New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-09

80, ~, raluctouce to negotiate. The main Toupie
os tho t,ovcrnmeut arose from their extreme
ranacitv and this WIS stimulated BIZ the ever-in-
creosny svmptoms of national opposition TO tne
Irnion The Irish bar from the first ranged itself
solidlv against the measure. Dublin, through i's
CORPORATION, protested eneraetically. fettions
circulated through the country received li"'Voo
signatures Twenty-nine counties protested against
the proposition. All this naturaiiy s1ineheo 'he
selling prices of the members oil rarha"en' an"
orbanced the costliness OF the operation. The
Co,,srnr,cut had carly perceived that the support
Of tire Catholics at least their neutrality msn'
~, ,rd;sncnsable Should the Catholic Church
arrav itself against the Union. and put In opera
ton the powerful machinery always at its dis
nosa, r. might become impossible to carry the
measure without mourning another ana more ior-
,nidob,e rebellion. 1t was for this reason that
CORVALLIS desired to incorporate Catholic Eman-
o,notion in the Act of Union, or to let the two
,ooasurcs he concurrent. But Pitt. favorable as
l., ,yas IN Emancipation, could not be brought 10
occcpt this plan, and 1t became necessary 10 pla-
cot. tho Catholics in some other way. CORVALLIS
,yos accordingly authorized and instructed to DO
everything short of plcdging the Government 10
make Catholic Emancipation an immediate Sc
ouence 10 the Union. II Pitt was not at the time
urepared to carry out the implication OF this assr
ance there can be no question that he acted In
bod faith There is reason to believe that at
tho time he really did intend TO press Emancipa-
tion. but what followed proves that his conscience
was not firmly engaged in the matter. without
receiving q definite PROMISE CORVALLIS convinced
the leading Catholics that the Union would he
followed at once by Emancipation. When Union
had been carried, Emancipation was refused. Those
are the facts of history, and the responsibility
for these facts, we agree with Mr.. Iecky, rests
upon Pitt.
That statesman, il appeared at the last moment,
when Union was an accomplished fact ana the
question was of redeemins express and implied
pledges, had never consulted the King on Emanci-
patton, and the King not Only was, but ever had
been, bitterly opposed to all concessions of the
kind. When now he was approached, Pitt dis
covered that Lord Loughborough and other anti
Catholics had forestaled him, and had So preIu-
diced the Kings mind to render persuasion hope
less Mr.. Lccky holds, and we think rightly, that
in these circumstances it was Pitts plain duty TO
persist resouey, and he is Of opinion that In the
face of such determination George would have
yielded, as he had before yielded many times
upon points concerning which his obstinacy had
been quite as conspicuous in the beginning. But.
instead of maintaining his ground Pitt-then I'M
measuraby the strongest man in England-ten-
dered his resignation and put in his own place Ad-
dington. who was regarded as his creature, and
as a mere "locum tenens' Then, presently, he
accepted Office again, and voluntarily pledged
himself never TO bring forward the Catholic ques-
ton again in any form during the Kings life.
II that was not peridy there Is no example OF the
vice in political history. CORVALLIS, too, was
sacrificed almost precisely as Fitzwilliam had
been sacrificed previously. He was put III the
humiliating and intoerable position Of having ca
joled the Catholics with insinccre and mendacious
intimatiohs of relief nor did the fact that no
positive pledge had passed do much to mitigate
the shamcfulness Of the Viceroy's position.
The Union passed It passed VIGOROUSLY by
corruption II passed VIGOROUSLY without the
assent or approval of the Irish people. Whether
it passed absolutely against their wishes, how
ever, is question which Mr.. Lecky does not find
had come upon public opinion since 1899. or upon
the expression OF it, Opposition had died down
Even Dublin, which had been so fierce, kept silent
at the last. AS to the country, it seemed to care
little or nothing one way or the other. 1t simply
held its tongue. Doubtless the Catholics were
silent because they were expecting legislative re-
lief When Pitts treachery-it deserves no mild
or OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES manifest, indeed, there
was agitation enough, and from that time until
1887, when Emancipation, ungraciOusly Yielded
came too late to heal the sores made by repeated
acts of bad faith, one alternating movement ioi-
lowed another until the conditions of the present
day were brought about. But In lS00 Ireland
was sincularly still, and Mr.. Leclxy does not APP
pear TO feel quite sure that if the question Of
Union had then been submitted to the people, as
the opposition proposed and demanded 1t would
have been strongly negatived. Let us see now
what Mr.. Lecky has to say on the results OF the
Union thus forced upon Ireland. OF its material
effects it is not necessary to take note here.
though these too are duly considered by the his
torian 1.-THE Union" he says has not made
Ireland either loyal or united country. The
two nations that inhabit it still remain distinct.
Political leadership has largely passed into hands
to which no sane and honorable statesman would
intrust the task of maintaining law, or securing
property, or enforcing contracts or protecting
loyal men, or supporting i'm times OF difficulty and
danger the interests of the Empire. At the same
| time through the dissolution enfeeblement OF
| the chief influences on which the connection OF
the two countries has hitherto depended, English
| statesmen are confronted with one of the gravest
and most difficult of all political problems. 1t is
| that of creating by wide diffusion and rear
ranyement of landed property, a new social type,
| ~
organized nation
We will leave Mr.. Lecky here. lie has indeed
more to say, and it is not in the line of optimistic
prophecy. But the most brilliant historian fore
goes his acquired advantages in assuming the
role of a prophet, and his history must stand oil
fall not by his Vaccinations for the future. but
upon the truth the lucidity, the graphic force
the impartiality and the courage. with which
he has marshalled and presented the facts Of
human experience coming within the scope of his
survey In this case the general Judgment must
be boil, favorable and emphatic. No writer ha:
dealt with Irish history so dispassonately
scientifically and philosophically as MIR. Lecky
deals with it in his two concluding volumes
To charms of style which have become familiar
to all the world he adds convincing freedom
from bias temperatures and apartncss OF sur
vev So unusual and no suasive that the most
| g., M tiean could hardly reaG his chaDter,