men should aim
at: the formation of indestructible bonds of friendship between Great
Britain and the United States. Nor must it be forgotten that the calm
and reasonable character of Irish-American opinion is due in a large
degree to confidence in the ultimate success of the constitutional
movement here for Home Rule. Every successive defeat of that policy
tends to embitter feeling in America.

Oh, for an hour of intelligent politics! The old choice is before us--to
make the best or the worst of the state of opinion in America; to
disinter from ancient files of the _Irish World_ sentences calculated to
inflame an ignorant British audience; or to say in sensible and manly
terms: "The situation is more favourable than it has been for a century
past for the settlement of just Irish claims."

FOOTNOTES:

[39] At Woodford, May 27, 1911.

[40] This is a very general statement. No figures exist for an accurate
computation. The Census of 1910 gives the total population of the United
States, white and coloured, as 91,272,266, of whom nearly 9,000,000 are
negroes. The figures about countries of origin are not yet available.
The statistical abstract of the United States (1908) gives the total
number of immigrants from Ireland from 1821 to 1908 as 4,168,747 (the
large majority of whom must have been of marriageable age), but does not
estimate the subsequent increase by marriage, and takes no account of
the immigration prior to 1821, which was very large, especially in the
period preceding the Revolutionary War of 1775-1782. At the Census of
1900 Irishmen actually _born in Ireland_ and then resident in the United
States are stated to have been 1,618,567, as compared with 93,682 from
Wales, 233,977 from Scotland, and 842,078 from England.

[41] I am especially indebted for information to Mr. Hugh Sutherland, of
the _North American_ (Philadelphia), to Mr. Rodman Wanamaker, of the
same city, to Mr. Frank Sanborn, of Concord, and to Mr. John
O'Callaghan, of Boston.

CHAPTER IX

IRELAND TO-DAY

Why does present-day Ireland need Home Rule? I put the question in that
way because I am not going to question the fact that she wants Home
Rule. She has always said she wanted it: she says so still, and that is
enough. There is a powerful minority in Ireland against Home Rule. There
always have been minorities more or less powerful against Home Rule in
all ages and places. That does not alter the national character of the
clai