bad scran to them! Whin we get the bill we'll
sink them mines an' send the Castle to blazes." The coal under the
Phoenix Park is a matter of pious belief with every back-slum
Dubliner. The gold of the Wicklow mountains is proverbial all over
Ireland. There is not a nobleman's demesne that does not cover untold
wealth in some shape or form. It may be gold, silver, copper, lead, or
only coal or iron. But it is there, and the people of the
neighbourhood want an Irish Parliament in order that the treasures may
be turned into money. The more intelligent Nationalists foster these
beliefs, although they know them to be without foundation. They know
that the treasures do not exist in paying quantities, and also that if
they did exist their fellow-countrymen are too lazy to dig them up.
The Nationalist orators never rely on patriotic sentiment. They
promise the land for nothing. Mr. William O'Brien has unceasingly
offered as a bribe the promise of prairie rents for the farmers, but
Tim Healy went one better when at Limerick he said that "The people of
this country never ought to be satisfied so long as a single penny of
rent is paid for a sod of land in the whole of Ireland." Well might
Sir George Trevelyan say that Irish agitators have done much to
demoralise the country, and that in many parts of Ireland they gained
their livelihood by criminal agitation. The same authority tells us
that "an Irish Parliament will be independent of the Parliament of
this country, but will be dependent on the votes of the small farmers,
who have been taught that rent is robbery." That is a precise
statement of the position so far as the agricultural voters are
concerned. Their patriotism is nothing more nor less than a sure and
certain hope of pecuniary advantage. The green flag of Ireland has no
charms for them. The ancient glories of Hibernia are sung to them in
vain. They care not for the Onward march to Freedom. They will make no
sacrifices on the shrine of their country. The subscriptions furnished
by the Irish peasantry for the furtherance of the cause amount to
almost nothing, although extorted partly by compulsion and partly by
the hope of future profit. The following facts will show how
spontaneous is their patriotism. At a Sunday meeting at Gurteen in
1887, the Very Reverend Canon O'Donohoe in the chair, it was resolved,
"That a collection for the defence of Messrs. Dillon and O'Brien be
made during the ensuing week in this locality, a