me Rule Act,
which was defeated in 1886; and the cause awaited another champion.

But while the door bearing the alluring words "Home Rule" still remains
rigidly closed, another has unexpectedly opened. One of the first
subjects to engage the attention of King Edward VII. after his
accession was the settlement of the Irish agrarian question which that
practical Monarch recognized as the most essential to the pacification
of his Irish subjects. This has {246} resulted in an ingeniously
devised system of peasant-proprietorship, which is made possible by
Government aid, in money and credit. The New Land Act, embodying this
result, went into effect November 1, 1903, whereby tenants,
sub-tenants, or people who are not tenants may purchase land in small
lots and hold it as _their own_, by the payment of a small annual
rental which applies to the purchase. It is impossible to give here
the complicated details which insure this result with benefit to
landlord, tenant, and also to the Government itself. But a remedy
seems to have been found which accomplishes all this; and the
condition, more demoralizing to Irish life and character than any
other, has been removed. With the sense of peace and permanence, and
even of dignity, which comes from proprietorship it is hoped a new day
is dawning for the peasantry of that unhappy country.

It has been Ireland's misfortune to be geographically allied to one of
the greatest {247} European Powers. She has been fighting for
centuries against the "despotism of fact." She has never once loosened
the grasp fastened upon her in 1171; never had control of her capital
city, which, built by the Northmen, has been the home of her political
masters ever since. Of course everyone knows that when the English
Government solemnly doubts the capacity of the Irish people for Home
Rule, its solicitude is for England, not Ireland.

Francis Meagher, when on trial for his life, said: "If I have committed
a crime, it is because I have read the history of Ireland!" One need
not be an Irish patriot to be in rebellion against the English rule in
that land; and no Protestant can read without shame and indignation the
crimes which have been committed in the name of his Church.

But, in view of the small results of more than eight centuries of
resistance, would it not be wise for the Irish people to abandon the
fight against the "despotism of fact," {248} to give up the attitude of
a conquered people