The Irish standard., 1903-07-25
During Past Twenty-Five Years the Country
Has Improved Rapidly Under
Wise Craftsmanship.
The Outlook is Brighter at the Present Time
Than 1t Has Been at Any Period in
lreland's History.

During the past quarter of CEN
tury what a distance we have travers-
ed in Ireland! Just before that time
we seemed to have fallen into
period of something like stagnation
or reaction in the natural conditions
of Ireland SO far as the political and
industrial interests of the country
were concerned. says Justin Mccarthy
in New lrcland.' Gladstonc's Land
bill of 1870 appeared to have been the
last word that British legislation was
inclined to pronounce for the settle
mcnt of til" whole Irish land question.
The measure had just done enough to
open the right path for q settlement,
but according to the general view Of
what was regarded as English Opin-
ion. the path only brought us to the
edge OF Il precipicc. down which eau
tiouS and tmd legislators did not ven
tllrc even to look. Now, even in Eng
land il is generally admitted that the
path only brought us within sight of
the hill, which has to be safely mount
ed in order to reach the level and cX-
pansivc ground of Irclands agrcul-
tural development and prosperity.
Then ut last the whole national feel
ing of the country-I mean, of course,
the whole national feeling of Ireland
WAS reused for the first time, to the
conviction that ireland and her people
must act for themselves if the nation
We're ever to be made supporting
and prosperous. The appeal was
made to Ireland, ana Ireland made
splendid answer to that appeal. The
heart of the country was stirred and
the Irish people were laugh to think
and act for themselves ana to con-
vince their Legislators that the houses
oi parliament mlSt take counsel from
Ireland as Il nation or must make up
their minds to enter on Il period Of
revolution by the influence of the
Land League and the leaders the
whole mass of the Irish population
was brought TO act as one man and
with one spirit.
The Irish people had had since the
union no adequate representation in
the house of commons and virtually
no representation whatever in the
lao, <,r 1,,,.l led, IL.
self did not for a while understand
how utterly inadequate was the Irish
representation in the house of CONF
mons to express the will of the Irish
people. This l know to be the fact;
for Gladstone himself once told me
that he did not see how it was that
while a very small number of Irish
members in the house of commons
professed to speak for the Irish people,
the immense majority Of Irish MEM
bers elected on the very same fran
chsc declared that they alone had
authority to announce the will Of Ire
land and that Ireland wanted none
of the radical reforms to political and
Industrial life for which some half a
dozen Irishmcn in parliament were
pcrtinaciousiy calling. Gladstone, it
need hardly be said, only wanted to
learn the truth, and he was not long
in discovering that the franchise as it
then existed gave no opportunity to
the Irish people to make known their
views through the representative
chamber. There came, therefore, as
the natural result, the introduction of
that lowered franchise, which at once
gave the parliamentary representation
of Ireland into the hands of men
whom Ireland accepted and recogniz-
ed as the exponent of her national
claims. Up to that time the cause Of
Ireland had been represented in par
Lament only by formal motion
brought on every session for home
rule, and another motion introduced
after the same fashion for the estab-
lsllment Of the principle of tenant
right for Ireland. Each of these mo-
tons was the subject of formal and
merely ceremonial debate on the q,les-
ton involved, and then division was
taken which ended, of course, in the