Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1881-02-24
NO. g..
The Irish Question.

say = 81 uS putdIIOlI lIOIn TIE lslflu league
submitted a resolution to Parnell ask
ing him to go to America. They re-
ceived the following reply. to be read
at the meeting of the land league al
Dublin, to-day:
PARIS, Feb. Is, 1881.
To the Irish National Land Leaque:
| GENTLEMEN:-I have been honored
by the receipts of resolution, adopted
at your meeting of the Sth, requesting
me to proceed at once to America, with
the object Of securing the sympathy of
the American people and the co-opera-
tion of the Irish there. After a full
and grave consideration of your reso-
luton and general situation, and after
due consultation with friends, whose
opinions are worthy of consideration,
| have decided that it is my duty to
remain in Ireland and in parliament
during the present crisis, for reasons
which [ will shortly detail to you. Our
movement in America, although of
great importance and capable of i'm
mense development, depends entirely
On the stand made in Ireland. If we
are worthy of the occasion here, the
American people and the Irish nation
IN America, will give us proportional
sympathy and practical help. If the
spirit and courage of our people at
home be maintained, the resources of
the whole Irish race abroad will be at
our disposal, while if there is Slight
t1lnchlng or reaction in Ireland, it will
! produce disastrous result in Ameri-
ca. Nor do / agree with you that for
! the remainder of the session very little
is to be expected from parliamentary
action. The expelled Irish members
have almost unanimously decided to
remain in their places and offer every
resistance, which the forms of the
house of commons permits, to the pas
! sage of the coercion of terms bills.
! In this resolution [ fully concur; the
result of renewed exertions of the par
! ty since the coup de etat and the adop-
ton of gaging and robbing has been SO
far most encouraging Moreover, it
would be scarcely just of me to leave
my party to face the uphill work en-
tailed on them. and [ think [ can be of
some service during the passage of the
land bill IN pointing out in what re-
Spects it may fall short of a settlement
of the land question, should it fail to
offer an adequate solution. The
government of England hav-
ing adopted rules of intimidation
against our people at home and their
representatives in parliament and hav-
ing practically attempted to drive both
one and the other outside the limits
of the constitution; and to the adoption
Of illegal means in parliament and in
the country; two courses appear open
to us. The first that the Irish mem
members should retire in a body from
the house of commons and announce
to their constituents that the constitu-
tlonal weOpon of parliamentary rep
resentation had been snatched from
their hands and that nothing but sullen
acqulescence Or appeal to force in oppo-
sltlon to the force which has been used
against us; or second, and the only
other alternative, appears to be that we
should steadfastly labor on reforming
the lines and widening the area
of our agitation, appealing to the
great masses of England and
Scotland, who are much less represent
ed In the house of commons than the
masses, and appealing | say. against
the terrorism of dominant parliament:
to the working men and agricultural
labOrers of Britain, who surely have no
interest in misgoverning Ireland. Ihave
dismissed the first of the these courses
from consideration, but the second al
Tentative presents to us many elements
of hope in ultimate success. As | have
said, parliament at present is governed
by the lords, manufacturers and shop
keepers of Great Britain. At election
time the springs are set in motion by
the wire pullers of the two political par
ties, and the masses Of the electors
are driven to the polling booths
to register the decree of some caucus,
with place and power and not the peo-
pie az its object. Public opinion in
England is also deliberately and sys-
tematically perversed with regard to
Ireland, but a vigorous agitation in
England and Scotland would change ali
this. The near approach of house
hold suffrage in these countries is prac-
tical, certainly, and before the general
election it will sound the doom of the
English land system, and the starving
of workingmen or agricultural labor.
A candidate in every British consistency
would soon bring the house of COM
mons and radicalism to its senses. A
junction between English democracy
and Irish nationalism upon a basis of
Ireland's right to make her own laws,
and the overthrow of territorialism
in both countries, and to enfran-
chise labor from the crushing
taxes for the maintenance of
the standing armies and navies would
prove irresistible, it would criminate
the strife in both countries and secure
lasting friendship and mutual interest
and confidence, between the two ma
tions. / would say, in conclusion, there
is nothing in the recent events or
coming measure of coercion to compel
the Irish people to modify, in the
slightest degree, their action of open
resistance.
Novel and Interesting News.
Tho Rosfo71 GLobe has made q happy