New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-07
Irishmen and Enghshmen-
Literary News and Miscellany
Some Irish Books
Polity, Rhapsody and Attempt
ed Revolution

THE NATIONAL BEING. some Thoughts on i ITish
Polliy. By A =. small sTo. 70. l7s. The Mac
milan Company.
THE CRIT AND THE WORLD study ~ the
Tue Relation 81 Ccit and Tsuton I'm History.
By shane Leslie. limo. pp. 22i. Charles scrlo-
hers sons.
history OF THE Sim FEN MOVEMENT
AND THE IRISH REBELLION or 1915 ~
Francis +. Jones. with an Introduction py me
Hon John W. Coz. sVo, 70. nKVi. ~. /. D..
Kennedy sons.
II more men were gifted with the
splendid vision and broad humanity OF
A. +. there would be no difficulty IN
achieving a true settlement of lreland's
problems But such men are rare IN
ireland. az rare as in England, or in
deed in any other land, and the utmost
we dare hope is that by degrees and
after many years his fine conception
of nationality may be realized in such
sort that the common type of patriot
will be revealed in the eyes of his
countrymen for the narrow-minded
sham he is.
ave grow nobly like what we ADORE
says A. f.. and ignobly like what we
hate; and no people in Ireland became
so Anglicized m intellect and tempera-
ment, and even i'm the manner Of eN-
preston, as those who hated our neigh
bors most" In another place he speaks
Of the dissensions in Ireland itself as
the prime difficulty. while we gem
crate animosities among ourselves he
says, eve will always display them TO
other nations, and ! prefer 20 search
out how il is national hatreds are be-
gotten, and to show how that cancer
can be cut out of the body polite.
II is only a little book, and we shall
not attempt to summarize 1t, for A. E.s
argument is close-knit and deserves TO
be followed carefully by all who pre-
tend to any interest in the future OF
Ireland. A. h. is a mystic, but a
mystic with a very practical turn OF
thought, and there Is surely no obstacle
TO a full realization of his ideal except
that want of unity he deplores. And
this difficulty can best be overcome, ne
is convinced, by the establishment OF
an economic brotherhood. along lines
which are quite clearly defined by HIM
and have in some measure survived the
test of experience. With such super
fetal questions as trouble the common
politician he is not at all concerned.
Whether Ulster should or should not
be coerced, whether the Home Rule act
should or should not be made effective
at Once-tneSe are qutSLiOHS thab hS
evidently regards as distracting in any
real effort 70 secure the future Of his
country. The lack of political mag
nation in the ordinary politician, his
failure TO shape his schemes on clear
conception of Irish needs and irish
character fill him with misgiving: We
left it absolutely TO those whom we
declared incapable of understanding US
TO devise for us a system by which we
might govern ourselves"
A. Els hope is in the rural popula-
ton. BY education in the broadest
sense, by national service of the best
kind, he believes that a true sense OF
democracy and nationalism may in the
long run be created and turned to real
account.
Mr.. Shane Leslie disarms criticism
by admitting in his introduction that
"this book il not history or philoso-
phy." IL is in truth neither. and II we
we're asked TO define il we might call il a
sort of amiable rhapsody. 1t is really
little more, for, though 1t is loaded