Arizona republican., 1903-01-05
Better Prospects for Ireland.

light is breaking m Ireland, ana TOT
 reland. The British government may oe determined as ever to refuse home rule to the Irish. but it cannot pre- vent Irish people from getting to- yether if they themselves so will it.
 md at last there is substantial reason
 or belief that a lesson has been earned from the past. Discords which
 or hundreds of years have rent the people into factions have largely dis appeared. Most important of all, re- iigious hatreds are disappearing, and Catholic and Protestant are standing together for the suppression of the English government can ignore for any length of time the demands of a united Ireland. MT. Walter Wellman, the Washington correspondent Of the Chi cago Record Herald, has been travel ing in Ireland for some months, and his letters throw a clear light on the present situation. Of the surprising and gratifying coalition of forces he says:
 For a long time the thrifty Scotch- Irish of Ulster, the hard-headed Pres byterians and Covenanters, held aloof from Irish agitation They were not for home rule because that meant placing control of the government in the hands of the Catholic party. They distrusted the nationalist leaders of Catholic faith and such Protestant leaders as Parnell. whose support was chiefly Catholic. Usually their influence in parliament and their influence upon public opinion in England was antago- nistic to the majority of the Irish party. Ulster was the loyalist' part of Ireland. Ulster was always pointed to by the landlords and their sympa- thizers as an illustration of their claim that Ireland did not need land revolu- ton, nor political revolution. nor any thing but such industry and thrift as Ulster displayed, And. Of course, when home rule or drastic reform was pressed in parliament the cry was always raised Shall we sacrifice the loyal people of Ulster. the people who have always stood by us, and turn them over to the tender mercies of their enemies. the disloyal Irish?
 "All this has been changed, and the change is due to the genius and lead ership of T. w. Russell. He saw that Ireland could be regenerated only through reform of the land system. that political reform must be preceded by abolition of landlordism. He mar shaled his people in favor of a com prehensive plan of land purchase and individual ownership For the first
  Ireland stand shoulder to shoulder. It has been a good thing in more ways than one. In the first place, it has removed the last valid argument from the lips of the opponents of Irish re- mobilization. In the second place, it has taught Protestants and Catholics that they can work in harmony if they try, that it is foolish to permit sec tarian differences to stand in the way of the country's prosperity. and that men are men and Irishmen are Irish men no matter to what creed they give their adherence. More has been done in the last five years to break down sectarian animosities than in all the previous history of the country. As MT. Russell says, these are the last prejudices and traditions to soften, but they are distinctly and clearly soften ing in Ireland"
 Mir. Wellman quotes MT. Russel as saying:
 "I have no hesitation in asserting that we are at great crisis in Irish history. At last the light is breaking. We are, l firmly believe, upon the eve of a new era. The government has promised new land purchase act for next session. They must redeem this promise. And they know, or ought to know. that it will be a miserable fail- ure ii it is not a great, final, set tling measure. The time has gone by for pottering with this problemm
 We do not want the landlords to go confiscate the property of the land lords. It would be monstrous for Eng land to desert the landlords now be- cause they have lost their political power. Everything that has been done in Ireland up to recent years. good or bad, they have done. They have done it all for themselves first for England next; the interests of Ireland they never considered. England can't aban- don them now in the hour of their need. We do not ask her to do so. The great feature of political agitation in Ireland today is the rising of the north for land reform. But We are against landlord ism, not against landlords We do not want them robbed. We do not want the historic wrongs of Ireland avenged through another wrong. We do not a gree with some of the extremists. who say that the landlords should be forced to get out of the country in a coach, that in their exodus they should carry nothing with them but a ticket by the mall steamers to Holyhead.
 ''eW do not want the landlords to go at all if they are willing to stay here and become good citizens, and play their proper part in our life. The land lords as a class have done grievous wrongs to Ireland. They made bad system as bad as it could be. But We forgive them. As Burke said. Political are not eternal
 How can the Irish question be set tled?'' MT. Russell was asked.
 By the government resolutely facing 1 the proposition that it is worth while | for the state to buy out and forever | extinguish the fee-simple to Irish dis | that it is a good investment | for the state to secure at last recon