Giles Geoghegan is an Anglo-Irish Protestant in Clogher, a West of Ireland town which represents Westport.  He raises an abortive rebellion against England in the time of the Young Ireland Movements, and is deported to Australia.  His son, Gerald, takes over his land in Clogher and resolves to fight for an independent Ireland as a Nationalist Party politician.  However Gerald soon falls out with Father Fahy who demands that Gerald should rent his land to local farmers for unreasonably low rates.  When Gerald goes out for an electoral campaign to the neighboring town with the Nationalist Party leader, John O’Neill, they are blocked by a pack of police officers.  O’Neill convincingly says that this blockade is ordered by Father Fahy and other priests.  This novel and Hyacinth provoke great controversies among many Irish Catholic Nationalists because they mistakenly consider that Birmingham is entirely hostile to them.    A closer reading of both novels will reveal Birmingham’s genuine love for Ireland.

… Far better it is to be sitting beside a seething pot than a stagnant pool.  Dear G.G., let us keep the pot seething if we can.  Let us do our little part in this dear Ireland of ours to stir men into the activities of thought and ambition.  If we get our toes burnt and our fingers grimy, let us put up with it bravely.  If there is a nasty smell, we shall remember that there is good food in the caldron.