The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1889-04-13

separate and independent of all Englisl
partles to-day as ever they were. The.
are allied to Mr.. Gladstone's party 81
long, and only so long. as MI. Gladstone
accepts their programme, and the al
lance IS one Of equal with equal. TIT
people understand tha5more thoroughly
than do the leaders Of the Gladstoniar
party, and if tomorrow they were tt
abandon the programme on which they
have agreed with Mr.. Parnell the al
lance would then and there come to an
end.
Charge 5.-That Britain 8 acceptance
Of Gladstone's Home Rule Bill would
have involved no sacrifice of her domin.
ance in ireland.
Reply.-Thls is utterly untrue. Prac.
tically speaking, the bill would have
brought to an end forever English
dominance in Ireland, as the executive
of the country and the whole machinery
of government would have passed into
the hands Of the representatives Of the
Iiish people.
Charge 6.~Who would have thought
that the struggle for Irish self-govern-
naent would have degenerated into the
legal wrangle with the London Times
wgangle which is eating up the reve-
nues OF an impoverished people.
Reply.--The answer is that Mr.. Par
neil is evidently of opinion that the
conspiracy Of forgery and blackguardism
that was got up against him by the
London Times afforded him great OPP
portunity Of weakening in the English
constituencies the strength of the pres
cut government possibly of oyerturn-
ing them--and he would have been
very poor political leader indeed if he
did not avail himself Of the opportunity.
If, as now seems certain, all the details
of the felonious plot are exposed and
laid bare, it will not, it is true, make
Mr.. Parnell any more acceptable TO the
Irish people, but It will advance the
cause of ireland by hast ening the over
throw Of one of the most oppressive
governments which has cursed the
country for many years. No one, there
fore, represents this Trangle with the
Times" as one involving tee honor Of
the Irish race, bus it unquesllonab]y
does involve, to considerable extent,
the interests Of the Irish race in so far
as they are Influenced by the verdict Of
English constituencies.
NO REFLECTION ON FORMER PATRIOTS.
Charge with the present code the
Irish Nationalist party in ireland would
brand Tone, Enlmet and Mitchell as
enemies Of Ireland.
Reply.-No one who is acquainted
with the lives and writings of Tone.
Emmett and Mitchell can for moment
accept such a statement, or can doubt
that any one of them, were he now
alive, would support the policy Of Mr.
Parnell. Tone and Mitchell were. both
of them, driven to the policy of ondeav
oring to overthrow English rule i'll Ire
land by force of arms only after they
had for years given fair and tull trial
to constitutional methods, and had been
led to believe that nothing whatever
could be gained by such methods, the
of the time being Of such
a character that the results achieved
now were entirely beyond their reach.
They could not appeal to the working
classes Of England because the working
classes OF England had then no vote.
The England" of those days meant a
cruel and narrow oligarchy, who were
deaf to reason and justice; and in Ire
land also they found it was impossible
to carry on any constitutional move
ment, for the very ample reason that
the masses of the people were disfran-
chised. and all the Parliamentary seats
were held by the Orange faction. But
had they within their grasp the means
which we now possess, am firmly con-
vinced that they would never consider
it necessary to resort to methods which
of course are the right of any nation
which is deprived of It's liberty, but
which are almost desperate in the case
of Ireland, and to which Tone and
Mitchell were only driven in the last ex
tremlty, when deprived Of all other
hope, and shut out from every other
means, and then with only faint hopes
Of success.