Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1916-09-27
THE SLAVE MIND AMONGST
IISISIlNIl1N.
BY Arthur Grimth, Dublin.

all the crimes that one nation can
charge against another. We have
charged her with the destruction Of
our national and political institu-
tions; we have charged her with the
assassination of our people; we have
charged her with the suppression of
our trade and commerce. we have
charged her with the wasting of our
fields, and the enforced ignorance
that has left us today the most back
ward people of Western Europe. We
have charged against her more than
the Poles have charged against the
Russians more than the Hungarians,
fifty years ago, charged against the
Austrians; more than the Neither
landers, when they were under the
yoke Of Spain, charged against the
Spaniards. We have professed to
hate her, and il the charges we made
against her are true, we would be
ours If we did not hate her.
In every country outside the Eng
lish flag in which we have been, we
found England's answer to our
charges at work. We found the
name of the Irishman vaguely asso-
ciated in the minds of foreign peo-
pies with barbarism, with murder,
with laziness, with loud boasting and
little doing. We found England's
answer to our charges set out thus
"The Irish are a people in low
stage of mental and moral develop
ment, turbulent, idle, improvident,
and intractable; naturally vicious,
and incapable of any kind of ordered
existence, except under a strong
hand" That is England's case to
the world to whose ear we appealed.
The Irishman abroad finds himself
in a position the man of no other
nation occupies. He Is eternally on
the defensive for himself and his ma
tion. unless he takes the coward's
course as some Of the Irish do
and contemning his nationality,
calls himself "a Brit
isher."
Now, either our charges against
England are true or are false. II
they are false, we are nation of
liars, and we deserve all that Eng
land has done to us. If they are true,
then to affect sympathy with Eng
land today is mean hypocrisy Either
England is our tyrant or we Irish
have slandered and libelled Eng
land Which is the truth?
There is in Ireland a breed of be-
ings which can reconcile Heaven and
he'll. In days Of peace they some
times talk Of war, in days of war
they babble Of peace. England is
the enemy with them, until England
gets into serious trouble, and then
find something in the character of
England's opponent to prevent them
doing aught but support England.
These men when they are not mere
tricksters are born slaves. They have
no truth, they have no principle. No
man In Ireland needs to be told who
they are; their work not their per-
sonality concerns us. They it Is,
more than the rigors and oppres-
sions of England, that have forced on
so many Of our people the slave
mind.
The charges the Irish have made
England we hold to be true.
1t is true that England has destroyed
our national and political institu-
tions, it is true she has suppressed
our trade and commerce, 1t is true
she has assassinated our people, it is
true she has consistently plundered
and oppressed them, it is true she has
wasted their fields and wasted their
minds. 1t is true hat in the history
of modern Europe there is no paral-
lei to the treatment of Ireland by
England. Because of this we re-
gard no enemy Of England as an
enemy Of ours. II robber has over
come us--if we lie bleeding and
bound at his feet--and he be in his
turn attacked, we do not inquire in
to the character or motive of the at
tacker, before we decide whore our
sympathy lies. We follow our in
stinct aud our common sense.
If the Germans, instead of being a
great civilized people, who have led
the world in science, art, literatur,
and government for the past fifty
years, were all the English paint
them to be, the fact would not alter
our position a hairs breadth. We
are Irishmen-our duty to our
country demands us to regain ire
lands national and political liberties,
and until England has restored them,
England remains Ireland's enemy.
The slave mind is manifested to-
day in theIrishmen who babble about
Belgian neutrality" our ancient
for France, and the
German atrocities" We are not
Belgians, and what has happened, is
or may happen to Bel
GUM, Is not our prime concern. Our
prime concern is what the Belgium
prime concern is--our own country.
Our ancient friendship for France
grew out OF common hostility to
When France sided with
England she did not think of Ire
land or care about Ireland; she
thought only of herself. We, too,
must think only OF ourselves. Ger
man atrocities" If they really had
could have no effect upon
Ireland's attitude We are suffer-
ing under English atrocities for cen
turies, and it is none Of our business
to do with any kind of atrocity at
present. These plain truths are too
much for the slave mind. 1t blinks
and shrinks from them. In a word,
1t fears to have a country in an hour
like this-fears to look at the truth
in the face, and lodges Itself into a
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