Introduction
In the following article, Arthur Machen ventured into a topic he rarely discussed in public: politics. Those who have strong feelings on the appropriateness of discussing such matters, may not approve of Machen’s opinions, yet the few instances of such openness are valuable insights into how the author thought about political issues. In this case, Machen illustrated a paternalistic approach to the issue of Irish governance while he blamed both the Irish and the English for the trouble. In regards to his final point, Machen would probably be quite surprised at the rise of Welsh nationalism since his day.
Patsy – The Bad Boy Chestertonian
(and Other Views of Ireland)
by
Arthur Machen
November 26, 1919
There is no denying it. England has not succeeded in governing Ireland. You may argue, if you are inclined, that England has always been lavishly generous to Ireland. Or, being a more moderate man, you say that for the last twenty years, at all events, England has been a nursing mother to the sister Isle.
You may urge all sorts of propositions showing that England has been much kinder to Ireland than she has been to herself; that the Irish people are now confessedly well-to-do, at ease, prosperous, with plenty of money in the bank.
The Bad Boy in the Nursery
You may urge all this, and some of it is perfectly true. But the other truth remains. If you hear a neighbour’s little boy howling, screaming, raging, tearing in the nursery, it is obvious that the child’s father has failed in governing the child—“keeping in order” is the nursery phrase.
The father may say reproaching: “And I gave him jam and two sorts of cake for tea, and took him to the Pictures yesterday.” It doesn’t matter; he has failed to keep Jack in order.
And so with Ireland: the whole country, the Belfast corner excepted, is red-hot with rebellion; and the glowing embers may burst into consuming flames at any moment. We have failed to govern Ireland.
That is one side of the matter; and Mr. G. K. Chesterton, author of “Irish Impressions” (Collins, 7s. 6d., net) enforces it very clearly. But he is apparently unaware that there is another proposition to be stated, as equally and as absolutely true: Ireland has failed to govern itself.
Ireland’s Own Failure
We grant freely, for example, that the old land system of the major portion of Ireland was detestable, and unjust and infamous. There is no adjective too bad for it; they told me in Belfast that the Ulstermen would not have borne with such a system for a moment.
And how did Ireland fight against this wicked system in the ‘eighties, in the days of the Land League? Ireland fought this vile system with every kind of vileness.
Cruel persecution, horrible terrorism, outrage, mutilation, murder itself: all were employed. Justice was denied, the juryman’s oath was nothing; these people, panting to be free, denied the faintest shadow of freedom to those who differed from them.
Nor have they altered in the last forty years. Alleging, I dare say with truth, that English governments have played fast and loose with them over Home Rule Act, they resent this injustice with assassination, and show their capacity for self-government by systematic practice of cruel, callous, and brutal murder. Ireland has failed to govern itself.
Where the Greater Blame Lies
One really comes back, I think, to the analogy of the father and the naughty child; and once must conclude that the chief burden of blame must be placed on the father’s shoulders, because he is the father, because it is his business to keep his child in order, however “ungovernable” the little boy’s temper may be, though he may have done his little best to help the assassin who has his father by the throat. Jacky—or Patsy, perhaps—is a child, and knows no better.
Patsy is a child. Otherwise he would not stick up the names of streets in Dublin in a language which he does not know himself, which has not been commonly spoken in that city for hundreds of years.
Mr. Chesterton, who has an amiable word for this idiotic—or rather childish—habit, asks us what we would do if the Germans conquered England. Well, suppose the Germans renamed Regent-street “Crown Prince-street.” I hope we should not be such fools as to set up the original title underneath in Anglo-Saxon characters, Norse Runes, or Welsh Oghams.
The Welsh are a people with a strong sense of their nationality; but I have never heard that they demanded that all maps for use in Wales should have the ancient British names of the capital, “Caerindd,” printed under “London.”
The Weekly Machen
Previous: Gossip About Books and Authors (7/1/1919)
Next: Through a Door Off Oxford-Street
darklybrightpress.com 
Thanks for this! I won’t attempt to comment in earnest, yet, but wonder two things, and note two more. When – and in what circumstances – in the contrasting responsible father and son imagery, might Machen think young Ireland might be considered as having ‘come of age’?
Did Machen have any sort of Irish ancestry – in addition to his Welsh and Scottish? Noting my own Irish ancestry (among others), though, I’m not sure what difference it might make – currently reading a fascinating collection of essays and addresses by Tolkien’s Dutch admirer and friend, Maartje Draak,* a Celtologist largely concerned in this collection with ‘matters Irish’, I kick myself for never having paid more attention to (old) Irish literature, lore, and history (and mean to do at least something to improve the lamentable situation).
Thanks for the GKC link! Noting it seems uncertain as to its immediate “source document”, I went to the Internet Archive and discovered a good number of scans of different copies of the English and American editions, and the fact of there being a LibriVox audiobook – and add that the LibriVox website entry for it links yet another “Online text” – which my ‘security suite’ prevents me from opening as dangerous! So, let the reader beware!
*By good hap, there is a very interesting article about her and Tolkien in the October 2025 issue of Mythlore freely available online.
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Thanks for the comment. On record, Machen said virtually nothing about Ireland after his stint at the Evening News. However, to hazard a guess, I doubt that he would have ever thought Ireland capable of self-government. He was a staunch believer and supporter of the Empire and Eire is in its backyard. To be fair, he probably felt the same about the Scottish and the Welsh, Therefore, he would be horrified by the SNP and Plaid Cymru platforms. As a solid Unionist, I imagine he would see independent movements or devolution as threats the UK’s integrity. (Again, the above is my opinion of what he would have believed.) Also, I do not think he had Irish blood… at least not more recent than the usual Celtic inter-mixture from the past ages of tribal war and integration.
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Thanks for this reply!
It suddenly occurs to me how convenient it would be for us readers if Machen had sketched anything United-Kingdom-ish analogous to Chesterton’s A Short History of England (1917) – or even reviewed that in some detail.
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Machen and Plaid Cymru came together for me about 30 years ago. I had seen mention in some Machenian source about plans to alter part of a city (in Wales, I assume; this is long ago, now) and a request that Machen-folk write in protest, so I did. It seems my letter to a local newspaper was published. Eventually I received a thank-you on Christmas-themed stationery from Plaid Cymru! This unusual bit of mail has, I fear, lost its place in my correspondence files.
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That is a great story!
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Indeed – and very interesting! Something like an appreciation of Machen-and-Machenian appreciation of Welsh heritage.
The reference to sticking “up the names of streets in Dublin in a language which he does not know himself, which has not been commonly spoken in that city for hundreds of years” is interesting in later Welsh context.
I recently ran into someone suggesting this could be dangerous in border regions on roads with higher speed limits where Anglophone drivers could be distracted by the ‘Welsh first’ info on signs – and at the very least miss whatever info was being given by not skipping down to the English version quickly enough.
On the other hand, a Welsh undergraduate in the 1980s told me they all had to learn a certain amount of Welsh (or have a certain number of years of Welsh courses) in school – I wonder how successfully the Irish had pursued something like that where Gaelic was concerned by 1919 – or would it all have been voluntary?
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