The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-02-21
English MisruIe in ireland.

EHBllSH WISfuI6 III lTGldIlU.
ONE of the eastern dailies hav
been sending special correspond
y ents to Ireland to investigate tn
condition of affairs there. The Ameri
can reporter finds a strange contras
in the distinction or complete separa
ton between the government and tn
people. Accustomed to our form o
government, which exists for the PEG
pies benefit, and depends for continu
ance on our national prosperity, the!
find it strange anamoly to have al
this reversed in Ireland. What II
termed a government in that countr!
is simply a class of officials, appointed
by the English ministry. They have
nothing in common with the people
no interests in the country, and are
| consequently, Indifferent to the wants
of the people, to whom they are more
or less strangers. Any claim to a share
in the public funds for internal inn
f! provements is disregarded, or if grant
ed, as is rarely the case, it is consid-
! cred IN act of munificence on the part
of the government, which reigns SUI
| preme.
! A change of political power in Eng
| land does not mean a change in the
government of Ireland. With the eX-
ception of the lord lieutenant, the sec
! rotary and lord chancellor, who are
subject to a change, all other officials
to whom is entrusted the executive
work are irremovable. These vested
rights gentlemen manage public af-
fairs as they would their own private
interests. Nor do they fail to preserve
the old traditions of penal days.
The affairs of the counties, which
should be in the hands of the people,
are directed and administered by the
grand jurors who are chosen by the
sheriffs who in turn are appointees of
the lord lieutenant. This mode of ap-
pointment so repelfant to free govern
ment begets class distinctions. Hence
invariably grand jurors are chosen
from the landlords. Their duties are:
First, to consider bills for damages
caused by crimes. or any malicious
mischief. Secondly, they have full
control of all highways and public
buildings and are empowered to levy
taxes for same. The expenditure Of
this tax, which runs up in the mil
lions of dollars annually, is entirely
at the disposal of the grand jurors. The
people, who pay the taxes, have no
voice in the disposal of it.
Only in one instance are the people
allowed to vote into office their repre-
sentatives and that is in the direction
and maintenance of hospitals and aims
houses. Even this privilege is curtailed,
as the government reserves the right
of appointing an equal number of
magistrates as those duly elected. All
the detailed work is done by the repre-
sentatives of the people, but in the
disbursing of money, the government
officials take an active part. Home
government is confined to this solitary
privilege, and small though it is, the
general government interferes with its
administration, by debating the
amount of tax that is to be levied, and
prescribing the kind of food the in
mates of these institutions are to get.
Three commissioners appointed by the
lord lieutenant, and known as the local
government board carry out the legal
enactments of the imperial parliament.
Their power is unlimited, and all the
accounts must receive the official sane
ton; they can compel the chairman to
pay items of which he does not APP
prove This would be equivalent to
the government in Washington pre-
scribing for our county commissioners,
the food that should be given to the
inmates of the county infirmary.
What is designated as public works
shows the inadequacy, of not the
injustice, of English administration
in Ireland more than anything
else, and when viewed from the
American standpoint, where people
will not allow any interference
with self government, the injustice be-
comes more apparent. The building of
canal, the construction of railroad,
or public highway, or the deepening or
embankment of rivers for certain emer-
gencies, the establishment of water
works for town or city can not be I'M
dertaken without a special act of par
lament. The amount annually spent
seldom exceeds $4,000. whilst the year
ly revenue raised from Ireland for the
crown, is nearly $36,O0O,OOO Seeing the
gross injustice done it is not surpris-
ing that local correspondents of some
of our enterprising journals should
condemn English administration in Ire
land. What parliament can not attend
to is looked after by boards, whose
members are not, in sympathy with the
people. When the people demand some
rights, they are accused of being aei-
tators, and to remedy the supposed
evil, coercion is proclaimed Until our
big dailies sent special correspondents
TO ireland to study the different phases
OF the government and the governed.
the American people were unable to