap--no small gap, as may
+be imagined--was bridged by the English taxpayer. This little experiment
+in philanthropy cost the tyrannical English considerably more than five
+hundred million dollars. Under its provisions every Irish peasant is now
+his own proprietor. Evictions are a thing of the past. Yet how often is
+this fact so much as admitted by soulful exploiters of Erin's wrongs in
+America or the Dominions?
+
+Then, as regards Ireland's inability to express her desires with a
+single voice. Roughly, Irish political parties fall under the following
+heads:
+
+(1) The official Nationalist Party, under Mr. John Redmond.
+
+(2) The Protestants of the North.
+
+(3) The Unionists of the South and West.
+
+(4) The frankly revolutionary party (Sinn Feinn, Clan-na-Gael, etc.),
+whose "platform" is absolute separation from England and the British
+Empire.
+
+The official Nationalist Party is divided into many groups, but at its
+best it represents the true soul of Ireland--the soul of a
+high-spirited, imaginative, and intensely quick-witted people--fiercely
+impatient of the stolid, matter-of-fact, self-complacent race across the
+Irish Sea. In this respect Ireland resembles a "temperamental" wife
+married to an intensely respectable but unexciting husband. She wants to
+"live her own life." The Irish character again, ever prone to dream and
+brood, prevents Ireland from forgetting her ancient wrongs. Heaven knows
+they were grievous enough; but they were probably no worse than those of
+Scotland; and if they had been regarded as hers were by Scotland, they
+need have left no permanent mark. Edward the First, "The Hammer of the
+Scots," wrought no less havoc in the days of Wallace than Essex and Sir
+John Perrot in the time of Elizabeth. Ireland has her Ormonde, and that
+grim forerunner of Democracy, Oliver Cromwell. Scotland can point, with
+an equal degree of unhappy satisfaction, to Claverhouse and the Butcher
+Cumberland. But the phlegmatic Scot has avenged these outrages in subtle
+fashion. He does not brood; he simply migrates to England in the
+capacity of a peaceful trader, and proceeds to spoil the Egyptians at
+his leisure. Ireland, differently constituted, refuses to forget. And it
+is those two overwhelming forces--undying resentment, and impatience of
+the control of an intellectually inferior though mentally more stable
+race--that lie at the root of the Irish Home Rule agitation of to-day.
+"Leave us to ourselves!" cry the Nationalists. "We don't _want_ to be
+brought up-to-date! We don't _want_ to be made business-like and
+efficient! We don't _want_ scientific farming, or state-aided
+incubators, or sanitary milk cans. We are not interested in the glorious
+British Empire. We only ask to be left alone with our own beloved,
+witty, unmethodical country, to manage or mismanage as we please!" And
+it is that sentiment which has underlain the steady, consistent
+resistance of the official Nationalist Party to all attempts on the part
+of England--some of them very admirable attempts--to improve the
+condition of Ireland. Their attitude is perfectly logical. Such
+legislation, if successful, would prevent the coming of Home Rule. And
+most of the bitterness and sorrow of the last thirty years has arisen
+from the inability--perhaps natural--of the average matter-of-fact
+Englishman to appreciate that attitude of mind.
+
+"We offer you," he says, "a fair and equal share--the same as our
+own--in the running of the greatest Empire that the world has ever seen.
+For goodness sake what more do you want?" And back, without fail, comes
+the unvarying cry--so heartfelt, so tragic, yet in many ways so
+unsubstantial:--
+
+"Ireland a Nation! Ireland Free!"
+
+And if only Ireland could have formulated her appeal in a spirit more in
+accordance with that genuine _cri du coeur_, and less in the spirit of
+the extremely materialistic Home Rule Bill of 1914, there is little
+doubt that she would have had her wish long ago.
+
+
+Then Ulster. The men of Ulster differ entirely from the other elements
+of Irish political society in knowing exactly what they want.
+
+"We belong," they announce, "to the Union; we are proud of the Union;
+and we shall resist, to the death if need be, any attempts to force us
+out of it."
+
+That is all there is to be said about Ulster. But the brevity of
+Ulster's contribution to the controversy does not simplify the solution
+in any way.
+
+Here is a curious footnote to the Ulster problem. Americans will
+remember that in the early summer of 1914 certain British Regiments
+(unconscious of the very different task which awaited them in August)
+were instructed to hold themselves in readiness to enforce the Home Rule
+Act on Ulster. A number of the officers of those regiments resigned
+their commissions rather than fight against their own kin. They were
+much criticised at the time. But in 1776, when the British Army was
+mobilized against the American Colonies, a number of British officers
+resigned their commissions, too (and incidentally sacrificed their
+careers), rather than fight against their own flesh and blood across the
+sea. Thus does History repeat herself.
+
+
+Then the Unionists of the West and South. Their sentiments are the
+sentiments of Ulster, but their position is very different. Though
+numerically quite strong, they are scattered over a wide area. They
+cannot, like centralized Ulster, act on "interior lines"; and it is
+probable that when a definite form of Home Rule crystallizes out of the
+present turmoil, it will be found that their interests have been
+sacrificed by the mutual consent of the stronger factions.
+
+
+Lastly, that curious medley of brooding visionaries--ever the prey of
+the agitator--political place-hunters, subsidised pro-Germans, and
+ordinary cut-throats, which calls itself Sinn Feinn. This interesting
+organization is actuated by a variety of sentiments, varying from a
+passionate remembrance of woes long past down to a sound business
+instinct for the loaves and fishes of salaried office. The tie which
+binds together all its incongruous elements is a fierce hatred of
+England, derived possibly from the remembrance that rather more than two
+centuries ago Oliver Cromwell sacked the fair city of Drogheda, or in
+certain individual cases from a lively personal recollection of having
+been committed to gaol for three months by a tyrannical magistrate for
+the trifling indiscretion of burglary or theft.
+
+Whatever its motives or ideals, this party has only one panacea for all
+ills, and that is complete separation from "England." They aspire to
+none of the status of Canada or the other Dominions; they are out for
+secession, pure and simple--secession accompanied, if possible, by a
+mortal blow at the hated pride of England. In order to put their amiable
+intention into effect, the Sinn Feinners proceeded, on Easter Monday of
+1916, to deal the British peoples, including some three hundred thousand
+of their own compatriots serving on the Western Front, a stab in the
+back in the shape of that grim medley of tragedy and farce, the Dublin
+"revolution." The farce was supplied by Germany, which deposited upon
+the western shores of Ireland, from a submarine, a degenerate criminal
+lunatic named Casement, who had already failed egregiously in a
+monstrous effort to seduce the Irish prisoners in the German prison
+camps from allegiance to their cause. Casement was promptly arrested by
+the local village policeman, and his share in the matter ended. But in
+Dublin there was no lack of tragedy. The forces of the "revolution"
+struck the first blow for Freedom by an indiscriminate massacre of such
+British soldiers as happened to be strolling about the streets, unarmed,
+in their "walking out" dress. The killing was then extended to a large
+number of innocent civilians, not all of the male sex; and the apostles
+of Freedom then settled down, with the able assistance of the slum
+population, to the unrestrained looting of the shops and houses of
+Dublin.
+
+Naturally the whole of Ireland stood aghast at the crime. Denunciations
+of the murderers poured in from every side, irrespective of political
+creed. The leader of the Nationalist Party publicly repudiated and
+condemned the occurrence in the House of Commons. Never did England and
+Ireland stand so close together as on that day. But one thing was
+morally certain from the start, and that was that when the first flush
+of indignation had died down, the old pernicious sentimentality and
+political animus would raise their heads again. And it was so. The
+"revolution" was crushed. Some twelve or fifteen executions took place,
+either of men who had been directly convicted of deliberate murder, or
+of those who had set their names to the outrageous document which
+authorized the same. It is difficult, considering the circumstances, to
+see how a conscientious tribunal could have done less, for to have
+condoned such a blend of black treachery and plain murder would rightly
+have been construed as an act of weakness. But it is even more
+difficult--nay, impossible--to conceive any handling of the situation
+out of which persons interested would have refrained from making
+political capital. The Oppressed English were booked for trouble, both
+"going and coming."
+
+Probably it would have been best to have held a series of drumhead
+courts-martial, followed by instantaneous executions, wherever
+necessary, while public opinion was not merely prepared but anxious for
+such. But that is not the English way. Each prisoner was accorded a
+full, conscientious, and lengthy trial. What was worse, the trials were
+held _seriatim_; with the result that by the time the last man had been
+condemned or acquitted, Irish public opinion, ever volatile, had veered
+round to an attitude of sympathy with the frustrated conspirators. The
+opportunity to denounce "English justice" was too strong. The fact that
+scores of innocent people had been foully murdered by the
+"revolutionists" was forgotten. As might have been anticipated from the
+start, the odium for the whole tragic occurrence, both the crime and
+the punishment, was laid by popular acclamation upon the shoulders of
+England. To-day, particularly in the United States, industrious
+propagandists are busily engaged in extolling the virtues of the
+departed criminals; and no tale seems too improbable, no accusation too
+fantastic, for those whose profession it is to disseminate them.
+
+One case in particular has gained unnecessary notoriety in the United
+States. An unfortunate man named Skeffington, a harmless visionary,
+instead of following the counsels of common sense and staying at home,
+wandered forth into the streets of Dublin during the height of the
+rioting. Here he was arrested by an English officer who, with a party
+of troops, was engaged in clearing the streets. This officer had
+recently returned from the Western Front on sick leave. Utterly unstrung
+by the appalling sights which confronted him, he appears to have
+suddenly lost his mental balance. At the end of the day he visited the
+barracks where his prisoners were confined, selected Skeffington and two
+others, and ordered their execution. The sentence was carried out. In
+due course the matter was reported to the authorities; a searching
+inquiry was held; and the afflicted officer was confined in an insane
+asylum. Such are the facts of the wretched occurrence; the wonder is,
+not that it should have happened, but that, in all the turmoil and
+agony of that hellish night in Dublin, it should only have happened
+once. But it is easy to imagine the form in which the story is being
+presented in the United States. Poor Skeffington is now canonised as a
+man who died for freedom with his back against a wall; while his widow
+is, or was, touring the chief cities of America, where she is being
+exploited by astute politicians (with Teutonic axes to grind) as a
+victim of the tyrannical "English" Government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+
+The redeeming feature of Irish politics lies in the fact that the
+grimmest tragedy is never far removed from the wildest farce. For
+example, within the last few months two by-elections have been held in
+Ireland for the purpose of returning new members to the House of
+Commons. In each case the candidates have been respectively an official
+Nationalist and a Sinn Feinner. That is to say, a representative of the
+constitutional Home Rule Party has been pitted against a member of the
+frankly separatist and revolutionary party. In each case the Sinn
+Feinner has been elected. The fact that one of these gentlemen is at
+present undergoing a term of penal servitude somewhat prejudices his
+chances of taking part for the present in the counsels of the Empire. It
+also adds one more little complication to the task of selecting a
+suitable constitution for a nation which allows its undoubted sense of
+humour to run away so completely with its sense of national
+responsibility.
+
+As these words are written, the news comes that that resourceful
+statesman, David Lloyd George, has conceived the happy notion of
+collecting all the Irish political parties around one table, with
+instructions to evolve a constitution of their own--the instructions
+being backed by the information that the offspring of this convention,
+provided it conforms to the most elementary criterions of common sense,
+will receive official endorsement forthwith. The present titanic
+struggle on the Western Front pales into insignificance at the thought
+of what will go on around that table. What will be evolved we do not
+know; but two things seem certain. Firstly, practically any scheme of
+Home Rule upon which the combatants can agree will be accepted by the
+people of England and Scotland. They are genuinely fond of their brave,
+witty, and turbulent neighbours; they are genuinely appreciative of the
+splendid work that has been done in the War by the Irish troops; they
+are broadminded enough to bear no malice for the recent disturbance in
+Dublin, for they can now view that untimely abortion in the right
+perspective; and they are painfully conscious that their own efforts to
+confer peace and contentment upon Ireland have not been an unqualified
+success. Finally, they are sick of strife and argument; and it is
+probable that any scheme which does not abandon Ireland, and
+incidentally expose the adjoining coast of England, to the intrigues and
+designs of a corrupt and Teutonically inclined Separatist Party--and it
+is this fear which has lain at the very foot of English opposition to
+Irish Home Rule for generations--will go through. And may that day not
+be far distant!
+
+Secondly (and from the point of view of this laboured discourse, most
+important of all), it can never be said again, either by doubting friend
+or candid critic, that Ireland is debarred from selecting her own form
+of government by the action of the English people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+
+Ireland, as ever, has drawn us far from our text.
+
+But I have said enough to demonstrate to unbiassed observers the present
+deplorable status of that unfortunate country, England. To-day her chief
+offices of State are occupied by Scotsmen of the most ruthless type;
+Wales supplies her with Prime Ministers; while Ireland appropriates all
+her spare cash and calls her a bloodsucker. When the War is over, and
+the world has leisure to devote itself to certain long-postponed
+domestic reforms, it is most devoutly to be hoped that the case of that
+unhappy but not undeserving people, the English, may be taken in hand,
+and that they be granted some measure, however slight, of political
+freedom. After that we must do something for Poland.
+
+
+[Illustration: Logo]
+
+
+THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
+GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oppressed English, by Ian Hay
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41448 ***