I would willingly pass over this dreadful episode.  I have no more desire to dwell on it than I have on Cromwell’s conduct at Drogheda.  I regard it merely as one of those terrible incidents which alas have taken place in almost every campaign.  It was probably equalled in character if not in magnitude by several outrages committed by the other side; and certainly parallels could be found in the French invasion of Algeria fifty years later and in many other wars of the nineteenth century.  When men have been fired with the diabolical passions that war arouses, and have grown accustomed to the ghastly sights on battlefields, they cease to be reasoning beings; they become fiends.  But unfortunately it is necessary to explain what really occurred, as it is to Vinegar Hill and its terrible associations that the Nationalists of to-day refer with triumph.  Songs in praise of the massacre are sung at Nationalist gatherings; and W. Redmond, speaking at Enniscorthy (close to the scene of the massacre) on the 110th anniversary of the outrages said:  “The heroic action of the men who fought and died around Vinegar Hill was the heritage of all Ireland.  Whatever measure of comparative freedom we now enjoy was entirely attributable to the Insurrection of ’98.  It was the pikemen of ’98 who made the world and England understand that Irishmen knew how to fight for their rights, and it is to the knowledge of that fact by England that we may look for the real driving force of any effort we may make for our liberty.  The Irish people are in no position to resort to arms, but the spirit is there, and by demonstrations like this we show our rulers that it is essential for any real and lasting peace that the aspirations of the patriots of ’98 must be satisfied, and that a full measure of National freedom must be granted to Ireland.”

(It will be observed that in the opinion of this orator—­a prominent Nationalist Member of Parliament, who was selected to go round the Colonies collecting money for the Home Rule cause—­the possession of an Independent Parliament, of everything in fact short of separation, goes for nothing; it is only those who rebelled against that Parliament who are to be regarded as models for modern Nationalists to follow.  It is interesting also to note the different views which have been put forward by Irish politicians with regard to the rebellion.  In 1843 the leaders of the Repeal Association stated in one of their manifestoes, as an argument in favour of repeal, that England had resorted to the diabolical expedient of fomenting a rebellion in order to distract the country and give excuse for military violence and so bring about a Union.  But the Nationalists of to-day have so completely identified themselves with the rebels of 1798 that within the last few years splendid monuments have been erected in all the towns of Wexford and the adjoining counties; some of these are bronze figures of patriots brandishing pikes, others are representations of the priestly leaders of the rebel forces.  These monuments have been unveiled with great ceremony, impassioned speeches being made on the occasion by leading orators, both clerical and lay).