REAPING THE WHIRLWIND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 16, 7 August 1885, Page 23

REAPING THE WHIRLWIND.

(From the American, Philadelphia.) The annexation of Ireland by the most profligate exercise of base influences, and the conquest of India by the sword, may have seemed the means to consolidate and strengthen the country. They have proved tbe reverse. For India's sake the English have plunged into one unjust war in Egypt and another in the Soudan . Far India's sake they have been trembling on the verge of a war with the great em pire of the Slavs and the Tartars. For India's sake they have been obliged to abdicate their just position in Europe, and to count as a cipher in the politics of the continent, where, 70 years ago, they held the first place. And into how many mure perplexities their Indian possessions will carry them, it is impossible to foresee. In the case of Ireland the Nemesis for the paßt sins is still more visible. The Union introduced into tbe Imperial Parliament 105 members, who are and always have been an alien and a disturbing element there. These men could not do justice to their constituencies without making a disturbance in London. They cannot better please their constituencies than by seeing to it that thedisturbanceisas extensive and as offeusi ye as possible. The Irish people have no interest in the maintenance of the House of Commons ; their one hope is to be forever rid of all connection with it. So long as they ar« forced to send their members to London, instead of meeting in Dublin, they are well content to have these members regarded as a nuisance. And in the last five years this has been done so effectually that the English are beginning to see that the Treaty of "Union waaa gigantic mistake. Ireland is like the Scotch fairy, who canaot be brought into the House except by the exercise of bheer force, and who, wnen oace in it will shake it to its very foundations before she is done. ' A House of Commons wiih 105 Irian members, mostly followers of Mr. Parnell, is beginning to be seen to be an impossibility in practical politics. Hence the frank suggestion of some English Tories that Ireland be disfranchised. That would be one way of get ting Tid of the difficulty, but it is not one that England dares take. It would put an end to the Treaty of Union which expressly stipulates for the 105 membeis. The other way out of the difficulty is a frank jepeal of the Union. If that be done without any appeal to arms on the Irish side, the effect ou the temper of the people will be most beneficial. If it be dove as a concession to threats when England is in some great peril, like that of a century ago, then Inglaud will have a< quired a permanent and dangerous enemy. If it be done as the outcome of an Irish uprising when England is in paril, the danger will be still more immediate. And before this generation has passed away, it will be done after some one of theße fashions.