Show IRELANDS HOME RULE She is Indisputably Entitled r t t I totit f IE II l l 3 I 1 I ME PARNELL AS A BULL DOG Home Debts are Collected Among the I the lowly It reada Sedition 9 The Time Must Come jFJP BELFAST February 191886 Correspondence of THE HERALD Premier Gladstone has spoken and said nothing about the burning question of the hour sive that he maybe may-be able towards the latter end of next month to give some idea of the plans he Is now maturing for the government of Ireland All the Conservative organs are demanding a clear and explicit Statement of his views on the subject as they say to allay some of the terrible terri-ble anxiety that now pervades all classes on this topic I see that a society of Englishmen and Scotchmen has been formed for the purpose of encouraging the sentiment that Ireland is indisputably indispu-tably entitled toHome Kuleand it numbers num-bers among its promoters some very prominent and a n umber of titled gentlemen gen-tlemen Whatever the immediate results re-sults may be there is no doubt of Ireland Ire-land eventually gettiu Home hole Fivesixths of the people of Ireland arc determined to get it and they have a large body of sympathizers among both the English and the Scotch The Irish say they will not bate their bosoms to the sword again but they will never cease the agitation until they are conceded con-ceded what they claim lobe their just demands In reply to the charge that it is only aspirit of rebellion the patriotic patri-otic masses say that Irish blood has always al-ways mingled with that of English and Scotch on the battlefield in defense of a nation from whom they ask the privilege privi-lege of legislating for themselves That they will never cease the agitation is ascertain as-certain as is their existence unless their demands are allowed Every day shows that complications arc growing rapidly in England and Scotland The people of these countries are demanding more and more The Irish agitation is leavening leav-ening the whole British lump and the minds of politicians are fast finding food for their fullest reflections in matters mat-ters more nearly at home than in Ireland Ire-land With complications of a local and internal nature increasing daily there is little doubt that Irishpoliticians will ultimately wear out their opponents and practically force concessions As long as the agitation continues so long will there be those to believe that Home Rule would bring peace to Ireland and relieve British politicians of the weight this unhappy country has ever been to the power that governed her and enabled en-abled them to devote more time to the consideration of legislation which is sadly needed outside of Ireland and of I a more immediately local nature The longer the experiment of local selfgov ernment for Ireland is deferred the more certain will there be an increase in the number of those who will believe it should be tried if only as an experiment experi-ment There is unquestionably a powerful power-ful disgust among the Englishshared alike by politicians and the masses over the inevitable recurrence of trouble regarding re-garding the Irish question and the tone of all papers of whatever political complexion is that any settlement must be final If therefore the Irish members mem-bers of the House of Commons are united and persist in bobbing up serenely serene-ly each session with the same old demand de-mand and insist upon its concession bv the same old obstruction and other tactics there can be no question that the people and Parliament alike worn out by the ceaseless clamor for Home Rule will eventually say if only out of disgust take it for the love heaven and give us peace to deal with our own people It is this that Mr Parnell counts on bulldog persistency But whether Parnell continues as leader whether his policy be judicious or the reverse whether the British people can be forced or wearied into yielding to the demands of the Nationalists above and beyond all this there still remains the stronger force the more persistent and determineddemand of eternal justice the principle that a majority of people should have the absolute and incontestable incontes-table right to make the laws by which they are to be governed providing those laws do not come in conflict with the just and equitable constitutional restraints re-straints of that government of which they form a part Ihe struggle may belong be-long and wearisome but if a majority of > the Irish people continue to demand this incontrovertible right the time must come when their efforts will bear fruits and the issue must result in their victory So far as my knowledge goes the people peo-ple of Ireland have as little reason to respect some ot the laws under which they live as the people of Utah have cause to hold some of tha statutes of the United States and their executors in esteem The daily papers tell of the visitation of 100 police in asmall hamlet ham-let in the South of Ireland called Givee dore It appears that the Poorlaw Guardians loaned seeds to the impover ished farmers of small holdings and charged them about double the quanti = ty given The people were unable to meet the demands and the constabulary was called on to assist in making the 1 collections The amount to be collected collect-ed in one instance was 265 and it cost the government 245 or nearly 100 I times more than the amount due The scene of beggary in which those from II whom the amount was due were plung ed is simply awful They had nothing i I but potatoes to live on and those were taken and the very straw on which they II lay was seized to make up the amount due This is a tragical travesty on justice jus-tice The demand has been made that s I this terrible enforcement of the law I I I cease until some investigation be had I which will secure the starving from the 1 enforcement of a lawthe only effect of j which in such instances is to make men determined and desperate lawbreakers i i I without respect or love for the government govern-ment It breeds sedition and men who I must die any how and see their loved I ones perish are willing to sell their lives I for oJ1emoments bloody revenge There I is in Some respects a striking similarity similar-ity between the condition of the Irish 1 and that of the people of Utah who also asked to be honestly and fairly investigated in-vestigated but as the lies of a few vile wretches in Ireland whose money and I positions were at stake had so prejudiced I the people of England againstthe Irish that the request went unheeded so also the falsehoods of a villainous minority have so blinded the judgment of a people peo-ple in the land of the free only too willing to be blinded that the honest and just demand 01 a prosperous community = com-munity has been ignored The mills of the gods grind slowly There doubtless was a time when in politics the honorable found an avenue for the exercise of those high qualities which prompt men of noble moulds to defraud the weak succor the afflicted and redress the wrongs of the oppressed oppress-ed and there is perhaps a greater opportunity op-portunity for it now But gazing where One will in all oivilizednations there is displayed in high places such a pandering pand-ering such a crooking of the pregnant hinges of the knee to those In power and so much of self that one turns with disgust from the spectacle which position and power the world over present pre-sent and wonders how any young man could think of entering the lists to compete com-pete for distinction m a field almost wholly occupied those whose love for self and disregard for the distress of mankind like the wisdom of the Almighty 1 Al-mighty passeth all understanding WANDERer |