IRISH HOME RULE FROM AN ULSTER LOYALISTS POINT OF VIEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9027, 13 April 1888, Page 3

IRISH HOME RULE FROM AN ULSTER LOYALISTS POINT OF VIEW.

TO THB BMTOR. . Sib,—-It seems from your paper thai) very great efforts are being made to get) "' ' up a meeting to sympathise with the Irish Home Rule party. Since I have come to thiß - country i find that this party lose no opportunity of letting their case be heard. Here, too, as at home, there are many > : Irishmen opposed heart and soul to Irish Home Rule but here, as at home, I find that they are quiet in the land. Home Rulers everywhere have the Celtic "gift a' the gab"— Celtic fondness for agita> tion— so it happens that many colonists, having one side of the question persistently placed before them, have almost - forgotten that there is another side to it. Yet it concerns the inhabitants of this new country, for the sake of their own peace, to be rightly informed upon the question; and I, therefore, take -the liberty .* of putting it before your readers as succinctly as I can—avoiding theories, and simply stating facts. It is asked by Home Rulers, and the question is repeated by simple-minded colonists, why should England not accede to the National demand of Ireland for Home Rule? This question may be answered in more ways * than one. I shall confine myself to one answer. It is simply this—that in the true •> and proper sense there is no such thing as a inational demand for Home Rule. • It is ndeed a deplorable fact that three to one of the inhabitants of Ireland are unanimous in demanding Home Rule—deplorable, especially, because of the chief cause of such -v a demand, which is, in the case of a vast) multitude, simply, that this is thought to be the sure way to make themselves masters of the property of the minority. But who constitute this minority T Gladstone, Par- "'/ nell, and their followers affect to make very light of this question. Oh ! they say the minority consists merely of the land- : 1 lords, and the Orangemen of the North. Those who look a little closer into the subject will be forced to a very different conclusion. Why, Sir, the learning and " the intellect of ■ Ireland, represented by Dublin University, have pronounced emphatically against Home Rule. The energy and commercial activity of Ireland, represented by Belfast, the capital of Ulster and the commercial capital of Ireland* have pronounced no less emphatically against it. Even the Liberal party in Ireland—Gladstone's submissive followers, until he entered into partnership with Parnell and C 0.,. have openly rebelled againsb him and declared against Home Rule. The different sections of Protestants in Ireland —the Church of Ireland in its Synod, the Presbyterians in their Assembly, the Methodists in their Conferencehave one and all pronounced emphatically against it. Doubtless there are individual exceptions in such cases, as in suoh cases there always will be, and these exceptions are carefully . paraded before the public ; but as a plain matter of fact there never was such unanimity among the Protestants of Ireland on any question since they stood together shoulder to shoulder behind the walls of Deny. Add to these a largo number of Roman Catholics. John Bright, who is not given to romancing, estimates the number at one million, who dare not, in the present state of the country, let their real views be known, and. you will have a pretty fair idea of the party in Ireland opposed to Home Rule. It contains a large proportion of the intelligence, the wealth, the prosperity, and the energy of the kingdom. It is rather cool, in the face of all this, to speak of the demand of the Irish people for Home Rule. And now, sir, having answered the question so often put by Home Rulers, I beg to put another, which is a very common one in Ulster. What English Government dare ', hand over this minority in Ireland to the ' tender mercies of men whom they, and the majority of Englishmen with them, believe ', f to be men steeped to the lips in treason, and the abbettors of assassination If this minority are to be left uncoerced by England, they know how to take care of their own interests, and to govern themselves* But it would take the might of England to - compel them to submit to the Government of Parnell and Co., and it is a matter of doubt whether an English army could be trusted to enforce submission. It may no \ .-.; doubt be a useful thing in many way 3, as I see it is no uncommon thing, for Irishmen on coming here to ventilate their Home Rule views on the platform and through thi press. It gives a little notoriety and may be useful as an advertisement. But if these men are serious and mean business ; if they have a mission to make known the blessings and benefits of Home Rule, they seem to me to have made a strange mistake. Their efforts are badly wanted to further the cause at home. Why not stay in Ireland .■"' and convert their countrymen ? As J, have intimated above, the people of New Zealand have .a deeper interest in this question than many of them suspect. The same paper which contains an account of the efforts to get up a great Home Rule meeting contains also an account of the progress of the Orange institution, . and the demand for more lodges. Ominous conjunction ! If the people of New Zealand desire to keep their fan? land free from the religious and political strife and hatred which have played suoh havoc in Ireland they will leave ; Home Rulers to themselves. The inhabitants of this country, and their rulers too, require all their wisdom and energy to manage their own affairs aright. In the present state of things, to interfere in questions touching the government of a country at the opposite extremity of the globe, and a country of which many of them '• are necessarily very ignorant, is but to expose themselves to ridicule.— am, &c., An Uwtir LqyaWST,