The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-03-06 00:00:00

MR. BRIGHT ON HOME RULE.

The following letter from Mr. Bright has been received by
the ReV. T. O'Malley, Dublin :
London Reform Club, February 25, 1875.
Dear Sir,—l thank you for your letter and the little
book on Home Rule on the basis of the federation. I
have read the book, Shall I tell you what I think of
two Irish plans on the Irish question? The Mitchell
plan is easy to understand, and if Ireland were unani-
mous and strong enough it might be attempted and
might succeed. It is very simple, and under the con-
ditions I hive mentioned is not, or would not, be im-
practicable. But the conditions are wanting; and
therefore there is this fatal objection to it that is impos-
sible, and only men partly mad or wicked will urge
Irishmen to attempt it. As to your federation plan,
the Home Rule scheme of which you are evidently
proud to be thought the author,is in my opinion quite
as impossible as the other, and I must say that it seems
to be far more absurd. To look at it only for a moment
raises wonder that any man or number of men should
imagine or think seriously of such a scheme. How
many Home Rolers—how many men of that faith—
are there in Ireland? Certainly not more than a
million. If I give you 4,000,000 of the disaffected
Home Rulers, Repeaters, Irish Republicans, or other
antagonists of Great Britain—and this is more than
you can fairly claim—they will give you only
1,000,000 of men, and of those not one half have
any knowledge of political and public affairs; and
yet you propose, in order to allay the discontent ,
of this part of your population, not only to make
a revolution in Ireland, but to do the same in
England, Wales, and Scotland. In Great Britain
nobody wants two new Parliaments of Lords and
Commons. Nobody wants a third Imperial Parlia-
ment, and yet you propose, with a childish simplicity
and enthu,iasin, to force upon England, Wales, and
Scotland these additional representative and legislative
bodies, in order, apparently, to justify or balance the
creation and establishment of like arrangements in.
Ireland. Surely so absurd and monstrous a proposi-
tion was never before heard of. You propose that
20,000,000 in Great Britain should in a manner turn
everything to which they are accustomed, and with
which in the main they are satisfied, upside down,
in the hopeless attempt thereby to allay the dis-
content of a portion of the people of Ireland—the
said portion of your people never having been able
to make a clear statement of its grievances, and
being, as you must feel, totally unable to agree in
any remedy for them. Ido not enter into any ex-
planation of the details of your little book, or I
might point out many inaccuracies into which you
have fallen, but confine myself in this reply to your
letter to the main features of the two plans for the re-
generation of Ireland. I believe them both to be im-
possible; but your plan of Home Rule seems to me
eminently childish and absurd. I must ask you to
forgive the plain speaking or writing of this letter;
but I am unwilling to leave you in any doubt of my
views even after I have read the little book you have
been kind enough to send me. Since I have taken any.
part in public life I have thought myself, and have in-
tended to be, one of the best friends of Ireland, and I
think now that I have never been more so than I am
at this moment.—l am, very faithfully yours,
JOHN BRIGHT.
Rev. Thaddeus O'Malley, 1, Ilenrietta-street, Dublin.