Important Speech by the Lord Lieutenant.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 3, 15 January 1903, Page 4

Important Speech by the Lord Lieutenant.

A speech which was delivered by Lord Dudley, the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, at a recent meeting of the Incorporated Law Sooiety in Dublin, has attracted considerable attention in Ireland, and created somewhat of a sensation in England. Taken in connection with the rumors of the King's wish that the law should be administered with equal impartiality in all parts of the kingdom, and the appointment of Sir Antony McDonnell as Under Secretary, it looks as if the Government were about to change their methods in Ireland. Mr. Massingham, writing in the • Daily News ' regarding Lord Dudley's ppeech, says :— ' I have reason to believe that, while it may not be regarded as a Tory declaration of Home Rule, it does portend an advance, not merely on the Land Question but on Irish Government. The report is that the Government intend to deal with the relations of Dublin Castle to Irish administration. In particular, they have before them a proposal not dissimilar from Mr Chamberiain's plan of National Councils.' The Lord Lieutenant is a Conservative, but his remarks on the occasion might, with trifling exceptions, be uttered by an advanced Liberal. 'One hears sometimes,' said his Excellency 'opinions expressed with regard to publio feeliDg in Ireland which, if one credited them, would lead one to take a very gloomy yew of the situation in this country. One would imagine from listening to the croaking of these birds of ill omen that a spirit of disloyalty and revolt was ingrained as irrevocable in the character of the Irish people, and that the time of any person was wasted who attempted to mention this country as an integral part of our great Imperial system. All I can say, in reply to snoh forebodings, is that, so far as my experience of this country is conoerned, so far as the information that I have been given carries me, I believe that that view is utterly fallacious, and is founded upon a radical misconception of the true character and temperament of the Irish people. It is quite true that in this country interest in politics is widely diffused and keenly felt, and that in the heat of political controversy expressions are often made use of which shock and amaze the phlegmatic and steady-going Saxon. Do not imagine, gentlemen, I wish to defend this habit of violent language. On the oontrary, I think it very often constitutes the greatest obetacle to the progress and development of Ireland. But, on the other hand, I think that it is very unwise to exaggf rate its importance, or to jump to the conclusion that every apparently disloyal expression made übo of in thiß country in the public Press, or on the public platform, necessarily represented the true sentiments of those who used them or of those to whom they were addressed. It is a habit of Englishmen to understate rather than to overstate, and it is, therefore, not fair to apply to Irish oratory the came standard that we naturally apply in the Bister country, but at the same time, it* is obvious that freedom of ppeeoh must have some limit. ' I am ono of those who hold that the Lord Lieutenant in this country should keep as clear as possible from political conttoverey, but I have allowed myself to say these few words to-night, and to approach thereby rather nearly the areni of debatable matter, because I wish to make it clear at the very outset of my official life in this country the spirit in which I hope to approach the responsibilities of the office that baa been entrusted to me. These responsibilities are many, and amongst them, indeed ut the hend of them, lies the duty of maintaining law and order in tnis oountry, and of upholding at all times the Government of the. King. But subject to that ever present mission, 1 am most nnxioup, gentlemen, that my relationship to the Irish people should be always one of mutual confidence and trußt, and it will be my constant endeavor to deal with suhjrcis affecting them with a true and coustant regard to their rational needs and traditions. Mr President, there are some people in this world who seem to believe that the only way in which a great Empire can bo successfully maintained is by suppressing the various distinct elements of its component parts — in tact, by iuuninar it as a huge regiment in which each nation is to 10-e its individuality and to be brought uuder a common *yst in of discipline and drill. Well, that in not the view whicli I personally void. In my opinion, we are inuoh more likely to break up the Empire than to maintain it by any euch att» mpts. Lasting strength and lasting loyalty are not to be secured by any attempt »o force into one pys^ teia or to re-mould into one type these special characte istics which are the outcome of a nation's bibtory and of her religious a/d Bi>o al conditions, but rather by a full ret-ogniriou of the f.iet that tl» se very characteristics form an essential part of a na'iunc life a d that under wise guidance and under sympathetic tr.atuie"t th. y will enable her to provide her own contribution ami to play her own spec al part in the life of the Empire to which she b long". It is upon that principle that I shall try, aa far as I can, to proofed during my term of office in this country, fi, mly heliev iig, an I do, that any t'evrli i inent to bp lasting and t) be healthy uiui-t be natio al. and inu^t be as is*ed aud promoted whh v full und liiiMHtimt regard to the tpecuil coLditions of the country that it affects.'

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