The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-01-10


that the more Irish activities were d.
verted to their own affairs and away
from England and English affairs, the
better Britons they would be. Fox
we'll expressed the same idea more
than a hundred years ago: II would
have the Irish government regulated
by Irish notions and Irish prejudices.
and l firmly believe, according to an
Irish expression, the more she is under
Irish government the more she will be
bound to English interests" Nor
should we forget Grattan's celebrated
remark: 'If the ocean forbade separa-
ton, the sea denied union''
With an Irish government re-
sponsible to the people of Ireland and
not to the English parliament, the
moral support of the country would
be summoned round the laws, the
courts. the police, the administration.
That support is now wholly lacking.
Laws are obeyed through fear alone,
not through respect The courts are
| not trusted, the executive is hated, it's
police instruments despised. Such
| state of things is simply intolerab]e in
free country and among a people
who have the suffrage and the intelli-
gence to use it.
The best way to solve the political
problem is to solve it once for all, as
the government is now trying to do
with the land problem. Halfway
measures did not settle the land ques-
ton, and they will not settle the po.
litical question. A legislative council
for each of the four provinces was
suggested when it appeared probable
orange and green would clutch at one
another's throats the moment England
put them in legislative pit together.
But that objection seems to have
been removed by the new spirit that
has come over the Irish people.
Thanks to English stubbornness and
delay in settling the land question
Catholic and Protestant have been
brought shoulder to shoulder on that
issue, and we have seen T. w. Russell,
representing the Scotch Presbyterians,
working hand in hand with O'Brien
and Redmond, representing the Roman
Catholics. No one pretends that sec
tartan animosities are dead in Ireland; !;
| If will fn1.n oF ,,cfi
tutions to kill them. But they are ex-
tinct as menace to the success of an
Irish parliamentary government. No
one now fears Catholic oppression of
Protestants through their three -fourths
voting power, and Mr. Russell has be-
come almost, if not quite, home
ruler. In an Irish parliament there
would doubtless be a fair share of
strife and discussion. One may be
sure there would be plenty of rhetoric
and eloquence and lively personalities.
But these are characteristic of parlia-
ments in every free country, and the
institutions survive just the same.
Even more Objectionable than the
j, provincial council is the suggestion of
an Irish parliament within the i'm
, perial parliament at Westminster.
This would not meet the aspirations
of the Irish people, but would distinct.
ly and bitterly disappoint them. Ire.
land wants her parliament to sit on
, the banks Of the Liffey, not on the
Thames. She wants an administration
. directly responsible to that parliament
, She wants to feel the sense of pride
in her government, as her own, dis
tinct and apart from the government
. Of England. Why not ask Canada and
Australia and New Zealand and the
| Cape to ship their parliaments across
the seas and plant them on the banks
, of the Thames?
The British parliamentary system is
r already sufficiently cumbersome, with
! out adding more weight to its load
= AS n domestic and local legislatine
: body it is nearly broken down, and
T; from all sides arise complaints Of ite
: clumsy ineficiency. There is de-
mand not only from Ireland, but from