The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-10-01
AN ENGLISH EDITOR ON BRITAlN.s
DEALING WITH HER.
ROBBERY OF THE ISLAND
WILLIAM II. STEAD'S PLAIN TALIS IN
his MAGAZINE,
THE LONDON "REvIEW OF REVIEWS"
HOW MUCH HONEST JOHN OWES TO
THE SISTER ISLE.

The following is clipped from the Lon
don edition of the Revie'v of Reviews,
edited by Mr.. William T. Stead:
How much does John Bull owe to Ire
land? Not brass farthing, says Mr.
Doughty. I'VE have paid her in full.
And the Irish demand for more so dis
/ gusts me that repudiate homo rule and
fling in my lot with Mr.. Chamberlain" "
! Hence the vacancy for Grimsby, and a
| small storm in a teacup which has per-
| turbed the Liberal ranks this midsum-
mer. 1t is not storm in a teacup,
either. For although Mr.. Doughty is in
significant enough in himself, his action
raises a great question. For at bottom
the issue is this: Whether John Bull has
or has not any sense Of Justice left in his
soul. If he has not-ani If Mr.. Doughty
be fair specimen there is not much left
then, indeed, we are nation nigh unto
cursing. Mr.. Doughty and the men of
his stamp approach the Irish question
from any and every point but that Of
justice. They ask themselves not what
is just and fair between two partners,
but what is most convenient and expedi-
ent for ourselves. They forget that the
way of transgresors is hard. Honesty is
the best policy for men and for nations;
and little as Mr.. Doughty may credit it.,
the absconding debtor who bilks his cred
itor does not in the long run come off so
we'll as the man who pays twenty shill-
ings in the pound.
Possibly Mr.. Doughty imagines that
John Bull has paid his debt to Ireland
Ignorance, sheer ignorance, may account
for much. The editor of the Blackburn
Standard evidently labors under the de-
lusion that we owe Ireland nothing. The
article published on "The Centenary Of
1882 provoked him to say many things,
among others, that wrote in a literary
style so vigorous as TO arouse in the
reader consuming desire to kick me-
1t is very pretty compliment, and we
will let it pass. But my Blackburn con-
frere complains that do wrong to recall
the memory of the horrors of 179S. 1t was
such long time ago, and England has
long since paid her debt. Quoting my
allusion to the spendthrift VINO protested
against being sued for 4 debt which was
really so long overdue that it ought to
be written off, the Blackburn Standard
says:
'1f the spendthrift was reformed, and
had been for years regularly paying off
large installments of the debt with inter-
est, until he had repaid sum very much
larger than the amount originally bor-
rowed, he would be entitled to ask for
a receipt in full, and no judge would be
the money-lender who declined to give
him release. England stands in pretty
much this relationship to Ireland now.
She doubtless owed the sister isle eXpia-
tion for many wrongs; but she has been
studiously trying, year after year, to
atone for them, and it is somewhat un-
generous to keep their memory green by
such celebrations as those of '9S No one
would desire to blot ont any pages CT
history from which the present genera
tion may derive both instruction and
warning. But no good object is to bc
served by the encouragement Of intransi-
geancy, by commemorating events of
which all concerned have occasion to be
not proud, but ashamed
Now there we have stated plump and
plain the justification for my reminding
the British public of the unspcakable
crimes to which we owe the act Of union.
For the fact is that we have not paid off
our debt, let alone with interest. The
balance is indeed very heavily against us,
and that being the case, it ID nonsense to
talk about the want of generosity shown
in referring to the circumstances In
which that debt was originally incurred.
But what, lhen of the measures passed
every session" and SO forth? TO which
/ reply: If man owes me thousand
pounds. does it diminish my just irrita-
ton at being kept out Of my money, be-
cause he compels me to stand all day
outside his door in the rain before can
compel him even to pay me sXpcnce ON
account? What would we think Of such
debtor it, on presenting our claim for
the balance of .e397 1Gs Cd, he were to
turn upon us Indignantly and say: Glow
mean and ungenerous of you to remind
me of that old loan! Why, there has
hardly a day passed all these years that
l have not been paying you installments
on account! And yesterday paid you
not only one sixpence, but even a whole
haf-crown. 1t is really too bad" Yet
if such debtor were to use such Ian
guage to his creditor, he would not he
one whit more insolent and nonsensical
than are those Englishmen who profess
to be outraged by the persistent peril