en though the day
before the rising he may have been only a minor poet. The shot Irishmen
will now take their places beside Emmet and the Manchester Martyrs in
Ireland, and beside the heroes or Poland and Serbia and Belgium in
Europe; and nothing in heaven or on earth can prevent it."

FOOTNOTE:

[3] I give the well-known letter in its entirety, but I cannot vouch for
such passages, and I know that in many cases officers were particularly
distressed at having to fight Irishmen instead of Germans.

CHAPTER THE NINTH

REFLECTIONS TOWARDS RECONSTRUCTION

One of the most gratifying things about the terrible catastrophe through
which we have been passing during the last few weeks is the spirit of
hope which has taken the place of the spirit of despair which
immediately followed the outbreak.

Ireland has ever been more of a problem suited to statesmen than to
soldiers; indeed, the soldier has more often than not come in to spoil
the work of the statesman, and Mr. Asquith's hurried visit to Dublin,
Cork, and Belfast after John Dillon's speech was chiefly undertaken in
order to prevent any repetition of the old mistake.

The need for conciliation, everybody will admit, was exceedingly urgent,
for it was the admitted intention of the Sinn Feiners to put the matter
to the test as to whether England held Ireland by her own free
constitutional consent, or whether it was merely a permanent military
occupation, like Belgium and Poland. "England is not the champion of
small nations," they said. "She never was and never will be, and while
she is masquerading before the world as such it is our intention, in
Ireland's name, to give her the lie--yes, even though it be in our own
blood."

Indeed, as I have already said, there appears to have been a belief
among the Sinn Feiners that if only they could hold the capital for
twelve days by force of arms they would have a sort of claim to be
mentioned at the Peace Conference along with Poland and Belgium.

Now, it matters very little whether such a suggestion came from Berlin
or Washington, or whether the whole thing was a fable, for the grand
fact remains that England now stands before Europe with the point of
Ireland's loyalty openly questioned, and she has only two courses open:
she must either neglect Irish opinion and proclaim that she holds the
sister isle by right of conquest--when, of course, the fate of Belgium
is sealed as far as England's ethical pleading is conc