Show S IRISH AFFAIRS F Telegrams from London yesterday announce an-nounce that a bill providing for local self government in Ireland will probably be introduced Parliament bO fore the close of the present session If such a measure is introduced it will probably pass both houses and will give to Ireland a relief for which she has long sought The chief feature of the bill is that it provides for a council in each county to be elected by the voters of the county and for a central council to be elected by the county councils and to hold its sessions in Dublin This is one of the things for which Ireland has been calling for many years and which if granted in the post would have saved much blood and treasure and made Ireland to England what Scotland is There is no more race antipathy between Irish and English than between Scotch and English and had tim same policy been pursued in regard to Ireland as to Scotland those who today are Englands bitterest enemies would Ifave been her truest friends Since the days of Cromwell no faith has been put in the Irish and from every position they have been barred and those who have ministered their affairs have been mistrustful mis-trustful of and often hostile to those over whom they ruled In place of cultivating that cordial understanding under-standing between the governed and the governors which is indispensable to good government and a strong union between the various parts of a country the very reverse has been the rule with England in regard to Ireland A brave and generous people the Irish have been treated as cowardly and base Had any effort been made to encourage that generous gen-erous national feeling which is so prominent prom-inent a characteristic of the Irish things would have been greatly different in Ireland Ire-land from what they are today During the recent visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales so simple a thing as the wearing wear-ing of a green dress by her Royal highness High-ness touched the hearts of the Irish and called forth a feeling of loyalty towards to-wards her As has been suggested sug-gested by some one why could not the Irish regiments in the English service be clad in green uniforms as the Scotch regiments regi-ments are clad in the Highland costumes It would be a gracious concession to their insular pride and it would give to them that esprit de corps which is so desirable de-sirable to have among soldiers It was this feeling which prompted Cambronne to say when the Guard Waterloo was ordered to surrender The Guard dies it never surrenders The thing now to be feared is that the Ministry cannot carry the measure which will give to Ireland partial local self government on account of the great disappointment dis-appointment which Gladstones course in the RussoAfghan controversy has caused to all classes of Englishmen save the Radicals The permanent pacification and union of Ireland with England are of more importance to the British Empire Em-pire than the keeping of the Russians out of Afghanistan but the prestige which Mr Gladstone has lost in his negotiations negotia-tions with Russia may defeat this home measure Sure is it that tho Tories will do all they can to defeat the measure as its success would be liable to restore the Premier to his former place with the entire en-tire nation Nor is it always safe to take Tory criticism and denunciation of a Liberal Lib-eral government as giving a just account of an actual btate of affairs and the Thunderer is no longer the safe guide to public opinion which it was ten or fifteen years ago as was clearly shown in the memorable struggle of 1879 when it declared that the nation was with Beaconsfield and the nation was with Gladstone In former times the voice of London was the voice of the nation but it is different now and today the nation speaks for itself and Birmingham Leeds Sheffield and other of the large towns know full well what they want and that their wants are not those of London and its fashionable world For Mr Gladstone to give to Ireland local selfgovernment would be for him to crown his lifes labors far more gloriously glori-ously than to have made the Russians surrender up Penjdeh I I |