THE IRISH PARTY AND HOME RULE. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 138, 7 December 1907, Page 11

THE IRISH PARTY AND HOME RULE. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, In your issuo of the 2nd inst, you devoted a leader to the above subject, and as an Irishman I beg you will allow me a little of your spaco to correct one oi\ two obvious— lo Irishmen at all events • — inaccuracies in tho article already referred to, besides enabling mo to remove from tho minds of your numerous readers the false impression which the article would create of a country which is already so much misrepresented. It is no part of my purposo to deal with the cattle-driving incidents, or your comments thereon, other- than to say that occurrences of this kind .are so menduciouslv "exaggerated timo and again that- even Conservative journals — avowed enomie3 of Home Rule — of note in England have long since ceased to give them aay publicity whatever. The Times, Ireland's traditional enemy from time immemorial, naturally bollov.s out intermittently for Ireland's blood, and urges the immediate application of coercion, but its thunder, has but little visible oft'eot on English _ Liberal opinion ; and even now, despite its great circulation, it is after all but the mouthpiece of a party shrunken to insignificance and legislatively impotent. You call tho" recently rejected "Council Bill" o, considerable instalment of Home Rule, and you add that such a measure would have tested tho peoplo's fitness for Homo Rule. These are precisely tho statements expressed by the sponsor for the measure on its introduction to the llouso of Commons some months ago. Tho measure in its essence was mischievous, and unworkable, and of a truth was tho most wanton and unhallowed violation of covonant of which/ the Liberal party has been guilty of in its dealings with Irish members. To describe tho many offensive parts of the illfaled measure would be too groat n. trespass on your space, and honco I will satisfy myself with pointing to its most grievous feature — a feature which, in effect, robbed the Bill of even a " remoio approach to "Home Rule." Tho Bill provided for a number of members which would- be elected by popular vote — or at least— the apology for tho popular vote existing. This would undoubtedly givo the peoples' candidates a majority, and would give them undisputed authority in the extremely narrow 'domain in which such authority would be of advantage, but England's Lord Lieutenant had power vested in Kirn by the measure's provisions to veto tho carrying into effect of any of tho Council's deliberations. Not only did Birrcll, insist onHhis, but he had also provided that about- one-third of its re- • ]>rcsentatives would bo nominated by the Grown, thus the Lord Lieutenant could always be assured of a respectable backing when ho wished to exercise the plenary' powors invested in him by ' his Liberal taskmasters. ,_ The financial provisions were grossly inadequate, and soveral Liberal organs derided the impotent attempt of the Government iv trying id blind that keen financier,' Redmond, on this part of tho Bill alone. Tho Irish leader, with the utmost verity, described this phantom Home Rulo Bill as ono "crowded with limitations" and ifc would bo difficult to find a phra=>o nioro brio! and eloquent in its estimate. All the Conservative outcry —and oven now, in its unity, such an outcry v.-oiild bo very feoble — will not force Banncrinan to again apply tho 'remedy" that fniled a hundred times — Coercion ! And even if the alleged crimes were eventuating, nobody knowß bettor than Hie Liberal Leader that the ! suspension of (rial by Jury, and the application of all tho rigours of tho past would not bo tho antidote to apply for tho evils supposed fo 1 exist. Gladstone admitted tho impotency of coercion, and sought tho true remedy, "Home Rule," but tho Hereditary Chamber .blocked tho pacific and statesmanlike designs of the "Grand Old Man." I do not coincide with your views ro tbo remoteness of "Homo Rule" next session, and it is certainly amazing news to me to learn from your columns that the Government is pledged' against it during the present Parliament. lam a deep and consistent student of British Parliamentary records, - and I havo 1 neither seen, heard, or road' of any such declaration coming from Bannerman or those that act with him. If such is the case, Redmond is cer- • tainly oblivious of the fact, as his more recent speeches tend to instil the precisely opposite view. Coming lo renegade O'Brien, 'I would 1 say a word or two and then I will have • done. Tho member for Cork has in truth 1 boon n ijolitical adventurer, and up to 1 his marriage with tfio immensely rich • Russian lady,' his patriotism and convic1 lions were unaltered and unalterable. 1 Tho sudden accession of the recalcitrant i •memben to wealth, however, shed the 1 light of ambition o'er his brow, and he '• naturally thought himself the' "Man for ' Galway," and the proper leader of the ' Irish party, but Ireland and its party » repelled his pretentious advances, and '■ hence his '-ebellion. O'Brien -has been i "Devolutionist," "Home Ruler," and "Republican" in his time ; his views are as fickle as the weather, and it is uot easy to determine* his precise political creod at the prcsont juncture. Loo me instanco O'Brion's peculiarities by an exI tract from a speech ho made in Cork, in , 1003, while "he was castigating Redmond, s niind' you, not for being too extravagant in his demands as in the present instance, but because he was too moderate ; • in short. O'Brion unfurled tho Ropublil can banner. He 'said: — "The British • Government is not wise in delaying ; Home Rulo for Ireland. I tell Eng- ■ land that my recent experiences teach • fha.t Ireland is looking beyond Home • Rule, and with tho young grown-up gen- ; eratiqn of Irishmen it is no longer a question between English rule and Homo , Rule, but betweon Home Rule and an ' Irish Ropublic." If there is one man above another that is pre-eminently roi sponsible' for Irish disunity that man is William^ p'Bricn, and great pres&mnn ■ <-vnd politician though ho may be I chall lentro him or any other enomy or friond of Home Rule to prove the remarkable ■ assertion ho makes according to your ■ quotation, that the Bill which was the ■ outcome of the Kilmainham Treaty wa,s i far inferior to Birrcl's measure. I say unhesitatingly that tho Kilmainham Bill i would, if offered to-day, be cordially ac- , cojit'ed by Redmond and his party. It reserved fo tho Liberal party and Engi land, for a term of years, tho control i o^ iho judiciary and the police, other- . wiso it was a comprehensive and generous scliomc of Homo Rule and would bo far more readily' accepted to-day than Bin-oil's abortive measure. I concur , with O'Brien in quoting Gladstone's saying: ''Tho best way to fit mnn for liberty is to give them liberty,"' but I am certain that l rho hollowest and meanest substitute over offered a race for that much misused word liberfy was tho halting, inadequate, and grotesque Bill offered by tho present Liberal Administration to tho traduced ami misrepresented nice of which tho present wrilor subscribes . himself an humble member. — I :> m, etc., T. P. O'CONNOR. 3, Ingostre-si rcet, 3rd December. 1907. [Though our correspondent took up his pen with a view lo sotting as right all round, ho has only attempted to do .so specifically on one point, and there ho is demonstrnbly wrong. As "a deep nnd consistent student of British Parliamentary records" lie ia amazed at our assertion that tho Government is pledged against the grant of Home Rulo during

the present Parliament. In reply, wa may cite from tho election speeches ol three of the strongest members of tha Government:— (l) Mr. Asquith: "An attempt to uti'iso a majority -which \Vaf sought and obtained for Froctrade, in order to promote the passing of what was called a .Homo. Rule- Bill would be a # piece of political dishonesty." (2) Sir Edward Grey: "Tho groat issue of the election was Freetrade, and he did not. think ifc would be fair or right to take the votes of people given for Freotrade to establish an Irish Parliament." (3) Mr. Haldane: "People might hold convictions about the desirability of Home Rule, or might hold that it was an impossible experiment, but at lo.ist they might vote safely upon the Frootrade issue to-day because it was as certain as anything could be certain that no such measure vrould be, or could.be, introduced into the coming Parliament." To these declarations before the election wo may add that of tho Westminster Gazette, a consistent supporter of Home Rule, which said, in May last, of Mr. Bin-oil's rejected Bill that it represented "tho utmost advance that the Government were able to mako on tho question of Irish government, having regard to their pledges before the last election." Whether Mr Birrell's Bill be good or bad, our statement that llome Rule is impossible during tho present Parliament is therefore beyond reasonable challenge. —Ed. E.P.I