Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-11-19
AErAJEsIN IRELAND.
Self. GOyernmeu The Desire uf
of the irish PeOple-History OF
the Home MOvement-Latest
phases of the Great Agitation.

Phases OF the Great Agitation.
DUBLIN, November 6.-Many Irish.
men have, during the whole course "i
the recent troubles, consoied
themselves with the conviction that the
result OF all would be the concession OF
ssme measure OF self government TO
their country. Whether their confident
hopes were justified time alone can tell
hut, meanwhile, it is notable that, both
in England and Ireland, just now, Lead
ing public men are beginning to turn
their attention to home rule as the real
solvent of the Irish question. Home
rule, in fact, is beginning to be as much
talked about as the land question, and
it seems not at all unlikely
that the coming winter and spring
will see a revival of the Home Rule
agitation. At least it will not be the
fault of the Home Rule League IL that
il not the case. FOrtwO years past that
body has been Qulescent: 1t could not
help being so. When the shadow OF
iamire covered the land, and 1t became
question OF saving the great mass OF
the agricultural population from eXtlnc'
ton through the instrumentailty OF
destructive land code, it would have
been ridiculous to cOntiue struggling tor
the political freedom OF the nation. That
at all events was the view OF the League
established by Isaac Butt. But, now
that there is no longer any fear OF fam
inc in the immediate future,
and that the tenanry haVo
got a breathing time, tho
politicians referred to, conceive that
there is no Longer any necessity Tor
their keeping insshe background, and,
accordingly, they are abOnt Immediate
" to take the field once more. On
Tuesday next meeting OF the home
Rule League will be held in the office oil
that organization, in D'Olier street, this
city, aud at that meeting there will be
proposed for adoption an address which
is not unlikely TO attract considerable
attention, and summary OF which,
therefore, may be welcome to my read
ers. Fortunately, have been provided
with an advance copy. 1t begins by re-
calling to the minds OF the Irish people
the fact that the eve OF the centenary oil
the accomplishment OF Irish legislative
independence is at hand, and by urging
that, at such a time, the Irish Home
Rule League would be false to its mis-
sion if it kept silent or failed to point
THE MORAL OF THE OCCASION.
1--WE would be base and apiritless be
vond hope OF redemption, IT says, I'VE
would acknowledge that the iron OF
slavery had at last eaten its way into
Our yitals-were we not stirred, at Such
time. TO admiration Of the deeds OF the
men of 1852, to fresh and Increased
indignation at the unutterdOIo
wickedness by which their great and
benefcient work was undone; and to an
ardent desire to emulate their example
by restoring to our country It's lnestl-
mable and inalienable right OF sell gov
eminent. Ii the Irish people OF to-day
have not utterly lost the spirit " Alch anl-
mated their fathers-if they share in any
degree in the spirit which, after 2OOO
years OF thralldom, has made the Greeks
an independent people, and which IS
the one consolation OF the Poles be-
meath the crushing weight OF Russian
despotism-that will not fail to make
the year 1882 memorable in their annals
for determined and successful effort to
reinstate the fabric raised 100 years ago,
by the public virtue of Grattan and the
volunteers, and destroyed in 1850 by
the brides and bayOnets OF Pitt and Cas-
tlereayh." The writer's proceed to say
that never since the union OF leOO has
the need OF native Parliament for
Ireland been so painfully apparent as 1t
is at this moment, and they enter into
an elaborate proof OF this charge.
u fIp world
thew say, except, perhaps,
Russia, whose methods OF government
are an object Of execralion TO the vast
majority OF Euglishmen, is there 50 little
public liberty left and go much despot-
ism exercised as IN this country in the
year 1881. Fifty thousand armed
men," they point out, garrison the
country, and spread, as they are, over
the land, from Donegal to Kerry, and
from Dublin to Galway, they allow no
day to pass without making the people
ieel that Great Britain means to rule
them as a ruthtl9ss conquerOr, and that
now, as in the days OF Elizabeth, Crou
well, William III, and subsequent Eng.
lish sovereigns, tho sword is, after all,
the grand argument with which
it seeks to answer AL irish
national demands The most
important roint OF all is thsn
resched-namely, the settlement OF the
| international difficulty which the League
proposes. On this matter the pro-
nouncement is at least perfectly frank
and explicit. "Whst we ask ior," it is
said, "and what would assuredly end
the trouble OF centuries, is not so eS
treme a concession when it is calmly
| examined. 1t is only what IS enjoyed
by every dependency OF the British
crown inhabited by white races; IT is
| only what the States OF the American
| Union and OF the present German en-
pire possess with 80 much advantage to
| themselves; We seek only what was
sought by the national conference 81
ls73-namely, the power TO manage
! those matters which concern ourselves
alone, those affairs which co.,
Germ the empire at large being lett to to
care OF an imperial senate in which we
would be represented. The plan We
propose is in actual operation III Tie
| various provinces OF the Canadian Golu-
inion at the instance OF England itself;
and that its working is injurious either
! 10 tlOSO provinces, VI W Tue uOAhALAIOil'
or to the empire, is what no person IN
his senses will venture to assert. Is il
likely that, what works well in Canada,
| in the United States, in Germany and
In other countries, would work badly
in Ireland?" Finally, the Irish people
are called upon to renew the agitation
for Home Rule, and to 80 speak and act
that it will be plain that until "ths IL
famous usurpation OF 1900 Is undone,
and until that which WAS intended
! for Ireland by God and nature is
no Longer withheld from it by Il e
unreasoning selhshnesS OF man, nation
al content in Ireland is an impossib!lity.
1t will now, perhaps, be useful to add
a word or two regarding the history OF
the League and OF the movement which
! it has championed. In 1870, after the
fall OF Fenianism, the disestablishment
of the Protestant church, and the pas
sage OF the first Gladstone land act, Mr..
Isaac Butt, q c., who had for five or
six years previously been converted
from Toryism to the Irish national
| creed, conceived the idea OF uniting all
floSsa, nf Irishpan in demand for ln.