It may be asked, after all, what did Fenianism do for Ireland?  To those who ask the question I would answer that no honest effort for liberty has ever been made in vain.  If Fenianism did nothing else, it kept alive the tradition and the spirit of freedom among Irishmen, and handed them on to the next generation.  In so far as the men who took part in it were unselfish, were whole-souled lovers of their country, and prepared to risk life and liberty for their country’s sake—­and I think with pride of the thousands of such men I knew or knew of—­then the whole Irish race was ennobled and lifted up from the mire of serfdom.

But it did more than merely make martyrs.  Its strength, its spontaneity, and the devotion of its adherents were such that they undoubtedly awakened not merely some alarm, but also some sense of justice in England.

Gladstone admitted that what first prompted him to set in motion the movement for the disestablishment of the Irish Church was “the intensity of Fenianism.”  But the result did not end there.  For many an Englishman was moved to the belief that surely there must be something wrong with a system which provoked such a movement, something not wholly bad about a cause for which men went with calm, proud confidence to the felon’s cell or the scaffold.  And, even to-day, England—­with all her secret service facilities—­does not know one-half of the danger from which she escaped; nor can I repeat much of what I myself could say of Fenianism in England.

There are men who have made large fortunes in business; there are eminent men in many of the professions, whose former connection with Fenianism is unsuspected, who, at the time, if the call had been made upon them, would cheerfully have thrown aside their careers and taken their places in the ranks.

Once again “a soul came into Ireland,” and men were capable then of high enterprises which to-day seem to belong to another age.

Even for myself, I have many times marvelled how light-heartedly in those days I took the risks of conspiracy—­how little it troubled me that there were dozens of men who bore my liberty, and perhaps my life, in their hands.  But I never doubted them—­and I was right!

CHAPTER XI.

THE HOME RULE MOVEMENT.

It now becomes my business to record the formation and progress of another organisation—­one which appealed to me precisely on the same grounds as Fenianism, namely, first, that it was based on justice; and, secondly, that it was practicable.

This was the constitutional movement for what was known as Home Rule.  My principles have never altered, and I can see nothing inconsistent in my adapting myself to changed conditions.  I and those who thought like me were driven into Fenianism because it seemed likely to achieve success, and what was call “constitutional agitation” seemed hopeless.  Now the position was reversed.  On the one hand Fenianism had collapsed, and on the other there seemed a prospect, partly owing to the change wrought by Fenianism, that a constitutional movement might succeed.