The Irish standard., 1888-03-31
SATURDAY. MA.RCH3 81. 1898.
THE UMIONISTS WATERING.

clearly tnau ever to an early SeVeran ce
OF the never very strong tie chat has
bound the Cnionists t., The Conserva~
tive party OF Great Britain. 1t is now
plainly evident that the Unioniscs as &
body We're never very strongly opposed
to some form or self government for
reland, although not so comprehensive
on broad as the bill submitted to Parlia
snent by Mr. Gladstone. The utter
sa11ces of Lord Harrington will bear DIS
out in this as ertion.
Lord Hartington's attitude att the
present moment is of geeatimportance,
as u;ne- tenths OF the Liberal Unionists
in Parliament are his personal follow
ers. BY .his means he has exercised q
great influence over The deliberations
Of the Salisbury Government. IN fact
he can make it or naar it as he pleases,
ami the Tory leader dare not propose
any schsna for the government Of Ire
land which does not meet with the ap-
rroyal Of tins Acknowledged leader Of
The Liberal. Unio.lists. Although al
times le has expressed himself in OPP
position to Home kule in any shape or
fsGu, he has aaid q great deal more
which Indicates a disposition favorable
10 il OH certain conditions. For eXam-
pie, nothing could be better Or more in
accordance with the genuine Home
Rula spirit, j1e spirit which seeks to
combine The widest self government
with the closest llniO.., titan that pass
age in MS great speech at Belfast, On
the 9Th Of November, 1856, in which he
declares that the people Of The United
Kingdom Evil! not tolerate the tornaa-
tiola Of an independent Government
which may be hostile, which may be
unfriendIy, which may adopt opposite
colonial, fiscal, or even foreign policies
with regard to Imperial matters. "
There is nothing In CHS that opposes
the formation Of all Irish Government
which would be independent only ia
inatters pertaining 10 Ireland, and
which should have 1o hostility to Eng
land. which should in faat be friendly
and bound to The greater country by
the links Of cheerful alliance, and
which, moreover. should be prohibited
by the terms Of its own constitution
from adopting any policy opposed to
that Of the United Kingdom in colo
NAL, fiscal Or foreign affairs, and it is
conceivable chat Lord Harrington might
have Eo insuperable objection to it's es~
tablishDaent. So much for the leader
Of the Liberal Unionists
Joseph Chamberlain is Lord Harting-
tens most powerful ally. His objec-
tion to Horne Rule was what was
called the local difficulty about Ulster
and the loyal minority. There is reason
10 believe that Mr., Chamberlain has
modified his views considerably on this
point. The lack of ''unanin1ity" in
Ireland on the question Of Home Rule.
was source Of considerable trouble TO
him, although it is incomprehensible
why ireland, of all countries in the
world, should be expected to show a
singular example of 'unanimity':, on 8 |
question of domestic politics. Neither
ENGLAND nor Scotland, is unanimous on
questions vitality affecting their respec-
tive peoples, and If either of them ex-
hihited the same amount OF agreement
that ireland does, respecting her most
important affairs, he would be bold |,
statesman who would try to stop the
legislation demanded until the minority
had been converted, or otherwise pro-
vided for. Yet this was what Mr..
Chamberlain asked the people to do in
the case of Ulster, or to speak more &C
curately, for the sake of a portion of
Ulster which ia only a minority Of
Ulster itself, Judged by the test of Par
liamentary representation, the Home
Rulers having slight majority even in
the Northern Province. There are
three out Of the four provinces OF Ire
land unanimous in favor of Home Rule,
and an actual majority of Ulster in its
favor: also, consequently there is really
~ III Ulster difficulty except in the minds