cases; they certainly
alter opinions, but they do not alter facts. An Englishman applauds and
assists insurrection in countries where they profess to have for their
object the freedom of the individual or of the nation; he imprisons and
stifles it at home, where the motive is precisely similar, and the
cause, in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably more valid.
But I do not wish to raise a vexed question, or to enter on political
discussions; my object in this Preface is simply to bring before the
minds of Englishmen that they have a duty to perform towards Ireland--a
duty which they cannot cast aside on others--a duty which it may be for
their interest, as well as for their honour, to fulfil. I wish to draw
the attention of Englishmen to those Irish grievances which are
generally admitted to exist, and which can only be fully understood by a
careful and unprejudiced perusal of Irish history, past and present.
Until grievances are thoroughly understood, they are not likely to be
thoroughly remedied. While they continue to exist, there can be no real
peace in Ireland, and English prosperity must suffer in a degree from
Irish disaffection.

It is generally admitted by all, except those who are specially
interested in the denial, that the Land question and the Church question
are the two great subjects which lie at the bottom of the Irish
difficulty. The difficulties of the Land question commenced in the reign
of Henry II.; the difficulties of the Church question commenced in the
reign of Henry VIII. I shall request your attention briefly to the
standpoints in Irish history from which we may take a clear view of
these subjects. I shall commence with the Land question, because I
believe it to be the more important of the two, and because I hope to
show that the Church question is intimately connected with it.

In the reign of Henry II., certain Anglo-Norman nobles came to Ireland,
and, partly by force and partly by intermarriages, obtained estates in
that country. Their tenure was the tenure of the sword. By the sword
they expelled persons whose families had possessed those lands for
centuries; and by the sword they compelled these persons, through
poverty, consequent on loss of property, to take the position of
inferiors where they had been masters. You will observe that this first
English settlement in Ireland was simply a colonization on a very small
scale. Under such circumstances, if the native population