The Days of a Man 



cause of Irish independence and was sent to the 

 Tower and executed, while some of his associates 

 poets, teachers, and dreamers were hastily shot 

 under martial law. "One law for Dublin, another 

 for Belfast." This may not be a fair way of stating 

 the case, but so it looked to Dublin, which city, 

 however, had countered in July, 1914, with its own 

 gun-running episode. 1 



The Both factions had in turn hoped for help from the 



Kaiser Kaiser. In Belfast it was frequently said that as 



and dm- 5 head of the great Protestant Church he would never 



in z allow Ulster to fall under Catholic control. Later 



Dublin extremists argued that Ireland and Germany, 



facing a common enemy, should unite in a common 



cause. Meanwhile Wilhelm and his agents had not 



the slightest interest in the Irish beyond their pos- 



sible service in harassing Great Britain. 



From Belfast we went on to the pleasant city oi 

 Londonderry, which rises picturesquely above Loci: 

 Foyle, a lake-like glaciated arm of the sea. Here w< 

 found feeling less bitter and the parties about evenl} 

 divided, though memories were very long. Presby 

 terian and Methodist elders talked as if they them 

 siege of selves remembered the cruel siege of their city by th< 

 Catholic Lord Antrim in 1689, when the people wen 

 forced to eat rats and nettles until at last a ship frorr 

 London broke the chain drawn across the narrov 

 entrance of the Loch. From Dr. Thomas Witherow 

 professor in Magus College, we received valuabL 

 help, and his "Siege of Derry and Enniskillen,' 

 although written by a Protestant, was commendec 

 to us by Catholics as both just and accurate. 



1 So far as I have heard no official notice was taken of this incident, th 

 onset of war pushing Irish matters into the background. 



