IRISH IMPRESSIONS THE HISTORY OF RUHLEBEN BY JOSEPH POWELL (CAPTAIN OF THE CAMP) AND FRANCIS GRIBBLE 10/6 _net_ TRUE LOVE BY ALLAN MONKHOUSE 7/- _net_ THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN BY FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG 7/- _net_ A GARDEN OF PEACE BY F. LITTLEMORE 10/6 _net_ NEW WINE BY AGNES AND EGERTON CASTLE 7/- _net_ MADELEINE BY HOPE MIRRLEES 7/- _net_ COLLINS LONDON IRISH IMPRESSIONS _by_ G. K. CHESTERTON [Illustration] LONDON: 48 PALL MALL W. COLLINS SONS & CO. LTD. GLASGOW MELBOURNE AUCKLAND Copyright First Impression, November, 1919 Second ” January, 1920 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. TWO STONES IN A SQUARE 1 II. THE ROOT OF REALITY 17 III. THE FAMILY AND THE FEUD 45 IV. THE PARADOX OF LABOUR 67 V. THE ENGLISHMAN IN IRELAND 93 VI. THE MISTAKE OF ENGLAND 115 VII. THE MISTAKE OF IRELAND 141 VIII. AN EXAMPLE AND A QUESTION 173 IX. BELFAST AND THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM 207 CHAPTER I TWO STONES IN A SQUARE When I had for the first time crossed St George’s Channel, and for the first time stepped out of a Dublin hotel on to St Stephen’s Green, the first of all my impressions was that of a particular statue, or rather portion of a statue. I left many traditional mysteries already in my track, but they did not trouble me as did this random glimpse or vision. I have never understood why the Channel is called St George’s Channel; it would seem more natural to call it St Patrick’s Channel since the great missionary did almost certainly cross that unquiet sea and look up at those mysterious mountains. And though I should be enchanted, in an abstract artistic sense, to imagine St George sailing towards the sunset, flying the silver and scarlet colours of his cross, I cannot in fact regard that journey as the most fortunate of the adventures of that flag. Nor, for that matter, do I know why the Green should be called St Stephen’s Green, nor why the parliamentary enclosure at Westminster is also connected with the first of the martyrs; unless it be because St Stephen was killed with stones. The stones, piled together to make modern political buildings, might perhaps be regarded as a cairn, or heap of missiles, marking the place of the murder of a witness to the truth. And while it seems unlikely that St Stephen was pelted with statues as well as stones, there are undoubtedly statues that might well kill a Christian at sight. Among these graven stones, from which the saints suffer, I should certainly include some of those figures in frock coats standing opposite St Stephen’s Westminster. There are many such statues in Dublin also; but