Thus the sudden and unlooked-for departure of British politicians from their past military procedure towards this island provokes acutely the fundamental issue of Self-determination.  That issue will decide whether our whole economic, social, and political life must lie at the uncontrolled disposition of another race whose title to legislate for us rests on force and fraud alone.

Ireland is a nation more ancient than England, and is one of the oldest in Christendom.  Its geographical boundaries are clearly defined.  It cherishes its own traditions, history, language, music, and culture.  It throbs with a national consciousness sharpened not only by religious persecution, but by the violation of its territorial, juristic, and legislative rights.  The authority of which its invaders boasted rests solely on an alleged Papal Bull.  The symbols of attempted conquest are roofless castles, ruined abbeys, and confiscated cathedrals.

The title of King of Ireland was first conferred on the English monarch by a statute of the Parliament held in Ireland in 1542, when only four of our counties lay under English sway.  That title originated in no English enactment.  Neither did the Irish Parliament so originate.  Every military aid granted by that Parliament to English kings was purely voluntary.  Even when the Penal Code denied representation to the majority of the Irish population, military service was never enforced against them.

For generations England claimed control over both legislative and judicial functions in Ireland, but in 1783 these pretensions were altogether renounced, and the sovereignty of the Irish Legislature was solemnly recognised.  A memorable British statute declared it—­

     “Established and ascertained for ever, and shall at no time
     hereafter be questioned or questionable.”

For this, the spirit evoked by the successful revolt of the United States of America is to be thanked, and Ireland won no mean return for the sympathy invited by your Congress.  Yet scarcely had George III signified his Royal Assent to that “scrap of paper,” when his Ministers began to debauch the Irish Parliament.  No Catholic had, for over a century, been allowed to sit within its walls; and only a handful of the population enjoyed the franchise.  In 1800, by shameless bribery, a majority of corrupt Colonists was procured to embrace the London subjugation and vote away the existence of their Legislature for pensions, pelf, and titles.

The authors of the Act of Union, however, sought to soften its shackles by limiting the future jurisdiction of the British Parliament.  Imposed on “a reluctant and protesting nation,” it was tempered by articles guaranteeing Ireland against the coarser and more obvious forms of injustice.  To guard against undue taxation, “exemptions and abatements” were stipulated for; but the “predominant partner” has long since dishonoured that part of the contract,