THE STATE OF IRELAND.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13359, 26 February 1909, Page 6

THE STATE OF IRELAND.

feme in xho Hritkh Cjbinot, nic-ro than oth-.T.--. f;--o:u to c:\\\ for men. T': ,l S .'<TCii!-ysh:j> of Ii: r!I:i is one of ;;•..•,-:.">. t'-.at <.f Ireland Ls annt'vr. Fr-rtunatvly India. Lord. Mar'u'y i.s .•■ trolly: unfurtiusatcly f.-.r In-iand. Mr Birroll is not. The

debate which has just corehidod in. tho House of Commons on Earl Percy's amendment calling i attention to the state- of Ireland, Jof flourse ended in an overwhelming victory for t!i? Government— that is what the greatest ma jority of ] modern times is for. Hut the Ooveni- | uiont must have ber>n pretty hard put jio it to inswer the attacks of the Oppo- ; Kimr!. They ooii.'d .say that the reports ,of disorder—cattle-driving, cruel boyj cutting, arson, and attempted murder J —were exasperated by the Opposition i I , res?, but they rau<t have found it exj trembly difficult to refute the hard facts of statistics. Writing to '-The Times.' , Mr Gerald Arbuthmt presents a stnkir.p: indictment of Mr Birrell's rule, compiled from statistics ef agrarian crime given by tho Chief ferretnry The number of agrarit'.u outrages of an indictable character repr.rtod to ihe police in I9OG was 234; in ]907 it was o7l?, in eleven months of 190.S it hms o3~—the h:;ihest on record, at least for many years. Such outrages in the last two years of the Unionist administration numbered -is~>. Agrarian, outrages in -which lire arms tvoro used iueroas;d from 20 in 1906 to 123 in 190P, and the persons boycotted from 1210 to 8-10 in less than two years. Th© increase in cuttlo-driving is moist striking. This amusement is de-j-cribed as "a form of outrage- ■which " Mr Birrell persists in re<rnrding as a " trifling; offence, but i\hieh none the " le.ss involves great loss to respectable ''citizens, ruin to one of Ireland's '' most important industries, and I "■ frequently revoltinf cruelty to the " unfortunate, beast.s."' During the first six months of I!W7 the number of "drives' , was 81; during tho corrtv-y----ponding period last year it increased to 120. When tho Unionists were in office, eattlc-anvinp; did not exist ; under Mr Jlirrell's it has been practised in twenty-two out of tho thirty-two counties of Ireland. Mr J-iirrell i\s a delightful writer, an acute critic, and an able lawyer, but as an administrator of Ireland ]io is out ot his element. .Administering Irish affairs is just liko keoi>ing discipline In a, school. The increase in disorder in Ireland simply means that the Irish hiivo taken Mr Birrell's measure, and are. "playing up-"' ivith him, just as l-oys misbehave themselves ■with a ■weak master. ■ It was an unfortunato day for Ireland, as -well as for loveis of literature, -when Mr Birrell deserted his library for the Ministerial benches.