It was the Carson Volunteers that gave him the idea of the possibility of a physical force movement. If Orangemen could drill, why not Nationalists; if the planter could fight, why not the native; if the hands of Government could be forced by threats and arms brought in under their very eyes, why not take advantage of it; if war was inevitable sooner or later, why not prepare?--any way, it would be as noble to die for a race's emancipation as the privileges of an hereditary officialdom. Plan for plan, and man for man, then followed the constitution of the Irish Volunteers--Carsonism turned on Carson--and Germany "used" rather than "served" in the interests of Ireland. When John Redmond, therefore, with the doubtful facility of oratory attempted to explain away the whole rebellion with the insinuation that the whole movement was the outcome of German gold, he must for the moment have forgotten that he was talking to men who invariably looked upon him as long ago bought up with American gold, and that he was referring to his fellow-countrymen in a protest against a class he had himself times out of number denounced as subsidized by English gold--and Sir Roger Casement's denial of such an imputation as both insolent and insulting was as true as it was dignified. As a matter of fact the only thing German about the whole rebellion was the "Prussianism" of the Castle, which was equally responsible for the occurrence of the rising and these harsh methods of repression which eventually--paradoxically enough--made it the moral success it has since become in the hearts of Irishmen. FOOTNOTE: [2] Cf. "Sir Roger Casement"--a character sketch without prejudice, by L. G. Redmond-Howard. Dublin: Hodges & Figgis. CHAPTER THE SEVENTH MINDS AND MEN In considering any sudden yet organized popular movement, such as a revolution, the most important things to examine are the minds and the men that directed it, for it is only by means of these forces that simmering discontents take definite shape and concrete determination. But it often happens that the characters of the leaders themselves and even the objective remedies they propose are quite out of keeping with the solution of the real grievances they complain of. Once given leadership, and confidence, fidelity, and sincerity follow among the rank and file as naturally as water flows from a spring--being the common factor of humanity--and this seems to have been the case in the Sinn Fein rebellion of 1916.