mordant critics
would exalt the men of English descent by disparaging the men of Celtic
breed, but in vain. We regard all Irishmen who love their country,
whatever be their creed or pedigree, as equally our countrymen. We
rejoice in the splendid record of success in arms, arts, literature, and
diplomacy which the Irish minority can exhibit; we acknowledge thankfully
that wherever the rank of native patriots became thin or broken, men of
the other race leaped into their perilous places; and we cannot look on
the noble edifices which adorn the Irish capital, two of them not excelled
by the Palace of Legislation or the Palace of Commerce in any capital of
Europe, without thankfully remembering how much our country owes to the
cultivated genius of the minority. If the races who inhabit these islands
are ever to understand and honour each other, it must be on condition of
comprehending the past, not hiding it away; and history is the reservoir
from which such knowledge is drawn.

I know no civilised country, except Ireland, whose history is not familiar
to its people. In England you encounter English history everywhere; in
literature, in art, on the stage, and even in the pulpit. In France, not
merely endless books, but museums and picture galleries are devoted to the
illustration of French history. In the United States the schoolboy is
taught the principles of the American constitution as part of the regular
curriculum. Even in Australia its brief history of a single century has
been made a school-book in State schools; but in Ireland the national
history is never named in the schools called national, and that it may be
known volunteers must attempt the task which the State has neglected and
forbidden.

If the statesman gladly acknowledges that such intellectual discipline
makes men better citizens, the moralist rejoices to know that it makes
them better men. I can confidently affirm, for I have seen the prodigy
wrought, that strenuous self-discipline, with love of country for its
inspiration, burns up the grosser sentiments in young men, and teaches
them that life has happier as well as nobler pursuits than
self-indulgence; teaches them to abjure sensual and slavish vices, and
warm their souls with the divine flame of patriotism. An Irish poet has
named the teacher "God's second priest," and a great ecclesiastic, who was
also a wise guide in mundane affairs, the illustrious J. K. L. declared
more than half a century ago