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Ireland and France are still united by so many sympathetic memories that we have watched all the incidents of the struggle undertaken by the unfortunate Irish against England with the keenest interest. This struggle has now lasted nearly three hundred years, but the Irish have never despaired. They have always preserved their faith and their nationality unsullied. England has tried every means for their subjection. First—extreme repression. We may say that until the commencement of this century, the brutality and perfidy she has displayed, surpass all that one could imagine. How, for instance, can we allude calmly to the Bill (2 Anne, C. VI. § 3) which provided that if in a Catholic family the eldest son became a Protestant, he might, through that alone, lay claim to the property of all his relations who remained Catholic; the latter only retaining the usufruct, and being then obliged to remit a portion of the rents to him. This law has been repealed; but it was not until 1829 that a Catholic member could sit in Parliament. These measures were quite inadequate to advance matters one single step. The two races always refused to assimilate. England herself has been conquered, and the Norman invaders were not too merciful towards the Saxons. However, the fusion took place so rapidly that at the end of one or two centuries there was no longer any distinction between the two peoples.

But it appears as though the Norman race in blending with the Saxon, had lost all its powers of assimilation. From that time England has made many conquests. Nearly everywhere she has scrupulously respected the customs, the religion, and even the prejudices of the vanquished. And yet neither in Canada, in India, nor anywhere else has she ever been able to assimilate the conquered race, in spite of the material progress that she often brings them, whilst the Spaniards or the Portuguese, who used the most abominable means to conquer their colonies, who did nothing for them, who exhausted them in every possible way, still managed to completely modify the nationality of the races with whom they were dealing, so that after they regained their freedom these colonies remained Spanish or Portuguese in language, customs, and religion.

It therefore seems as though modern Englishmen have an absolute inaptitude for the assimilation of foreign races. From 1829 they have done all in their power to win submission from Ireland by kindness, since they could not conquer it by violence. Everything that we hear about the state of this unhappy country shows us that these attempts have not been more successful than the former ones.

Now Mr. Gladstone wishes to try a third experiment. He says that unquestionably the union between Ireland and England has, until now, been a most unhappy one. We have only to look at the map to see that they must live under the same political legislation. A divorce is impossible. Let something like a judicial separation be tried; each one would regain liberty to a certain extent, and there would only be left those details under the old dual regulations which it would be absolutely impossible to deal with separately. This is the programme now laid before the English people. Has it any chance of being accepted by the parties interested? And then if it is adopted, what influence would it have over the future of the two countries?

I have often asked myself these questions, sympathising with one side when reading the excited debates in the House of Commons, with the other when hearing of the lamentable state of Ireland. But I seem to catch a glimpse of one view of the question that no one has yet alluded to. The Irish attribute their misery to England’s tyranny; the English, indignant at the accusation, reply that the laws which rule Ireland are the same which render the English people rich and prosperous; they assert that the Irish have only themselves to blame for their misery. In this discussion each starts with a fixed idea—that the misery of Ireland must have some social, religious, or political cause. May it not quite simply result from economical causes? The facility of transport is tending to level the value of land and population all over the world; and consequently it is ruining agriculture in Europe. This evolution is only commencing amongst us, whilst the accumulation of capital and the fertility of the soil have until now singularly mitigated its effects. But in Ireland, where no capital exists, and where the soil is very poor, this evolution commenced a long time ago, and its consequences must be more terrible than anywhere else. Is it not here that we must look for the real origin of the Irish crisis? And if this is so, may not the events now taking place in that unhappy country be reproduced amongst us sooner or later, if we do not guard against them?

It was in order to verify this theory that I determined last year to go and pass some weeks in Ireland, where I have many friends. The notes which I now ask you to read have been collected from day to day. As far as possible, I have named the persons who have given me information, and designated by their right names the localities through which I passed. But I have been forced to break this rule three or four times, in order not to expose my hosts to personal danger.

Grancey, April, 1887.