The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-03-14
ARNOLD ON AMERICA.


are those OF plain, decent middle class,
The tde.A OF Ieose who are the public In
stzuctoss OF the people Is the ideal OF
such . class. In France the ideal OF the
mass of popular journalists and popular
writers e sessca, ~Ao are nov practically
the public instructors there, Is, IL you
could see their hearts, q Pompadour or
du Barry vegfss<, with themselves fer the
part OF Fauolas, With this idea prevail
ing, this vision Of the objects for whlch
wealth 10 desirable, the passessois Of
wealth become hateful to the multitude
Whlcn rolls ana endures, aud society Is
undermined. This is one of the many
Inconvenience which the French have TO
suffer from that worship OF the great god.
dess LubTicily to which they ere at pres
ent vowed. Wealth excites the most
savage enmitY there, because il Is con-
ceived as a means for gratifying appe,ites
OF the most selfish and vile kind. But
in America Faublas is no more the ideal
than Corlolanus, Wealth is no more con-
ceived as the minister to the pleasures Of
class OF rakes than as the minister to the
magnihcencc OF class Of MOBILES. II is
conceived as a thing which almost any
American may attain, and which almost
every Americ al will use res specially. Its
possession. ,hers fore, does not inspire
hatred.
A people homogeneous, q people which
had to constitute itself in a modern age,
an epoch OF expansion, and which has
given TO itself institutions entirely fitted
for sucn an age an epoch, and which sui,
it perfec,ly-a people not In danger Of
N.ssetk xn ~. AnNuA. ri
luton from within-such Is the people OF
the United States. The political and
social problem, then, we must surely
allow that they solve successfully. There
remains, | know, the human problem
also; the solution OF that, TOO, has to be
considered but shall come TO that
hereafter
My point at present Is that politically
and socially the Unitcd States are com.
muniiy living in natural condition. and
conscious of living in a natural condi-
ton. And being in this healthy case
and having this healthy consciousness,
the community there uses its under.
standing with the soundness of health
1t 10 general sees its political and
social concerns straight, and sees them
clear.
Well, then, our greatest institution, the
house of commons, we cannot say is a,
preser, working. like the American insti.
tutions easily and successfully. Suppose
we nov pass to- Ireland will not ask IL
OUT institutions work easily and success.
fully in Ireland =; to ask such question
would be too bitter, too cruel a mockeYy
Those hateful cases which have been
tried in the Dublin courts this last year
suggest the dark and ill-omened word
which applies 10 the whole state vi ire.
land Sati-adlHyak 11h natural, anti.
nature that is the word hat rises IRE.
sistibly in my mind rs | survey Ireland
Everything is unnatural there -the pro-
ceedings of the English who rule, the
proceedings OF the Irish who resist. But
II is with the working OF our English in
stiiH'ions there thet am now concerned
II is unnatural that Ireland should be
governed by Lord Spencer and Mr.
Campbell Zimmerman unnatural as
for Scotland TO be governed by Lord
Cranbrook and Mr.. Healy. II is unnat-
ural that Ireland should he governed I'M
der crimes act. but there is necessity.
replies the government. Well, then, II
there is such evil necessity, Il is unnatural
that the Irish newspapers should be free
to write as they write and the Irish mem
bers to speak as they speak-free 20 In
flame and further exasperate seditious
peoples minds, and to promote the con-
tinuance Of the evil necessity. A neces-
sity tor the crimes act Is necessity for
absolute government.
BY our patchwork proceedings we set
up, indeed, a make believe Of Ireland .
being constitutionaily governed But II Is
not constitutionally governed; nobody sup
poses II to be consttutionally governed,
EXCEPT, perhaps, that born swallower OF
all clap-trap, the British Philistine. The
Irish themselves, the all-important per.
sonages In this case, are not taken In
our make-believe does not produce In
them the very least gratitude, the very
least softening. At the sam me time IL adds
an hundred fold to the difficulties Of an
absolute government
lrishmen are to be found who. In des-
peTation at the present state OF their
country, cry out for making Ireland Ia.
dependent and separate, with q national
parliament in Dublin, with her own for
eign Office and diplomacy, her own army
8n0 navy 1Ct VWb b8ssAss A0snSHD @ss0
currency. This Is manifessly inprsctic-
able. But here again let as look ut what
is done by people who in politics think
straight and see clear; Yet as observe
what IL done in the United States. The
government NJ Washington reserves mat
tiers Of imperial concern, matters such %
those just enumerated, which can not be
reiinquise ed without relipqnishing the
unity of the empire. Neither does It al
low one great south TO be constituted, or
one great west, with . southern psslia-
ment or western. Provinces that are
too large are broken up, ~ Virginia has
been broken up. But the several states
are nevertheless real and important
wholes, each with its own legislature
and 70 each the control, within ito own
borders, of all except imperial concerns
is freely committed. The United States
government intervenes only 70 keep Or
der in the last resort.
Let rs suppose similar plan applied
in Ireland. There are four provinces