sh--it
was at once agreed to. Irish had been permitted and paid for, though not
markedly encouraged, since 1879. It was now placed on a list of subjects
which might be taught in school hours, and extra fees were allotted for
teaching it at the rate of ten shillings per pupil--twice the amount
allowed for French, Latin, or music. Grants are also made to certain
colleges where teachers of the language can be trained. All this began
in 1901, and since that time over 12,000 pounds a year has been paid for
Irish teaching directly from Imperial funds--about twice the amount
collected in the same period by voluntary contributions from Ireland and
the rest of the world. Nor is this the limit of the grant; it is limited
only by the willingness of school managers and parents to make use of
it. Indirectly, the State is paying much more, for the various
professorships and lectureships in Irish subjects--language history,
archaeology, and economies--established under the National University
account for well over 3,500 pounds a year. Taking the direct expenditure
on elementary education alone, the State has paid for Irish teaching
since 1879 a sum of no less than 209,000 pounds. It may therefore be
claimed that in cultivating her ancient language and native traditions,
Ireland enjoys the fairest and most liberal treatment ever accorded to a
small nationality incorporated in a great Empire.

[Footnote *: By the Rev. P. S. Dineen; published by the Irish Tests
Society.]

Reforms and Their Results

On the reforms which have been thus briefly sketched, one or two general
remarks may be in place.

It has sometimes been contended that except by violence, or the menace
of violence, Ireland has never obtained anything from the English
Legislature. It would be truer to say that she has never obtained
anything at all. England is not a sovereign Power, and does not
administer Irish affairs, nor even her own. What has been gained has
been gained from the Legislature of the United Kingdom, in which
Irishmen, like every other race inhabiting that kingdom, have had their
full share of representation and of influence. And if in Ireland, as in
other countries, the necessity of reform has sometimes been made evident
by disorder, it is wholly untrue to say that this has been always or
even usually the case. Land-reform in its earliest stages, like trade
unionism in England, was accompanied by disorder. But the greatest
measure of Irish land-refor