PREVALENT FALLACY.

Evening Post, Volume XLV, Issue 132, 7 June 1893, Page 4

PREVALENT FALLACY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib— Would you kindly allow me space • again to give a concluding reply to " ExV.P 's " letter iv your ls.-rae of the 19th instant? To my first question he gives a feeble denial. It would huve been better taste on his part if he ha<\ shown in what respect my figures were w : ong. But in spite of thedenialof an "Ex-V. X" thefactremains as I have stated. His answer to my second question is rather amusing. He has queer ideos of the " material interests " of a conntry when ho writes of men representing •'combined intellects," "time and money I spent," " plundered homes," &".. To what extent any country would prosper nndcr such "industries" as these I leave your readera to decide ; yet these are the '" material interests " which Nationalist members repre- , sent, in the opinion of "Ex-V. P." Well done, "Ex-V.P.," you deserve for your . answer a seat in tlie first Irish Cabinet. Ho next seeks to give me a little information of which I was well aware, but if he rofere ' t again to my former letter he will find I , did not refer to any Belfast deputation, but ' to one representing the capitalists of Leiiibter and Munster, to which, as I stated, Mr. , Gladstone refused an interview. It will not '. be necessary to notice his remarks about the reception of the Belfast deputation, not even the " supposed smile," as I see from late cablegrams in your journal , thoro (seem instead of " smiles " to bo ' " frowns " on tho face of the G.0.1l x But in his description of that reception he , insinuates that it is bnt the Protestant? of ; Ireland who aro 01 posed to tho disruption ( measure of tho G.O.M. But hero, again, as he very well knows, facts aro very bard i against him. In reply to my third question he very cunningly drops all allnsion to , the commercial aspect of this question— the point which he tried in his first letter to , establish. I give him credit for fiuding at least one weak spot in my answer. It was the large increase in the population of Belfast, which was in my mind at the time of ; replying to his letter ; and I qnito admit \ that the population of Ulster has decreased, more especially, he will find out, in , those counties where the baneful and demoralising influences of the Land and , National Leagues have been at work. Tho word " disruption " in my letter seems to [ havo acted on the mind of " V.P." like a 1 red rag in the face of a wild bull, cansing t him to conclude, in a wild bnvst of sickening senthnent&lism, about the ' lOvil genius of ' Britain," "• Plighted faith of a nation," and so on, to which it is not necessary I should reply, . xcept to point out from part of a manifesto , issued lately by the Nationalists of Ulster, who, up to the introduction of this crazy scheme, have been in line with those in tho ! South, but who on coming to realise ! their position if unhappily this wild , scheme should pass, have cast idle sentiment to the winds, and appeal to their fellow-countrymen in words worthy of carej ful study by all classes. They say — " We . are forced to confess, as Northern patriots, . the injndicious policy of our brethren in the ; United States and the colonies of remitting 1 any further funds to those whom we must term political jugglers, who are stopping the wheel of prosperity for this oonntry for [ years. ... If England did injuries to 1 this country in the past, she nobly came to the rescue in later days to rectify them. . . Lot ns bear in mind that a flag to be hononred abroad must be respected at , home. A nation to be great must .iver be united. The present Bill of Mr. Gladstone is, in onr opinion, 50 years in advance of the iimo." In conclnsion, it is significant to note that "y.P." should not mention the fourth province of Ireland, yet be would hardly deny the men of Connemara the pleasure of their share in tho "dismemberment of the Empire," more especially as they are so well fitted for doing so by reason of the fact that more than 25 per cent, are unable to mark a voting paper without the aid of a priest in the billot box. This is doubtless the "combined intellect" to whioh "ExV.P." refers. Apologising for taking np bo much of yonr valuable space, I am, &c, Unionist. Wellington, 22nd May, 1893.