LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
IRISH HATRED OF ENGLAND.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."' SIR,—I think you are unduly despondent in your article on the Chicago Convention in the Spectator of September 28th.
No doubt the American-Irish hate England, and as regards them, I agree with you that no immediate remedy is possible. But though a strong feeling against England is still felt in the old country, Chicago is not Ireland, and there are already signs of a better spirit arising here. Such is the general Conference of Dairying and other Agricultural Co-operative Societies held in Dublin this day week, under the presidency of Mr. Horace Plunkett, M.P., at which men of all classes, parties, and creeds assisted, a gathering which would cer- tainly have been impossible ten or even five years ago, and
of which the spirit, at once practical and conciliatory, is a good augury for the future of the country. A second sign of
this better spirit is the remarkable support so widely given to Mr. Plunkett's proposal for a Recess Committee of Irish politicians to place before the Government a non-contentious Irish programme.
Let us take as our motto, "Be not weary of well-doing," and perhaps the less the element of calculation enters into our policy, the greater the softening of old animosities will be. Therefore let us not count on such a return for well- doing, but rather let us despair of it, at any rate in Ireland itself; in America the memories are necessarily bitterest, and, unfortunately, no remedial measures now applied in Ireland can mitigate the ills suffered by the emigrant of fifty years ago, or benefit his descendants across the ocean.
The "half-delirious patient" to whom you liken Ireland, is passing out of the feverish stage, and will, we may fairly hope, now be able to judge for herself the efficacy of "the nurse's" treatment. We need not take too much to heart "the bullying" of "the foolish, violent, and prejudiced friends" of the patient. Let us, however, not forget how much cause for prejudice, folly, and violence the nurse herself has given in the past. Rather let that remembrance brace us to well-doing, unwearying, but not without hope.—I am, Sir, ,
Mount Trenchard, October 2nd. MONTEAGLE.
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