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Show BALFOUR NEAR FALL, IRELAND THE GAINER Approaching General Election May Give Nationalists Whip Hand in Commons. (By Walter Wellman in the true Witness.) That home rule for Ireland, in one form or another, is only delayed by the I recent flurry in British politics and the resignation of Mr. Wyndham. the chief TMnfro;n0Ire,and' iS the OPinio'f of r m trd meJn ho have iust come from London and -Dublin. in fact it is 'bFheved the downfall of Mr. Wynd-b?i!fn(Vhe Wynd-b?i!fn(Vhe oircums'-ances attending attend-ing his retirement, may hasten the corning of the day when the English S ld;he Ple justice and decency nnohed in an extension of self government gov-ernment among them. A gentleman now in Washington and familiar with all that is goinf on be- th J thl6,8?!163 -in Londn, Predicts Ja thf. f?rthrainff general elections m the United Kingdom, which cannot now long be deferred, are likely to. hinge more upon the ouestion of Irish .louie ruie man upon Mr. Chambrlain's fiscal policy. There are indications that the Balfour government cannot hold out much longer, and when dissolution disso-lution of parliament comes the clever Irish nationalists are sure to get another an-other opportunity to play good politics and advance the home rule cause According to this authority' Mr. Chamberlain now has it within his power to force the Balfour government lo the wall, but that he is for the present disinclined to do o on account of his fear that if the ministry falls home rule and not his protection ideas will form the chief issue before the electorate. The Irish party now holds - j.uLac ui wmcn it may be expected under the brilliant leadership of John Redmond to make the most as events develop It is not at all improbable that after the government has "gone to the country" coun-try" and the smoke of battle has cleared away; it will be found that the Irish nationalists hold the balance of power in the commons. They come vtry near it now, and when they have actually arrived at a position in which they have power to dictate, one may be sure that home rule will be the price of their support. Uritir recently their strongest hope of securing genuine reform re-form in Ireland has been through the Unionist party. Now, it seems, they are free Jances ready to cast in their lot with any organization which will assure them the most for their votes, i The Irish representatives and the j Irish people are a good deal out of patience with Mr. Balfour and his as sociates, who threw over Mr, Wyndham Wynd-ham and -tried to discredit Sir Antony MacDonnell, the under secretary, at the behest of a small number of "kickers" "kick-ers" from Ulster. One does not need to be. an Irishman, nor a Catholic, but needs merely to have sympathy with i the Irish people as a whole and with their aspirations to a getter government govern-ment and a government of their own making, to feel the utmost contempt for a government that would sacrifice a minister like Mr. Wyndham and aim to make a scapegoat of an official like MacDonnell in order to retain a few votes and to stave off for a few more weeks or months the inevitable down fall. It is fair and pertinent for the writer to disclose here some facts having an important bearing upon the situation and which are within his personal knowledge. A little more than two years ago Sir Antony MacDonnell accepted ac-cepted the under secretaryship for Ireland Ire-land at the earnest solicitation pf Mr, Balfour and Mr. Wyndham,-supple mented by the urgings of King Edward and of Lord Lansdowne. The last named had known Sir Antony in India, and had been familiar with the great work the really great Irishman had I done there. Before accepting office and incurring all the risks that proverbially proverbial-ly go along with it, MacDonnell sought a frank understanding with his superiors. supe-riors. He proclaimed himself a home ruler, in that sense a nationalist, a Catholic, and an advocate of Ireland, its land and its government for the Irish. On this basis he took office. Shortly afterward your correspondent was in London and Dublin investigating investigat-ing the. Irish question. - It. can do no harm to anyone now to state that during dur-ing long conversations with Mr. Wyndham Wynd-ham and Sir Antony MacDonnell he was informed that it was the purpose of- the ministry to press the land law, and after the land law was achieved to precis for some form of- home rule for the Irish people. There was doubt at the lime as to just what form home rule would ultimately take. ' Variou.3 projects were under discussion. But , that in one way or another a larger measure. of. self government was to be given the country as a sttle'd policy of the Balfour ministry was the all-important all-important fact, the formof it being a mere detail to- be settled later." If . was in this way your correspondent gained the information upon which h&. based his confident predictions that a brighter icra was dawning for, the Irish people that land reform was to be followed by political reform as soon as it could ibe brought about, and that the evils of j I castle government and the whole odi-j odi-j ous system, which even decent English officials were disgusted wjth,. were to be swept away one by one till in all their home affairs the Irish people were their own masters. These forecasts of the policies of the Balfour government were cabled back to England and roused keen interest among public -men. Members of the government were questioned as to their accuracy, and the usual diplomatic denials de-nials followed. But the land law was passed. It is now in operation, and Is gradually, though too slowly, turning i the land of Ireland back to its right- ful owners, the men and women who live upon it and till it. Having put the land law on its feet, after herculean labors, Messrs. Wyndham Wynd-ham and MacDonnell turned their attention at-tention to the next number- of their programme. At the instance, doubtless, doubt-less, of Under Secretary Mao Donnell. the Irish Reform association, composed of lanl lords and former landlords, but nevertheless with a patriotic desire to better the condition of the country, suggested a scheme, of .-''devolution of legislative and administrative 'authority" 'authori-ty" to officials and bodies more directly direct-ly representing the- Irish ' people. In brief, the proposal was to create an Jrish council of twelve members elected elect-ed by the county and borough council constituencies, and twelve nominated by the government to pass upon all matters of expenditure for Ireland, their decision to be final unless reversed re-versed by the house of commons by a majority of not Jess than one-fourth of the votes. This body was to prepare pre-pare the Irish estimates annually and submit them to parliament. In addition a larger body was suggested, sug-gested, composed of this council, the Irish representative peeers and thse Irish members of the house of commons, com-mons, ' to promote legislation purely Irish and to act upon private bills. Sir Antony Mac Donnell suported this plan, which was an entering wedge for a greater measure of home rule even if it was not all that could be desired by the Irish people. It was at least a start. Probably Mac Donnell never had a thought he was doing anything else than carrying out the wishes of the government because he had every reason rea-son in the world to believe there was a thorough understanding between his superiors and himself. Buth when the affair became public a howl arose from the Ulsterites, and to appease them Wyndham was thrown overboard after Sir Antony had been repudiated. In the explanations, offred in parliament Wyndham did not appear to the best advantage, but in the last analysis it was apparent that he was deliberately sacrificing himself to give some measure meas-ure of protection to his subordinate. It is significant that at last accounts MacDonnell was still in office and also the Earl of Dudley, lord lieutenant, who publicly announced that everything every-thing MacDonnell had done was after consultation with him and had his approval. ap-proval. Everyone that knows the brilliant George Wyndham will be sorry that his most promising career had thus been cut short. I havey every reason to believe that he was working conscientiously, con-scientiously, and with a large view, for the regeneration of Ireland. He told me much of his plan and they were comprehensive and practical They aimed at restoring the land td the people; peo-ple; then to give the Irish people ai voice in the management of their own affairs in the end, not all at once, by gradual enlargement of their powers, complete self-government in' purely Irish legislation and administration. But ; for Wyndham and MacDonnell there would never have been a land law such as is now slowly but surely conferring its blessings upon the country. coun-try. But for them the home rule movement move-ment would not have attained the headway it now has. Wvndham has fallen by the wayside, and Balfour may yet sacrifice MacDonnell, but the work will go on. For every Irishman, and for every man who sympathizes with the Irish people in their demand to be rid of the odious bureaucracy which has .so long oppressed them a bureauera,cv which should close the mouth of every Briton who would ;a;off at Russia Rus-sia there is a good sign in the skv. It is found in the fact that the Irish Reform association movement for a revolution of home rule promoted by MacDonnell and supported bv Dun-raven Dun-raven and Dudley, has not aroused a fifth part of - the. opposition that might have been exneetert Rsnnrti from England through trustworthy channels' are to the effect that both political parties in the United Kingdom King-dom are now looking with favor upon the plan to give Ireland a rational ra-tional and modern government a government by the people . themselves. A majority of Englishmen no longer suffer with a sort of rabies when home rule for Ireland is mentioned in their presence. They are discovering at last that it is useless to try to make Englishmen Eng-lishmen out of Irishmen, that it is barbaric bar-baric to go on trying to treat the Irish as' a conquered race, that they are not a conquered race and never can be, that in the higher civilization which England Eng-land boasts of representing a country is never conquered till you have won the hearts and affections of its people. The sad -part of the current epicode in Irish and English politics is that the men who were trying their bent to do something for Ireland must be sac rificed because a few Irishmen throw stones at them. But it its believed the day is soon coming com-ing when the good sense of the English people wii rise above schisms and religious re-ligious factions and look to the good of Ireland as a whole. Home rule may come in a year, or it may come in five years. Our friends across the e-a move with a slowness which is proverbial, but it is coining. |
