REVIEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8222, 5 April 1890, Page 1 (Supplement)

REVIEW.

HURLBERT'S IRELAND UNDER COERCION.

The report of the three distinguished Judges who composed the Commission of Enquiry into the conduct of the leaders of the Irish Home Rule conspiracy has at last, after a very full enquiry and ample time for consideration, been laid before tho Imperial Parliament, and the Commission have by a vote of the House of Commons been thanked for the manner in which they have executed their laborious task. Very few copies have, we believe, yet reached the colony, and unless tho report be republished in some more convenient and popular form than that of a Parliamentary Bluebook it is not likely to get into the hands of the general reader. The two principal points established by it appear to be that 40 Irish members of the House of Commons have been guilty of the treasonable act of conspiring together, to bring about a repeal of the Union, and in support of such conspiracy have not scrupled to encourage their followers in the perpetration of the atrocities and illegal acts which have to so great an extent disturbed the peace of the country, and inflicted so much cruelty on thousands who declined to submit to their dictation, and join them in their attempts to destroy the landlords and all the tenants who might be willing and even desirous to fulfil their legal obligations towards them. That the Irish leaders were practically and in the lump accomplices in the boycotting, the illegal plan of campaign, and the long list of other crimes, is established beyond doubt, but the difliculty of fixing the responsibility on each of them individually has enabled them in respect of individual charges personally to escape under the plea of "not proven." But the men who knew, for instance, that dynamiting and assassination were being planned and executed in behalf of their conspiracy and never on any occasion denounced or discouraged the acts of their subordinates in such matters, were undoubtedly morally responsible for all the evils and breaches of law which were committed. The other point established beyond all doubt by the Commissioners, is "that the conspirators have been afraid to produce their financial accounts to the extent, of £100,000, though called upon by the Commission to do so. No sensible man can doubt that their refusal to do so is attributable to the fact that the production of such books would have compromised them, and shown that they were the recipients on one side as well as tho payers on the other side of large sums of the blood-stained money contributed by the " Clan-na-Gael," and their other allies of the typo of the murderers of Dr. Cronin. The general public will undoubtedly not trouble itself to go much further into detail, but tho effect on tho public mind all over the British Empire will undoubtedly bo to discredit the Home Rule leaders, and deprive them of the moral support of large numbers of their hitherto friends. When this report; shall have had time to permeate the public mind, the result will certainly greatly aid Lord Salisbury's Government in carrying out the policy which has already been attended with success so far as it lias gone ; which has already emancipated thousands of loyal tenants, who were willing to abide by their contracts with their landlords if the terrorism of the League and the plan of campaign would permit them. The book the title of which we have placed at the head of this article is one which may be read with great advantage by all who may wish to know something more of the details of the Home Rule agitation on Irish ground. The writer had peculiar opportunities and singular qualifications for the work he undertook. In the first place he is an American, and a priori, an admirer of self-government, or Home Rule rightly understood. In the second place, he is a literary man of many years' experience on the "Press of tho United States. Thirdly, ho is a devout Roman Catholic, who, during previous visits to Europe, had been on terms of intimacy with numerous magnates of the Roman Catholic Church, from tho Pope and his Cardinals down to the 'Humblest parish priest of Connaught or Kerry. Fourthly, with the very best introductions, he spent in two separate visits about a whole year in Ireland, personally visiting ever class, including the resident nobleman, the agent of the great absentee landowner, the officials of the Laud League, the " bloody and brutal Balfour," the Lord Lieutenant, tho evicted farmer, the boycotted and the boycotter, the widow of the murdered Loyalist, the Bishops and parish priests of almost every part of the island. No man ever had better opportunites, and no man's antecedents ever so well qualified him for the task. After a most exhaustive examination of the ease in all its parts, he arrived at the conclusion that Home Rule, a; intended by Parnell and his friends, was a mistake, and would be ruinous to Ireland. Mr. ilurlbert is evidently a sound patriot, and as such easily puts himself in the position of the patriots of any country who may be seeking to establish their just rights. But with the kind of patriotism which ho met in Ireland, lie had little sympathy. He concurs entirely with the utterances of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Waterford, who after denouncing the " rowdyism " of which the Homo Ride agitation had been guilty in a particular instance, declared that " if this was an indication of the patriotism of the people, as far as I ant concerned I say it would be, bettor if our poor country wero for ever in political 'slavery than attain to liberty by such means." "This sort of patriotism," says Mr. Hurlbert, " reminds mo of a story of Colonel Prentiss, of Louisville, who was interviewed one morning by a giant in butternut garments, armed with a long rifle, who came upon him in his office on a certain fourth of July (Independence clay), demanding of him the loan of a dollar on the ground that he felt so " confoundedly patriotic." The Colonel judicihanded the man a dollar, and then asked, " Pray how do you feel when you feel confoundedly patriotic?" "I feel," responded the man gravely," as if I should like to kill somebody or steal something." Mr. Hui'lberb's book is not only a most valuable contribution to the history of an Home Rule agitation, but it is an exceedingly amusing one, enlivened with a vast number of telling anecdotes and lively sketches of places and people. The Edinburgh Review describes it as, "Incomparably the most able, impartial, and interesting contribution to the discussion of the great problem of the Government and social condition of Ireland, what has been given to the world." The London Times, the Scotsman, the London Spectator, the Glasgow Herald, the Manchester Guardian, the Saturday Review, and a host of other of the best British papers speak of it in similar terms. The book has gone through more than one edition, and is republished in a good-sized type in a volume of 460 pages, not one of which is dull or uninteresting, for the unsignificant sum of one shilling and threepence (colonial price.) During tho visit of the Irish Delegates to Auckland a considerable number of copies were sold by Mr. Wildman, but the demand was so great that he had to send for a further supply, which, we are glad to learn from his advertisement, have now arrived, and are to be had at his shop at the foot of Shortland-strect. We beg most cordially to recommend it to all who may be able to enjoy a few hours of literary pleasure, independently of the solid provision of truthful light which is shed on the Irish question.