Evening star., 1899-04-18
SPRING EXHIBITIONS OF PICTURES
The Duke Of Marlborough Wants
His Old Family Home.
BARONESS HIRSCH'S CHARITY
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

l
establishment of local government on a
popular basis in Ireland. That in the ma
| 5ority of councils ,outside Ulster the ma
| tionalists will be in such overwhelming pre-
ponderaEce as to leave the other elements
| practically unrepresented is probable. But
| this does net excite alarm. The various ma
| tionalist sections are not agreed upon local
| matters, and even if yesterdays conference
| In Dublan between the Parnellites and ma
| tlonai1sts should lead to a uniting of the
parties for political purposes, there is a
practical certainty that of the matters of
administration which will come before the
authorities, newly created, men will take
different views
Already there are pronounced nationalists
appearing upon platforms in behalf of can
d1dates drawn from the ranks of the once
| hated landlords; some of the districts where
| once the Land League was all powerful
now contain strong force artagonistic to
the men who managed that organization;
Mr. Davltt has been assailed with a vio-
lence which formerly was reserved for
representatives of law and order, and other
leading nationalists have had to call in
| the aid of the police.
Object to Outside Interference
Many of the electors resent the interfer-
| ence of outsiders from Dublin, apparently
| believing that the principle of home rule
| covers their own local contests; they see
| that the chief purpose in electing a county
council is to have a body which will admin
| lister the affairs of the country and though
| they may be ready to support men who
Will pass resolutions in behalf of home rule
| and of the establishment of Roman Cath
oic university, they want those men to pos
| sesS some sort of qualification for the
transaction of the business of the district
Ihey know, too, that there can be little
possibility of using the county councils for
political ends. The government has as
sured the safety of the landlords as s1cn
from any attacks by means of oppressive
rates. If the expenditure is heavy the bur-
den OF 1t will come upon all occupiers equal
W the landlords cannot suffer except in SO
lar as they are occupiers; and belonging to
the class which hitherto has managed local
affairs with much ability, there is reason to
believe that when the newness of popuIar
local government has worn off they will
regain much of the position from which
they are now expelled. Should this be the
case the extension of local government in
Ireland will result in bringing about better
relations than have been obtained for many
long year.
increasing Prosperity.
The change is thus made with every pros
pect of success and its possibility is main
ly due to the immense Improvement in the
condition of the country Ireland has
turned the corner. A state in which prop
erty rests in a few hands, while power
rests with the many, is necessarily In a
condition of unstable equilibrium: the ten
dency to oppress the few for the assumed
benefit of the many is irresistible and
kind of subdued servile war is the in
evitable result To extend the basis of
property so that the majority have an in
tereSt in order and security is the only
cure, and that has been the object of Brit
ish craftsmanship since the first Ashbourne
act fourteen years ago. Every tenant
turned into small proprietor becomes
bulwark of property and of economical ad-
minstration, and the number of peasant
proprietors is increasing by leaps and
bounds. The prosperity of the country we
are told, Is increasing in similar man.
ner. All the figures showing the savings
of the population are at the highest point
yet reached; emigration is at the lowest.
The drain of half century has been
stopped, and the population shows a ten
dency to increase.
The changed conditions have removed
distrust and jealousy, making the co-opera-
tive movement in dairying a success. The
cultivators know that whatever they can
add to their profits is absolutely assured to
them; by no change Of landlord can it pos
sibly be diverted into rent, and that was
fear ever present in the minds of many
Irish tenants in the old days. Peasant
propretors are always inclined to keep a
strict watch over local expenditure; in
deed, in some countries they carry a good
principle to unreasonable lengths.
In Favor of Harmony.
1t IS probable that as in local affairs so
in the political arena the effect of the
unionst policy will be apparent. The con-
ference in Dublin yesterday is sign that
the nationalists feel they can no longer
afford to be in conflict with each other;
their total strength is such as not to allow
conditions which formerly might be risked
They wish to be reunited not because they
love each other any better, but that they
see that in their present state there is
possibility of their becoming a really ma
tional force, that they are gradually but
surely losing ground The preliminaries to
the elections of the county councils have
brought this fact home to them with pecu-
liar directness; they are trying to regain
the old position in circumstances which do
not seem to promise much. They offer to
separate themselves from English liberals;
they are ready to unite as an Irish party,
on the basis laid down by Mr.. Parnell and
Mr.. Biggar. However, Mr.. Parnell did not
attain his power merely as the leader of
an Irish political party. 1t was only when
he started the agrarian movement that he
became "the uncrowned king of Ireland"
Without taking off his coat and heading
a vertable social revolution having for its
object the transference of property from
the landlords to the tenants he would
never have been the force he was Now,
no such movement is possible. Mr.. O'Brien
has been trying to start an agitation
against the, graziers in certain districts,
have to be dealt with sooner or later-are
inclined to support him. But there is no
chance Of his movement extending or be-
coming a source of danger. Ireland is
quiet because she sees her way to pros
perity.
Luxury of Fight.
Still Pat has not been without his old
time fun during the progress of the cam
paign. Michael Davitt has been stoned,
and in the rural parts of Ireland, where
spiritual persons are all-powerful, coun-
ty council contests are debated with cud-
gels and chunks of road metal. and the
speakers receive clouds of souvenirs in the
shape of rotten eggs and little bags of
flour. Irish politics bring out in high re-
lief the frisky spirits of lively race The
electors are not merely lively, but logical.
They apply to the opposition platform the
most effectual form of closure Contradic-
ton they cannot abide, so they meet 1t
with "local Veto and absolute prohibi-
ton. They convince by power of club
To make their opponents more open-mind-
ed, they crack their eontumacious skulls.
Every meeting begins, continues and ends
In the luxury of q free and fierce fight;
every controverted point Is settled by set