What could Germany do for Ireland?

Front matter

UJHflT COULD

GGRfflflDH

DO FOR

Chapter I The Gaelic Renaissance 35

What the Gaelic Renaissance stands for. — Necessity for racial unity and conservation. — Nationalism not Socialism present key-note of international affairs. — Ireland's part in the War. — Industrial prosperity to arise from development of agriculture and manufactures. — Improvement of social conditions essential. — How Connemara may be saved. — Economic lessons from Germany. — How the Irish outside Ireland may help.

Chapter II

Where the heart of the British Empire lies. — Possession of Egypt and Asia-Minor vital to Britain's over-seas dominions. — Asia-Minor in the light of history. — Napoleon's efforts to disrupt the British Empire defeated by Anglo-Turkish Alliance.— British diplomatic failures in 1915. — How the Germanic-Turkish Alliance imperils the solidarity of the British Empire. — The Turks as fighters. — The Anglo-French disasters at the Dardanelles.— Overthrow of Russia as a European Power. — Resurrection of the ancient Kingdom of Poland. — How Ireland received the news of British military and naval failures. — The effect on the hopes of the Irish people. — How a German- Irish Alliance would ensure European Peace. — The poverty of Ireland attributable to the English occupation. — King George's appeal. — The desperate plight of England. — Irish relations to England in the light of history. — Richness of Irish resources. — What Germany could do for Irish independence and prosperity.

CHAPTER III IEISH HOPES IN GERMANY OR ENGLAND f 54

Impossibility of German defeat by the Allies. — The elimination of Russia as a factor in the eastern theatre. — The campaign of 1915 contrasted with Napoleon's invasion of Russia. — British prophecies of Russian triumph falsified. — Ireland and Poland. — How the two kingdoms stand towards each other. — Irish sympathies with Germany.— The Irish Nationalist press of America favors Germany. — The reign of terror in Ireland. — Failure of recruiting. — How England slanders other nations. — Increase in England's standing army of occupation in Ireland. — Why some Irishmen join England's army. — Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet and England's brutal rule in Ireland. — The destruction of Irish industries. — The fate of Sligo. — Housing conditions in Ireland. — Irish and German conditions contrasted. — The passing of "Home Rule." — Ireland to review her position. — German treatment of Poland a lesson to all small nations. — How Ireland remains true to her traditions.— The efficiency of German organization. — Ireland's immunity from attack by Germany.^ — How Ireland regards Germany. — The true significance of German-Irish understanding.

Chapter IV

Bismarck's conception of the State in respect to the worker. — How Germany protects her people socially. — English Acts based on German models. — German social legislation. — Bismarck's conception of German superiority fulfilled. — Physical disabilities of the English workers. — English unpreparedness a revelation to mankind. — Her cocksuredness proved her undoing. — The lesson to Ireland.

Chapter V

A War of two civilizations. — The English and German concepts of civilization compared. — England ever the foe of true democracy. — Her treatment of Persia, Korea, and Morocco. — Voluntary enlistment contrasted with universal service. — The strength of national solidarity. — Germany's economic strength after a year of war. — English jealousy of German efficiency. — What Ireland lacks Germany can supply.

Chapter VI

Ireland, the Gateway of Europe. — Admiral Mahan's conception of Ireland's strategical situation.— Her geographical position in Europe. — England's lordship of the high seas dependent on possession of Ireland. — Ireland not physically connected with Great Britain. — The area and physical characteristics of the island. — The spacious harbors of Ireland. — The position of Korea and Ireland contrasted. — The occupation of Ireland by Germany would cause England's downfall. — War demonstrated Ireland's commanding position in Europe. — Effectiveness of German submarine warfare off Irish coasts. — The English conception of Ireland's importance to the British Empire. — Napoleon's view on Ireland's position. — Danish, French and Spanish efforts in Ireland. — Importance of control of North Atlantic approaches to Europe. — England's peril from starvation. — Ireland as a food-producing country and as a center of recruitment for the English armed forces. — Ireland's liberation from English thraldom will mean the setting of the sun on the British Empire.

Chapter VII

The English occupation of Ireland. — Her attitude towards Irish economic developments. — Irish aystern of agriculture, fostered by England, uneconomic and backward. — Scientific farming unknown.— Ireland's dependence on America for her daily bread. — Irish linen mills dependent on foreign countries for flax supplies. — The richness of the Irish soil. — Possible agricultural developments.— Beet-growing and sugar refining. — How German science backed by American capital could develop Ireland. — Cattle multiplying, human beings dying. — Wretched lot of agricultural laborers.— The spread of cattle ranches eliminates small proprietors. — What Germany has accomplished for her agriculturalists. — How German methods may improve Irish farming.

Chapter VIII

How cattle; have displaced, men in Ireland. — Destruction of the Irish dairying industry. — The raising of "lean" cattle an economic weakness. — How the fertility of the soil is depreciated. — Absence of abattoirs in Ireland. — How the dressed meat industry would change agricultural conditions in Ireland. — Its effect on the industrial life of the country. — The establishment of leather and subsidiary industries. — How Irish-American capital and experience can help Ireland to better living.

Chapter IX

The health of the Irish people. — How it is affected. Findings of Royal Commission on Arterial Drainage.— Extent of waste land in Ireland. — The operations of the bogs of Ireland. — How the floodings of the Shannon, Barrow and other rivers impede agriculture. — The loss to the country through neglected waste-lands. — Royal Commissions impeach British Government of neglect. — Reclamation financially successful. — What reclamation has done for Europe. — How the Governments of Holland, France, Germany, Hungary and

Austria have dealt with the problem. — The urgency of the problem to Ireland. — Need for afforestation. — English purposeful neglect of Irish resources. — Deserted and neglected appearance of the countryside. — English tree-planting in India. — The example of Les Landes in France. — What Germany has accomplished with silviculture. — How the Irish Parliament before the Union dealt with the problem. — Wealth derivable from treeculture. — Effects of forests on soils, climates, etc. — Subsidiary industries likely to arise. — Need for statesmanship in solving Irish problems. — German methods.

Chapter X Portland Cement Mills •. 166

Ireland's immense deposits of limestones and marbles.— The growing use of cement. — Only one small factory in Ireland. — The industry discouraged by English officials in Ireland. — How Irish railways cripple Irish industrial enterprises. — Suitable districts in Ireland for erection of cement mills. — The future of acetylene gas generated from calcium carbide a product of limestone. — Need for capital in Ireland.

Chapter XI

Importance of power and fuel in industrial enterprises.— Attitude of English rulers to Ireland's power and fuel resources. — England's coal and iron resources the basic of her industrial pre-eminence.— How Belgium, Holland and Switzerland confound British theory. — Swiss prosperity built up on the use of her available water-power. — Ireland's unbridled water-power. — The rainfall in Ireland. — Available horsepower of the country. — The river Shannon's horsepower at Killaloe. — ■ Position and power of Irish rivers favorable to extensive industrial activities. — Cheapness of power, a factor of importance in production. — The turbine engine. — The production of electricity both cheap and easy. — England underestimates Ireland's coal resources. — Report to Geological Congress at Toronto. — Professor Hull's estimate. — Need for scientific survey of Ireland. — Output of coal in Ireland. — The area and position of the Wolfhill Colliery.— The Castlecomer Colliery.— The Arigna coal and iron mines. — Their development impeded by lack of transit facilities. — The English Houses of Parliament controlled by English coal-owners. — How Irish coal-mining is obstructed.— The duty of an Irish Government. — The due development of the coal fields as sources of wealth, of fuel, of power, of employment for the future Irish nation.

Chapter XII

The true gold mines of Ireland. — English neglect of Irish peat resources. — How distinguished Irishmen view Ireland's peat bogs. — Their area. — Irish climatic, labor and general conditions favorable to development of peat fuel. — The suitability of Shannon district for such development. — Peat fuel compared with coal. — Ireland's annual coal bill. — Col. Warburton's scheme. — Subsidiary industries that would arise. — How Germany has developed her waste and peat lands. — Their importance to the Empire. — A lesson to Ireland.

Chapter XIII The Ikish Fisheries 201

Ireland buys her fish supplies from England, why T — The Irish naturally sailors. — The records of English and American navies cited. — British rule cause of all Irish economic ills. — Ireland's successful fisheries in olden days. — The Dutch fishing fleet in Irish waters. — Spanish fishers off Irish coasts. — English, Scotch and French trawlers now reap the harvests of the Irish seas. — The tragic decline in Irish fisheries. — The Irish language passing with the dying Irish fishermen. — The destruction of Irish fishing industry by Englishmade laws. — Untold wealth awaiting Irish people in the deep-sea fisheries off Irish coasts. — The rich salmon fisheries of Irish rivers. — Markets for fish in both Germany and America. — Requirements of Irish fishers. — Power boats, modern gear, curing station, capital, transit facilities, piers and harbors. — How Queenstown could build up a paying industry for her citizens now idle through boycott of port by English shipping. — How Germany and other countries have dealt with the question.

Chapter XIV

World ignorance of Ireland result of studied English policy. — Ancient Irish civilization. — The earliest inhabitants of Ireland. — Ireland's former extensive external trade. — Irish intercourse with Europe — National love of learning. — Scotland and England Christianized by Irish. — Irish seats of learning founded in capitals of chief European nations.— English wilful destruction of Irish records. — Why Europe should know and remember Irish history. — What Germany has done for Ireland's language. — Dr. Kuno Meyer's researches and labors for the Irish language. — The irony of Fate. — Descendants of landlords who harassed the Irish in Ireland, now being sacrificed by England on the continental battle-fields. — Importance of reviving the ancient Celtic civilization.

Chapter XV

Prior to 1800 A. D. Ireland ruled by laws made by Parliaments in Ireland. — The political Union with England brought about by most brutal methods. — The Great Feis at Tara. — Poyning's Law. — The Parliament of James the Second at Dublin, 1689. — Grattan's Parliament. — How the French Revolution affected the destiny of Ireland. — England's admitted inability and unpreparedness a factor in winning Free Trade and a free

Parliament for Ireland. — The birth and growth of the first Irish Volunteers. — The Declaration of Irish Independence. — England's Act of Renunciation of 1782. — The phenomenal progress of Ireland down to 1800. — The lesson for the men of today.

Chapter XVI

Germany's domestic achievements during the war as remarkable as her military triumphs. — The wonderful stability of the German Empire after a year of unparalleled warfare. — The financial insolvency of the Allies. — American bankers and munition makers financing the Allies. — Hostility of the American public to the Allies' war loan. — Successful issue of Germany's third domestic war loan. — A triumph in finance. — Failure of English civil heads in domestic statesmanship. — Germany's trained civilian leaders. — Why Germany can fight indefinitely. — National solidarity of German peoples during the war. — Financial support freely offered by Germans for support of the cause of the. Fatherland. — The value to Germany of the captured territories. — What Ireland has to learn from Germany.

Chapter XVII

England's misrepresentation of the origin of the war. — How England wages war. — The Franco-Russian Alliance aimed at Germany. — The Entente aimed at Germany's isolation in Europe. — England's secret understanding with Belgium. — Her failure to protect Belgium on the outbreak of hostilities.— English labor opinion on the origin of the conflict. — English hypocrisy unmasked. — England's efforts to promote an Anglo-American Alliance.— England's feverish jealousy of Germany. — Her naval and military budgets. — How Irish good nature was imposed upon at outbreak of hostilities. — The cry of "Avenge Catholic Belgium" no longer effective. — How Germany stood with Austria. — What Ireland may learn from study of the situation.

Chapter XVIII Hopes And Feaks 274

Why England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity. — The old gospel of Irish nationalism. — Ireland's hour of destiny at hand. — What the tragic decay of her people and the neglect of her country should teach Ireland. — The patriot Davitt's views on Freedom. — The cardinal doctrine of Irish nationality.— The teachings and sacrifices of the Young Irelanders. — The Irish without arms. — How failure may prove ultimately a triumph.

Chapter XIX Home Eule Undee The Spot Lights 288

The Home Rule Act as it is on the statute books. — Its clauses examined. — The worthlessness of the measure. — The helplessness of the proposed Irish Parliament. — How the English Parliament will remain supreme. — Why the Act will break down and should be rejected. — The sole hope of saving a race lies in separation from England.

CONCLUSION CONCLUSION' 306

The heart of the people beats true. — Are they to suffer and die in order that Catholic Ireland be made the Avenger for Catholic Belgium? — The red herring across the trail. — When they cannot save themselves, why try to save Belgium or Serbia?— The failure at Antwerp. — The neutrality of Greece violated by England. — No industrial Ireland while England rules. — Will Ireland, in this crisis, produce a chieftain who will lead the clans ?

Introduction

BY DB. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET

At the request of my friend, the author, I have undertaken to aid his work by an introduction. He has fully accomplished his purpose, and needs no aid. Yet sometimes two handles secure a better grasp.

The industries of Ireland of the past are a subject to which I have given much time and study ; not entirely from what others have seen, but from my own personal observation among the people, as early as 1871, along the west coast, where I had no other conveyance but my own footsteps to aid me. I had long been trained in my profession as a specialist to be a close observer, and I possessed a fair knowledge of physics and of practical farming, as followed in Virginia at the time of my reaching manhood.

In accord with my judgment, I will first consider Ireland's political relations with England, as on these must rest every prospect for Ireland's future. England's title to Irish soil can claim no better right than that existing originally in her connection with all lands — the gain from might, no more nor less than that held by a highway robber. Eome of old, with France and all other nations of later date in their colonization, with the exception of England, connected with the capture every effort to conciliate, and to establish the hope that the change would prove one of advantage.

With this treatment, Eome 's title after every conquest was soon gained with the consent and pride of the newly-made Roman Citizen, who generally felt more honored by the right gained than that held by the proudest resident in the city of Rome itself.

England, represented by her "Governing Classes," the worthy descendants of their Norman progenitors, with their greed for gain, as known the world over, with the power, became at once the unscrupulous violator of every command in the Decalogue, as is proven by any knowledge of Irish history.

John Bull has been the octopus and landgrabber of the world, to whom truth has ever been unknown as an obligation, save from necessity. He has been the murderous exterminator and cowardly bully of all weaker than himself, as is taught by Irish history. Every fibre in his construction is but an indicator of his ill-gotten gain. Two-thirds of the English people have nothing in common with ' ' The Governing Class,' ' and are but mere sojourners in their own land. With these I have nothing but the kindest feeling, as I came of the same stock, having among them today relatives and many friends. With John Bull we are dealing, but, with all the necessary facts in the possession of the writer, we will leave him to the well-deserved contempt of everyone outside of his own bounds, and to his sympathizers in this country and elsewhere, of the same stock, whose interests he has always cared for, the only thing known to his credit.

Elsewhere* I have written : ' ' The charge has been made frequently, and the evidence has never been wanting to show, that England, from the beginning even to our day, has fol-

*"Ireland Under English Rule." New York : Putnam's Sons. Second Edition.

lowed a settled purpose in her determination that the Irish people and Ireland should never prosper/ '

As England keeps the account called the taxes and doles out to Ireland, from time to time, only what is absolutely necessary for special purposes, Ireland can obtain no redress under her domination. Few, even among the Irish people, after an interval of more than thirty years, can have any knowledge of this injustice; on the contrary, it is being constantly trumpeted abroad that England, for some time, has made every effort to retrieve the past. It is stated how many millions she has generously advanced for the purchase of land for the Irish people, on all of which she received good interest, notwithstanding it is Irish money and eventually she receives the principal. It is also claimed she pays Ireland's portion of the pensions for old people among the poor. In reply, I can state the fact, which cannot be truthfully denied, that in not one single instance has England ever paid one penny of her own money for Ireland's benefit, not even for charity.

In the life of the late Colonel Edward Saunderson, a conspicuous Orangeman and Member of Parliament from Ulster, a quotation is here taken from one of his speeches: "When Englishmen set to work to wipe the tear out of Ireland's eye, they always buy the pocket handkerchief at Ireland's expense.' '

There exists no future for Ireland but increasing tuberculosis and death from starvation for her people, or an absolute and speedy separation from England. There was no important industry which the Irish people have not fully developed, and after reaching the fullest degree of success, England, by aid of her Parliament, has not ruthlessly destroyed. It has been less than one hundred and fifty years since Ireland made the hats, boots, shoes and all goods from leather, which were unequalled in quality elsewhere, and woolen ware and linen of every description ; the monopoly of the latter Holland held for centuries. Ireland finally made the best cut glass in the world, and considerable of the best china. For years she was the book and music publishing center, while her inks of every description were rated the best, and even the sand, then used in place of the blotting paper of the present day, could not be found elsewhere as good. London and Paris were dependent on the workmen of Dublin for the making of the best jewelry; also copper and steel engraving, watch seal making and engraving. Ireland had the music printing of the world; also she regulated the opera for Continental Europe, for it was rendered nowhere better than in Dublin. The judgment of a Dublin audience determined the career of many an actor or opera singer. England finally, from jealousy and greed, destroyed every industry in Ireland. The Irish workmen were driven out of Ireland for want of occupation, and the greater part emigrated and settled in Paris, where they established every industry for which France is now noted. The natural resources of Ireland are inexhaustible ; for no other land of the same extent has the Creator done so much and man so little.

The possible development of industries in Ireland should not be considered before the mighty power to be obtained from Ireland's water-power is appreciated. From the climate in Ireland, and the lay of the land, every stream s is kept full to the overflowing as it rushes on its way to the ocean over nature 's obstacles placed at every turn. The power thus generated cannot be found to the same extent in any other country. The coal deposits of Ireland exist to an unknown extent, and if means existed for their transportation they would be far more valuable than the English mines, which are now worked at too great a depth to be sufficiently profitable, or, as in Wales, are being extended to too great a distance under the ocean to be much longer used. The capitalists who built the Irish railways were the owners of the English coal mines and had the course of the railroads built to pass at the greatest distance from the coal and iron deposits in Ireland, while every obstacle was made by the government to prevent any effort being made for their development.

Since the " Union,' ' the government has laid a heavy tax on the use of native coal. This is but another instance of broken faith on the part of the English Government. By the fifth article of the treaty, or the i ' Act of the Union, ' ' it was pledged that coal, salt, hops and other articles were to have been free from taxation, yet these articles have all been taxed since. In violation of her pledged honor, it should be stated, every other article of this treaty was disregarded by England, as is her custom with every obligation contracted by her, as the truth seems to be something officially unknown unless she is to be the gainer. There seems to be an endless variety of marbles of every description and color. Among them is found a white marble as pure as any from Italy, and which is seen nowhere else in any northern country. The marble is free from the impurity of iron, which, on exposure to the weather, becomes oxidized and soluble, leaving cavities for the reception of rain water. This freezes and, on melting, chips off the face of the stone, leaving a surface for the accumulation of dust, etc., darkening the color of the stone, as is shown to have taken place in the Vermont marble of the monument to Thomas Addis Emmet in St. Paul's Church, and in the stone used in the construction of Grace Church and other buildings. There exists in Ireland the greatest variety of colors of clays, as well as the purest white, with kaolin and porcelain clays for the making of the finest quality of pottery and chinaware to be found in any part of the world ; also the earths for making bricks and tiles.

At the Crystal Palace Exhibition held in New York in 1850 I recollect seeing a collection of Irish building stone of over six hundred different specimens, all of which, it was claimed, were of equally good quality.

Before the close of the seventeenth century Ireland had demonstrated the value of her glass works, whose production was universally accepted as the most beautiful to be obtained anywhere. This was due to the superior quality of certain deposits in different parts of the country and to the remarkable richness in the residuary salts found in the ash from the Irish kelp, which, grown on the West Course, where the ocean has never been at rest since the Creation, is found, from being in constant motion, to be of mammoth size.

It was nearly one hundred years before England was able totally to destroy this industry, and she is today dependent on the use of Irish kelp and sand for the success of her own glass manufactories. She never equaled the Irish cut glass, as beautiful, it was said, as any ever produced in Venice, which in my early days was seen in common use throughout the Southern States. Ireland's woolen industries were never equaled, as the wool was remarkably fine. The climate on the west coast of Ireland, in County Clare and County Kerry, had an effect on the quality of the wool which yet exists after so long an interval, as the wool of the mature sheep in this district is still remarkably fine.

We may consider Ireland's possibilities indefinitely and not the slightest doubt can be raised as to the success of any industry in Ireland if the development be under favorable circumstances.

When separation from England has been gained, there will be created at once a demand for good food and proper clothing. We have now reached a point where I should, as a medical man, place on record my experience in connection with Ireland from 1871 to 1903. Since then my knowledge has been chiefly based upon published medical records, and from these I am led to believe there has been but little change for the better. The people of Ireland have not been properly fed for over three centuries, but the children were better cared for before the famine of 1847. Since that time they have shared, as a rule, the tea baker ?s bread diet of their elders, and have been fortunate while regularity of gain and a sufficiency for moderate repletion existed. There was never a famine in Ireland but of England's making, to increase the gain of her own people, when more than ten times the amount of food was being taken out of the country than would have saved every individual from starvation. The famine of 1847 was one of profit to her and her people in her demand for the pound of flesh. The United States Government sent the sloop of war " Jamestown' ' laden to her gunwales with food for the starving people of Ireland, yet not a particle of this abundance ever reached those in want. The cargo was placed by the English Government in a warehouse in Cork and rotted, as well as many other contributions from the charitable of the world. In regard to this, Sir Eobert Peel, then the English Premier, stated that ' ' the natural course of commerce and trade would be deranged' ' by such a way of distributing charity. After the English traders had gotten possession of every six-pence to be obtained, the government yielded to public demand and made an advance as if of charity on its part, which proved to be Irish money, which Ireland had to repay with interest, notwithstanding the greater part was paid out to English clerks, who rendered no efficient service by distributing a ticket for a pint of meal to a man dying of dysentery, to be obtained at some claimed depot twenty miles distant and the sufferer unable to take twenty steps. Most difficult is it for the writer to confine himself to a consideration of Irish industries when there is so much to be considered in close connection, and the direct result of England's destruction of these industries from her misrule, where a man may live in a half-starved condition for a year without being able to earn a shilling for a day's work.

Ireland today contains more persons doomed to die from tuberculosis than any other country, with many demented and half-witted people, as well as many hopelessly insane, when in 1743 the disease was almost unknown in the country and the first asylum was built by Dean Swift in consequence of his own condition being an indication of a coming need. The saddest condition of all is the sight of so many blind persons. I have myself come upon some out-of-the-way nook along the west coast where all seemed to be in rags and apparently with no other subsistence than some kind of seaweed and a coarse grass that any other animal than a goat would reject. Nearly all were more or less blind, and on examining their eyes, I found a condition with which I had become familiar as early as 1850 among the half-starved Irish emigrants suffering from ship, or typhus, fever. From the low condition of their vitality, due to chronic starvation, the clear portion of the eye over the pupil would ulcerate, and if they lived long enough for it to heal, as the scar was not transparent, they remained blind for the remainder of their lives.

These details, which would be of little interest except to the medical man, must be cited to show that the first industry to be undertaken in Ireland is agriculture. Every portion of the country should be planted, under proper instruction, to gain the largest harvest, not to feed England, but to be retained with the utmost vigilance for home consumption. No price should tempt the people to part with the food within their reach, to be exported as usual. Pay no debts with it as of old, and resist every attempt made to seize it. The first struggle for independence must be made on this issue, and will simply be one of life or death. With this war and the great demand for food, Ireland, without this precaution, is doomed to suffer from a famine which may easily exterminate the race. At no time has the future welfare of Ireland been in greater danger than at the present.

New Yoek, December 1, 1915.

The Author is deeply sensible of the appreciation and endorsement of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, who by common consent is the greatest living authority as a writer of modern Irish history, and whose labors and sacrifices have endeared him to all who wish for the preservation of the Celtic race.