Page:The Gaelic State in the Past & Future.djvu/48

 them against the foreigner. He did so, but was overthrown and slain. Therefore an offer of the monarchy was sent to Hakon of Norway five years later. He was on his way over when he died at sea. Finally an invitation was sent to Edward Bruce by Domhnaill O'Neill in the name of Ireland. Bruce tame in 1315, was crowned Monarch of Ireland, and carried a war throughout the country that wasted the land. When he fell three years later at the battle of Faughert, the country was in a desperate condition; but the invader was thrown back to a small tract of country around Dublin that became known as the Pale.

Such were the attempts, made too late, to restore the State and eject the invader. One was dependent on the other. It was clearly impossible to restore the State until the invader had first been cast out. His presence in the country necessarily acted like an obstruction in the blood, and made it impossible for the body of the State to resume its health and perfect its functions until the poison had been expelled. This was so in the natural law of things; but, in addition to this natural and inevitable result, the invaders, in order to maintain their position in the country, set to work to create division between the scattered portions of the broken State. That was easy to do. The leaders in the different parts of the country have been blamed (by none more than by their nation) for serving their own sectional interests instead of the national unity. But how were they to discover the national unity, and how were they to distinguish, as we now can distinguish,