1 9 14] Dillon on Irish Prospects 427 



of Irish politics than I do of the Congo, and Irish politics are no more 

 safe for amateur idealists to play about in than a powder magazine 

 for children.' 



" 20th June. — Dillon arrived for the week end, and we sat up till 

 past midnight talking. He told me many interesting things. He and 

 Redmond were in great alarm at the Curragh fiasco, which he says was 

 grossly mismanaged through the fault principally of General Paget. 

 Dillon believes that if the men at the Curragh had been simply ordered 

 to Belfast to preserve order without any explanation or inquiry whether 

 they were willing they would have obeyed, but the thing was terribly 

 bungled. He was surprised at what I told him of Butler being the 

 only officer at the Curragh who was not disaffected to the Government. 

 It was the Curragh incident that convinced him that the National Vol- 

 unteers should be openly supported, for it was beginning to be thought 

 that nobody in Ireland cared any longer for Home Rule. Indeed, the 

 vehemence of the feeling in connection with the volunteering had sur- 

 prised him. Now the Parliamentary party have regained all their 

 authority both in Ireland and America. All the same it was a danger- 

 ous game they were playing — arming the whole country. 



"21st June (Sunday). — Drove with Dillon to Judge Mackarness's 

 at Steyning, where we found Sir Henry Cotton, Lajpat Rai and Gupta, 

 all these being friendly to Home Rule. Dillon gave us his views at 

 length. I had a long talk with him later about Ireland. He does not 

 think the Volunteer movement will lead to civil war, though there is 

 always danger of local riots. On .the contrary, he thinks that both 

 sides being armed will inspire mutual respect. We talked, too, about 

 religion, a propos of his son's education. His eldest boy, who is eigh- 

 teen, has just left Downside, and he is sending him to the new Catholic 

 University at Dublin. The boy had learned nothing at Downside ex- 

 cept to write good English, and he was unhappy there, being an ardent 

 Home Ruler with all the other boys opposed to him. Politics was all 

 he cared about. Dillon has always been against clerical interference 

 with politics, especially Vatican interference, and succeeded in getting 

 the new University put under lay management. This has made the 

 Jesuits very hostile to him, and they spare no occasion of doing him 

 an ill-turn. He is convinced they are the ruin of every political cause 

 they favour, and have always been blunderers in public affairs. 



" 25^/2. June. — A new expedition is projected in Somaliland. A 

 force is to be raised at Nairobi to start at the end of the summer. It 

 is to pass from Nairobi through Abyssinia, or Italian territory, and 

 another expedition at the same time from Berbera, a punitive affair to 

 avenge the death of one Corfield, killed last winter by a band of Somalis 

 in Abyssinia." 



