or the first time in Irish
history side by side to join hands in a noble effort to obliterate the
past and to redeem the future. It was one of the greatest scenes of
true emotion and tremendous hope that ever was witnessed in any land
or any time. If its brave and joyous spirit could only have been
caught up and passed along, we would have seen long before now that
vision glorious which inspired the deeds and sacrifices of Tone and
Emmet and the other magnificent line of martyrs for Irish liberty--we
would have witnessed that brotherhood of class and creed which is
Ireland's greatest need, and upon which alone can her eventual
happiness and liberty rest. And, most striking incident of all, here
had met, in a blessed forgetfulness of past rancours and of fierce
blows given and received, the two most redoubtable champions of the
landlords and the tenants--Lord Barrymore and Mr William O'Brien, the
men whose sword blows upon each other's shields still reverberated in
the minds of everyone present. What a study for a painter, or poet, or
philosopher! The most dauntless defender of landlordism, in a generous
impulse of what I believe to be the most genuine patriotism, stood on
a platform with Mr William O'Brien, whom he had fought so resolutely
in the Plan of Campaign days, to declare in effect that landlordism
could no longer be defended and to agree as to the terms on which it
could be ended, with advantage to every section of the Irish nation.
It was only magnanimous men--men of fine fibre and a noble moral
courage--who could stretch their hands across the yawning chasm of the
bad and bitter years, with all their evil memories of hates and wounds
and scars and defy the yelpings of the malicious minds who were only
too glad to lead on the pack, to shout afterwards at Mr O'Brien:
"Barrymore!" when of a truth, of all the achievements of Mr O'Brien's
crowded life of effort and accomplishment there is not one that should
bring more balm to his soul or consolation to his war-worn heart than
that he should have induced the enemy of other days to pay this
highest of all tributes to his honesty and worth. He had convinced his
enemy of his rectitude, and what greater deed than this! I confess it
made my ears tingle with shame when I used to hear unthinking
scoundrels, egged on by others who should have known better, shout
"Barrymore!" at Mr O'Brien in their attempts to hold him up to public
odium for an act which might easily have b