IRELAND IN ENGLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 203, 23 February 1877, Page 17

IRELAND IN ENGLAND.

leelxnd is now proved to extend politically far beyond the o- o- egraphical limits of the " Emerald Isle." The Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea are no longer the waters by which (as the school books say) " Ireland is bounded." There is not only an Ireland at home, but an Ireland beyond the Atlantic, strong and growing into still greater strength, and whose vote is counted as a thing of "great political importance. The poor down-trodden victims of many a heartless eviction, who fled from a land which (though their native soil) was to them no longer a home, have grown up beyond the broad waters into a new nation. In other parts of the world the same wondrous*"*hange has taken place. Go to Australia, and an Irish nation will be found there, led on by such men as Duffy and others, who have brought to that distant colony great talent, devoted love for Ireland and indomitable energy. Many other lands can tell the same tale. In fact, the Irishman may say with perfect truth, in the words of Virgil:— Quae regio in terria, nostri non plena laboris. But it is only now that it is discovered that there is also an Ireland in England. Long has it been known, and admitted even by England, that Ireland gave to that country many of its greatest citizens. The magnificent eloquence of Burke, the brilliant powers of Sheridan, whose unmatched oratory acted like a spell upon the Senate, and whose wit blazed like a meteor even in the hostile atmosphere of London ; the sweet poems of Goldsmith, whose immortal lines glow with fresh beauty as often as they are read. All these and many others are owned to have been really great. " En<>--

land has also admitted the glories of the chisel of Foley, and the pencil of Maclise ; while even the most aristocratic drawing-rooms have echoed to the glorious lyrics of Moore. But, after all, this did not realise the real importance af the "Irish in England!" That has now been brought distinctly to the front. Nothing has ever occurred till now which proves that there is in Great Britain a strong body which may almost be called an Irish nation. This body cannot be less in number than two millions, and, as the Irish in Great Britain are no longer mere " hewers of wood and drawers of water," their political power' isbeginning to be felt. The municipal elections which have recently taken place in the large towns of England indicate plainly, and beyond all controversy that Ireland's national cause will no longer be without friends (and strong friends too) in the English corporations. In fourteen towns men have been returned who are pledged to support the just demand of Ireland for Hume Rule. In Liverpool Dr, Cummins, an Irishman, and an eminent member of the English bar, and long president of the English Home Rale Confederation, was returned in preference to another candidate who was not in favor of Home Rule. In another ward in the same city Dr. Bligh, a Home Ruler, was returned, and in some other cases the candidates won over the Irish vote by a declaration in favor of Home Rule. We might write similarly of many other places, but there is no necessity for entering into local details. It is therefore not without good cause that the Executive Committee of the Home Rule Confederation has passed a resolution congratulating the Irish in England on these triumphs of the good cause. There is no doubt that a vast amount of good will be done both to England and to Ireland by events which have shown that there is an awakening in this country of a spirit of fairplay to Ireland, and that national prejudice is at last gi vino- place to a sense of justice. On one point, however, we continue to hold firmly to the opinion we have often put forward, namely, that the sacred principles of denominational education are never to be sacrificed to any political questions. Protect the religious education of the people, and next after that boldly guard their political rights. That is our unshaken creed. — ' Universe.'