The Irish standard., 1896-01-25
COMMENTS ON IRISH AFFAIRS.

Of consideration. There may be many
who VIII not agree with every idea. .ex-
pressed. but nevertheless there is ample
food for thought in the article.
! The article says: For years a cardinal
article of faith with all 1rtshmen anxious
4 20 see their country take it's rightful place
among the nations, has been that EN-
glands difficulty was Ireland's opportun-
! :ty.' This was the text Of the men of '4S.
who believed in the possibility of free
ing Ireland by the means of physical
force Ii was also a belief that the Fenian
leaders always cherished, and its mani
fest truth and reasonableness has. been one
of the main causes in helping the Irish
men Of the present generation to continue,
in, the face Of doubt and difficulty, to pre-
serve their faith in the ultimate realism
of ireland a Nation" But those who
put their faith and their hopes in this
| doctrine do so always in the understand
| ing that when. England's difficulty and
consequently, IrelaGld's opportunity had
arisen Irishmen would be ready to take
advantage thereof. and rise III their might
with one spontaneous effort. and shout
Their ultimatum across the waters to En-
gland-"Our rights, or else" Now is the
time to Justify this article Of our National
creed. The opportunity has arisen to-
wiring our rights from England and to
demand in one chorus Of National acclaim,
IL, which every son Of Ireland must join.
that the thraldom of ages and the wrong
and evils that have followed in the train
of oppression must forthwith cease. Let
NO man in Ireland delude himself with the
belief that England's difficulty has. not
in the face of the fact that Engl:shmen
themselves are appalled, at the dangers
that threaten their country, is at heart a
cowardly slave for whom the word coun
the whining licksp:ttle who thus nurses
his soul into the slumber of the bondsman
listen to what one Of the few most power
full papers in England has to say on the
subject, and then let him be convinced, if
the brain of such man can at all take in
an. impression. Says the Daily Chronicles:
There can be NO doubt that at an early
hour on Saturday morning the British
Empire was in a state of some peril.
That the danger has been greatly modi
fed is due first CT all to the courage and
good sense of one man, and secondly, to
the unanimity with which the entire
country has rallied to his side. The quail
tiles which have kept our country safe
i'm the past will, we firmly believe, ensure
it's salvation in the future. Mr.. Cham
berla:n's wisdom has saved us from being
dragged into responsibility for an esca-
pade which every man who understands
the basis of modern government con-.
DENNIS"
The Chronicle pretends to believe that
the danger is past, but since it expressed
the above opinions the difficulties in
England's way have mounted higher and
higher On Wednesday the announce
ment was made that a portion of the
English squadron were under orders to
leave Plymouth for the cape. That event
proves concIusively that. since Saturday
morning things have happened involving
a supreme crisis for England. The Spec
tator. the great organ of English Union
ISM, is even more unequivocal and en-
phatic in it's analysis of the dangers that
menace the Mistress of the. Seas.
Thus writes the Spectator, call our
external troubles are coming upon us at
once. Just when we believed. that we
were on terms of the utmost friendship
with the United States, almost indeed of
alliance. we found ourselves on the brink
of war; while Germany has suddenly dis
covered a great grudge against us, and
not single great power-unless Italy be
a great power-is' heartily i'll sympathy
with our policy and people. No wonder
that our statesmen are anxious, and that
our overlooking treasury seems a very
inadequate set-off against the growing
burden of our neighbors' jealousies, and
our kindred's dislikes.'' *..@
Wnen the spectator writes III tnlS
fashion, surely the time has come when
we may all readily conclude that Eng
land, the Carthaginian monster, as john
Mitchell used to call her, has got into a
tight fix, from which it will take all the
trucking diplomacy of her statesmen to
extricate her. The Spectator must see
something appallingly terrifying:to Eng
land when it writes in the above peccavi
style; for it is that and nothing else, even
though the organ OF Unionisn processes
to believe that England has to endure aH
this because of her persistent attempts
at doing universal good. The Speaker is.
even more to the point.. 1t answers the
question why England is Hated'' thus:
X Eve look around" it says, 'sand see
foes everywhere, whilst for. real friends
we look in vain. This, then, is the fate
OF Great Britain in the last years Of the
nineteenth century. She has had a g]o-
rious history, the; parallel to which no
other nation of modern times can offer. 1
She has carried her flag to all the quar-
tiers Of the world, and holds an Empire
which in its yastness and its nagnif-
cence. surpasses anything known to his
tory. She is conscious of no wilful