le condemnation of the policy
of the Imperial Parliament!

"On one point alone (it may be urged) all men, of whatever party or of
whatever nation, who have seriously studied the annals of Ireland are
agreed--the history is a record of incessant failure on the part of the
Government, and of incessant misery on the part of the people. On this
matter, if on no other, De Beaumont, Froude, and Lecky are at one. As to
the guilt of the failure or the cause of the misery, men may and do
differ; that England, whether from her own fault or the fault of the
Irish people, or from perversity of circumstances, has failed in Ireland
of achieving the elementary results of good government is as certain as
any fact of history or of experience. Every scheme has been tried in
turn, and no scheme has succeeded or has even, it may be suggested,
produced its natural effects. Oppression of the Catholics has increased
the adherents and strengthened the hold of Catholicism. Protestant
supremacy, while it lasted, did not lead even to Protestant contentment,
and the one successful act of resistance to the English dominion was
effected by a Protestant Parliament supported by an army of volunteers,
led by a body of Protestant officers. The independence gained by a
Protestant Parliament led, after eighteen years, to a rebellion so
reckless and savage that it caused, if it did not justify, the
destruction of the Parliament and the carrying of the Union. The Act of
Union did not lead to national unity, and a measure which appeared on
the face of it (though the appearance, it must be admitted, was
delusive) to be a copy of the law which bound England and Scotland into
a common country inspired by common patriotism, produced conspiracy and
agitation, and at last placed England and Ireland further apart,
morally, than they stood at the beginning of the century. The Treaty of
Union, it was supposed, missed its mark because it was not combined with
Catholic Emancipation. The Catholics were emancipated, but emancipation,
instead of producing loyalty, brought forth the cry for repeal. The
Repeal movement ended in failure, but its death gave birth to the
attempted rebellion in 1848. Suppressed rebellion begot Fenianism, to be
followed in its turn by the agitation for Home Rule. The movement
relies, it is said, and there is truth in the assertion, on
constitutional methods for obtaining redress. But constitutional
measures are supplemented by boycotting, by obs