[26] Appendix to First Report, p. 37.

[27] Appendix to Third Report, pp. 283, 296.

CHAPTER VI.

THROUGH THOUGHT TO ACTION.

I have now completed my survey of the main conditions which, in my opinion, must be taken into account by anyone who would understand the Irish mind, and still more by those who seek to work with it in rebuilding the fortunes of the country.  The task has been one of great difficulty, as it was necessary to tell, not only the truth—­for that even an official person may be excused—­but also the whole truth, which, unless made compulsory by the kissing of the book, is regarded as a gratuitous kissing of the rod.  From the frying pan of political dispute, I have passed into the fire of sectarian controversy.  I have not hesitated to poach on the preserves of historians and economists, and have even bearded the pedagogues in their dens.  Before my stock of metaphors is exhausted, let me say that I have one hope of escape from the cross-fire of denunciation which independent speaking about Ireland is apt to provoke.  I once witnessed a football match between two villages, one of which favoured a political party called by the name of a leader, with an ‘ism’ added to indicate a policy, the other adopting the same name, still further elongated by the prefix ‘anti.’  When I arrived on the scene the game had begun in deadly earnest, but I noticed the ball lying unmolested in another quarter of the field.  In Irish public life I have often had reason to envy that ball, and perhaps now its lot may be mine, while the game goes on and the critics pay attention to each other.

To my friendly critics a word of explanation is due.  The opinions to which I have given expression are based upon personal observation and experience extending over a quarter of a century during which I have been in close touch with Irish life at home, and not unfamiliar with it abroad.  I have referred to history only when I could not otherwise account for social and economic conditions with which I came into contact, or with which I desired practically to deal.  Whether looking back over the dreary wastes of Anglo-Irish history, or studying the men and things of to-day, I came to conclusions which differed widely from what I had been taught to believe by those whose theories of Irish development had not been subjected to any practical test.  Deeply as I have felt for the past sufferings of the Irish people and their heritage of disability and distress, I could not bring myself to believe that, where misgovernment had continued so long, and in such an immense variety of circumstances and conditions, the governors could have been alone to blame.  I envied those leaders of popular thought whose confidence in themselves and in their followers was shaken by no such reflections.  But the more I listened to them the more the conviction was borne in upon me that they were seeking to build an impossible future upon an imaginary past.