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SIR CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY AND LORD CARNARVON.

Whiting from the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, on the 21st July, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy addresses an eloquent and characteristically vigorous letter to Lord Carnarvon, the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, tbroagh the columns of the Freeman* Journal. At the outset Sir Charles refers to the few Lord Lieutenants who have left a good reputation behind them in Ireland, and te appeals to Lord Carnarvon to take his place amongst these by simply giving fair play to the Irish people. He recals to the mind of the Lord Lieutenant, who has been Colonial Secretary, the immense advantages that have arisen from the granting of Belf-government to Canada, to Cape Colony, and to Australia. Passing to a consideration of what the Conservatives should now do, Sir Charles says :—: — " I do not propose— l would scorn to propose— that the Conservative party should do something in itself objectionable because it would result in a party convenience and a party gain. But in suggesting that they should undertake a work which is essentially just and necessary, and I believe inevitable, I may ask your Excellency to remember that taking the initiative will enable them to accompany the concession with reasonable securities, which may otherwise be omitted. Why should Inot add that it will also bring them as an immediate return what to all Governments is the primary condition of existence—political power ? If the Cabinet of Lord Salisbury will undertaka 10 restore to Ireland the control of her own interests as completely as it is enjoyed in the great colonies, it may be doubted if a single member would be cent from Ireland at the coming elections who would not support that programme and sustain the Administration who propounded it. " Experts affirm that a Conservative majority is unattainable in England cum Wales, or in Scotland ; if it comes it must come from Ireland. A Conservative leader who is now a Cabinet Minister made this admission in specific terms in a memorable article in the Fortnightly J&cvien>. Assuming him to be well informed on so cardinal a point, the question is simplified to its very elements. If ths Conservative party will have the courage to be just to Ireland, they know the gain ; if they refuse to be just, they know the penalty ; or, rather, let me say, they may estimate the penalty approximately, for none of us know what strange birth the new Parliament will bring forth, any more than Frenchmen a century ago knew the tremendous progeny destined to be born of the -first assembly of (he Tiers Etat" Sir Charles then proceeds to point out how in Germany Prince Bismarck, after persecuting the Catholics of the country, turned round and sought their assistance, and how in England Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston entered into an alliance with Sir Robert Peel. A coalition, he arguep, between an English Conservative and an Insn Nationalist should not be an impossibility. He continues : — , " I feel almost ashamed to say that what I meditate is a settlement of the Irish question— accepted as well as offered in gooi faith ; a plan capable of being woiked for tbe common good of Irishmen, not for any special creed or class, but for all alike, and which would be defended against all enemies from within or from without, in the same spirit in which it was accepted. This, and nothing short of this has been the de^n of my whole public life ; aud I am as faithful to it now as when I shared the coun-els of O Connell or O'Brien. lam iiot in the least afraid that the religious freedom of the minority would be endangered, but I would rejoice to see a risk which is improbable frankly rendered impossible. No one, as far as I know, desires to disturb the Act of Settlement, but the Act of Settlement ought to be put entirely beyond question. Your Excellency knows that in colonial and American constitutions dangers of the same general character had to be guarded against, and have been guarded against successfully. The French-Canadian Catholics, who are now a baudful ia the midst of a nation, would not enter into the Dominion without guarantees for their religious liberty and their hereditary poßseesione ; and you know these have been effectually

secured and %i& safe beyond all risk. The most serious difficulty undoubtedly resides in the recollection of the minority that their predecessors used their supremacy tyiannously, and in their fear that the past would necessarily provoke reprisals. We cannot ignore the fact that an atrocious Land Code, an offensive pulpit, and a venomous Press sowed the seed of bitterness throughout the island but let us remember that antagonists as bitter have been reconciled in Switzerland, and that a Catholic people long subjected to similar injustice in Belgium have set an example of generous oblivion of the past and wi6e liberality towards rival creeds which no other in Europa can match. " For myself, as one Catholic Celt, I will say that the men I most honour in our history and the friends I have most loved in life belonged in a large proportion to a race and creed which are not mine. Swift and> Molyneux, Flood and Grattan, were not only Protestants but the sons of English officials serviDg in Dublin courts and bureaux. Cnrran, Tone, and Father Mat hew were the descendants of Cromwellian settlers. The fattier of the best Irishman I have ever known, or ever hope to know, who has been the idol of two generations of students and thinkers, was a Welshman wearing the uniform of an English regiment. I trust your Excellency is not unacquainted with the honoured name of Thomas Davis. Be assured that there are now a host of Irishmen who would die rather than suffer any wrong to be inflicted on their countrymen on pretence of creed, or class, or historic feuds. And if it be so, the greater praise belongs (as the poet has sung) to the young Irish patriot of Welsh descent who died a generation ago in his thirty-second year. '* Let us look at this political question for a moment from the legitimate standpoint of political convenience. There is a great result to be accomplished, and the party which your Excellency represents in Ireland could accomplish it more promptly and effectually than the Liberals, just as tuey carried the Redistribution of Seats Act, the other day, which would have been impossible to their opponents. But there is more than one Richard in the field, and competition is as salutary in politics as in commerce. If Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain come to Ireland to study what are cynically called our " local institutions," I trust they will receive prompt assistance in the investigation of those singular phenomena. An Irish grand jury is a fiscal instrument that cannot be defended with a grave face. It is worthy of the region of Laputa rather than an empire where taxation without representation is pronounced to be tyranny. And Ireland is ridden by boards and commissions constructed on the principle that the wishes of the people count for nothing. It is not conceivable that these abortions will tang coexist with household suffrage and equal electoral districts. They will probably vanish, like a ghost at cock-crow, when a House of Commons founded on these bases sits at Westminster. But what is to succeed them ? This is a question which it beuoves both parties in Ireland to consider. If the Radical leaders confine themselves to a glorified vestry it will doubtless be an improvement on the present syotem (what change could fail to be an improvement ?) ; but it will do nothing to satisfy the desire of the nation to control its own destiny. The main end for which Ireland needs a native Parliament is not to gratify the longing for autonomy, though no wise man will undervalue that sentiment, nor to engage in new political conflicts, but to administer national interests which have long gone to wreck and ruin. Our resources are wasted, our trade and commerce in decay, and our people, after an exodus extending over forty years, still fly from the country for want of the guardian care of a legislature with adequate knowledge and sympathy. The most complete transfer of authority from the gentry to the peasantry will do little to further this end. On the other hand, it may work permanent wrong, for I fully recognise the justice of the principle which has been legalised in democratic Australia— that the liability to pay taxes ought to be represented in fair proportion in any assembly authorised to impose them. The Irish gentry may well believe that English Kadicals, fresh from a first inspection of the preposterous institutions which they have maintained in Ireland, will treat them more mercilessly th*n their own countrymen would do. It is my rooted conviction that a juster, safer, and more permanent settlement may be made by a Government disposed to arbitrate fairly between Irish parties than by one simply bent on destroying what is no longer defensible. But Ireland has waited too long and suffered to« much not to be ready to welcome deliverance from any hand. It is idle to balance the merits of Whig, Tory, and Radical in such a contingency. For myself, I will say that if I had to choose between a Conservative Government which would undertake this supreme and essential work, and a Cabinet of Mr. Gladstone's supporters, or, indeed, of the Seven Sages or Twelve Apostles who refused to undertake it, I would support the former with all my strength. On the other band, if my choice lay between a Radical Administration prepared to restore our constitution and the best conceivable Government of Conservatives which refused to do so, my choice would be speedily made. But at present the Radicals are on the wrong road. When Mr. ChamberlaiD speaks of sweeping away Dublin Castle he appeals to deeply-rooted and well-grounded feelings of distrust and dislike ; but Dublin Castle and the Vice-royalty are the last remnants of the separate organisation of the Irish ration. Not to destroy, but to reform and restore them is the design and duty of Irish Nationalists. In all the British dominions there is no considerable State except Ireland with a governer which has not also a Parliament ; the one is the complement of the other ; and we, who are determined to regain our Parliament, would be frantic to destroy the kindred and completing institution associated with it."

In the concluding passages of his letter Sir Charles warns Lord Carnarvon of the failures in the Irish administration who have preceded him. The letter says :— " I am more certain of nothing under the sky than that your Excellency came to Ireland from the most generous and humane motives. But the best intentions are vain if they miss the right road. There is no man more unpopular in Ireland than Mr. Forster, yet I am certain Mr. Forster came to Dublin bent on generous designs. When I met him first— in 1849— he was engaged in administering a fund for the relief of the famine contributed by the

Society of Friends, and be performed his task in a spirit which was pronounced to be " worthy of the Good Samaritan." He entered warmly into the feelings of the people, and was frankly indignant at a land system which mocked their prayer for daily bread. Yet, in defence of that very system, he filled our prisons with men and women thirty years later because he missed the right road ; because, in the argot of modern journalism, be had lost touch of the Irish people. Mr. Trevelyan, who succeeded him, is a man of rare gifts and great force of character. The abolition of the purchase system in the army and the establishment of household suffrage in counties are au fond more attributable io him than to Mr. Gladstone. His literary gifts rival, and in some respects exceed, those of his distinguished uncle, yet his life in Ireland was completely wasted. He would not open the door of the asylum, and the ditenu did not want sops in the pan, but the liberty to enjoy his life, of- which be had been defrauded."

Sir Charles concludes by calling on the Lord Lieutenant to concede self-government to Ireland, and to take a place in history " with liichelieu and Seiners, with Washington and Grattan, wit-n Deak, Cavour and Bismarck— the founders of cations."

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZT18850925.2.14

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 22, 25 September 1885, Page 11

Word Count
2,084

SIR CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY AND LORD CARNARVON. New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 22, 25 September 1885, Page 11

SIR CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY AND LORD CARNARVON. New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 22, 25 September 1885, Page 11