The Irish standard., 1902-05-10
T. W. RUSSELL. M. P.
What the Ulster Reformer Says on
the Irish Question.

the Irish Question.
T. Wallace Russell, NJ. P, is a
Scotchman by birth and Protestant
in religion. He is Tory whose shib,
boleth is 'the land for the people," In
his recently published book, ireland
and the Empire" he says:
For some years it has been the fash
ion to decry Ireland and Irish ques,
tions. After passing through a high
fever, which for many years consumed
the energies of England and Ireland
alike, the usual exhaustion has fol
lowed. AS George Macdonald has
somewhere finely said. 'birds cannot
always sing" and it was to be ex'
pected that after the failure of Mr.
Gladstone's great effort to solve the
problem, Irish affairs should continue
to occupy and to hold the public mind.
1t must also be admitted that by a
squalid controversy around the name
of Mr.. Parnell, Irishmen themselves
contributed in no slight degree to the
effacement of the Irish question. But
the temperature of the patient is once
more normal. The fever has burned
itself out. Men of all sections of the
Nationalist party have agreed to forget
their differences: and solid body OF
over eighty Irish members, with a mis-
sion, once more occupy the Irish
benches at Westminster. Their mis-
sion in that great assembly is apparent
and admitted. Mr.. John Redmond.
the capable and accomplished leader CT
the party. has made everything quite
plain The Irish members, according
to Mr. Redmond, represent "a foreign
element" in the House of Commons.
Their presence must cause inflamma-
tion in the body polite, and general
arrangement in the work Of the insti
tuition.
And it is intended that this should
be the result. Practically. tho I:ish-
men say to England: "You destroyed
our parliament in 1900. The destruc-
iton of the National assembly was ac-
cOmplished by the most unblushing
bribery, intimidation and corruption.
Ireland has never condoned that great
ocense. You govern us, not hy love
and affection, but by force and by
fraud. Forty thousand armed men are
necessary to maintain your supremacy
Ours is Il forced and unwilling ale
glance. We come to this assembly
hut are not of it, We desire to be ut
home governing our own lnnd--thc
land of our affections, and for which
alone we care. You can retain us here
by force; but in that case you must pay
the price. We shall interfere in every
nook and Granny of British affairs--;,t
home and abroad If we cannot gov
ern our own country, we shall sre
whether we cannot make parliament
ary institutions and the government of
England a laughing stock before the
whole world" There is no conceal
ment about it. This is the situation.
1t is quite true that the latter part
Of the century has been redeemed by
great efforts to do right. No fair
minded man, anxious for the impartial
truth. can deny this. But it must also
be admitted that, for the most part,
these right things have been too often
wrongly done. In almost every case
where great wrongs have been righted,
the motive and the method were alike
bad. The reform has been achieved.
not so much from Il sense of justice
and because a thing ought to he done
1t has been achieved by what has been
well called "the ringing of the chapel
bell" The disestablishment of the
Irish Church and the passing of the
land act of 1S70-tllc first fruits of the
Gladstone era-rrccivcd their great i'm
petus from the Fcnian movement The
Clerkenwell explosion, whatever else it
did, arrested Mr.. Gladstone's attention
and assuredly forced the peace of par
lament. Similarly. the land acts of
1881 and 1887 were due almost entirely
to the Land League and the plan Of
campaign. But for the murder and
outrage which disgraced the years Of
1850 and 1881. the great charter of
the Irish farmers. weakened and in
jured as it has been by shameless NAL
administration, could never have been
passed. And it was not until the plan
Of campaign had superseded the law
of the land that the act of 1887 became
possible Similarly, the local govern
ment act of $685. the greatest measure
passed since THE act of union. owes its
existence on the statute book entirely
to the homo rule agitation.
Here, and in this chapter. l am con-
cerned only with Ireland and the
House of Commons. What the country
has to face in this respect is the fact
that upwards of eighty members from
Ireland, hostile to English interests. are
encamped in the very heart of the
citadel. And such men. too! Where