The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-04-14
The Great Irish Drama

At Lou, Prices i!

The loveliest laugh In the world
is Belfast laugh, 1t is a mistake 70
go to Belfast by train. You must go
by steamer il you wish TO catch the
fairy music played by the green hills
on the silvery waters. AS you glide
along You suddenly descry gigan-
tic profile silhouetted against the
sky The bare hill ia titanic por-
trait OF Sir Edward Carson. This Ia
not a FANTASY, il is q fact Rodin
could not hew a more fifelike head
of the Ulster kinsat-arns, The hall
ought no longer 70 be called the bare
hill It's proper name is Carson hill.
1t is natures own effigy and image of
the man who has made history In
Ulster, and who IS known. half list
ingly. half grtmly. as King Edward
the eighth.
/ sat in the house OF commons last
Monday watching the action Of the
great Irish drama ~ II slowly went
forward. and it was Carson who dom
mated the scene. His sombre person
atty thrilled the dim air of the place.
1t sent shivers of doom through the
moments as they were licked away
by the clock under the gallery~-that
clock which has licked away 80 many
lives and SO many destlnies. What
ever Carson is, he Is a man OF destiny.
Everybody in the house feels that in
his bones. He la not hated or ioath-
ed. as you might imagine. by his en-
emies There was time when they
hated and loathed him. He has lived
all that hate and loathing down. He
is nov far above hate and loathing
All men look upon him "a man
different from the ruck and rout OF
politics. He is what John David
son called "a man forbid" He is
what the Scots call fey. Yes, II ever
a man were fey In the mystical sense
of the word 1t Is Carson
1t IN impossible 10 print In words
the black feyness of Carson. The
thing Is incommunica BILE. In his print
ed speeches you do not desery IT.
But when you see the man and hear
his voice 1t rolls over you In thick,
bitter fumes. It is an ernanation from
the dark soul OF a man who has
brooded over an imagined wrong un-
al he has become an incarnation or
it. Men like Carson do not often set
foot on the soil OF earth, They are
born in evil times, and the eonfen-
trated passion OF maddened muiti-
tudes is poured Into their blood un-
iii II turns black with wrath and
scorn. Men like Carson rose up dur
ing the French revolution. Gazing at
his impIacahie face one shuduers and
thinks Of Danton and Rohespierre.
Yes, and thinks. too, Of William Of
Orange. that stern, black. stormy
captain, or OF Cromwell, "a captain
still sterner, btacker and stormsr
Quite manifestly the house IL be-
wiidered and bemused by Carson. II
does not know what to make or the
dark DEFIANT Irishman. The English
stare at him with candid dismay as
if he we're ghost risen from a sey-
enteenthseentury grave. lie does not
belong 20 their placid time. lie Is
q creature or the dead age when
statesmen were beheaded on the tow
err hill. | can see Carson with my
own eyes IN a peruke or periwig. a
laced coat. walking impassively To
the block and laying his head down
without tremor, q sheer on his
lips 10 the last. hat a manner he
nasl III is far more than the grand
manner or the tragic manner. No
aetor~-~rot even Irving has ever
eauaied It's gloomy haaghtiness. les
cold composur~. lts ley dlssiain.
There lis not u taint OF the forensic
afr IN HIS words or his gestures. The
sires no has marched through have
burnt the lawyer and the advocate
Awsy. Netting but the bars. akarlk,
49, EsMnln1s y $3.50 Anst11 Q1E N4e]