We ignore it. It
means nothing. No; the passing of the Home Rule bill has given balance
to the Irish mind.
"It has helped Irish-Americans to realize that the dreadful sins of
England are sins of a dead and gone England, and it has helped them to
see that the present England, so far as its democracy is concerned,
sincerely desires to make reparation for the past. In fact, the war and
the Home Rule bill together have produced such a transformation in the
Irish-American nature as I, for one, never expected and never hoped to
see."
He then warned me that this great change might suffer a dangerous
reaction if England allows the religious bigotry of Ulster to split
Ireland into two camps. To the Irish-American Ireland is a country, a
home, and a shrine, one and indivisible.
"Such a surrender," said my friend, "would not only be fatal to Ireland
but fatal to something even greater than Ireland, and that is the cause
of religion in an age of increasing paganism. For the world can only be
saved from the ruin of paganism, as we are beginning to see very clearly
in America, by a union of religious forces.
"I am a Catholic, but I say that any man who says 'Only through my door
can you enter into heaven' is a bad Christian.
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