OCR Text |
Show j Will Inland Ever j ? Sain fiw Tmdom - X Bourke Cockran, Justin McCarthy, John Dillon and j J John W. Goff Reply to Lord Salisbury. "f....4--4-4-4"4-4---4-4-4--f-f 't , T T T T TTT T T T I w . - - "Mr. Gladstone, in an evil moment for the fame of the country and for his party, attached himself to the idea of the separation of England ana ire-land. ire-land. No one can say the Home Rule cause nrecents any element of sanguine san-guine anticipation for the future. I am assured that there is no hope of tho predominant party ever giving to Ireland practical independence. We have learned somethins from the South African war-how that disloyal govern-ment, govern-ment, in spite of warnings, could accumulate armaments against the most powerful combatant and thus secure a terrible advantage. We now Kncm better than v e did ten years ago what a risk it would be if we gave a disloyal dis-loyal government in Ireland the power of accumulating forces against this country." Lord Salisbury. IRELAND WILL TRIUMPH. BY W. BOURKE COCKRAN. When the brutal declaration of Lord Salisbury is calmy considered, the fair-minded fair-minded man can come to but one conclusion. con-clusion. He must recognize the self-evident self-evident fact that England's course is inconsistent with public peace and common com-mon progress. Salisbury's soeech has been a good thing for the cause of Ireland. It has shown England in her true colors and the aristocracy of Great Britain has been brought to exposure upon itself. England standa today alone and discredited among tha nations 'of the world. For ten years the spirit of Irish nationality na-tionality seemed to have sunk so low that its enemies regarded it with con tempt. The tide of opposition to foreign domination became so sluggish that it separated into factional streams which dissipated its strength. But no sooner had the sword of aggression and rapine been drawn against a virtuous 'people, even at the other side of the equator, than factional differences disappeared before a stern public opinion which forced all Irish parties to present a united front, in opposition to this crusade cru-sade of crime. Robert Emmet, according to his own words, struggled to achieve the blessings bless-ings of free government! through the vindication of justice and strict obedience obe-dience to the moral law. The success of such an enterprise in his day or in this could never result in injury or oppression op-pression to a single human being. Justice and revenge are incompatible. The triumph of one is necessarily the defeat of the other. By this it is not meant that wrong can ever become right, or that justice should for any reason tolerate or compromise with injustice. in-justice. The same principle which condemns con-demns an injury enjoins reparation for injury. The same moral law which I prohibits us from committing injustice prohibits us from submitting to it. Robert Emmett's demand on behalf of the Irish people was not for revenge or even for reparation from those who had wrecked the national prosperity, but for liberty to repair by their own peaceful efforts the injuries inflicted upon them during seven centuries of barbarous oppression. That is the demand of the Irish people peo-ple today. It is not a demand for vengeance ven-geance a proposal for disturbance or Injustice. It is a demand for pustice tempered with mercy an offer of forgiveness for-giveness and reconciliation. That demand is made now, not by one man, from a convict's dock, but by millions from the platform of public opinion; not from Ireland alone, but irom every quarter or the civilized globe. Ireland is not languishing from the oppression merely of this day, of this year, but from the wrongs of seven centuries. cen-turies. The suppression and prohibition of Irish manufactures, the systematic, pitiless pit-iless destruction of the Irish shipping: industries and the export trade prevented pre-vented any natural creation of capital for centuries, while the institution of landlordism continues to draw from the country the profits of agriculture which under happier conditions, would be used in promoting the productive capacity of the soil. We don't recall these grievances now to seek vengeance for them, but to prove that the government, which, for seven centuries, has been a ghastly failure, by its own confession, i3 not the government which can be trusted I with the difficult, delicate, laborious task of repairing the disasters which it has caused. In demanding the right to decide for themselves the conditions under which they will seek to restore the prosperity of their country, the Irish people are but invoking for Ireland the principle which Great Britain is pretending now to enforc in South Africa. They demand de-mand that, in Ireland, as elsewhere, the consent of the governed shall be acknowledged as the only defensible basis of government. They demand that the relations between England and Ireland, whatever they may be, shall be established upon the consent of the Irish people not on the brute power of the English government. More than this they do not ask, but with less than this the Irish people will never be content. .me reiusai oi xnis aemana nas been excused hitherto by the pretense that to grant it would endanger England's sovereignty. While this plea was advanced ad-vanced to justify the subjugation of Ireland alone, it was overlooked by the civilized world. Its assertion to South Africa practically extends it over the globe and makes it a menace to civilization. civili-zation. In the last analysis it places England in hostility to every government govern-ment in the world, including this government. gov-ernment. If England's sovereignty depends de-pends upon the denial of justice to all other countries, then its sovereignty is inconsistent with the welfare of humanity, hu-manity, and its destruction becomes the supreme duty of civilization. I care not with what arms such a government may be sustained. I care not what generals may command them, what wealth may equip them, what implements im-plements of destruction may aid them, tho history of the world shows they will be defeated, confounded and overthrown; over-thrown; for they will be warring against a kingdom which has prevailed against all the empires ever founded by man. It does not command armies, though no hosts have been able to overthrow it. Defeated it has often been, destroyed it can never be. The ruins of ancient dynasties are the monuments of its irresistable might. The history of nations which once held power and abused it, is the record of its inexorable decrees. Its authority does not spring from this earth, but its jurisdiction embraces the whole universe; uni-verse; for that kingdom is the kingdom of justice, co-extensive and co-existent with the kingdom of heaven. As the struggle for Irish independenco is a struggle for the vindication of justice, its success may be delayed, but it cannot be defeated. To dcubt its ultimate ul-timate triumph would be to doubt th.-existence th.-existence of God, from Whose throno justice flows, in Whose hands justh-.r is, by Whose might justice will be made triumphant. BRUTAL, BUT FRANK. By (JOHN W. GOFF.) f Why is it that while England has been and is willing to accord large and j generous measures of self-government and political autonomy to her colonies, such as Canada and Australia, she denies de-nies them to Ireland? Of late years it appeared as if there, was an awakening sense of justice In the English people. Some slight advance has been made looking to the amelioration amelior-ation of the condition of the people. The grand jury system in Ireland, for instance, was until very recently an engine en-gine of terrible oppression. These bodies bod-ies were composed almost exclusively of the landlord class; they had no sympathies sym-pathies with the people; on the contrary, contra-ry, they were in general antagonistic to them. They controlled the maintenance mainte-nance of roads, the building of bridges, the assessments for them in various counties, and in other respects ther were in no sense of the people, as grand juries are in England or as they are in America. The recent county government act, however, has to some extent modified these conditions, and the people in the respective counties and districts, through their local boards, have some voice now in the questions of public worKS, taxation, charities and educa- tion. So far England has found no fault with the new system, and it may be safely assumed that If the people had shown themselves incompetnet or un-shown un-shown themselves incompetent or tin-been tin-been taken of such conditions to exploit ex-ploit to the world the fact that the Irish people were incapable of governing themselves even in small things. The country, unfortunately for the cause of liberty, sent forth xhe leading generals of England's army and great numbers of soldiers to destroy the two republics of South Africa. Certainly the Irish soldiers have shown courasre and bravery, which, even if equalled, has not been surpassed by either the English or the colonial troops. The English government has gone into in-to spasms of joyful congratulation over the loyalty of the colonies to the mother moth-er country. Could the colonists have done more for England than the Irish soldiers? Have they not, literally speaking, been the head and front of the English army in every hazardous march or attack, and have they not suffered greater loss than any other men in the English army? I wrish it were not so. It is a measure meas-ure a cause of shame and not of pride. It Is a shame that a nation that has suffered so much from English oppression oppres-sion should lend itself in the smallest degree to aid their oppressors against a people struggling for liberty, as they themselves have often done. But it is in the aspect of the justice of England's attiude toward them that the matter 13 referred to. Lord Salisbury's declaration is timely: time-ly: It will be productive of good. True, it is brutal, but it is frank. It destroys the fantastic conceits of men both in America and in Ireland who have been talking about the golden rule and the dove of peace and the burial of memories of past grievances and causes of dissension between Ireland Ire-land and England. Lord Salisbury frankly tells these men that Ireland has nothing to expect ex-pect from England. And Ireland, whenever when-ever she has expected anything from England, did not receive it until such time as it became a question of political advantage and substantial gain for England to accede to the request. It would be idle to ignore the fact that England, one of the greatest empires em-pires in the world, with unlimited wealth and power immeasurable, has the enormous advantage of being unjust un-just to Ireland with impunity. What can Ireland do? To a great extent depopulated, with- out arms, armies, fleets of treasure, she cannot, in a physical sense, enter or maintain a conflict; but she, has it within her power to make England's political life very unpleasant and unhappy. un-happy. With her people united, with the genius of her sons, the preseverance and indestructible fortitude which they have shown for centuries, the spread of education, their force of intellect and an inflexible purpose to delve and delve for the redress of their country's grievances, griev-ances, will surely be productive of substantial sub-stantial gain. Lord Salisbury deserves thanks. He has made public declaration of what has secretly been determined upon. He has boldly stated what tho less honest statesman would shrink from. He has not dealt in duplicity but he has dispelled an illusion that was beginning to cloud the understanding understand-ing Of the well-menninu- tint j , ""e. "-"ji.. 0.0 xa pro ven by his words, "misguided men " ?y3 Tth bitterness and resentment of the Irish people against the unjut t discrimination made against them by England w-hich have caused the unrest I and disturbance which have marred the peace and prosperity of the country. j SHALL IRELAND THEN BE FREE ? j BY JUSTIN M'CARTHY. I nnm, Prie minister of England has Rule is dead and that there is no pos-,,b",tf pos-,,b",tf of it3 revival. He condemned Gladstone for having ever taken up that cause but he said nothing cf the i dealings of his own image, the late Lord Carnavon. with Parnell on that , very question of Home Rule. I could tell some interesting things about that 1 chapter of history, too; but my only concern at present is to call attention to Lord Salisbury's prediction about Home Ruie in order that it may not be forgotten when the day comes, when it snail be proven false ,tTh lixVt.which 1 have taken as tho title for this article belongs to the refrain re-frain of a poem which was very popular popu-lar in Ireland during the movement of 1 48 and since, and is itself a translation from an old Irish song. My own firm conviction Is that Ire- I and is destined to be free that is, to have all which is necessary ! to constitute the freedom of a people. j (Continued on Pago 6.) j j .if Will Inland Get lcr Freedom? (Continued from page 4.) One of the great developments of modern mod-ern political life is the recognition of the doctrine which teaches that every nationality is happiest and best ordered or-dered according as it is allowed the freedom to develop its own highest gifts and capacities, material, intellectual intellec-tual and moral, in its own way. On this principle the United States of America are held together and form part of one great republic, each state managing its own local affairs for it-teif, it-teif, and all combining to legislate for the great interests which are common to all. On this principle Canada has been governed since here rebellion at the opening of Qu'en Victor ia's reign compelled the attention of the Knglish public and parliament to her nieser-able nieser-able condition, and a sudden light f inspiration enabled the government to intrust the ordering of h-r future arrangements ar-rangements to a man of genius,-Lord Durham, who set up the home-rule system there, aiid thus founded the prosperous, contented and loyal Dominion Do-minion of Canada. The same principle has made the Australasian colonics what they are the strong, prospering, i-elf-ruling Mates of a great empire. It has always al-ways been to me a matter of wonder how intelligent Knglish public men on either side of the political field can still shut, their eyes to the fact that this is the principle th;it must be applied ap-plied to Ireland, if Ireland is ever to W a strength and not a weakness, a companion com-panion and not an enemy, to Kngland. J do net believe that there is in the heart of Ireland any passionate yearning yearn-ing for an absolute and lonely inde-jcndenei inde-jcndenei til;? independence of a small i Atlantic island severed from political eon?veli:'n with any other state system. sys-tem. Half an ordinary lifetime has parsed away since John Ilright declared de-clared that Ireland would be 'happy, contented and prosperous if she could only be loosed from her moorings in the Atlantic and become a state of the great American republic. 1 am convinced that Ireland now would become prosperous and happy if only she were allowed to be a self-governing self-governing member of the British empire. em-pire. Nothing less will ever content her. and J am ready to say that, according ac-cording to my deliberate conviction, iioihing less ought to content her. She can never become a mere Knglish province, pro-vince, ruled from Westminster. The history, the traditions, the ways of the iwo peoples, the Knglish and the Irish, are too unlike to admit of their fusion into one system of administration. Moreover, there is a magic in the people peo-ple of self-government which brings out all that is wisest, most just and most progressive in the intellects of peoples, and we find this fact illustrated illus-trated all through the history of the civilized world. j This, then, is the freedom which 1 believe Ireland is destined to enjoy, j and without which I maintain that she ought not to be satislied. Her attainment attain-ment of it is only, according to my ! strong belief, a question of time, and, possibly, even of accident. I am the more anxious to express my opinions tin this subject because everybody who knows anything about me. and I hope am known to a good many people in the L'nited Stat?s, must know that I am not a fanatical and irreconcilable extremist, who admits no possible chance of a genuine union between Kngland and Ireland. I have lived too long .in Kngland not to have a strong fault in the ultimate success of any cause whic h "makes its appeal to the intelligence, the good sense, and the manhood of the great majority of the Knglish people. 1 feel satisfied that in the1 case of Ireland's claim to national self-government, such an appeal will triumph before long. Kducated Englishmen who are not deeply concerned in politics are already al-ready beginning to understand how much there is that is valuable in literature liter-ature and are in the purely national traditions and feelings of the Irish people. peo-ple. Just at present our political cause is suffering from the kind of reaction under which other great principles are suffering as well the reaction that followed fol-lowed almost inevitably in English public life when the influence of Mr. Ciladstone was sudden'v withdrawn from its guidance. T'ia period of reaction re-action is itself destined to pass away and to be reacted upon, and then the claims of Ireland to be allowed to manage man-age her domestic affairs for herself will once again find thorough recognition from the whole liberal party, and will begin to get recognition from the con-1 con-1 servative party a.s well. If I had any authority to state the case of Ireland, my statement of it would be that Ireland demands the right of administering her domestic affairs for herself, and is ready on that condition to send her representatives Into the imperial parliament at Westminster West-minster to speak for her on all questions ques-tions that concern the common interests inter-ests of th? empire. The time cannot be far off when all reasonable Englishmen English-men will begin to see that only thus, and not otherwise, can any true solution solu-tion be obtained for the troublous problem prob-lem which has so long perplexde the statesmanship of the two countries. Why any reasonable Englishman should object to such a solution, or be afraid of it. or even see anything doubtful-about it. passes my understanding, under-standing, and I am sure the time is not far distant when all rational Englishmen Eng-lishmen will wonder how the objections objec-tions and the fears and the doubts could have found existence in the minds of men who were thought worthy io c onduct the statesmanship of a great empire. I answer, then, the question which I asked as the title of this article by quoting one of the closing lines of the same poem: "Yes, Ireland shall be free" the free and willing partner on , fair and equal terms in a great im perial system. spared to provide that her entry into Dublin should be attended with all possible ceremony and pomp. The people of Ireland were not shortsighted short-sighted enough not to realize the "object of it all. Any enthusiasm that characterized char-acterized the queen's reception was absolutely confined to the wealthier classes and the two hundred thousand visitors who included thirty thousand from the city of Belfast. Dublin's working classes looked on with absolute abso-lute indifference, not so much as raising rais-ing their hats. Throughout Ireland the visit has aroused no permanent interest inter-est whatever beyond a strong feeling of indignation, which has been freely and generally expressed against nationalist na-tionalist members of the Dublin corporation cor-poration who voted for the address of welcome. Undoubtedly one of the main objects of the queen's visit to Ireland was to secure more Irish soldiers. The recruiting department in Kngland is absolutely at its wit's end to get men of good physique for the increase proposed pro-posed to be made in the army, and the admirable s'uff of which the Irish soldier has proved himself to be made has excited the admiration of the British Brit-ish authorities, who do not conceal the desire to secure more Irishmen for the army. It is a very regrettable fact that the losses among the Irish troops in South Africa are more than double a fair proportion of casualties among th English. Politically, the queen's visit has had no effect. I am convinced that the influence in-fluence it has had will not affect a hundred hun-dred votes at the general election, nor has it altered in the slightest degree the very strong feeling in Ireland on the South African war, for the conviction convic-tion of the Irish people that the cause of the Poer republic is just and ought to succeed. The glowing, but totally inaccurate, accounts which the correspondents of Knglish newspapers supplied of the queen's visit to some extent fulfilled their object. They have temporarily impressed the people of Europe with the idea that Ireland is with Great Britain in this critical period of her history. Time will erase that impression. impres-sion. If any further indication-of the true feeling of the Irish people were needed it is to be found in the fact that not a single one of the eighty-one nationalist members of parliament out of a total representation of 103, including includ-ing three of the city of Dublin, dared lend their sympathy to the reception of the queen. It would have been as nitfch as his seat was worth. Briefly, the visit paid by the queen to Ireland has failed where it was expected ex-pected by English schemers to succeed, in its attempt to reconcile the people of Ireland to its present iniquitous position. |