St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-13
HOME RULE IN IRELAND.
Its Extinction and its Restora
ton.

Its Extinction and its Restora-
tion.
The following interesting review Of
the course of events which brought
about the union between England and
Ireland, established in the year 1900,
and criticism upon the effects of that
union, appeared on the 18th ult. in the
chronicle, newspaper published at
Chester, England. The article was
written by Harry L. Price, young
Englishman of literary tastes and
staunch advocate of home rule for Ire
land. Mr.. Price is brother of Frank
F. Price, ESQ.,. a member OF the bar of
this city:
I'd In speech made in 1899, the year be-
fore the union WAS effected, Lord
Plunket describes Ireland as "a little
island with population Of 100000 or
100000 of people, hardy, gallant, and
enthusiastic, possessed of all the means
of civilization, agriculture and COM
nierce well pursued and understood,
constitution fully recognized and estab-
lished, her revenues, her trade. her
manufactures thriving beyond her hope,
or the example Of any other country of
her extent, within these few years adj
vancing with rapidity astonishing
even to herself" Given the indie
pendence of 1852, it was, as O'Connell eX-
pressed it later. 'as if by magic plenty
smiled on us, and We soon became pros
porous and happy" The truth of this
is apparent fr0m the most casual glance
at the national balance sheet. In 1890
the gross revenue, which in 1850 stood
at 9667, 311, had risen to Ell ,633, 1872, and
in the year of the union reached G3. 49,
71S. From the Declaration of indie
pendence up to 1900 the annual exports
had increased by e1,250,000, and the i'm
ports by more than g3,OO0.000. The
cotton industry, established in 1880, is
computed in 1855 to have given en-
pIoyment to $4,000 operatives. and re-
sultedin the cessation of the import of
English draperY goods. The export of
linen in the six years prior to 17SS had
increased so per cent, and. indeed, every
element of national prosperity had. in
comparison to their former degradation,
progressed by leaps and bounds. 1t
would, one may imagine, have been
natural and seemly thing under all
these circumstances that the English
government should agree to leave we'll
alone. Instead of this, however, there
is abundant evidence that England,
from the time of the revolution of 1852,
had determined, for good or ill, by fair
means or foul, to regain the arbitrary
power then wrested from her. And of
malice prepense the fouler methods
were chosen.
From 1852 to 1900 the Irish govern
ment, as now, consisted practically Of
the lord lieutenant and his secretary.
The cabinet was their tool for the all
sufficient reason that its members were
almost exclusively pensioners or place
men. The existence of system Of rot
ten boroughs, which were the property
of government creatures, largely re-
moved the commons from the grasp Of
popular control. The sale of peerages
was, says Curran. '.as notorious as the
sale of cart horses in the castle yard"
And yet this government was the best
and most productive of good results
which Ireland has ever known,
despite the unfair monopoly of ali pat
rOnage by the crown, pension list of
100000 per annum applied mainly to
the vllest uses, and the multiplication
in the grOSsest manner Of sinecure
Offices. For it must not be forgotten
|, that there was in each house body of
good men and true, jealous of the peo-
pies prerogatlves, and as incorruptible
as they were patriotic. An opposition
in the commons, numbering, about
+ ninety, led by Grattan and POnsOnby,
session after session devoted themselves
to an exposition of government methods.
/ AS early as 1854 attention was called to
the fact that the object of English min
listers was to ''counteryail the acquiSi-
tons of 1882 by corruption which with
silent but resistless force bore down ev-
/ cry barrier of liberty and virtue. Grattan,
I. in 1870, charged ministers in clear and
unmistakable terms with having "nOt
sin one or two, but in many instances,
made corrupt agreements to recommend
politicians for peerages, for money,
which was to be employed in the pur-
MONS" an imputation under which Sec
rotary Hobart sat silent and voted down
committee of inquiry by IA to So.
''Give me a committee" said George
Ponsonby, land if do not establish my
charges, degrade me, let me no more
enjoy the character Of an honest man.
| dare you to do it, and | risk
my reputation on establishing the
facts" OF the representative char
acter of the commons GrattaD said,
addressing the house in 1898, ''Of 800
members, above 200 are returned by in
diyiduals, from forty to fifty are re-
turned by ten persons, several of your
boroughs have no resident electOr at all,
some of them have but one, and on the
whole tWo-thirdS of the representatives
in the house Of commons are returned
10y less than 100 persons" Thomas
Sheridan, member. of the house, al
legged that there were many who could
not find their way 10 the place they rep
resented, who never saw a constituent,
who were never in the borough, and
who at times could not even re-
member the name of 1t. The house
of lords was, as may be imag-
ined, little better. Half of those existing
in 1900 were creations Of George ILL.,,
who was still upon the throne. The
majority of them were Englishmen
without property or interest in the
country of any kind. Thirty-four out
of sixty-fiye barons, and eighteen out of
ffty-seyen viscounts. did not deem it
necessary to have even residence in
Ireland. The peers spiritual were
bishops of the Protestant church, who,
owing to the absenteeism of the tenn
pOral section, largely controlled the
work of tine upper house. To them
were due in no small measure the
atrocious cruelties of the penal code,
fact which makes one almost almost
inclined to believe Swift's charge that
they were really highwaymen, who, hav-
ing murdered the app0intees of the Irish
benefces of HounSlOw Heath, stole their
letters patent, and reaching Dublin were
consecrated in their stead. 1.-THE Irish
parliament" says Mr.. Lecky, twas. in
truth, body governed very constantly
by corrupt motives, though probably
not more so than the English parlia-
ment in the time of Walpole." With
this yenality upon the part of their leg
islators, however, the people had moth
ing to do.because they lacked the power
{ to prevent it. When the end came, the
direct and acknowledged representa-
tiyes of the people, almost to
man, fought against the union
bill until the going down of
the sun. Before that event they
sDent their energies in the effort to
secure further reform in the direction
of more popular representation, in tine
control of the expenditure of the public
funds, and in the emancipation of the
Catholic population from disabilities.