The plantation of Ulster in the reign of James I. took into
Ireland some of the most dogged members of the Scotch race, men filled
with the new fire of the Reformation, men stalwart for their race and
creed. They went as conquerors and as confiscators, and for centuries
they worked with arms in their hands. They slew and were slain, and
were divided from the native Irish by an overflowing river of blood.
That river is not yet bridged.
It has been said that there is no human hatred so great as that felt
towards men whom one has wronged. The planters of Ulster inflicted
upon Ireland many grievous wrongs and endured some fierce revenges. The
result is that even to-day there is a section of them that still stands
apart from the other colonisers of Ireland--a race still distinct and
apart. Is it impossible that even there the binding and unifying
principle of Irish life may begin to work? That is the question of the
future.
But though Ireland thus contains at least one instance of a mixture of
races not altogether dissimilar from that of England, it still remains
true that, taken as a whole, Ireland is a country marked with the
Celtic stamp. There, too, the power of the sea comes in.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25