The Irish standard., 1905-04-08

The speech of Mr.. John Redmond 1,
at the st. Patrick's Eve Banquet in |
London was opportune and necessary, |
says the Dublin Weekly Freeman.
1t will recall the Liberal Party to the |
consideration of the Irish question. It |
dealt with Lord Rosebery's final re-
cantation of his faith in the principle |
of national self-goverment within the
Empire. Every man is liable to
change his opinions as result of ex-
perience and larger knowledge. But
that is not how Lord Rosebery arrived
at the turning of his coat. If Home
Rule meant dual system at the heart
of the Empire in 1905, 1t meant the
same thing in 1886 and 1898. At those
dates Lord Rosebery denounced in the
most vehement language those who
described Home Rule as separatism,
and defended the policy as one of real
Imperial conciliation and concentra-
tion. Again, if County Local Govern
ment is a fair alternative to and sub
stitute for Home Rule, it was equally
so in 1892, when the Unionist Party
put it forward as their alternative
policy to be denounced by Lord Rose
berry. What has changed? Not the
political facts; not, we venture to say,
Lord Rosebery's perception of those
facts. The change is in Lord Rose
bery's view of what suits Lord Rose.
bery's book.
He is as bad judge of his own in
terests as of his Party's interest.
Neither his own nor the Liberal for
tunes can be served by such an ex-
ample of tergiversation as he has CIV
en-. To pretend that Home Rule means
dualism in Imperial affairs and weak:
ness in the Empire is, of course, tc
ignore the patent facts of the greatest
of existing powers. There is no dual
ism at Berlin though King reigns
and Parliament meets at Munich.
There is no dualism at Washington
though New York State governs itself,
and in North Carolina President
Roosevelt cannot even direct the mi
litia. If there is trouble at Vienna
it is a lesser trouble than would be
caused by an attempt to deal with
Hungary on Pitts principles. The
Austrian empire may dissolve. But
its dissolution will not have been hast
ened by Home Rule, but delayed by
it. The absurd argument that county
government is a substitute for self
government in national affairs imposes
not even on it's original authors-the
Tories. They have outgrown it; and
only in Belfast is there to be found
a faction that believes the Local Gov
erment Act of 1898 to have settled
the Government of Ireland question.
Mr.. Wyndham has been caught in
vestigating the further problem that
has to be solved. In the desperate
emergency in which Toryism finds it.
self he had to be sacrificed. But is
there a sane politician who believes
that the Castle Government of Ireland
is satisfactory or that any reform is
possible that does not make that Gov
ernment responsible to the Irish
people? Yet this is the moment that
Lord Rosebery selects to read his re-
cantation. It was just as auspicious
as the moment chosen to denounce the
Treaty with France. The truth is that
Lord Rosebery has ceased to be a
representative of any party. He was
never a Liberal His confession that
he thought London Local Government
a leap in the dark showed how little
he believed in free institutions. His
opposition to Sir William Harcourt's
finance proved his unsoundness on one
of the chief doctrines of Liberal
creed BY his support Of the miser-
able South African League and his
relations with Mr.. Cecil Rhodes he
revealed the Machiavellian character
of his Imperialism. The worst reac:
tionaries are those who join pro.
gressive party in order to act as the
clog upon the wheels of progress and at
the critical moment to upset the coach.