The Irish standard., 1893-01-07


HE
forced TO do 90 through mtimida tion.
There Is given to Gladstone the last
chance OF proving whether he is agrand
old man. or grand old spider Let
Gladstone fail TO settle the Irish question
constitutionally and satisfactorily to-the
bulk Of the Irish people, and then good
bye to parliamentary agitation in Ireland.
We cannot believe that Gladstone and
his party mean to disappoint the Irish
people by offering sort Of Home Rule
which would be no Home Rule in reality.
Ireland wants fair chance to govern
herself, and if England has the control OF
the judges and magistrates and Of the
finances besides, how in Gods name can
Ireland ever have nationhood and the
management of her own affairs? How
can she establish trade and commerce
and promote the development Of her own
industries if her legislature is prevented
from raising the necessary funds for
those purposes? Whatever may be said
of British free trade ipjuring American
industries, there is not scintilla OF doubt
that it las injured almost beyond repair
alton the manufacturing and commercial
interests OF Ireland. The English are
nation of shopkeepers and want to keep
Ireland as market for their wares. Ire
land must be allowed to revive and
establish her own industries and keep
Irish money at home. Ireland, more
over, is not in position to compete with
England on an equal footing in the mat
ter of free trade, and never can be il that
system is continued. In the Irish papers
just to hand, we read that Welsh terra
Gotta is being imported into Dublin when
the finest kind of stone is found in many
parts of Ireland for the construction of
buildings.
The Kilkenny and Galway marble
cannot be surpassed IN beauty and dura-
bility, but owing to exorbitant railway
rates for transportation, the people of
Dublin cannot bring the Irish marble
from those places to their city. The
freight on British building materials by
boat and rail is much less than on the
Irish articles for short distances IN Ire
land. Things are so adjusted by the
railroads which are owned by foreigners
as to discriminate disastrously against
Irish products in their transportation
from one Irish point to another. So it is
in everything else. These matters will
have to be done away with by an Irish
But it may be said that if
Ireland places custom duties on British
imports, England can rstaliate by plac-
ing tariff on Irish goods arriving in Brit
ish ports. All right, let England do that
if she chooses and Ireland can afford to
pay the bills. If Ireland does not get a
fair and square chance to build up her
industries and develop her resources,
Home Rule would not be worth the
paper on which the bill Is written. It
will be deep disappointment to all
liberty-loving people on the globe if
Gladstone fails to give Ireland an honest
measure of self government. The public
opinion of the world favors genuine
Home Rule bill for the Emerald Isle.
The Irish people must not be hatdi-
capped by half measures given grudg-
ingly, and we are mistaken If they will
accept anything short of what every self
governing country ought to enjoy. Ac-
cording to the London dispatches, the
Irish legislature will be given no author
ity whatever to make laws relating to the
status or dignity of the crown or regency,
the making Of peace or war, the army,
the navy, the militia, the volunteers OF
the defense Of the realm. Pephaps the
time may come when Ireland in Eng
lands difficulty can raise troops for home
defense as in the days Of Grattan, but at
present the British are opposed to giving
the Irish arms. We hope the Irish will
insist on getting the British troops out
of the country. If they are kept there it
will be for the purpose of intimidating
the Irish people and of bouncing upon
them if they manifest any signs of indie
pendenoe. The acceptance of the Glad
stone bill depends upon what rights it
oonfers on Ireland in its provisions It
may be good policy for Ireland to take
what it gets and be thankful, but her
leaders should not accept anything as
final unless satisfactory to the Irish ma
ton, whose representatives they are.
-
THE BISHOP OF PEORIA.
The Colorado Catholic in it's last issue
gives an interesting biographical sketch
of Rt. Rev. John Lancaster Spalding, D.
D., the venerated Bishop of Peoria, which
we epitomize for the ed1fcation of our