HOME RULE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 27, 3 April 1891, Page 17

HOME RULE.

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I is greatly to be regretted that on the conclusion of the O'Shea trial Mr. Parnell did not retire from the leadership of the Home Rule party. Had he done so, he should have carried with him the regrets and sympathy iv his fall of the entire Irish race, who will never forget his great services to bis countrj. And after a time, had he used that time well, he might have been restored to his forfeited position. But now, we fear, his obstinate clinging to a position which certainly the majority of his countrymen deny him, has so annoyed and humiliated the^* that it is exceedingly likely they will never again on any terms permit themselves to be led by him. This, we repeat, is very much to be regretted. He has weakened his own party and exposed them to the jibes and sarcasms of their opponents. These, however, have not such a triumph as they pretend ; and it is ludicrous to see the efforts they are making to derive political capital from the circumstances. Ireland is as determined as ever to have Home Itule, and the vast overwhelming majority of Irish representatives still are, and will be in the future, uncompromising advocates of this measure, and as determined as ever not to merge themselves in any English party. Under these circumstances it is not easy to gee where {he ip, mile^, iudeed, the iiugliali

and Scotch electers recant their advocacy of Home Rule because there has been a temporary split in the Irish Party. But of this there is no evidence ; on the contrary, such evidences as recent elections and speeches afford supply an argument for supposing that the advocacy of Home Rule by the Liberal constituencies in these countries is even more pronounced than ever. Nevertheless, some, at least, of the Unionist statesmen keep hammering away at the old platitudes and prophecies, and would fain make the British public believe that the split in the Irish Party disposes of the question in their favour. These statesmen raise their pious hands and eyes to heaven, and asseverate that it would be madness to give Home Rule to a people divided on the question of their leadership. Why, hearing this trash, one would fancy there never was a division in Great Britain on any subject whatever ; whereas, nothing is more notorious than that in no country in the world are the people so divided on almost all subjects, even in the most important of all — religion —as in Great Britain. Still, Lord Hartington, for example, and Mr. Chamberlain, keep nagging away on the split in the Irish Party, though there is no split at all on the Home Rule question, about which even now the utmost unanimity prevails. No one is surprised at Lord Hartington. for it is habitual with him to labour ponderously about trifles, concerning which he often discourses so energetically and solemnly as to provoke ridicule and contempt. But it is different with some of his coadjutors, who are not so destitute of common sense and ability. These know well that the Irish Party on the Homo Rule question are as united and powerful as ever, and as determined as ever to fight out the question to the end. It would be wiser for them to hold their tongues than parade themselves before a sharp and intelligent public as men only raised a little above silliness. In fact, Lord Hartington and his fellows have only one argument, and this they repeat with disgusting reiteration. According to them Home Rule means separation. But this is not an argument ; it is merely a prophecy, and when politicians pose as prophets there must be very little substance in their policy. These add that there is nothing that Home Rule could do for Ireland that cannot be done by the Imperial Parliament. Here, however, the Home Rulers have the advantage in argument. In this instance facts are opposed to prophesy. Por ninety years the Imperial Parliament has misgoverned Ireland in the most shocking manner, and it is a fair conclusion that what has not been done in ninety years by the Imperial Parliament can never be done by it. Hitherto the government of Ireland by England has been an egregious failure. Even now unfortunate Ireland cannot obtain justice from the Imperial Parliament, and her state after ninety years of union is a disgrace to civilization. What then remains ? Why, only to allow the Irish nation to govern itself. It cannot possibly do worse than the Imperial Parliament has done, and it may do a great deal better. At all events a trial should be made, for the present situation is intolerable.