MR. REDMOND'S MISSION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 25, 19 October 1883, Page 15

MR. REDMOND'S MISSION.

Before our next issue has appeared Mr. J. K. Redmond will have arnved in Dunedin, and we hope, as we believe, he will have been leceived coidially, and supported manfully. It is true efforts have been made by the local Press to discredit his mission, and we have been called upon by various editors to look upon it with suspicion, but the public of Dunedin are hardly stupid enough to be inauenced by the utterances of men who are either

arj^hl 3 &<Jre,^ifv^.^r' a,;jp>riy '^w-hope, , wtereits '.depend on licking dawji theViWy, ol 'tS» people^a**! that naturally dread the elfe<stft)bQ*e''JHPaduoed:l>y^tlie sufccesaof a.popular jnovement in any part of the world. Such men as these-are merely contemptible, and Dn&aiQ T is'lm^dly'tb' be congratulated o£ its acquisition of one of tneytf'iff pai^ipular who seen^'to unifca the situation of'Jeames with a n£t§£ PflSjflsa»&r, the ' office. -^Npyertheless,,- we 1 acknowledge n the superiority the - gentility -thatf according to Geofg* qsiiot-. sa 3 -s "■♦oMg^—ancl; mqreo'verthat'it is tempot^jt fB4 JDaify sß?w^?,' j&whjsn we especially anud^frlt-inight,-m'eantime; e^fan'djjiisue iijsjofty^eal* perhaps qutfe *s successfully, andtjC^stainlyiinueh more -creditably if it would tconfihea itself to an>fc6nesfc coatemptidfi'theitrtilgaiify \hatt says-" 'oss ."^hd; Terrain frWtttyifcg; antf c^iMn^fitfg if'm^tTahlmelully.-^Btft^jfea- let us remWfe^ VaTa^Y^&^w;? ccused the Land^League of bpingr^nabjfe'fdipttQ^ and, even if the poor fady wasT'slightly wandering in her head, a cracked member** tfre ferfetocracy>ve way eancKttte' would, fwute teinieux, be^wtftny'^k&f'veneratfonWthe^^ squires who,- rule the.#ufy Tim^^lfMn there is>. question of p^rsdna^ 'qnaSty;,; JTeames, fit cpurse, must appear in full powder aud- pinph,-- »nd.-;WiaTev with- all Obsequiousness. What^ of the "h'lrish" and Maorie*, and all the 'oss-pronouncingvalgarityinsuchl a^t^rice 1 ? 'Tie 'orie-protiouncing gentility; as a matter of neces- | ui^afispisesiihe'nir; .; , ' ; ' .that cW« remark that wa find repeated to the effect \ that^the^L^eep-le of Nfew Zealand have no. more right to interfere i bdareenSngrtendcand Ireland than the Imperial Government would, j havfe : tointerf ere with this J Colony's treatment of .the Maories, we' wfioliy taa to see its,d^th^r appositenes?. We are of the opinion, an^a^e jfe^Sy malatain^that,. in c^e the- Colony -were to grossly ii^e»tiJhe:M9orw,-.arid refuse them juitice, the Imperial Government wonld riofcimly bave the right; of interference,- bnt would be , bound t?> inter/e^re. ; fi . ;n .^ -- _. . ,'- • . - -^ - • I^/nallyiW^the^rarning giyen.by the Arties against encquraging as's^ia^fiori, J t|lat also ' smaqks of Miyi.lAdy, , and is,, therefore,, an utterai^?ito;be received with : -all..dae>idbßervancep, and respectfully celebrated by powder abd : plush in tia# very best 'manner possible to th'e^wearer. ' pi<l lit p6i smack 'of Her LAdyship^ it would r neverthßfeslJ he !> a remarl:' Bmackingofi the most villanous Billingsgate ; pofigjbjeix-but it>guits the' "quality," no doubt, like all the article in | which. it loccurs, and it is quite happily illustrative of low life above statrs^-t^TWetse'th'e title of an old play and meet the circumstances. i; $eetnV v 'fo > be the general conclusion of our editors, however,, that,, the. .Home Eule which Jtr. Eedmond advocates, means EeparatiottlfrqmE'nglaridj in spite of all that Mr. Redmond may say, and "in ,Bpite^ of all his explanations and assurances to the contrary. Oar editors,] moreover, are modest, and do not think that the power^'is in "'them" to distinguish true arguments 'from fals^'or to' determine when a man 'is honest and when he is a schemer. Notwithstanding all their modesty, and all theii doubts, nevertheless, Mr. Redmond is not the advocate of separation, and no true friend of Jreland has the least desire to see the ejapjxe on T wbich the sun never sets stripped of so much as one of tssdepeodencies.^rfor our- own part, indeed, we ate prepared: to 1 resist r -with -all- our -powers -the- threatened attempt 1 to separate these colonies froin'the old country, bn'tbe question of annexation; — or t>n any o'ther'tba,t may arise,, and, in our advocacy of Home Rule we honestly advocate a measure that we believe would be for- the good of the empire at large. ' ' ■ >The condition and disposition of Ireland, .as it is at present, are not'only'a'' crying grievance, an unspeakable injustice, and a source of #ver^iung th&t is ,wretched and harmful, to the unfortunate country itself, .buit they are, as .well, a source of weakness to -the emp.uje,'general£yy and one that must increase in gravity every day. — This ia seen plainly enough outside the empire, and the Continental Press is speaking out very open3y ; on the -subject- --take, for example, the following extraqt, from, the Republique , FrwngaAie : — "Do you thi.nlc.yaif are yefjr safely established in your . possessions ? See how you are respected id your empire in South' Africa. The Zulus are teariugeach other to" pieces; and fighting against you. The Beers are derisively defying you, and you dare not even remonstrate with the^ o*jl^o *j l^b II § ifik'stitoßi fik'stitoß you disarmed under, a .promise of protecting them» ;^ad_jouabaa(3.on;theni^o the tender mercies of their enemits, who. ara.your enemies too. And then look at home, In that island, the sLwinghold from whence you defy, all foreign attacks, you are iu-cesßStnily-struggling' with an internal foe, who will never disarm, and whontfthehour 1 of national danger will diive you to the brink of the abyss. r Yon condole with us on having political Parties — it .would be rpore accurate to cay Party lenders — who repudiate the Constitutions iAndyonr 3 F6nianß ? Do you consider that they scrupulously respect your fundamental law's ?, Possibly, were such aa exchange / practicable, you would not mind handing over to us your Irish rebels, and taking our Legitimists and Bonapartists instead. • At,d as to jour Constitution, are you so blind as not to see that it is no longer

wpriin^fegularly.i'ilttce its essential principle, 'tiie"presence .of two clearly-defined Parties, bow etiats'oiily'in .appearance!;. an^ henceforth you may never again l t»iye' sSch'V thih'tj'to a homogeneous Cabinet." — This is a Tory tfeseription' of 'theWte of things, as i* actually exists, and we cdnnflt Inink that any .man of, cpininou sense can affirm that anything done towards* amending spch, a^pndUion of things would be done aniiss towards the Welfare of the. empire— Home Rule, "then, means nothing else except such ai amendment, and it. therefore, deserves for this'alone the support of every loyal British subject. ' , Bnt what is the meaning of the cry of separation ir^ connection with' Home Rule ? It has no meaning,' in fact, and no one but an old woman could believe it to have a meaning. How could Home Bule make separation more easy? Would' it weaken .the strength of Ehglarid,reduce' the' number of her sildiers, or break down the, power of her fleet ? Would it increase the dislike of the Trisi^eople to her rule ? ' The cry is senseless, and has arisen either, from .malevolence or ignorance, that needs some pretest' to" oppose the cause, and .has not one word of 'sound sense to advance against i£ f .., ■ • Mr. Redmond, then, is advocating not only, the- interests of Ireland but those of the empire at, iarge'.' He asks for, moral support in this good cause, and f cr pecuniary aid only from those who accord their moral support to the cause. — The object he advocates has .been nobly supported on the West Coast, and' favourably listen^d, c t9, t . asd substantially aided; in the larger towns nbrth of Dunedin.-^Have,^ not reason to believe that in our own city, that makes its, boast, of liberality and popular sympathies, it will also meet with suppori and approbation? — Unless every liberal pretension be vain,, and eyery liberal profession hollow among vs v it must certainly do so. . \Ye very much regret to say that-we haye-saffereda aeriouV disappointment as to the special .correspondence we. had arranged tctf in connection with Mr. W..Kedmond's visit tothe West Coast.. Thegentleman who had undertaken to attend a number of 'the meetings for met with an accident by which bia notes were lost, and we awaited in vain- from day today expecting his communication.— Fortunately- a friend at Kumara kindly forwarded to us a of the local "paper in which a very full report was given, and this will be found in another column. The enthusiasm,, moreover, jthat prevailed at Kumara was equalled in all those other towns where the delegate spoke, and his tale of old Ireland!s wrongs, and the: valiant effort that is now being made to right them must have been the same everywhere. The generosity of the dwellers on the Coast, and the noble spirit of fidelity to the cause of Ireland that animates them are rmply borne testimony~to . by.>the liberality of their subscripts ns amounting in all to over £1400— or £400 more we are told than the Messrs. Bedmond had hoped to obtain' in the whole Colony. Among the tales, then, of theft tour in these that the delegates will have to relate when they return to Ireland that concerning the West Coast mil not be the least creditable.— For our own part, we may, however, add— since we have now for several years had an opportunity of knowing the character of the men who live in the districts referred to, we expected little less of them, and afe.by no means surprised to find that they exceeded every expectation, that had been formed of them. . , We understand that a" concert will be given at Port Chalmers in aid of the presbytery .building fund on "the 30th/_inst. ..The services of several very "accomplished musician's have been* secured and everything will be done to' insure a trea.t. to the audience Meantime we regret to learn that the ; prospects of the ait : unioh to be held for 'the same purpose look rather dull. The tickets seem to be going off-but slowly,- and" the returns so far received are small. It is earnestly hoped that matters may 'tike a turn for the better, and the Rev. Father Newport be .supplied with., the Bam.- necessary to meet the requirements of the ca-e. — The rev. gentleman will be glad to reecive the proceeds of the sale, of tickets 1 asH early '.as possible. ' ' "" ',-■•>. ■ " '1 , G/^.,,, Mb. J. B. Redmond is expected to arrive in Iltmedin. oo, Saturday evening, and his first lecture will be delivered on Mandaysevening in the Queen's Theatre. His Worship tlie Mayor had consented '|a take the ch^ir but as a meeting of the City Council'takes placefjm tiM eve ti ing appointed he ia imabltrto do so.— Wetnay arid thafc ifiip peyhaps quite as f ortanate' for h?s Worship's "fame her'eafj^-that'this .obstacle has intervened, for our contemporary the Daily Times- declares -he wouldihave been guilty of disloyalty in presiding- and' who knows but that might involve his Worship!aJjeing described, for instance^ in some -travelling show by and bye,, as the *j Mayor' as 'ad thrown, his h'fegis over the h'lrish rebellion in puuedin" forja gentleman who has come to the colony in" the character of a Barnum - may depart from it all in good time in a similar capacity! Meantime as'to' the qualifications of our editor to lay down the- law us io locality, we may. judge from his decision the other .day that' ,M,r.. had broken the law in excluding the Irish informerefrom 'Yicjtiodaabut that bad he not broken the law he woul4 haye,' been guilty of immorality. Such an "editor as this plainly does not know what he is talking 'about' and 'may as well chatter nonsense concerning die-

loyalty as about anything'else^ His place is clearly the arena of the show and his vocation to be, an, able, editor is less than doubtf uL We need hardly, however,' plead with our readers the necessity that devolves oh them of prompting the success of Mr. Redmond's visit here. They are all more than to welcome him to Dunedin, and assure to him a full and enthusiastic audience. Babon Hubner, an Austrian nobleman, who is now in Dunedin, where he arrived from the lakes on Wednesday night, is, perhops, the greatest personage who has as^et visited New Zealand. He is inferior in rank, it is true, to the Duke of Edinburgh, and not more than the equal of certain English noblemen who have been here, but he is a statesman who has occupied the highest positions, in his native country, and who has represented Austria at the courts of Rome and Paris — who, in fact, has held his own in the foremost rank of European statesmanship for so.me half a century. His Excellency is, besides, a distinguished author, and has written an able book of travels in America/ and an admirable life of Pope Sixtus V. It will interest our Irish readers, moreover, to learn that in his book on America, he has spoken very favourably of their fellow-countrymen. The Baron travels privately and, therefore, no public honours can be shown to him ; but it is understood that the officials of the Colony generally will place themselves at his service, and the Governor sent a gentleman his household to meet him at the Bluff aud accompa»# him on his tour. ■ , We would remind our readers that the juvenile conceit in aid of the Dunedin Cathedral Building Fund comes off on Wednesday evening, at the Queen's Theatre. The programme, which is a very attractive one, will be found in another column. The concert, it will be remembered, is, with some variations, a repetition of that given some months ago at the Oddfellows^ Hall, and which was so much appreciated . that a unanimous desire was expressed that it should-be repeated. Ihe programme, nevertheless, has been reconsidered and improved, and Wehave every reason to expect that the music to. be rendered on this occasion will be found even more pleasing than it was before. We need not remind our readers that the object to be benefited by this concert is deserving of all their support.

A presentation of 100 guineas was made on Wednesday to Mr. James Ashcroft', late editor of the Otago Daily Times, in recognition of his services to the public during his occupancy of the editorial chair. The ' Rev. Dr. Stuart made the presentation.

The new church at Gordon f Gore) was opened on Sunday last by the Most Rev. Dr. Moran, assisted by the Rev. Fathers Fitzgerald and Burke. — We shall give a report of the ceremony in our next issue.