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Show THE SALISBURY SPEECH. (Editorial Correspondence.) Since leaving America I have had splendid opportunity of gauging public pub-lic sentiment abroad on the" effect of the sledge-hammer speech of Lord Salisbury's Sal-isbury's on Irish affairs. I have got to find an expression of ODir.ion in its favor. An Irishman from the North, who had looked upon the Queen's visit as an opening for reconciliation, because, being an Orangeman, the wish was j father to the thought, told me that even his class regarded Salisbury as a "blundering old fool." The warmhearted, warm-hearted, conservative, peace-loving Catholic Irish, who had confidently looked forward to an era of good will between the Irish and the English. I was informed by Dr. Leighton of Dublin Dub-lin had suddenly veered from conservative con-servative tendencies to become thoroughly thor-oughly en rapport with ultra radical sentiment such as the extremists in the nation of separation have always advocated. ad-vocated. There are no Irish political prisoners at present in English jails, but I miss my guess if Salisbury's' speech does not in the near future drive some hotheaded hot-headed individual to overt acts that will land him in a British dungeon and thus give the British premier an opportunity op-portunity to justify himself for having made charges of disloyalty against the Irish, as well as for the announcement of repressive measures. On board the North German Lloyd steamer Lohn, that cosmopolis of the seas, where men of all nations congregate congre-gate and pas the time in settling the world's affairs, I ventured to jot down a few opinions advanced by men of no ordinary intelligence when- the questions ques-tions of current English politics came up for discussion. It was a noticeable fact that regarding the war in South Africa there was a unanimous concensus concen-sus of opinion to which only one man dissented, and he was brushed aside as incompetent to express a fair or unbiased un-biased opinion, because he was English. Eng-lish. If the men on board the Lohn citizens citi-zens of the leading nations of the world voice even approximately the general gen-eral opinion' of their respective countries, coun-tries, then, indeed, does England stand alone, a veritable Ishmaelite among the nations. That England is feared for her supposed prowess on the sea is certain, and while some may think that as a sea power the English' navy is very much exaggerated, no nation cares to expose the bluff if bluff it be. Today the .hand of every nation is raised against England and the United States stands readv in popular senti ment, although for diplomatic reasons our government perseveres in a position posi-tion of neutrality. This seems to be generally understood the world over, for foreigners everywhere seem impressed im-pressed with the conviction that the real American sentiment, not as officially offi-cially expressed by the authorities at Washington, but as it exists in every state in the Union, is firmly and irrevocably ir-revocably anti-British. Intelligent Englishmen, En-glishmen, who have visited America, have not failed to note this fact. Nor is it supposed for a moment that official offi-cial England misunderstands it. notwithstanding not-withstanding official expressions of appreciation ap-preciation to the contrary. From the sources of opinion of which I am writing writ-ing comes the intelligent conviction thrat Germany, regardless of the Kaiser, is hostile to English pretensions, so is France, while the world knows that the Russian bear would squeeze the life out of the lion at the first opportunity. Italy, among the nations, is a cipher, while Austria is but little better. No wonder, therefore, that England would have it appear that there was at' least an implied alliance with the United States. But that the nations are in the least disturbed by the English bluff seems to me an absurdity which can find credence nowhere except in a few crude and dense English intellects. There is little doubt that the nations looked upon Victoria's visit to Ireland with anything but pleasure. For, if properly managed, it was obvious, that, should subsequent events be colored col-ored with s.tateman-like qualities, a powerful irritant to British supremacy might be greatly lessened if not practically prac-tically removed. The world seemed to coincide in the view of the situation which was the more accentuated by the reports of the immediate effect of the Queen's visit on the Irish people. The early hope of the Irish w hich had become a firm expectation among the nations that a degree of home rule, satisfactory to present needs would be granted and thus further reduce Irish hostility was a disquieting consideration considera-tion to nations having no interests in common with England, but united for many reasons against her. There would indeed have been cause of surprise, therefore, if the enemies of England had not rejoiced when they read Salisbury's tirade against Ireland and the Irish informing them that all hopes of horn? rule were but a delusion de-lusion and a snare and that those who indulged them were but deceiving themselves, for never would the present pres-ent British government consent to a larger liberty to a people whose loyalty could best be assured by acts of coercion co-ercion and oppression. And why should not the enemies of England rejoice thereat? Did . they not see that it meant a renewal of Irish hostility to British misrule and rapine in Ireland? Was it not a national sequence of this I that the Irish people would forever be a menace to England in time of trouble and that they would welcome any en- tanglement calculated to harass what Englishmen are pleased to denominate the "dominant partner." but which Irishmen are prone to justly consider the tyrannous partner in a forced illegitimate il-legitimate union? The least that can be said of the English premier's speech is that when Ireland's oppor- tunity comes it will not be considered ; an obstacle to the complement of Irish hopes. Its immediate effect, as an intelligent Frenchman said to me on board ship, will be to revive both the pitancy of the Irish parliamentary party as well j as the physical force faction of Irish I nationalists. That my French friend i was right I am satisfied, for already there is a feeling strong and virile condemnatory con-demnatory of faction, and it is safe to , say that any public man who by word ' or action would hinder a union of Irish forces would be swept aside by popular indignation. As to the larger , approval of the physical force idea, there is no doubt but that conservative Irish Americans, who have never coun- j tenanced other than parliamentary ac- : tion. looked with more sympathy on other methods directly that Salisbury had issued his famous ultimatum. Such ; at least was the conviction forced upon I me on the occasion of. the great con- j vention at Boston the week before I left Ameriea. I do not mean to say that such . ideas found approbation or were even considered by the "convention, "conven-tion, but the idea was undoubtedly in the air when that great procession of Irishmen, 13,000, passed through the streets of that city, which a hundred years before had resounded with the martial tread of heroes who proclaimed the doctrine of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as Inalienable to all. I believe the Frenchman was right. But God alone knows what there may be in store for the Irish people. That there is some difference of opinion as to what Ireland needs may fairly be inferred from the fact that His Eminence, Emi-nence, Cardinal Logue, attended the I dinner to Victoria in Dublin, while Archbishop Walsh, the idol of the Irish people, absented himself from the city on the occasion. After all, the Archbishop Arch-bishop of Dublin has made no mistakes mis-takes in correctly diagnosing probable treatment of Ireland at the hands of the average British government. Small wonder that in the last analysis of all matters appertaining to Ireland, His Grace of Dublin is the most popular man in Ireland. During a conversation crossing the Atlantic an Englishman, finding himself him-self overwhelmed by German, French and American opinion, in sheer desperation desper-ation ventured to justify English aggression ag-gression in South Africa by the trite statement that the exigencies of civili- i zation required that England should j intervene to put down the republics with which she is now warring. The general laugh of derision which drowned the Briton's self-sufficient statement drove him to a new plan of defense, which was no less than the commercialism of England which, he affirmed, was so interwoven with the world's interests as to render that power not-amenable to interference from other nations, as long as exploits redounded to the good of the world at large, and the United States in particular. par-ticular. What the Briton obviously, meant was that English money was invested' in-vested' in American industry so abundantly abund-antly that the means whereby such money was obtained by Englishmen were not to be questioned. Of course the fallacy of his argument was not to be considered for a moment, although the great power of the British empire in world affairs was not to be minimized minim-ized in the least degree. Nor can it be doubted that the reasons advanced by the Englishman mentioned above have frequently silenced nations as' well as individuals who have been the bene-i ficiaries of England's ill-g.otten gains. That the great republic of the new 1 world is challenging this commercial supremacy of England is a self-evident fact. For three years now the balance of trade has been in favor of the United States as against the world. As fast as securities are returned to the United States from England they are taken up, paid for in cash and cancelled, thus j adding to the riches of the country. It j is hardly conceivable that there could be a withdrawal of English investments from America in sufficient quantity to cause even more than a temporary embarrassment. em-barrassment. English statesmen are not insensible to the condition of affairs, af-fairs, and hence with the United States out of its commercial claws the next best thing is to cajole us into an alliance offensive and defensive as long as such an arrangement might prove to England's benefit, but to be rejudi-cated rejudi-cated the instant it ceased to enure to the welfare of Her Majesty's government. govern-ment. But will the United States government govern-ment be foolish enough to pull England's Eng-land's chestnuts out of the fire? Such a thing is absurd. Let it not be supposed that I am drifting away from the peculiar attitude atti-tude of England towards Ireland. On the contrary, all the matters herein referred re-ferred to have their bearing on the ultimate attitude which England will assume in regard to Ireland. The philosophy phil-osophy of them clearly demonstrates that they are working along lines that will in the long run be to Ireland's advantage, ad-vantage, because to England's detriment. detri-ment. After all. Lord Salisbury has done Ireland a service, in my judgment one that will work for Ireland's greater good. THOMAS H. MALONE, Cherbourg, France, May 23, 1900. On board North German Lloyd S. S. Lohn, May 23, 1900. |