Incidents of my life, professional, literary, social, with services in the cause of Ireland / by Thomas Addis Emmet.
- Thomas Addis Emmet
- Date:
- 1911
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Incidents of my life, professional, literary, social, with services in the cause of Ireland / by Thomas Addis Emmet. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![Note XII See page j82 [A letter to the New York Irish World—^published Oct. 26, 1907—giving some indication of the present feeling of the educated English people towards Ireland and Home Rule. Changes within the past generation.] S. S. Celtic, Oct. 9, 1907. Editor Irish World: I went abroad late in the spring with no expectation of accomplishing more than a visit of a few weeks to my relatives. Parliament was in session when I arrived in London, but I was unwilling to inconvenience busy men by having them call on me. Consequently, as I was limited in my power of locomotion, I did not see any of the Irish leaders, nor, in fact, did I meet abroad any one particularly interested in Irish affairs. I spent more than a month in London and passed over two months in the Scotch Highlands during the grouse season, with the house filled with sports- men. I have seen and heard much of special interest, while more than a gen- eration has passed since I have had the opportunity of meeting a like number of educated Englishmen. I made it an object to obtain what information I could relating to Irish affairs from an English standpoint, and I was surprised to find that a great change in public sentiment had taken place. The number of individuals I met during my last and my previous visits was comparatively a limited one, I confess, upon which alone to base an opinion. But a few scattering straws are after all a better indicator of a passing current than a compact bundle, and especially valuable when in corroboration of other testimony. An intense and aggressive prejudice against the Irish people seemed to exist formerly among the upper class of Englishmen, and to a lesser degree as well against their religion. At the time of my previous visit, the aver- age Englishman, if he gave any thought at all to the Irish people, regarded them as a worthless set of drunken vagabonds, with whom nothing could be done save to hang them or drive them out of the country. In these very words, in fact, I have often heard such views expressed. The press of the period, as a reflection of the views of the public, will verify my statement. And at the same time the profoundest ignorance existed in England regarding the political condition of Ireland. The English of to-day with whom I was thrown are but little better in- formed, and the subject of Irish affairs seems to be one seldom discussed among themselves. When I broached the subject I found a condition of perfect indifference with them all, and yet in but a single instance did I hear the expression of unkind feelings toward the Irish people. This exception was in the case of an army officer who, as soon as I made reference to the Irish people, pro-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28034776_0594.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
