The sun., 1895-05-26

his promises In one particular by sending
mn To the Lords the Home Rule bill, IN
tended 10 give ireland nearly complete
control Of her own affairs, while permitting
her to retnin representation at Westminster.
No fault was It Of Mr.. GLADsToNE's that
the bill was rejected with contumely by a
majority Of almost ten to one In the upper
House. Nor, preoccupied as he was with
q constructive measure which, IL passed,
would have superseded all existing lnws
relating to the local government Of Ireland,
can he personally be charged with sin Of
omission in allowing the Coercion act to re-
main upon the statute book. At all events,
no such accusation would have been war
ranted up to the time when the Home Rule
bill was thrown out by the Lords. But, the
moment the attempt to give Ireland self
government was thwarted it became the
primary and urgent duty of the Glad
stonians to spare no effort to repeal the so
called Coercion act, moro accurately do
scribed as the Criminal Law and Pro
oedure Qreland) act 1SsD." So long
as this iniquitous and shameless piece
Of discriminative legislation continues
In force 1t is but just to say that Irishmen
have more cause to renounce allegiance to
the British crown than had the citizens of
the thirteen American colonies In 1776.
For the Coercion act empowers tho Dublin
Castle authorities to suspend nt their dis
erection, In any part of Ireland, those privi-
leges Of which EnRlishmen would not sub
NIT to be deprived, the writ Of habeas
corpus and the right Of trial by jury. which
constitute the basis and the bulwark Of per-
sonal security and liberty.
What steps have been taken by Mr.. GLAD
STONE and his successor in the headship Of
the Liberal party to wipe this monstrous
enactment from the statute bookf Nothing
at all was done in this direction until the
spring Of 1894, and then 1t was not Glad
stonian but an Irish Nationalist who made
the move. About year ago, Col NOLAN
introduced bill repealing the Coercion act,
and after a prolonged discussion 1t passed q
second reading by a majority of sixty votes.
It went no further. Other matters absorbed
the attention Of the Ministry and Of the
House Of Commons. Once more, however,
In the present session, amid the omens OF
impending dissolution, Mr.. KNOX intro
duced second bill for the Same honorable
and righteous purpose, and two weeks ago
there was a heated debate on the motion for
a second reading. Mr.. MORLEY quoted un-
impeachable figures to prove that in the last
three years, during which the administra-
tion Of justice has reverted to the ordinary,
time-honored methods, not only has crime
decreased in Ireland, but, where agrarian
offences have been committed, the con-
victions for them have increased. Mr..
BALFoUR himself admitted that the fig
ures attested tho reestablishment of law
and order in Ireland, and Unionist men,
Der from Ulster, Mr.. T. w. RUSSELL, bore
willing testimony to the same effect. Never
theless, the repeating bill passed the second
reading by majority OF only ID, and Mr..
MORLEY acknowledged that it had no chance
Of getting through the committee stage. It
follows that this tardy demonstration Of a
readiness to treat Ireland with Justice was
wholly perfunctory and useless.
1t is no answer to say that before Mr..
MORLEY had been Chief Secretary for 1rs-
land fortnight, the Coercion act was made
temporarily imperative by the withdrawal
OF all the proclaim ations putting 1t in force.
The fact remains that, should the Unionists
recover power at the next general election,
they would find the old engine of oppression
ready to their hands. The Coercion act
still stands upoE the statute book, an in
suit to the Irish people and a blot on
Englands reputation for fair play. In
the course of three years tho Lib
erals unquestionably have had the power to
carry repeal Of the execrable measure
through the House of Commons They
have let the opportunity go by. Is it
strange, then, that the Parnellites should
refuse to cooperate with a party which
lacks either the will or the capacity to rem
der an equivalent for Irish aidp Is it un-
reasonable in them to call on the whole
body of Irish Nationalists to assume once
moro the posture Of complete independence
OF English parties, and of willingness to
combine Professionally with either on the
sole condition Of immediate and solid con-
cessions to Ireland's demandsi
hv