“A real temperance apostle,” he exclaimed, “one of God’s best blessings to Ireland since the days of St. Patrick.”
He spoke cordially of the temperance leaders, and told me of the good work being done at Maynooth college by the Faculty and the students. He said that America’s eminent churchman, Archbishop Ireland, had helped the temperance cause in Ireland, which is his native land. He also mentioned Rev. John Macmillan, of Belfast, the temperance leader among the Presbyterians in Ireland, and said he was a noble temperance patriot.
“These reforms,” he repeated, “are bringing us together and giving a feeling of unity to Irishmen such as they have not had since the days of Brian Boru.”
I asked him what he thought of Ireland’s relation to England.
He paused a few moments before answering, and when he did reply it was in a low, quiet tone.
“We must forget the past,” he said, “if Ireland is to make progress. It is true that England has cruelly wronged Ireland. My own family has suffered in past generations, suffered shamefully. But the English Government of today is treating Ireland very differently. Gladstone inaugurated a new era, through the efforts of Parnell, Redmond, and our modern Irish leaders. Today the English people, I believe, want Ireland to have justice.”
I asked him what he thought of separation from England. He answered at once: “We cannot be separated. God has placed the islands side by side. What we want is freedom to manage internal affairs, just as the States in America, just as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. We want local-self government, but we must remain a part of the British Empire.”
He went on to tell me how the Irishmen had helped to build up the British Empire, and make it what it is today.
“The present ambassador of the British Empire in Washington,” he exclaimed, “is an Irishman.”
I was profoundly impressed with his views on this subject. I could see he was a man with wide sympathy and practical outlook, and believed in living for the future, rather than the past. He still had all the fire of the O’Neill blood in his veins, but it had been disciplined by generations of suffering.