FOUR BOOKS ON IRELAND.*
THE reading of three out of the four books on Ireland whose names we have given below (the fourth, as we shall presently see, is a work of a very different kind, and is, indeed, of altogether exceptional importance) has suggested to us this question—and it has suggested little else,—Why cannot the literary talent in the Parnellite ranks combine to produce one good book on Irish history and the demand for Home-rule, instead of dissipating itself in the production of a hundred works the preponderating majority of which are, to put the truth mildly, third-rate P A thundering chorus is incom- parably more effective than a succession of indifferent, altrieky, and sentimental solos. Nationalists themselves say they now wish to be heard and to be listened to in England. But they will be heard for good, not for much speaking, and if they wish to see the style of writing that will be read, and by virtue of sheer readability, let them read that portion of the sixth volume of Mr. Lecky's History of England in the Eighteenth Century which treats of Ireland in the days of Grattan's Parliament. We say nothing now of Mr. Lecky's facts, or of the inferences he draws from them. But we do say that Mr. Lecky carefully marshals his facts, and that the narrative by which they are connected is lucid and temperate, and that it is by lucidity and temperance of statement that the ear of the English public will be gained. But of the bulk of Nationalist histories by followers of Mr. Parnell, what can be said but that they are impassioned funeral orations on dead Irishmen, who are invariably depicted as the purest of patriots, or eleges on living Irishmen, who are, of course, the worthy successors of the dead? There are excep- tions to this rule, no doubt,—such as the work by an extreme Nationalist (so extreme as to go a good deal beyond Mr. Parnell) which was reviewed a short time ago in our columns. Bat the exceptions are only of the kind that prove the rule.
We cannot include in the list of exceptions such works as Mr. Justin Huntly McCarthy's Ireland Since the Union and The Case for Home-rule, or even the second volume of the late Rev. W. A. O'Conor's History of the Irish People. Mr. Huntly McCarthy, who has exhibited some cleverness of the literary light-weight or flineur sort, has been borne down by the im- portance of the subjects he has tried to treat in his two new volumes. It would be cruel to compare his callow Case for Home-rule, which reads like a paper prepared hurriedly for a young men's debating society or suburban " Parliament," with such a solid and valuable addition to the literature of constitu- tional polities as the well-known essay of Professor Dicey. In his other book, Mr. Hnntly McCarthy is not seen even at his best. It has been hurriedly written, is badly constructed, and is padded out with quotations, some apparently from other writings by Mr_Huntly McCarthy himself. The book contains absolutely nothing from the historical point of view that is new, and it comes merely to this, that there never were in history such men as the Irish patriots of the past, always excepting Mr. Parnell and his colleagues in the present day. Mr. Huntly McCarthy has at his command a large amount of very watery Irish eloquence; but he need not have rendered himself and it ridiculous by pressing it thus into the service of Mr. Biggar. "In one of the best modern historical novels in the English language—The Cloister and the Hearth—the hero is comforted, through a long period of • Industrial Ireland. B Robert Dennis. London : John Murray. 1E187.— /Mend Sine. the Union. By India H. McCarthy, M.P. London : Chatto and Windus. 1867.—History of the Irish People. Vol. II. By W. A. O'Conor, B A. Manchester : Yohn Heywood. 1837.—The Cuss for Home-rule. By Audis, H. McCarthy, El P. London Chatto and Windus. 1887. sorrow, strife, and danger by a gallant companion who shares his sufferings, helps him to face his dangers, fights his enemies, and at all times and seasons is clapping him encouragingly on the back and repeating to him the watchword, Courage, camarade, le cliche est mart ! In the same spirit of gallant brotherhood, Mr. Biggar occupied his place by the young man who was fighting his first fights in a hostile assembly. With imperturbable composure, with unalterable good-humour, with an apparently marvellous and unwearying staying-power, Mr. Biggar proved himself the very ideal lieutenant of the leader of a small minority against overwhelming odds." The second volume of Mr. O'Conor's History of Ireland—we regret to see that he has died since it was written—is a much weightier contribution to Irish history than either of Mr. Handy McCarthy's books. Mr. O'Conor, although not a Nationalist— so, at least, a very warm admirer has stated since his death— was terribly in earnest ; and earnestness under certain circum- stances means, and, indeed, insures, readability of narrative- But even Mr. O'Conor uses quotation-marks too freely ; his narrative is jerky, and his bias is painfully obvious. Some- times he pauses in his story to give a sermon to his country- men. Is it not possible for some of them to take to heart snob words as these P- " It is not good for a nation to dwell upon its sorrows or its sufferings. To men or communities, self-pity is a demoralising vice. It makes Christianity a sordid whine ; it makes patriotism a beggar's street-song. Wrong in every case should lead as to ask why we suffer it,—what infirmity of our own exposes us to it ; and while a cause is discoverable in our own habits, we should feel anger, not pity for ourselves,—for ourselves, and not for others. It is for Englishmen to dwell on Irish wrongs, and compel their rulers to learn the first elements of humanity. It is for Irishmen to see their errors and amend them."
Mr. Robert Dennis's Industrial Ireland is a small, unpre- tending, simply written volume of two hundred pages ; but we do not hesitate to say that it is one of the moot interesting and
instructive books that have been published for many years upon Ireland, and that if only Irishmen would read it in the spirit of the passage we have quoted from Mr. O'Conor, it would probably do them more good than all the speeches of all the Nationalist agitators put together. No Irishman, not even a Nationalist, can complain of the spirit in which Mr. Dennis writes about "that comely island which, loving, some of us have at times been apt to chide, forgetting her many troubles, her need of some strong arm on which to lean, her condition of almost blank despair." Here are the very sharpest remarks he makes, about the centre of the book, and we fear they contain the pith of the whole :—
" The Irish artisan is almost invariably a good worker,—capable, honest, and painstaking. Bat he lacks the initiative, the forethought, and the business aptitude necessary for the successful prosecution of enterprise on his own account. Excellent as a workman, he speedily goes to ruin when he attempts to be a master. He finds—much to. his surprise no doubt—that his payments do not come back as they ought to do; that his contracts bring him nothing but the reward of virtue. Education may in time do much to remedy this siugular defect ; but for the present it most be taken into account whenever we estimate the industrial capabilities of the Irish people. The obvious lesson it teaches is that Irish labour is a thing to be employed rather than to find employment for itself. The Irish mechanic most be treated as a being with excellent hands but no head. His opera- tions must be directed by English or Scotch intelligence. The English factory system ought to be well adapted for Ireland. Give an Irishman a wheel to tarn, a horse to drive, or a plank to saw, and he will do it with almost pathetic fidelity. Invite him, however, to earn a living in the best way he can think of, and be will gaze at you with dumb and perplexed astonishment."
There is little that can fairly be considered controversial in this book, although Mr. Dennis maintains that the causes of the decline of Irish industries are to be found. in existing circumstances, and not in more or less ancient history, and proves that that decline did not begin with the Act of Union, but twenty years or more before. To a great extent, therefore, this book, while it invites reading, disarms. criticism. It is simply a melancholy collection of facts, arranged in chapters under such suitable heads as " Corn and other Food Crops," "Live and Dead Meat," "The Butter Trade,". " Plants used in Manufactures," "Mines and Quarries," " Timber and Wheat," " Textile and Leather Trades," " Pottery, Glass, Metal-working, and Chemicals," " Paper and Flour Mills," " Cottage Industries," "Land Improvement," " Railways," and " The Financial System." The same lesson appears in prac- tically every chapter. Them is, to all intents and purposes, no reason why Ireland should not compete with all rivals in. almost every industry of which she has the germ, and yet there
is that fatal weakness—call it lack of energy, deficiency in initiative, or what you will—which prevents such competition being carried on with any hope. Yet, as some of the Irish industries have been depressed by economical causes, so some economical chance may come to elevate them again. Mr. Dennis is as sober a writer as need be, but yet he indulges in some dreams, and here is one which is curious, yet not economi- cally incapable of fulfilment. Having summarised one of his chapters thus : —
" Here we have two solid facts, both being of the utmost importance in regard to the future of Ireland,—namely, the existence of a vast body of coal jest as accessible as much of the coal now being worked in Greet Britain, and the existence of a vast body of iron ore yielding an exceptionally high average of metal ;" and "aide by side with these two facts we will put another,—namely, that at this moment not a single ton of iron ore is smelted in Ireland;"
he proceeds to say :-
" Ireland's time will come. A very slight diminution of the English and Scotch output, due to the approaching exhaustion of the coal measures now being worked, would at once bring Ireland into the field. That time may not be very far off. We do not share the late Stanley Jevons's apprehensions of an early anal famine in England, but the present enormous output has its limits, and the price of coal in this country has undoubtedly touched its lowest point. It may con- tinue there for some time, but its next move must be upward. They will be ' getting' coal in Ireland at 2,000 ft. and 3,000 ft., when we in Great Britain have to go down to 4,000 ft.; and other things being equal, that would mean for Ireland ' a potentiality of becoming rich' beyond even what Dr. Johnson saw in the brewery be has immor- talised."
The conclusion of this bookie somewhat disappointing, although that is perhaps Mr. Dennis's misfortune rather than his fault. He suggests, by way of fostering Irish industries, the inter- vention of the State in a host of ways—the replanting of waste lands, the encouragement of special industries, the establish- ment of technical and agricultural schools, the purchase in Ireland of goods required for the Army and Navy—and then he says :—" From this point, self-help must come into play. Ireland must resolutely avail herself of the new, the unprece- dented opportunities opened up to her. She must second to the utmost the efforts of those who shall make these great exertions on her behalf.' She must strive to encourage the industrial habit." But what reasonable hope is there of this self-help coming into play ? Is it not the most melancholy thing in con- nection with this saddening book that it suggests the possibility that a race or a nation, no less than an individual, may be deficient in self-help ?
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