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must labour with what they have at hand; whether the freedom of Ireland is attained by moral suasion or physical force, what difference so long as it is achieved."
This is not ancient history. The policy is as determined to-day as it was in 1885, and 1901. In the year 1909 a visit was paid to Ireland by delegates from America of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an organisation of great strength and intensely anti-English.[1] The Freeman's Journal of the 12th April, 1909, devoted five columns to the report of the great Nationalist reception given to these delegates at Queenstown, Cork, and Dublin. One of them was Mr. Cummings, the head of the American "Hibernians"—as Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P., the Secretary of the United Irish League, is head of the Irish "Hibernians." Both Orders are Separatists to a man. Addressing the Gaelic League in Dublin on his arrival, Mr. Cummings said:—
"There were twenty-five millions of the Irish race in America: they were allied with the great German race. The German people were thirty per cent, of the population of the United States, those of Irish blood were twenty-seven per cent., making a total of fifty-seven per cent, of the population of America: and while England was looking for Alliances and Arbitration Treaties, that fifty-seven per cent, was looking after the interests of Ireland.
The same Mr. Cummings' words at the send-off meeting of the Irish-Americans in New York are thus reported in the Freeman's Journal, 13th April, 1909:—
"They (the Irish in America) had made a compact with the Germans, who made a large factor in American life. He wished England to clearly understand that
- ↑ For the Ancient Order of Hibernians and "Molly Maguires," see Appendix, infra, p. 100.
