Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-07-19
Home RuIe for ireland.

Home Rule for Ireland.
Mr.. Gladstone has procured the pass
age of his new Irish coercion bill, and
number of counties have promptly been
proclaimed as being under its monstrous
provisions England and Ireland
cannot continue toward each other
as they are. The maintenance Of
their present attitudes means wear
ing vexation to the one and ruin to
the other. A remedy must be found,
and that speedily. The arrears BILL II
passed, will afford relief in one direc-
ton. but the grievances of Ireland are
far from being summed up in the land
question.
The only remedy that promises to
bring about a measure Of harmony be-
tween the two peoples is home rule tor
the Irish. The English Radicals confess
this. and their plan is formulated py
Mr. Labouchere as follows: Local Par,
liaments for England, Scotland, Irelauu
and Wales. and an imperial Douy'
sIcb sc the present one, LOT
the entire kingdom. Win sucn
arranqements the strictly local
off.irs of each division could be man
aged bv its own direct representatives,
while the common affairs of all would
be directed by the general Parliament.
Though the majority of English states
men hesitate to confess the necessity of
such a change, they are by no means
ignorant of it. The fact is, that Eng
land needs a local Parliament just as
badly as Ireland. OF late years meas
ure after measure of pressing importance
to the English people has been kept
back by the prolonged discussions
of other topics, and the present
session of Parliament will close without
action on the important suggestions
preached in the speech from the throne,
all of which are conceded as being in the
highest degree important to the British
public. While the Irish problem is kept
open there can be little done towards
furthering these measures, and England
for her own sake must either disfranchise
Ireland or give her cont rol of her own
affairs
However willing the thick headed
among British statesmen might be to
adopt the first course, it would not be
safe to attempt it. There is tur-
MOL enough in Ireland now, but
were she denied representation there
would be confusion worse con
founded The sole course open is to let
Ireland rule herself, save where her
interests are in common with those of
the whole kingdom. The schoolmaster
has been abroad in England for long
time, and the efficacy of this work has
been repeatedly shown. Even parties
have been educated and are learning
more from year to year. Victoria cannot
live forever. A change in the succession
has often wrought things that were not
possible before. The Queen has by her
conduct won the regard of all classes of
her subjects, and much that will come to
pass hereafter is held in allegiance in
Difference to her.
For one TO assert in public in England
that the House of Lords will yet be
swept away by the tide of puolic Qpin.
ion would impress but few people with
faith in his sanity. Yet, the downfall of
the British pserage as a legislative body
is quite likely to come about,
for the House of Lords is even now
more ornamental than powerful, and has
repeatedly been cOerced by public opin
ion. So, self-government for Ireland,
secuted as it may be by the obstinate and
unthinking, is inevitable Indeed, could
a leader daring enough and able enough
rise up and head the Tories in a demand
for Labouchere's programme, the Glad
stone Ministry would 60 down before
him. The England of to day differs inn
mensely from the Eanglnd painted by
Macaulay, and the England of the fu,
ture will differ more widely from
the England of to-day. Ireland,
abused and crushed as she has been,
must likewise change. To the hopeful
her deliverance is near, but to the
thoughtful it is certain. Whether her
dream of nationality will ultimately be
realized, time will prove. But that she
must soon be accorded the right to have
the same voice in shaping her own af-
fairs as England has in hers, is plain to
even the casual observer of events in the
United Kingdom.