New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-06-28
PEOPLE WITH LONG MEMORIES.

..c...,oro.n we forgot all about Ulster" were
.,a ,,oras Of Sir Stafford Northcote to group OF
angry Conservative ULstermen who pro'es'eo
,bat the interests Of the Province were not Only
overlooked but deliberately attacked IN the nc
sis,rbntion bill of 1885. The bill was one tha'
had been contrved as compromise between '"'
Liberals in power and the Conservatives III 0p
position But both the Marquis OF oanso"iS anu
Sir Stafford Northco.e had ignored the county
which used TO send its twenty-nine IoIy mem
bers TO Parliament as a matter OF couFse' Inc
author tells the anecdote himself IL seeiis ~
,llustrate the attitude OF English statesmen gen
orally toward Ulster. and toward any Vi the
factions in Ireland which happen to be quiet TOT
a moment. Perhaps the Indifference was oi"iNe
u,or,bv NOT only in the particular instance men,
toned but always whenever IT was sho""' se'
1, mis-, no considered as a fact in making up an
opinion about the significance OF irish ques''ohs
70 the British Empire whole. To Imperial
ro,rc,ans Iylster seems at ordinary moments
az negligible a quantity az any English county
II ;s only when its complaints awaken an Imperial
marty that the world sees great noblemen ana
great commoners Fastening to Belfast But 'he
Ulster point OF view Is that the Whole mission VI
the province is imperial in It's scope JUST now
IJnionists, Mr. MscKnight as earnestly as any
feel that they are fighting over again the pa'tie
Of Parliament against Charles i. OF their own an
cestors against James H. Of the American COL
onjsts against George Ill The Orangemen d,
whose long memories the author scoHs' nave d.
ways felt this. and they Gay that the suussie
for freedom has only widened its reach little
In these last few years. But the Orangeman anu
the Irish Catholic wish TO remember the past
8, ire details while the modern Unonist only
cares for those facts Of history that strengthen
the bond between Ireland and England MT
MacKnght deprecates that astonishing power
of Renaissance which recalls the outrases OF
1641 as vvidly as If they mad happened yesterday
Yet he has inherited, so to speak, IN us most
definite form the belief that there are two an
tagonistc populations two different nations on
Irish SOIL" and that there is no community or
feeling and therefore oe no common CITIZEN
ship between the two sections of the Irish people
Could any wearer Of the green or the orange put
Ireland's gospel of hatred in words more un-
compromising than these?
Mr. MacKnight's history, however of the last
thirty years shows that there has been progress
toward the methods Of peace. He has, indeed
nothing to say against the changes made by
Mr. Gladstone In Ireland before the era Of mod
ern Home Rule theories. He advocated and
labore6 for the earlier reforms. for the restrc-
ton Of the power Of the landlords. that hold
ers of the franchise might vote according TO
their convictions and not they were COM
manded, and for the diseetablishment of the
English Church in Ireland. lie shows that so
far as Ulster concerned the ancient de-
vices Of intimidation, as between the Conserva-
tive and Liberal parties, passed away with the
Land Act and Ballot Act of 1870. He shows
also that establishment was in every sense
boon to the Church. But he also shows that
these reforms denounced at the time in
language as vigorous any that has been used
in recent years the subject Of Home Rule.
when Lord Cairns and Mr. Dsraeli," he says,
gave way on the church question. many Of
their Irish supporters and nearly all the Irish
Conservative newspapers were furious. They
spoke and wrote though the leaders in Parlia-
ment had betrayed them and had no further
claim on their allegiance. Their language could
on some points indeed, scarcely be distinguished
from that of the most extreme Nationalist news
papers Lord Cairns and MIR. Disraeli, for agree
ing to what was called a compromise. We're said
10 be as bad as the traitor Gladstone himself"