The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-05-29

by Js d. CLANCYs
LONDON, May I4.-The detailed ac-
counts Of Admiral Dewey's great v1o-
tory at Manila, which appeared in the
Irish papers early In the week, were, it
need hardly be said, read with the most
intense eagerness and the greatest de-
light in Dublin and throughout the rest
OF Ireland. The Irish people had been
almost feverishly waiting for a con-
flrmation of the first Geographic an
nouncement of the victory, the more so
as 1t seemed to be unaccountably de-
layed, and when at last it came it was
relief and a source of joy. The same
may be said of the great majority of
the Irishmen in London and England.
Another circumstance which has
caused much satisfaction among
Irish Catholics, who. of course, consti
tute the great majority Of the popula-
ton of Ireland, is the declaration of the
Catholic Bishops of America The or
gan of the Independent or Parnellite
party. the Irish Daily Independent, de-
voted a day or two ago a 81 ecial ar
ticle to the subject, and made most eff
fective use of the declaration against
that very small minority who, because
Spain is a Catholic country, sympa-
thize with her on that account, for
getting that there are nearly as many
Catholics in America as in Spain and
more than twice as many Irish Catho-
lies as there are in Ireland itself. Irish
men are now looking with the most in
tense anxiety to the battle which ap-
pears to be impending in the Atlantic,
and the most fervent hopes are enter
tanned that not only the American fleet
may triumph, but so decidedly that a
speedy end may be put to the war.
We have been all the week engaged
in the House of Commons in a debate
on the clauses of the local government
bill for Ireland, but the debate has, for
the greater part, been concerned so
much with details that American read
ers would scarcely be obliged to me for
dwelling on its various points in sue
cession. One subject, however. of gen.
eral interest came under discussion
that of the bride held out to the I'm
ionist or Tory majority in Ireland to
accept the measure and make the best
of it. That bride, as l have explained
before, is the payment out of the i'm
perial grant of e730, 900 a year to Ire
land Of the local rates, to which the
landlords are at present liable. This
payment was opposed by the English
Liberals and by one Irish member-Mr.
Michael Davitt Both opposed it for the
same reason-namely. that the land
lords deserved and ought to get moth
ing Mr. Davitt of course is perfectly
sincere. He is the son of an evicted
tenant; he knows what the unrestricted
power of landlordiSm accomplished in
the past and he has vowed everlasting
vengeance against the whole class. 1t
may be doubted whether the same can
be said of the English Liberals. They,
in fact, are acting in this matter the
part of the dog in the manger. They
have not been able to do anything for
Ireland in the shape of reform them
selves, and they would, If possible pre-
vent their British rivals from doing
anything either. The answer to both
was at once given, and it was conclu-
sive.
1t was that the relief to the landlords
was an essential condition of the con-
cession of local government, and
that that being so, the condition must
be accepted. The truth is, that the
price paid for this boon and its certain
consequences is a small one after all.
Those consequences are even more i'm
portant than the measure itself, for 1t
will certainly lead to home rule IN the
larger sense. The mere introduction of
the bill has already alienated from the
present government almost every sup
porter of theirs in Ireland, and here in
the House of Commons | really believe
that the opinion entertained by Irish
IJnionist members is that, after this
N~~A'
hardly have any terrors for the Irish
minority.
Last night there was a debate in the
Commons on the subject Of the distress
in the west of Ireland, and at one point
1t appeared likely to lead to scene.
The Chief Secretary's unhappy cham
payne" speech was the cause. In a
former letter explained all about that
somewhat callous deliverance, and told
how 1t had aroused feeling In Ireland.
The curious thing is that 1t seemed to
have aroused somewhat similar feel
fngs in England among the political
supporters of Mr.. Balfour, and yester-
day one of them-Major Rasch, a high
and dry Tory-openly assailed the
Chief Secretary. The latter was pale
with rage. He admitted, however, that
he had made a mistake. He defended
what he had said as strictly true and
as meaning nothing more than that
there were some things which the Gov
eminent could not do for the distressed
people: but he added that he ought TO
have known that the power and habit
of misconstruction were great, and that
he ought, accordingly, to have avoided
the use of equivocal expressions. This,
no doubt, was a plausible excuse; but,
after ALL the spirit which dictated such
saying as that the Government could
hardly be expected to supply the peo-
pie Of the west of Ireland with cham
payne can hardly be called sympa-
thetic. Moreover, while he showed that
some OF the accounts of the distress in
particular cases were exaggerated, Mr..
Balfour admitted that the distress in
many parts of Western and Southern
Ireland was very acute Indeed, he
went further for he admitted that
there were many cases in which the
Government ought to and would have
given relief but that outside charity
had interviewed and saved him the ne
cessity. This was virtually a confess