The Press. SATURDAY. APRIL 3. 1915. An Irish Patriot-

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15243, 3 April 1915, Page 8

The Press. SATURDAY. APRIL 3. 1915. An Irish Patriot-

AVhdteyor our opinion may bo on the great Irish problem, thero is at least one name in tho chequered record of • .Irish ogttation whose lustre the fiercest controversy cannot dim. A\"<- allude 'Thomas Davis, tbo "poot of "The Na- .'•'- tion," whoso literary ami historical remains have Just been collected and -published by-Dr. W. B. -T. O'Douaghuo. They do not form n very large volume; but whoever wishes to koo the spirit ; of .Irish national's— at its best, may bo confidently recommended to seek it there-; A few months' hgo tho Irish l.iteniry Society iv London celebrated . the ceuteniiYy of Davis's birth; but 't i.s a significant fact that in Ireland-it-self the occasion passed without any -' l'olico whatever. We have called il .significant, because .it -.cams to indicate that the spirit and memory, of Dav ; is are not a very, potent factor in the . ,-later 'developments of Irish national ■ politics.' His idealism and hi* rciter- ' ntod appeals to Ireland,'not merely to struggle for iiuodom, but to la'iw.ir earuejtly to render herself worthy' of fcedoui. seen to occupy a 'differvit plane from tho voice.*! that surge in our ears from the latter-day conflict. He ' i s now relegated to the study as an an- " t"que specimen of a school of nationalism now defunct. It is a pity that . it should be so-.'.but'we fear wo cannot .blind our eyes to facts. We havo been for years hearing « great "deal about the wrongs- of Ireland; of exhortation to noble life and an exalted .•standard of national thought we have heartl very. little. Davis was a Protestant, He was - born in ISI-1. Tho family, on his lather's side, was of Welsh origin; but • "hroiigh his mother some of the best ' blood of Iro.-hd ran in his veins. Instead of being nurtured from infancy ■n the wrongs of Ireland, ho grew up . Tn an atmosphere, of tho -strictest Unionism. As « .schoolboy, he was thy nud dreamy; but as an undergraduate of Trinity College, Dublin, he , launched into courses of wido reading, especially in the departments of hislory, economic--, and ethics. He was called to the Irish Bar, but had little heart in the business, and found more congenial activity in diibbling in political journalism Meantime he was saturating himself with Irish history i And Irish literature. Tin- turningpoint in his career Was the foundation of the "Nation" newspaper iv 1842. Into its columns h« poured tho t-ongo and patriotic poems, which form, after all. the most interesting legacy that he has left us. AA'e say this without disparagement of his political knd historical essays, which are here collected for us. These prose writings are the work of an earnest and truthloving student, who looked far beyond the narrow confines of his own country in'his efforts to attain true standards of political thinking. But it was by his'rousiDg strains that he reached the

heart of the people, and they are for us now the real reflection of his soul. It i.s, perhaps, true that he was not by naturo richly gifted with poetic power. But true depth of feeling and a passionate longing to instil noblo aspirations, combined to make him a poet. It was in verse that he poured forth his yearnings for the independence of his country. He could sing of freedom in tones of truth and conviction, because he regarded fre.xlom, not as the opening or a door to licentious national orgies, but as the nursing-mother of noble virtues. The poems are not all on an equally high level; but the best of them, thoso on topics which moved him deeply, have (strength of passion, a rich and sensitive music, all chastened by simplicity and sincerity. Davis came on tho scene amid the welter and chaos into which Irish politics had sunk in tho last years of O'Connell. Tho violence of tbo hack politicians of the time was only equalled by their ignorance. O'Connell had been a tremendous force: but the force had spent itself, and had left behind it a backwash of muddy, waters, but no pure, fertilizing streams of thought and knowledge. We aro told by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (to whom the memory of Davis owes so much), that the typical politician of tlio-c days knew nothing, and did not pretend to know anything, about tho history and literature ■ c-ven ->f his own country. He "could not tell whether Owen Roe "O'Xoill w-.is a naked savage aimed *• with a Make, or the most , accom"- --" plished soldier in . Europe." To havo a cultivated mind .and a broad outlook on. history was not at all a recommendation for an aspiring agitator. A speech made by Davis in the Conciliation Hall in Dublin was furiously denounced by O'Connell. The founding of '' The Nation" wan, perhaps, the chief agency in bringing about a new attitude. Its founders wore tho three " DV— Duffy, Davis, and Dillon—and it's object was to promote the spirit of nationalism "among thinking men and women. One of its fruits was tho Young Ireland Party; and though this was a physical force party, its ideals and mentality formed ,i contrast to those of the previous generation. We are not- here giving a preference to any Irish partywc arc only concerned .with placing the personality and ihfluenco of Davis in their contemporary'setting. What rendered' his position unique was, the fact that he combined ili himself three elements not before nor (we believe),6ince united iv any Irish politician:, a passionate sen.se of nationality, a , practical, reforming ardour, and tho wide outlook of the scholar. A' great deal has havpened since his time, and much for which h<f laboured, has been brought to-pass. " Political .parties in England havo vied with each other in pouring ameliorative legislation on .Ireland; and, coiild he visit us now, his clean, honest-soul-would admit that the situation botween' the two countries was not so much filtered as revolutionised. And even" if,-'he found tho old national craving still unsatisfied, ho would probably sec enough to convince him that its full and perfect satisfaction had boi-ome v much more complex and difficult problem than it had appeared to the ardent idealists of the 'forties., Davi. s died in ISL". at the age of thirty-one.