, 1880-10-20
"A FRENCH VIEW OF THE
IRISH QUESTION.
From the Tmes.)

~. de Molinari's letter on Ireland. This
letter is the concluding one of q series
contributed by the writer to the Journal
des De5ats during the past few weeke. M.
de Molinari has visited Ireland, and has
spent some weeks in personal observation
Of the poorest and most distressed districts,
That be can see and think for himself his
letters abu ndantly show, and his conclu.
sions are important not only as those of a
competent observer, but as being at any
rate free from the bias which Irish patriots
might suspect to exist even in the lmost
well-meaning of Saxon critics. M, de
Molinari is Q skilled economist, who has
devoted special attention to industrial and
agricultural questions. A Belgian by
birth. be is specially familiar with that
system Of small holdings which has often
been recommended as q remedy for Irish
agrarian evils. He has gone to ireland to
see matters with his W eyes, and to
Judge them from a point of view free from
the preiudices and preconceptions current
on either side OF the Irish Channel. This
is, of course, by 10 means equivalent to
saying that the conclusions of M, de Mo-
lipari are likely to be those OF pure reason
itself. Every observer has his bias,and what
astronomers call his I" personal equation
A foreign observer, especially, can only
see things as they are shown to him, and
must take many of bis facts on the faith OF
those who neither are nor are disposed to
be as free from prejudice as himself. We
do not, therefore, call attention to M. de
Molinari's opinions as amounting to any
thing like a final judgment on the ques-
tons now perplexing both Ireland and
England, and it would be a very sorry
compliment to SO sober and cautious a
writer to suppose that he himself regards
them as being anything of the kind, But
they are the conclusions of a serious and
competent observer who has striven to get
at the truth, land as such they are entitled to
the attentive consideration of all who care
more for the real welfare of Ireland than
for the success or failure OF this or that
agitation on its behalf.
"Ireland suffers not only from her
"maladies; but also from her doctors"
This is the final conclusion of M. &c Moli.
naris observations. He makes no attempt
to ignore the maladies of Ireland, some of
which be regards as the heritage Of former
oppression and misrule, some as arising
from natural causes, and admitting only of
palliative remedies, and some az due to
inveterate habits of the people, which can
only be removed by time, patience, and
the gradual growth Of prosperity. He
passes in review the proposed nostrums of
1reland's rrofessed physicians, not without
expressing q sly wish that some Moliere
would arise to expose their foihles, and be
pronounces against them one after the
other. Home Rule he rightly regards as
out OF the question in the present and pro-
bable future temper of the English people,
and, indeed, it must appear to be so even
to Home rulers themselves if they are at
all represented by the one who assured M.
de Molinari that Ireland's opportunity was
to come In England's decadence, and that
Home Rule is no more q~uixotic now than
the liberation OF Greece and Bulgaria ap-
peared to be q century ago. Certainly, as M.
de Molinari shrewdly suggests, there is
little to fear from Home Rule if its
advocates are content to wait until Eng
land has sunk to the level of Turkey. But,
he goes on to say, there is quite as little to
hope from it in any case. The indepen-
dence OF LELAND, if we can suppose it
achieved by some political cataclysm,
would only mean increased taxation, infer
for government, internal dissension, and
. restricted career for all IrIshmen Of
emlnence. When an Englishman says all
this, he Is snpDOSed to sneak onlv in the