THE IRISH QUESTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3736, 22 September 1886, Page 3

THE IRISH QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF TUT. TIMARU HERALD. Sin, — If no 'Englishman has replied to my letters on the Irish question, it his perhaps been because, so fur as they have yet carried it, all English parties are agreed. That tincondition of Ireland is ono produced by the mirgovernment of England— that it requires an heroic remedy — and that that remedy must not bo coercion — nre three propo?itions about which, all through tho heats of the late contlict, there ho 3 been no real controversy. Some of tho rank and file perhaps have gone m for Mr Gladstone's " double doso of original »m;" but, with the exception of Lord Salisbury's hastily recalled escapade at tho Union, no man of light and leading has committed himself to a denial of any ono of them. I think no one, who has read the debates with the interest they deserve at the hands of all of 113, but will agrco with me that tho opposition to Mr Gladstone's bill has been made to rest outwobase3 : — an unusually largo amount of personal imputation, and the assertion that Ireland will inofitably set up for itself as a separate community. Whether the first of these bases is sufficient to rest a decision upon on a vital point of national policy is a point I do not care to discuss here. Tho second, a new development of " Necessitf, tho tyrants' plea," bus been bo effective, ever since the devil first invented it, — m preventing good from being done, not to compel us perforce to take it up. Of course, Sir, there are people I don't pretend to writo for. If a man conjures up a ghost, you may walk through the ghost ; or if he believes he is going to bo poisoned, you may cat before, him out of the diah which he thinks is to do tho work j and all you will get for your pains is that ho will believe you to bo m leaguo either with the ghost or tho poisoner. Tho kindest, if not tho only thing you can do for him is to get him into Sunnyside. But thoro are people, luckily, who will look facts m tho face, and to them I will do my best lo stato what the fuels are. What is proposed, is nothing more nor less than to make Ireland a colony : to place her population precisely m tho position m which tea millions of tho Queen's subjects aro at this moment, and have been, most of them, for tho last 50 year 3, lo the immciißO mutual advantage of both England herself and of every colony concerned. This is all, and exactly all. Ireland is to havo the government of her internal affairs, just ns wo. She is to let alonß Imperial affairs, just v* wo In somo futuro time, it is thought poasible that her representatives may be seen at Westminster Hall, just as we. There is one difference only between vs — that of distance. Ireland is nowhere moro than a few hours' sail from England, and her nearest colony is still nine or ten days' off. Wo, her most distant, aro six weeks' sail. " Oh, but Ireland is all but m actual robcllion." No doubt sho i3 ; and it is ono of tho possibilities of tho future that before mnnv months arc over, sho may be moro than " oil' but." Suppose tho worst. People seem really to forget that there is such a placo as Canada. When tho Queen came to the throne, Canada was not " all but." Tho robellion had broken out, and tho story of tho events which led to it present a striking parallel— certainly not a weaker parallelto tho last 70 or 80 years' story of mutters m Ireland. It really does seem necessary to remind people that Lower Canada— the scene of the rebellion— was not originally British. A hundred years ago she wns ceded to us by Franco. Her population was French, as it is French still. At tho time of the cession our retiring enemy left behind him sympathisers, who did their beat to keep tho country m n, stato of perpetual turmoil. Tho English had at least the excuse of eaying that no other remedy was offectivo, and deported tho population wholesale. Longfellow has told us tho whole story m " Evangeline." Tho act ivm justified (as ho has not told us) by the stern necessities of war ; but it was carried out (as he has told us, and with, an earnestness not beyond tho truth) with a reckless indifference to the inevitablo sufferings of the deported. The poetic woes of an Evangeline wero tho actual miseries of an entiro people. Without the slightest necessity, mothers were separated from their children, and brides from their huabanda, nevor to mcot again on this sido tho grave. After ton years of exilo, the survivors got back as thoy could, and they brought with them, and they left to their descendants, tho present population of Lower Canada, the memory of their wrongs. For the next 40 years tho population of Lower Canada was always disaffected, often ripe for revolt j and when William IV. died, ho loft them m rebellion. Thoy had demanded Homo Eulo, and it had boen refused. Lord John Russell was at that timo at the Colonial office At the outset of tho crisis he wrote an able paper exhibiting tho impossibility of making tho concession desired. Hut the rebellion did not get put down. It extended to Upper Canada. It began to be fed from the American sido of tho St. Lawrence. The affair of the "Caroline"

threatened to embroil us with the States. Lord John Eufsell— tho man " without moral fear" — saw thut tho question had shifted; and thut it wua no longer confined to the wisdom or unwisdom of facing the hitherto unsolved problem of " divided responsibility," but was now whether we should risk loßir.g the colony altogether, with an American war at tho back of it. Homo Rulo was conceded. I am not quite euro whether I am correct m saying that Papincan the primo leader of the rebellion, became afterwards Crat Minister of tho Crown ; nor, except to edgo a statement, is it very material. What is certain is that from tlio hour of that concession tho history of Canada lui3 been ono of grand progress, and that her loyalty ha 3 been never doubled. And that experiment, mado under tliese conditions, has been tho foundation of the present colonial constitution of tho British Einpiro. What single point is wanting to make tho caso an exact precedent for Home Eule for Ireland? Tho truth is that neither Ireland nor any of her present colonies can afford to separate from Great Britain. In our safely from hostile attack, m the ever growing volume of our trade, m all that conduces to our moral and intellectual lifo, wo should bo loEers immeasurably by any such mistake And Ireland — her grievances onco removed — stands to lose moro heavily than any of us. Wo colonists Bay of England that sho is by far our best customer. Ireland may say that England is her only customer. Mr BadenPowell reckons tho trndo between Great Britain and Ireland is more than £40,000,000 annually, nnd ho adds that this is 39.40 th of the wholo external trndo of Ireland. It appears, too, that the bulk of the remaining 40th passes through England on its way to the Continent. Iroland is indeed bound m heavy sureties not to think of dissolving tho partnership. Mr Gladstone's bill is defeated. But by no means do I givo up my belief m its eventual success. At a bound Irish Homo Bulo has become to question, not of tho future, but of the day. Even a speech s eh as Mr Gladstone's is a factor m the events of history. Nor can the lnrge number of tho minority — unprecedented, I believe, m the history of the House -bo ignored. The present dislocation of tho Liberal party has probably given tlie actual formation of the measuro to the other side of tho House. Be that as it may, it inu*t bo a measuro that will work, and a measure that will satisfy Ireland, or it will settle nothing. Meanwhile, no doubt, there is an anxious timo before us. The old excitements of the Reform Bill have revived m an intenser form, nnd the moving forces are hardly thoso of pence. But God is above all. May He so gniile events that among the many medals which will commemorate tho jubilee of Victoria, two words shall bo found to tell us that m her reign tho long-Bought problem has been at last solved, and Ireland appealed— JUbernia placula. I am, &c, An Englishman.