further cause of friction with his former tenants, who now pay him no
rent. He no longer regards himself as part of an English garrison. He
will again become an Irish patriot. He no longer talks of the unity of
the Empire, for Home Rule has few terrors for him now. He talks of
'Devolution,' of the concession of a kind of self-government for
Ireland. He will struggle for a while against the designation Home Rule,
because not so long ago he was declaring that he would die in the last
ditch for the union of the three kingdoms, but he will soon be
reconciled to it. It will not be very long till the former landlords,
whose chief interests lie in Ireland, have become enthusiastic
Nationalists."




CHAPTER V

THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION

"I am convinced that if the void in the lay leadership of the
country be filled up by higher education of the better classes
among the Catholic laity, the power of the priests, so far as
it is abnormal or unnecessary, will pass away."

--DR. O'DEA, now Bishop of Clonfert, speaking in evidence
before the Robertson Commission on University Education, as
the representative of Maynooth College. Appendix to Third
Report, p. 296.