1 . 31.10.16 My dearest Dora (?Sigerson) Surely you misunder-
stand my letter. Did not I say
Mc Bride had nothing to say to us
& only joined one centre after
the thing had started & that nothing
in his life became him like
the leaving of it? Was not this
the gist of what I said? By what
mental process do you construe
that into saying I whitewashed
him or that I have changed my
opinion of him as regards his
former life? I have not changed my
opinion of him, but I think the
hidden nobleness in him came
out at the last. If I ever said
Countess Markieviecz's house was
a temptation to anyone it was
before I knew her, or, perhaps, when
her husband was there, his influence
was not for good, but
madame's always was, she has 2 saved & succoured many a one
who would otherwise have gone
under. I know no one purer or
kindlier, she would divide her last
crust with anyone she thought
wanted it more than she. As to removing my friends (from No.9) Miss
ff.Mullen is very often out for the
afternoon & there is no one else
to remove. You need not write
to me now about my extreme
wickedness in daring to think it
right to oppose unjust rule when
your own infatible British Empire
lauds & extols the Greek premier for
revolting against the chosen king
of Greece, not a king whose only
right in the country was the right
of might, but the beloved & revered
king, I quote D - Murray in his recent
lecture in the Parochial Hall here, where
he stated that King Constantine was
greatly beloved by his people for 3 reasons,
1, because he had so often led his
people to victory, 2, because of his 3 (2) miraculous recovery from mortal
illness, on a very holy Icon being
brought to him from a Greek village. The 3rd reason my
informant had forgotten. He also
then stated that the assassination
of King — & Queen Draga was justifiable,
for, tho' he held no brief for
the officers who did the deed, still,
undoubtedly Roumania Serbia suffered
much from their tyranny, & that
something had to be done to end
it. Therefore he holds that RoumaniaSerbia
was justified in freeing herself from
oppression, how could he then say
Ireland was wrong to do the same.
I think there are few in Ireland who
would uphold the assassination
of the Ard Rig, if there were one.
It does not seem as if D - Murray
were the person to show me the
error of my ways! As long as you are persuaded that
what is, is right, & that England is justified in
justified in wringing the life blood from 4 Ireland, Egypt & India to fatten herself,
there is no more to be said. I hold that
England is not justified, that she has
transgressed the law of God, to set up
her own law, calling it His, and that,
as God always works by human means,
our people were right in the step they
took. The Irish in Ireland are a vanishing
quantity, let things go on as they
have been & in a few years there
will be no Irish left — self-preservation
is the unerring (God-given) instinct of individuals
& nations, therefore the oppressed rise
to throw of the bonds which are
strangling them & they are justified
in the sight of God & all men
except those imbued with the
spirit of tyranny in doing so.
You blame me bitterly for concealing
my views, instead of blaming
the tyranny which makes such
concealment inevitable, there are
many, whose names I find out
by degrees, but am not at liberty
to mention, who do the same, 5 (3) & for the same reason, people
that you would never suspect
of any such thing, whom you
respect & look up to. Ten in good
company. Talking of Madam Markiewiecz,
you say her husband
went away & she did not bring
up her own child. Surely if her
husband chose to go for a time
to his own family in Poland he
had a deleted textperfect right to do so
& this casts no slur on him or
her, & is it not quite usual
for grandmothers to take a grandchild
to bring up? It is done
again & again & is a purely
domestic convenience. My conception of right & wrong,
if you mean by that my conception
of law has certainly
altered since I knew the Brehon
system & compared it with
the Anglo-Norman, the former
upholds the spirit, the latter
adheres rigidly to the letter &
you know St Paul's comparison
of letter & spirit. The purity of
any person's motives is judged 6 fairly accurately by the amount
they are prepared to give up for
their principles. We went out
with our lives in our hands,
to every human being the most
supremely valuable possession.
Expediency, which means usually
self-preservation, would have
kept us at home. I do not think myself infalible,
but nothing you have told
me has in the least shown
me I am wrong. You are narrow
& onesided to an extent amazing
in one of your education, you
seem absolutely impervious
to reason. You call me ignorant
because I refuse to see through
your eyes alone & cut off all
the deleted textbig, pitiful other side, I can't
consent to this. Prove to me that
Ireland exported no food stuffs
during the famine years, 45-48
& I will believe you are right,
prove to me that England is not
doing the same thing now & that
cattle, bacon, eggs, butter, grains 7 (4) are not leaving the country &
that adequate provision is
being made to avert the famine
& I will believe the disinterestedness
of England's dealings with
Ireland. You know perfectly
well you can't do it, you
know England's occupation
of Ireland has been one long
series of devastations, of which
the last is by no means the
most inconsiderable. Is there
any other country in the world
which would have contemplated
shelling of all the coast
towns in order to put down
a handful of people who rose
against them? If any other
country thought of such a thing
what a howl of exsacration it
would raise in Christian England!
I think I mentioned the famine
of the forties to you before &
that you took no notice of it.
Please don't do the same now.
I know you do love me still, don't
you think you could try to believe 8 in me a little? Why are you so
sure of your infalibility? My love, dearest.
K. The service of one's country is a
higher duty than the service
of oneself or one's friends