The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1879-01-12

ohN oLhp anu LbOO AAOuoO ~ OSAA
mons, and it has been the constant aim of
| Lord Beaconsfeld in recent years to en-
| large the powers and prerogatives OF the
| Crown at the expense of the other constitu-
| ept parts of Parllsment. Has a subordinate
| part of the unconstitutional work been as
| signed to Mr.. Bait in that subordinate and
most uDconsttutionslly governed country
Ireland If 30, fear the assistant has
| far outstepped the instructions OF his N as
ter. He should have been content to de-
strOy our privileges one by one and drag
US down by slow and easy stages to the
| last extremity of servitude but this sud
den demand for a complete surrender of
our rights fails to dazzle by it's audacity,
and tell Mr. Butt and the Minister that if
a similar doctrine be announced in the
House of Commons I shall repudiate il,
and if a similar demand be made there I
shall answer it with defiance. Hasit come
to this that our scanty constitutional
rights-which poor az they are, it cost
centuries of heroic effort and sacrifice to
win-shall now be torn from US by an
Irish hand acting as the Instrument of an
English Minister, even as the hand of
Casteragh tore away in like manner the
proud privileges of an independent legisla-
turef 1t may be 30; but for one shall &C.
quit myself of all participation in guilty
silence whilst the guilty deed vas being
done.
Parliament is undoubtedly called the
soveregp's presence in ei'ber House during
the debates IA described by Sir T. Erskine
May IA II objectionable practice which
might he used TO Overawe that assembly
and inflaence their debates, and which has
wisely been discontinued since the acces
sion of George the First > so that the
privilege of being present in Parliament
during it's deliberations, which the meanest
of the Q1een's subjects may possess, can
not now be exercised by herself and yet
We are told that to oppose the Minister ln
the House of Commons is 30 copfute the
counsels of the Q leer. fol bear from
further comment On this abs ard position
of Mr.. Butts, and dismiss it with the sin-
gle additional observation that it shows
his legal vision, as we'll as his political, is
sadly clouded by partisan zeal.
The change which has come over the
within the last few years is one of the
most disedifying spectacles which Irish
politics has presented in our time. do
not wonder that his personal friends in
Limerick and elsewhere have ''hed the
unwelcome story" But theirs is a mis-
taken kindoessa, and every encouragement
he receives In his present course can only |
serve to separate him farther and farther
from the people Of Ireland and hasten his |
final estran cement from their cause. He |
has preferred the applause of the Eogish |
Honse of Commons to the gratitude of BIS
ON q men AOu JES nUU13GS NNlcn !
posterity would have paid to hls name.
Fl 3 position before .he Irish people to day |
contrasted with that Of Mr. ParEol! shoaId !
serve as a lesson and warpiaG to temper |
ising politicians.
His policy in the HoRse of C5m mons |
could not succeed because it wss contra |
dctiou of himself, and his tone aud atti |
tude there gave no impression of either
earnestnees Or determination. Coant |
Joseph dc Maistre, on being asked tie
question "when is q general beaten7" re
piled, "a general is beaten wnen he con-
siders himself beaten" When Mr.. Butt
pleads for Home Rule in Parliament, which
he does most reluctantly, he speaks like
an advocate who considers himself beaten
he speaks as if to crave mercy for Irelapd
as the victim of lost cause rather than to
announce her stern resolve to be free. Wei
would it have been if the noble sentiments
which the associations of historic Lin erick
inspired had been acted upon in the House
of Commons I find in the speech which
he delivered to his constituents on tho
23cd September, 1875. the folio wing words,
which convey almost emphatic contra9lc-
tion of his Parliamentary policy and his
recent utterancee:-"We,y your representa-
tives, will be powerless unless English
statesmen and the English Parliament and
the English people are perfectly convinced
that we are backed by the determination
of a people earnestly, aye, despoIaseiy, re
solved that the syatem or govern nent
which is wasting away and degrading our
country should reaae. Theday is gone by
when great Q1esti"ne were carried by
Parliamentary debates" And later on he
says, "the history of all popular trinmphs
1-of Emancipation, CT the Reform Act, of
the Repeal of the Corn Laws-teaclles us
that in the form of the Government under
which We live it is difficult to resist the de-
termination o. Il nIltitudes who are in
earnest in any causs-impossibl to do so
when that cause ls just" We hear very
different words from him now; we hear
much of the good and kindly dispositions
of Parliament, but the determination of
multitudes," which three years ago was
declared to be irresistible, is Dow aneered at
and declared to be con: emptinie. Whyf Be-
cause tho rnultitudca no longer assemb bic
in tie name of Isaac Bait, but in that of
Charles Stuart Parnell.
In noticing my speech delivered at the
Rotundo meeting on the 23rd October last,
Mr. Butt took good care to avoid AL refer
ence to my quotation from his letter on the