The Irish standard., 1897-12-25
THE IRISH AND THE LIBERALS.


At a recent meeting of the English
Liberals. held at Derby, platform was
adopted in which electoral reform and
the abolition of the vote of the house
CT lords came first and Irish home rule
after. Thereupon John E. Redmond
called upon John Dillon to repudiate the
alliance between the Irish majority party
and the Liberals. The hoy from Wex-
ford" spoke as follows to his constitu-
ents in Waterford:
Il, as Parnellite, cannot unite with
the man who is pursuing policy of SUBJ
servency to an English party.
Il. as a Parnellite. cannot join that
man who remains in alliance with the
Liberal party after the Liberal party
have betrayed their pledges to Ireland.
1 cannot enter into united action with q
man, who, when the Liberals have so
acted, refuses to ask for futher pledges
for fear the feelings Of those gentlemen
will be offended. 1t is an impossibility.
and say this further, I, as a Parnellite,
cannot join any general union III Irish
public life with men who have used and
abused all the most sacred powers Of the
church in a political struggle, who have
endeavored to crush their opponents by
way of ecclesiastical power. They ask
you today to join with them without
any pledge that these things will not be
done in the future. No, we in this strug-
gle have held aloft the banner of civil
and religious liberty and I, for one,
would retire out Of public life thous-
and times over, sooner than submit my
self again to a majority Of men who,
for all know, may be willing tomorrow
again, as during the past few years, to
drag from their lofty eminence the most
sacred things in religion to beat to the
ground if they could their political op-
ponents. No; let there be union of
principles. Let the men Of the various
sections, and first of all let the people
throughout the country come to united
idea"
John Dillon responded by saying that
the Nationalist could only support Lib
erals while they kept home rule first, and
appealed to Redmond to work for the
restoration of unity Of action among
Irishmen. To that end he suggested a
conference on the subject between Irish
members. Redmond answered aim by
saying that he must go a step further
and repudiate unequivocally and openly
any alliance with the Liberals. Until
he does SO" said Redmond, "no union Of
the Parnellites with him or his party is
possible
Now, let us consider this question
with all due Difference to Redmond and
his followers. It is an undeniable fact
that the Liberal party, led by ella 1s.one.
favored and advocated and passed an
Irish home rule bill in the British COM
MONS. 1t went to the house of lords,
where it was vetoed by an overwhelming
majority. If it Is again taken up in the
next parliament, which Is Tory by about
14O majority, does Mr.. Redmond ex-
pect an Irish home rule bill to pass?
Would it not be frittering away of
their time for the Liberals to engage in
a discussion with hostile majority
against Irish self government? Suppose.
for the sake of argument that the house
OF commons, with an overwhelming
Tory majority, would pass again a home
rule bill, what would it amount to so
long as the house of lords Is ready to
veto 1t as before?
We think that the Liberals are pur-
suing the right course in placing ele,-
toral reform and the abolition Of the
veto~o Of the house of lords in the front
plank of their platform. By The first
they will extend the right of suffrage
to the people and add strength to their
party, and by the second they will get
the people to vote against the veto of the
hereditary rulers and curtail the pow.
ers they exercise so arbitrarily for their
own selfish ends.
Until the Tory party manifests dis
position to do justice to Ireland it
would be folly for the Irish members to
repudiate this policy of the Liberal
party, which embodies home rule in it's
platform. We have long been Of the
opinion that John Redmond is hench-
man of the Tory leaders, and that his
movement OF disruption is aided and
allotted by Salisbury. Balfour & Co. 1t
would be a feather in his cap If he could
get Dillon and his followers to sever the
so-called alliance existing between the
Irish majority party and the Liberals.
The organs that represent the Redmond
lite policy desire no unity or reconcilia-
tion among Irishmen. The conductors
of them live and thrive on dissension
and are sham patriots in the pay of the
Tory government. AS an evidence Of