IRELAND'S SERVICE TO THE WORLD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 18 May 1912, Page 10

IRELAND'S SERVICE TO THE WORLD.

Matthew Arnold declares, with little if any qualification, tliat it is the Celtic element in Jfciritisn literature whicn is tne most irresistible and. enduring tning in that literature; in fact, tne soul that gives it value ana cnanu now, and will give it charm and vaiue lor all time, it is true tiaat the same writer says a good deal about wnat lie i calis Oeitic meiieetuaiityj and uwens mucft upon a passage in Ussian: "Tney came tortn to war, but tney always iell." As used by Ussian himseif, nowever, the saying does not refer to tne Celtic race, but to a small clan tnat nad secured its hrst footing in tne iand. through evil-doing; that is, tne rounder ot the sept was a man who hau Killed his own brotner; tneretore, tne failure of his descendants whs really a Celtic illustration or variant or tne old story or iNemesis. Assureaiy the Celts as a race have never been eifaced, ana probably they never snail; it win certainly be a sad day for mankind when Celtic courage, Celtic otn«rworidliness, Celtic love of Kindled, Celtic grace and gaiety, and Celtic ndenty to the heavenly vision cease to leaven the life of the world. The ra<.e will then have cause to feel in its heart, as Wordsworth felt in his — That there has passed away a glory from the earth. But let no one be sorrowful, for this is 1100 isoing to Happen; at least not in so tar as it concerns the Celts of Ireland; io" these moraily inconauerable people are even now invincibly engageu in a mighty enterprise, trie consummation ox wincu will mean mucn not only tor tnem. but for the res& ot the worm, indeed, when history comes to be truly written, tnose who read it will see in ii eland one of the nooiest and most memorable instances ot a whole race »<v inj£ true, throughout all vicissitude, to the heavenly vision—to the integrity and continuity or that racial genius which is to a people what his soiu is to a man —the best, most distinctive most precious thing in nis possession or wiuim nis reach, loyaity to wnich, and tne realisation ot which, are the best tninus that can happen to him and to tne world. Thousands, pernaps millions or irishmen in the course of the centuries may have neither known nor cared aiu'tnmsi about this, and thousands to-aav may be equally ignorant and inditterent; but the soul of Ireland is, and ever has been, true to itself and its destiny, whicn is the realisation of tne Celtic genius in the ways that are natural to and constitutional with the Celt. It is loyalty to this destiny which constitutes true greatness in individual or race; it means that the immortal birthri_ht bestowed by heaven is never surrendered or huckstered away for any mess of pottage; it counts for much righteousness in all nations when it in splendidly asserted in triumph at some great naval or military encounter or through some long and strenuous campaign, or series of such campaigns: as when the Persians are defeated by tne Greeks at Marathon, the Turks at Vienna hx John Sobieski, or the Spaniards driven by the Dutch from tne Netherlands; and surely it is not less great or worthy of honor or less essentially the absolutely right thing when it is upheld by Pole or tfinn or Celt through ages of alien domination. One of the strangest things in human history is that it appears to be provisionally inevitable that certain vast masses of men should for a time dominate or coerce smaller masses, even though these may be in many ways better or more imporant than their tyrants, and this is especially strange 111 yiaw of the fact that, obviously, the last result of international evolutioil must be the independent establishment of each race or nation, separately, on conditions entirely favorable to its own essential self-development, which, of course, means that this is done all round, not only without prejudice to the units, but also without prejudice to the confederation which at once admits of and is due to the integrity of the units. In actual fact, there are fine races, who before this stage is reached seem to be lost in the masses as raindrops are in a river; but, happily, there are others that live on and retain all their distinctive qualities until circumstances favor the recovery, or —with their own &id —the creation of conditions which enable them to enjoy an effective individual national existence. They are like the fabled fays on elfin children who, however long they may remain amongst mortals of common stock, or however much they may be misunderstood or misused by them, never lose their essential individuality, but ever in the end return to their own kin; that is, recover the conditions which are congenial to what is permanent and prevailing in their own natures. This, it is evident, is the fate of Ireland. It is equally evident, £00, that it is to be realised ■by thoroughly practical - means in keeping with the world's current conditions—means j which neither imply nor involve militant antagonism to or conflict with Britain, though, of course, they involve —through Ireland's effective self-real-isation —escape from Britain's alien and alienating interference. There probably never could have been, -within the last nine hundred years, a time when Irelaud could have thrown oft' English authority by means of war. Had she had one paramount royal house, and had all her provinces and principalities been effectively co-ordinated into one well knit homogeneous nation, this might have been done even up to the time of Elizabeth.; but, even so, this is only an hypothesis. Since the time of Elizabeth successful war with England can havo been merely a dream within a dream. Then, though for a long time Ireland had her own Parliament, it was never really an Irish Parliament — that is, a legislative body devoted to the realisation of distinctly Irish aims, or to the satisfaction of Ireland's own. distinctive necessities. In the last result, through all that time, Ireland's aims and interests were subordinated to those of England. Nor, from the time of Daniel O'Connell onward, has there ever been any convincing proof— though there has been plenty of eager assumption and ardent belief —that political organisation and parliamentary machinery could, antecedently to other means, help Ireland to her own in national self-containment and selfcontentment. But apparently at last the right means to this end have been brought into action in the great movement or series of co-ordinated movements grouped under the Celtic term Sinn Fein —Ourselves. It is doubtful whether history can show anything more rational or

righteous than this in the way of national movements. Necessarily and rightly, sentiment has much'to do with the movement, but the movement itself consists in a comprehensive coordination of purely practical agencies, which include the restoration of the Gaelic language, because —as well as for other reasons —it is the constitutional outgrowth of the irish mind, and the natural means for giving expression to the irish nature. The Sinn Jb^ein agencies include also the revival of Irish art in all its forms and branches, Irish science, Irish agriculture, Irish manufactures, Irish industry generally; in short, everything practical and practicable that is likely to help the Irish people in Ireland to be effectively themselves. Should this movement succeed —and succeed it shall —Ireland must become, as a matter of psychological and industrial evolution and collective achievement, an intrinsically independent nation, selfdeveloped and self-governed on lines in. keeping "with the genius of her own people; while, in relation to the world generally, she will continue to be a free, willing, and harmonious unit of the Pan-Britannic Federation. j\o doubt politicians work to this end, too, but their brethren of the Sinn Fein are, obviously, looking with better assurance for the "city that hath foundations." Of course the politicians attract more attention, but it is the soil at the roots oi' the tree, not the wind in its branches, that ensures its growth. But, however this may be, even the great direct result to which the Sinn Fein movement converges is not likely to constitute the last act in Ireland's national destiny; for her intermediate efforts now and her ultimate achievement must prove strong factors in the work of international evolution and in the realisation of what may be termed the individual integrity of nations, like Ireland herself, in their desire for, and their right to, that integrity. And the success of these ideals is essential to the essential welfare of mankind. It is certain that a world dominated by I Slav or Latin or Teuton or AngloSaxon or Asiatic, singly, or even solely by these collectively, would not be what it should be or might be, any more than it would were it entirely without them; and the ultimate cosmopolitan confederation will assuredly contain many peoples less numerous than those races, though in nowise inferior to them in ethical value or racial distinction; but this will only be if these nominally inferior peoples —Poles, Finns, Hungarians, , aiid others—persist, like Ireland, in being in the meantime Sinn Feinners; themselves. Surely then —most assuredly, indeed —this indicates how deep and farreaching is the justification for Ireland's Sinn Feinism, and how likely it is to be held in honor by future times, whose ultimate feeling towards that country—in view of all that she lias endured, overcome and been loyal to, and in view oil the enduring value of her example, will not improbably be one of the deepest gratitude and highest admiration; and she herself will for ever stand in history as a shining instance of the significance of the great saying: "And the stone which the builders rejected, the same hath become the head of the -corner." 1905. JOHN CHRISTIE.