Lecky's books--the darling of his youth and the
worry of his old age--his "Leaders of Irish Public Opinion."[63] The
disastrous and wasting struggle against our own kith and kin in the
American colonies--forced on England by the folly of the same type of
statesmen now resisting Home Rule--had reduced these islands to an
almost defenceless condition. The British Army, intended for the
defence of Great Britain, had been sent away into the forests and
prairies of Northern America to fight an invisible foe, and to meet
with a disastrous and undeserved defeat. But in their blind passion to
subdue the Americans the British Government had for the moment
forgotten Ireland. In their eagerness to conquer their colonies they
had forgotten to maintain their hold on the half-conquered country at
their side. The British troops had been withdrawn from Ireland as well
as from England. At that dramatic moment France came into the struggle
with her fleet, and Ireland, with her great harbours and her accessible
coastline, could not be left defenceless. As Ireland had no British
troops to defend her, it was inevitable that she should be allowed to
defend herself.
Ireland, never slow in a fight, rose to this crisis.
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