The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-10-01
nacity of the Irish in pressing for the
balance that is their due.

Let us go to the law and TO the teSti-
mony. At the head of this article have
printed two statements made by unim-
peachable authorities as to what John
Bulls debt to Ireland has been before
and since the union. Mr.. Balfour ccrti-
fies with welcome emphasis that before
the horrors of 1898, and their coroliary
in the act OF union, England owed Ire
land u heavy debt for the destruction CT
her manufactures, for which it is John
Bulls duty to make atoncmcnt even now.
That is to say, the old debt prior TO 1893
Ireland an unpaid balance on that score
to this day. How much Mr.. Ralfour
does not say. 1t is enough for our pres
ent purpose to know that he admits
without reserve the existence IF an un-
paid debt dating back to the days prior
to the union. What am now concerned
with is the debt that we lave accumu-
lated since the union. Upon that point
we have witnesses still more unimpeach-
able than Mr.. Balfour in the royal COM
missioners who were appointed to in
quire into the financial relations between
Great Britain and Ireland, and who re-
ported that, in round numbers, the pre-
dominant partner was taxing the poorer
and weaker member of the firm no less
sum than G2,750,000 per annum over
and above what was just. How long this
has been going on is not distinctly stat
ed. But it is probable that the annual
drain of excess taxation has been kept up
steadily since the Crimean war. That is
to say, John Bull, instead of repaylng his
old debt-vouched for by Mr. Balfour-
has been beggaring his Irish neighbors
by eXacting an annual tribute Of nearly
$4,000, ,OOO
If the conscience Of En- gland were to
be deaf to the appeals Of justice when
urged by Ireland, it is possible that it
Will be stirred up by refecting not so
much upon the judgment of the civilized
world as upon the judgment of the
American republic. Let no one protest
against the suggestion as one dishonor-
ing to our national pride. Even the
Quarterly Review-that staunch advocate
of Old Toryism-was last month con-
strained to admit that as the result Of
closer relations between John Bull and
Uncle Sam, more concessions would have
to be made to Ireland.
The solid argument, the clinching JUS
tillcation, which was always insisted
upon by the makers of the Union. 1,as
that by uniting Ireland with the wealth.
ier island, prosperity would follow and
Irish poverty would disappear What
the Union was guaranteed to remedy by
its author, Mr.. Pitt, was lreland's want
of industry and of capital "How were
those wants to be supplied but by blend
ing more closely with Ireland the indus
try and capital of Great Britain?" The
answer to that question surely was that
the supply OF Ireland's wants in that re-
spect depends less upon the blend than
upon the subsequent dividend between
the partners. But without pressing that
point, it cannot he denied that the Union
has failed in realizing the promises of its
promoters.
To begin with, we saddled Ireland
with the sum Of G2O,OOOOO odd spent in
promoting and suppressing the rebellion
and afterwards in bribery and corrup-
tion among the Irish members in order
to buy the extinction of the Irish paria-
nent.
Leaving that on one side, let us see
how the two partners have Jared:
Great Britain Ireland
The population at
the time of the
Union was ...... 100000 5,OO0,0 600
The average taxa
tion per head
was ............ G3 As los
After a hundred years
Great Britain Ireland.
The population to-
day is ......... 3J,OO0,OOO 4,5OO, 900
The average taxa
tion per head is 80. 60 Is CT 15s 1Od
Confine the comparison to the figures
at the beginning and the end of the
queens reign, and the result is much the
same:
Great Britain. Ireland
Population, 1887 -. 100000 8,OOO,O0O
Taxation per head =. c2 Is. 12s I'D
Population, 1897 .... 35,00O,OO0 4,500,O0G
Taxation per head =. 60 5s. cl 15s.
AS Sir Edward Clarke remarkcd
The Irish grievance was that, with the
population decreasing in number and do
creasing in industrial capacity there had
been an actual, a constant, a larger, and,
he would venture to add. an excessive
increase in the taxation Of the people of
that country, and no comparison Of
figures could get rid of that fact
Writing of the victory of the Anglo
Egyptian army in the Soudan, Fr. Ycrkc
says: But there is Il dark side to the
picture, and a very dark one at that. The
Anglo-Egyptians took no prisoners. The
Dervishcs who surrendered we're put to
death to a man, and another black mark
was ADDED to Englands long record Of
national crime : OF course we never