140 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



thinly peopled, especially inland. In the reign of 

 Queen Elizabeth we know that the troops had to cut 

 their way through the woods in the West Biding of 

 Cork to reach the rebels in remote parts after the 

 great Tyrone rising. It was a state of constant war. 



2. In such circumstances tribal virtues and vices 

 would be strongly developed. Fidelity to one's own 

 tribe, and utter treachery and deceit towards its 

 enemies (i.e. all others), with constant violence, 

 would be the normal state. This in substance is very 

 much what we find now. Men are singularly faith- 

 ful in many relations of life and to comrades even in 

 ill-doing. They readily combine for all sorts of ends, 

 especially for their own personal interests. I have 

 long believed that the force of Trades Unions both 

 in England and in America owes much to the Irish 

 element. It is easy to see how such tribal feelings 

 would adapt themselves to differences in religion and 

 to class differences, and would be kept alive by the 

 disturbed and half conquered state of the country 

 from the time of Henry II. to the present century. 



The most striking illustration of the readiness to 

 form parties and " Factions " (which differ little from 

 tribes) that I know of, was that of the Two Year 

 Olds and Three Year Olds in Tipperary, of which so 

 much was heard a few years ago. The whole original 

 cause of dispute was that there existed a bull on the 

 borders of two parishes, which the people of one 

 parish said was two years old at a certain time, 



