, 1875-02-14

HOME RuLE IN IRELAND.
;, The statement comes from England tha
that portion of the members of the Britisl
3 Farlament known as the ssHome Rulers
3 propose to withdraw from Parliament /
their peculiar claims are not conceded. A
the last election for Parliament, forty
members were elected as Liberals, who, il
: addition, claimed to be Home Rulers The
whole House Of Commons consists Of 65s
members~ The majority against "Home
Ku1e Is therefore over GOO. The forty
seven Home Rulers, with one or two e1cep.
tions, were all elected in Ireland, that party
being peculiarly Irish. The policy demand
ed by the Home Rulers is, that the act OF
union by which the British and Irish Par
iaments were consolidated seventy-tiye years
ago shall be repealed, and that the entire
business of local legislation in Ireland
shall be committed to an Irish Parliament ex-
clusively. To support this measure is popu-
lar and patriotic in Ireland, yet Of the
l05 Irish members elected to the British Par-
lament only forty-six or forty-seven were
Home Rulers. A majority of the Irish mem
bers, including several Liberals, are opposed
to the scheme Of 'Home Rule" What this
small faction Of members expect to accom-
pllsh by their proposed secession from the
| House Of Commons is not apparent. Tie
state OF parties is not such as to give to the
movement any force. The Conservatives
have majority Of about sixty over the Lib
erals and Home Rulers united. The Opposi-
ton of all factions are so weak that the With
drawal Of the Home Rulers cannot seriously
affect them Neither party, therefore,
can be embarrassed by this action
OF the Home Rulers, though each party will
hasten to reprobate not only tie withdrawal,
but the policy Of Home Rule itself. Outside
OF Ireland, there il strong unanimity Of oil |
parties in tie rest Of the Kingdom in opposi- |
ton to the separation of Ireland from the !
Parliament Of the United Kingdom. In Ire
land itself there is strong hostility to it,-so
strong that majority of Irish Representa-
tives were elected in opposition to it. The
Protestants are solid against it Under all
these circumstances, what do these Home
Rulers expect to accomplish by withdraw
ing from tho British Parliament? The
first aud greatest difficulty in the WY
of any measure of Irish policy is the insvita-
BILE and bitter dissension among the Irish
people themselves. Nothing that has ever
been proposed, and seemingly TINT can be
ever unites the people. A differ
ence OF opinion in Ireland On any question is
something more than difference among any
other people; it becomes fierce and bitter
antagonism, in which the factions pursue |
each other with relentless intolerance. To
he mass Of mankind this want Of union and
harmony among the Irish people leads to the .
conviction that to establish Home Rule in t
Ireland would be to invite such domestic
trfe and fierce antagonism as would re-
nit IN civil war and anarchy, calling for
he Intervention Of the Imperial Gov .
and the re-estabishment of :
imperial authority. When Ireland can be- |
ome SO united that she can send to tha t
House Of Commons delegation that viii Ii
ota substantially Us unit in favor of some
ommon Irish policy, then the British Gov 81
rnment can hardly fail to listen to and grant .
be demand But 80 long as heland's chosen
representatives are divided and refuse to =
mite On any question. the demands Of either .,
action have no weight with Parliament or 4,
ae British people. d
In case these forty-seven Home Rulers tt
1thdraw, and make their secession perma- b
ent, it is possible their seats will be- de-
ared vacant. At the new elections, the r
ONE Rulers must either retire and be sue b.
'eded by others opposed to Home Rule, or they G
uat go through the senseleas farce Of being ps
elected to seats which it is their intention O.
1t to occupy. This is child'a play. It eF
1t another instance Of the folly which has r!
arked Irish politics SO often, and will be an M pt
her failure that will add its force to the fu- -
re division of the people into helpless fac tn
ms. people claiming to be the victims ha
intolerable oppression, who refuse to unite ye
the common good, and prefer discord and go
'union to sacrifice for the general good, can Sc
rdly hope for redress by legislation, and De
Il less by force. &c