Ireland and England
By . New York: The Century Co. 1919. 8vo, ix+504 pp. $3.00.
ANGLO-IRISH relations are hot coals to handle. As a stimulus to the free use of vituperation, they have no peer among the many problems of European politics. For that reason, if for no other, American readers should tender a welcome to this book, which honestly seeks to clarify the fundamental issues in a troublesome controversy, and to divorce these issues from the trammels of racial and religious prejudice.
If Professor Turner is a partisan, his volume betrays no sign of it. His aim has been to tell Ireland’s story, from first to last, as a dutiful historian ought to tell it, without fear, favor, or affection. And so far as this difficult task lies within the power of any one man to perform, he has succeeded astonishingly well. This does not mean that the author is deficient in friendliness toward the Irish people, or entirely out of sympathy with their hopes and aspirations. He is sympathetic, and fair to their side of the case — sometimes more than fair. And as for the delinquencies of England, there is no apology for them in these pages. Professor Turner has set himself to write history, not fiction, and he permits neither his aversions nor his sympathies to swerve his pen from strict compliance with that duty.
The introductory chapters of the book are devoted to a brief survey of ancient Ireland, the conquest of the island by the Normans, the long and bitter days of subjection during the Middle Ages, the lurid flashes of the old Irish spirit which showed themselves on the horizon of the Tudors and Stuarts, and the crowning humiliation of 1800. Then follows, somewhat more in detail, a survey of developments during the nineteenth century, which the author calls ‘the age of atonement and redress.’ The agricultural renaissance, the various attempts to deal with the problem of land-ownership, and the long struggle for Home Rule, are all described in chapters which for cogency of statement and fairness in presentation leave little to be desired.
But the most interesting, and by all means the most timely, portion of the book is that contained within the last two hundred pages. There Professor Turner portrays in masterful fashion the origin and rise of the Sinn Fein organization, gives a clear and dispassionate account of the socalled Easter Rebellion, discusses fully and fairly the pros and cons of Irish conscription, sets forth the natural and necessary relation of America to the problem of Ireland’s future, and finishes with a brief summary of developments which have taken place since the war came to a close.
On the concluding page there is a word of prophecy — ‘Sinn Fein will fail.’ It would never have made headway, the author declares, but for the upheaval caused by the war. Nevertheless, he is confident that the work of this revolutionary organization will not prove to have been in vain. It has awakened England to the urgency of dealing with Ireland frankly, generously, and in a manner that will make reasonable atonement for the sins of the past. On the other hand, the logic of geography is inexorable, and England neither can nor will, Professor Turner believes, consent to any scheme of complete separation.
The style of the book is unusually attractive There is no attempt at rhetorical embellishment, yet it is an interesting volume from cover to cover. The partisans and propagandists on either side will probably find it little to their liking; but the thoughtful reader, who wants only the unvarnished historical truth, will not be disappointed.
W. B. M.