. Ireland yesterday and today . urden of gov-ernment by alien statesmen, who were ignorant of the coun-trys needs and indifferent to its demands. During the entire period Englands policy was markedby vacillation and political cowardice. No intelligent Eng-lishman now denies the justice of emancipation, of church dis-establishment or of the land reforms that have been accom-plished, yet each and every one of these was denounced andobstructed as a scheme of anarchy. Concessions weregranted ungraciously and always hedged about with restric-tions that made amending legislation necessary. Further-m
. Ireland yesterday and today . urden of gov-ernment by alien statesmen, who were ignorant of the coun-trys needs and indifferent to its demands. During the entire period Englands policy was markedby vacillation and political cowardice. No intelligent Eng-lishman now denies the justice of emancipation, of church dis-establishment or of the land reforms that have been accom-plished, yet each and every one of these was denounced andobstructed as a scheme of anarchy. Concessions weregranted ungraciously and always hedged about with restric-tions that made amending legislation necessary. Further-more, in nearly every case there was the discreditable specta-cle of a government obstinately refusing demands presentedby orderly procedure and then hastening to grant them underthe pressure of violent outbreaks. Thus it is that the twen-tieth century finds Ireland still unreconciled, still at enmitywith England, still maintaining her demand for a completeoverturning of the system of government which she condemnsand XXVI M I S G O V E R N M E N T Even the very brief and imperfect review which has beengiven of Irelands history will serve to explain in large meas-ure the present problems of the country and the persistentdemand of the people for a radical change in the form ofgovernment. It remains now to describe that governmentas it is and to examine the claims put forth by the advocatesof reform. From every standpoint, the development of Irelandduring the seven hundred years since the first invasion hasbeen abnormal. Geographically shut off from contact withEurope, the country has ever been at the mercy of was within the power of Great Britain to mold Irelands, destiny, to make her an integral part of the empire. But thisshe has failed to do. She never, until the present genera-tion, sought to deal with the Irish as equals; she always re-garded and treated them as an inferior race, and her wholepurpose was to extinguish absolutely the institutions and ev
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