The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-06-16

SSNsAsS3 ~UAA wv oNPPANooANS AASlAASAo
not only with impunity, but with the
applause of a government that is as
truculent as it is oppressive in its deal
ings with Ireland. 1t is strange that
the English government and people will
not recognize the fact that if they want
loyalty and peace in ireland the best
and only way to do it is to give its
people good government, based on
principles of justice andr liberty, and
thus help them to secure prosperity.
Englishmen would not be satisfied
themselves if they were at the mercy of
bureaucre:;: plunderers and maligners,
and yet s.ey expect the Irish people to
be loyal.
The United Irishman is certainly not
a loyal paper from the viewpoint OF
jingoism and Chamberlainism, and in
view of the reckless oligarchy which
controls this land it would be cring-
ing thing and false to its readers if it
thus were loyal. 1t is such acts as its
periodical suppression that gives it
power and swells its circulation and
keeps alive the revolutionary idea and
purpose throughout the land. It may
be the organ of advanced nationalism
and of physical force, lacking other
means to win self-government, but such
views ought not to be distasteful to the
English people, all of whose liberties
have been won by defiance of govern
mental injustice and tyranny.
Everybody in England and in this
country also is now talking of the dis
solution OF parliament and the prepon-
derance of opinion is that general
election will be ordered for July. This,
OF course, is dependent on the SUPPOSE
ton that the war in South Africa will be
over, practically, by the end of this
month. In that event it is argued that
the government officials would be more
than human if they did not seize the
opportunity to appeal to the country.
The sooner the election the better,
the Tories think, for the Liberals are
divided and their war chest is said to
be low. This country takes but little
interest in the issue, for it is certain to
return its quota of eighty or more inde-
pendent nationalists. It is not over
looked, however, that with the English
troops at Pretoria and the jingoes more
rampant than ever the present govern
ment with all its anti-1rish prejudice
and bitterness would be its own success
sor, and any hope for self-government
or home rule would be killed thereby.
But the Irish are people as patient
as they are pugnacious, and they can
wait little longer for the fruition of
their long-continued struggle. They
are gaining something day by day and
victory cannot be delayed much longer.
If general election should take place
the Liberals seem doomed to crush
ing defeat, for they are hopelessly di-
vided. Those of them who are crying
out for justice and humanity to the
Beers are regarded as anti-patriotic,
and the real exponents of liberalism of
the Gladstone and Morley brand would
have little show in most of the constitu-
encies, for the English just now seem
crazed with the idea of conquest and
ravenous for more blood.
The oficers-those of them that are
ieft-of tine Inniskiiiings and their
friends are full of vexation and heart
burning, and have good reasons, pro-
fessionally as we'll as sentimentally, it
would seem. The regiment has suf-
fered terribly and before it emerged
from the Natal campaign almost was
annihilated.
Now it appears that the Irish officers
who have not been killed in action or
incapacitated by wounds or illness from
further service have been passed over
for the vacancies caused in the list of
regimental positions by the war, and
English officers who have seen no active
service have been imported to fill the
posts of promotion that should be given
to men who risked their lives on the
battlefield and bravely underwent the
horrors and hardships of campaign of
almost unexampled severity.