THE POLICY OF OBSTRUCTION

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 187, 27 October 1876, Page 13

THE POLICY OF OBSTRUCTION

. [From the ' Wexford People.'] It is full time for Irishmen to consider the various suggestions which have been submitted by the National press as the alternative means to be adopted in the present crisis. One journal— the irishman —always more or less hostile to the Home Rule parliamentary pohcy— counsels abstention from Parliament and a prow*?\ ai Sf ° E l he nation a = ainst the farce of Ir eland being &W^ r ) I hro^ a re P res entation which is a mockery, while Jwigland crushes their power by numerical force. The 'Nation ' that has hitherto counselled parliamentary action in the usual form now declares for a .policy of obstruction, so that if Ireland is not to receive justice at the hands of imperialists the English people must be made to feel that the Irish members have the° powertoaSufy the action of the imperial parliament. The 'Freeman,' on the ZL^YV? 5 r6S f T pur f Uhig the old P 0110 ?' alld on th^ lines laid down at the general conference, as being the course then recommended to and endorsed by the nation, and not since revoked~and for thus stating its views is roundly assailed by the 'Ulster Examiner, a ]ournal of much patriotic feeling and power, lar^elv cirWeftnf^T f^ & iF"?* Ireland ' also tlSTugh the %?*****• Jog^ally the ' Freeman ' is safe, but patrioticS l'r, v ?' u a ? ad^ ance j^ be made in the Programme, and the policy of obstruction adopted, when it has been proved, as it has been notoriously, not alone on the Home Rule debate, but on almost every other occasion when English interest, ignorance, and prejudice stood opposed to Irish rights, that brute force tramples SS OO^ J™ l **" ■*** h^ ts breath - Obstruction is the natural weapon to wield when such a policy is pursued by British statesmen. If Ireland is not to have justice, England Jhal not have legislation— and so the game can be played out. Mere ar-u-SS* C^ P ] ai - an °?i P artie ?' a d f ire to be fair, honorable, and above board m all things, have been tried without avail. To pursue the present course would be merely going over the old ground again without advancing a step. Brute force must be met by aggression and obstruction on all and every occasion that supphes the means. Even, as the 'Freeman' suggests, did the House alter its forms to meet the difficulty, other means could be devised to obstruct busmess-or England would be placed before the world in the position of a State boasting of free institutions but only enabled to carry out legislative deliberations by ff a4inthe representatives of Ireland. This is an alternative which we flncy she would not like to force, and hence the feasibility of the leading policy of obstruction. Anyhow it is worth the trial. Should it fail there is the policy of abstention from Parliament to fall back on— a policy of formidable significance should it be adopted during the crisis of a foreign war. At present such a policy would be injudicious, because its adoption would destroy its force should it have to be adopted in the future. But the policy of obstruction is open to no such objection, and a great duty devolves on the Irish people during the recess-that of demanding that the Irish representatives shall meet at a convenient time, determine the course to be pursued next session, and resolve on the policy of obstruction in the event of Irish demands being met only to be crushed, as they have been in the present and past sessions of Parliament