New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-09

able as the four cowardly ruflans who wrcstlec
| with the two Secretaries in dastardy death
| struggled 1t may be said that the earlier out
| rage occurred before Mr.. Gladstone opened the
| prison doors aud held out his hands to the irish
people with reckoning gesture of reconcllia-
ton. Yes; but it was long after the same
hands had extended TO the tenantry reform
bill comforting upon them extraordinary priVi-
| legcs enjoyed by no other body of tenants on
the face of the earth. Was he not repulsed
then 7 Did not Mr.. Parnell and his associates
stir up revolt against that measure DId
they not counsel their countrymcn to stay away
from the Land Court and TO keep the Island IN
an uproar2 Did they not give the signal for
repudiation of honest debts and an indefinite
prolonration of anarchy and yi0lencef Have
they not made lawbreaking patriotic duty
SO far they have shrked their responsibility
for the decentralization which has been catSed
by habits of lawlessness throughout inc
island. They have not evinced any adequate
sense of their personal accountability ior u
reign of terror and campaign OF systematic
outrage which have eliminated in the political
assasSinatiOns they now dcplore.
Take, also, the present attitude OF the Con-
edly patriotic. They give the Premier the
assurance of loyal support in so critical an
emergency. They abandon, temporarily at
least, the debate which they had deliberately
planned in the hope of increasing his emDar-
easements by proposing a vote of censure on
the reversal of his Irish policy. They do not
add to his burdens, but stand aside and give
him time to regain his breath, and, If he can
to retrieve His fortunes. Their attitude Is
admirable. Yet it must not be forgotten that
they themselves are largely responsible Tor the
social revolution in Ireland. When the famine
wears came they did nothing to appease the
demands of an impoverished tenantry that was
already organizing for agrarlan warfare.
When Mr.. Gladstone entered upon office and
offered the victims Of famine and mlsgOvern-
ment protection against arbitrary evictiOns, it
was the Conservative House of Lords that
threw out the measure In this way they pro-
NOTED a revival of agitation and created
necessity for the Coercion Acts; and when
Mr.. Gladstone had succeeded in forcing a gen.
erous measure of concession and reform
through the Commons as an offset to the force
bills, they sought TO load it down with hostile
amendments, and insisted upon detaching from
it the only clause with which the Irish MEM
bers were personally identified. When the new
session opened they did not hesitate to order
an investigation by which the permanencc OF
the settlement which had been effected was
directly menaced. Their efforts to increase
Mr.. GladstOnes embarrassments and to retard
the paciication of the island have been unceas-
ing Rarely has craftsmanship been carried to
greater lengths, even by privileged caste OF
landholders. If they rise to a higher level in
this great emergency, they have been blind
heretofore to the dangers of the agrarian
movement. They have deliberately resisted
the impulses of patriotism. They have de-
spised the warnings Of enlightened statesman
ship.
The Irish agitators have been playing fast
and loose with uncomfortable forces of lawless-
ness The English Conservatives have fol-
lowed the selfish instincts of an exclusive class
and have degraded their high opportunities to
the base uses of partisanship. The Liberals
have shown more conscience and patriotism,
but they have not always had the courage OF
their con victions, and they have evidently mis-
calculated the resources of the social revolution
with which they have been battling. In the
historical perspective of which we have spoken,
the lines of responsibility for reckless agitation,
class prejudice, wasted opportunities and
criminal miscacuation will blend in their true
proportions.