ty-eight years ago.

What is the truth, what are the facts?

By his bull "Laudabiliter," in 1155, Pope Adrian the Fourth invited the
King of England to take charge of Ireland. In 1172 Pope Alexander the
Third confirmed this by several letters, at present preserved in the
Black Book of the Exchequer. Accordingly, Henry the Second went
to Ireland. All the archbishops and bishops of Ireland met him at
Waterford, received him as king and lord of Ireland, vowing loyal
obedience to him and his successors, and acknowledging fealty to them
forever. These prelates were followed by the kings of Cork, Limerick,
Ossory, Meath, and by Reginald of Waterford. Roderick O'Connor, King of
Connaught, joined them in 1175. All these accepted Henry the Second
of England as their Lord and King, swearing to be loyal to him and his
successors forever.

Such was England's brutal and unjustifiable conquest of Ireland.

Ireland was not a nation, it was a tribal chaos. The Irish nation of
that day is a legend, a myth, built by poetic imagination. During the
centuries succeeding Henry the Second, were many eras of violence and
bloodshed. In reading the story, it is hard to say which side committed
the most crimes. During those same centuries, violence and bloodshed and
oppression existed everywhere in Europe. Undoubtedly England was very
oppressive to Ireland at times; but since the days of Gladstone she has
steadily endeavored to relieve Ireland, with the result that today
she is oppressing Ireland rather less than our Federal Government
is oppressing Massachusetts, or South Carolina, or any State. By
the Wyndham Land Act of 1903, Ireland was placed in a position so
advantageous, so utterly the reverse of oppression, that Dillon, the
present leader, hastened to obstruct the operation of the Act, lest
the Irish genius for grievance might perish from starvation. Examine the
state of things for yourself, I cannot swell this book with the details;
they are as accessible to you as the few facts about the conquest which
I have just narrated. Examine the facts, but even without examining
them, ask yourself this question: With Canada, Australia, and all those
other colonies that I have named above, satisfied with England's rule,
hastening to her assistance, and with only Ireland selling herself
to Germany, is it not just possible that something is the matter with
Ireland rather than with England? Sinn Fein will hear of no Home Rule.
Sinn Fein demands i