The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-10-05

misrule, wherein he shows the true
remedy for the national wrong ana
proves to the most radical Tory Cwould
they but own it, that the granting OF
autonomy to Ireland is not calculated
to make a hostile nation. He says:
Home rule has. it must be confessed,
been found TO be an idea quite repug-
nant to the English mind. The lnvet-
crate preiudices of centuries are not TO
be overcome by. the reason OF DAY.
III men and nations fear to enter on
the unknown; even the superlative au-
thCrity of w. F. Gladstone was unable
to reconcile the English people to his
Irish policy. We have also had to con-
tend with the Tory cry about the dis
Indignation of the empire. The people
! have been told that home rule would
| inevitably lead to the total dismember-
ment of the empire, and ultimately to
| the ruin of England. John Bull is no
! doubt very brave but he is easily
scared by such big words as disinte-
grafton, Acknowledgement and such like.
! One of the most deplorable character
istics of the majority of the English
people is the readiness with which they
listen to anything that is said by the
| Tories The believers In Toryism never
dream of thinking for themselves, stu
less of consulting history as to the
| truth of their leaders assertions, but
accept them as gospel, coming, as they
do, from such a highly respectable
! source. We are told by the Tory lead
| erS that home rule would inevitably
! lead to the total dismemberment of
the empire, and ultimately 70 the ruin
or England; but ] know of no instance
| on record where the separation of one
| country from another has proven un-
~ IA he 41Io iyocr
the dogmatic prognostications of those
who We're opposed to such separation.
One of the principal arguments
brought forward by the Tories is that
when the Irish people obtain legisla-
| tive power they will become a hostile
| nation But the same argument was
used by the Dutch when they opposed,
by force of arms. the ATTEMPT of Bel
GUM to obtain her independence; and
| 1t was so with Austria when Hungary
| insisted upon having her own parlfa-
ment. The Salisburys of those times
predicted that the Belgians would for
ever be at war with the Dutch, and
| the Hungarians with the Austrians,
but exactly the reverse has happened:
all has been peace and prosperity
Holland and Belgium are bound to-
| gether in the closest bonds of friend
hip, and it Is the same with Austria
and Hungary.
Home rule for Ireland cannot now
be eVaded. The law of the union must
now give place to the higher law of
humanity. The time has now come for
the people of Ireland to obtain the
right to govern themselves in the way
they judge best for the benefit of them
selves and their country. Today the
home rule movement Is more active
and its prospects are better than at
any time since the retirement of w. z.
Gladstone or the deposition of Charles
Stuart Parnell. With home rule for
Ireland, all questions affecting the
country would be settled much sooner
and much more satisfactorily than
they are under the present system
There are many sound logical reasons
why Ireland should have the control
of its own affairs. 1t is still nation
100000 strong. 1t has a glorious his
tory of its own, laws and institutions
of Its own and an untarnished nation
ality of its own. The people feel the
national longing to be one of and by
themselves, and, do what England may,
that longing will never. be stamped out.
1t is the inherent right of every Irish
child to feel that Ireland is for the Irish
instead of, as the poet says:
"Serfs in our own land
Proud masters, tell US why?"
Or as another poet says:
1.-THE land that fly from is fertile and
fair,
And more than 1 ask for, or wish for,
is there:
But l must nor taste the good things
that I see
There's nothing but rags and green
rushes for me-
This is the cry of Ireland's sons and
daughters today as they leave the
shores of their native land to go to
alien countries. and it has been the cry
of millions who have left all through
the past century-left father, mother,
sister, brother, the green fields and hill
sides where they have so often played
in their childhood in blissful ignorance
of the brutal tyranny of the Saxon
government, which would when they
came to manhood and womanhood
compel them to seek life in lands thou
sands of miles away from all that the
heart holds dear. God help them in
their struggles in foreign lands!
have seen them landing in America in
their thousands, and l have prayed
that II might be in my power to allie
viate the poignant anguish which these
young men and women have to en-
dure in their struggle for existence.
Ireland has been. and is at the pres
ent moment, one of the worst governed
and most neglected countries in the
world. Not one of our colonies would
tamely submit for single day to the
treatment which Ireland receives, and
the sooner the English government set
ties the Irish question the better it will
be for the British empire. 1t is being
dinned into our ears by the Tories that
the Irish are a disloyal people, but
when we consider that during the reign
of Queen Victoria over 100000 of the
Irish race either died of famine emf
grated or were evicted from their hold
ings can we marvel that the Irish feel
bitterly towards England, which still
relies, after period of 100 years, to
maintain its ascendancy by brute force |
and denies to the Irish people the right
to govern themselves? England has
given the Irish people abundant reason
for hating her and were I in Ireland I
would undoubtedly be a rebel. No
country in the world has been worse
treated than Ireland and Irishmen
would be disloyal to themselves to pre-
tend that they had any degree of good
feeling towards England. and until
England gives Irishmen reasons for |
entertaining different feelings this |
hatred will be maintained Dur |
We have been told by the English
press that one of the most gratifying
fea lures of the campaign was the low |
atty of the colonies; but it is very easy |
to obtain loyalty at sn4.lings a dav. f!
Even French loyalty, with all its in
tense hatred of England. could have |
been bought much cheaper than this.
For considerable time the British |
idea of greatness has been the paint |
ing of as much as possible of the map |
red. At the present mo- |
ment we are living in a state of moral !
degradation and poli<1cal damnation.
We are supporting a system that un-
dermined the power of imperial Rome. |