to take root in the commonwealth of dominions which form the Empire.
Must one culture only exist? Must all citizens have their minds
poured into the same mould, and varieties of gifts and cultural
traditions be extinguished? What would India with its myriad races
say to that theory? What would Canada enclosing in its dominion
and cherishing a French Canadian nation say? Unionists have by
every means in their power discouraged the study of the national
literature of Ireland though it is one of the most ancient in Europe,
though the scholars of France and Germany have founded journals for
its study, and its beauty is being recognized by all who have read it.
It contains the race memory of Ireland, its imaginations and thoughts
for two thousand years. Must that be obliterated? Must national
character be sterilized of all taint of its peculiar beauty? Must
Ireland have no character of its own but be servilely imitative of
its neighbor in all things and be nothing of itself? It is objected
that the study of Irish history, Irish literature and the national
culture generates hostility to the Empire. Is that a true
psychological analysis? Is it not true in all human happenings
that if people are denied what is right and natural they will
instantly assume an attitude of hostility to the power which denies?
The hostility is not inherent in the subject but is evoked by the
denial. I put it to my Unionist compatriots that the ideal is to
aim at a diversity of culture, and the greatest freedom, richness
and variety of thought. The more this richness and variety prevail
in a nation the less likelihood is there of the tyranny of one
culture over the rest. We should aim in Ireland at that freedom
of the ancient Athenians, who, as Pericles said, listened gladly
to the opinions of others and did not turn sour faces on those who
disagreed with them. A culture which is allowed essential freedom
to develop will soon perish if it does not in itself contain the