The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-05-13
IRISH PROSPECTS AND HOPES.

10 the tasks or government. He ma
muddled the Irish situation until it re
sembles picture that a child ha
thrust his thumb through He ha
seemingly hame little or no attemp
to manage Irish finances economical.
and eciently, and has let the none.
which has come in large measure from
the poor of the country districts sill
through his fingers like the spend
thrift heir of a sorrowful house.
The fall, resignation or dismissal. al
it is variously described, of Chief Sec
retary Wyndham Is principal topit
of political interest in both England
and Ireland. When taking office, Mr.
| Wyndham invited the aid and coop
GRAFTON of Sir Antony MacDonnell, al
1rishman. a Catholic. and, if not
! Home Ruler. at least a strong Liberal
with sympathetic opinions for ireland
and an earnest desire to do what III
could for his native country. MacDon.
nell had held several important govern
norships in India. and had refused the
governorship of Bombay with a salary
of 10000 pounds to take the undersecre-
| taryShip in Ireland on the express
terms that he was to have a free hand
and TO be a colleague rather than a
| subordinate of the Chief Secretary. Re-
/ form of the laIIG system. of education
of taxation, of the administrative and
| unrepresentative boards through which
| Ireland is governed. were the saSiects
| to which he was to address his mind.
! With the knowledge and assent OF both
! the Lord Lieutenant and the Chief
! Secretary. MacDonnell conferred with
| the representatives of the landlords,
! the Catholic Bishops, the obstructive
| Orange faction, the Nationalists-in
fact, with all whose advice or opposi-
tion was likely to help or hinder re-
form. Prime Minister Balfour had been
! an assenter to the terms of MacDon-
nelfs appointment and cognizant of his
actions; but when MacDonnelrs con-
duct was questioned in Parliment. both
Prime Minister and Chief Secretary
first denied, then euuivocated. and
finally said that they and the whole
cabinet had censured MacDonnell for
his indefensible conduct
You may as we'll tell the truth be-
fore ii is dra gged out of you" said
John Redmond at an early stage in
these debates. and finally it was told
and confirmed by a frank letter from
the Lord Lieutenant. The Chief Secre-
tary resigned, and has been absent
from Parliment. seriously i'll from de-
rangement of his nerves but the cabi-
net censure of MacDonnell has not been
withdrawn or explained. The Prime
Minister, daily heckled in Parliment as
TO MacDonnells present position and
powers, continues to shuttle, or refuses
to answer plain questions. The ire
conciliable Ulster Orange faction
headed by Lord Londonderry. still call
for MacDonnelrs dismissal. In their
eyes it is intolerable that a Catholic
and a man suspected of Nationalist
sympathies should hold an important
post in the Irish administration. Many
members of the official hierarchy would
like to see MacDonnell ousted on any
grounds. He is determined, in fact
an obstinate man. and one of his duties
was to have been coordination and re-
form of the many boards through
which England governs ireland. In
In India, MacDoDHell is said to have
been unpopular with many of his sub
ordinates for the very sufficient reason
that he expected them to do the work
they We're paid for. If he applies such.
a principle to Irish officials, aboishes
sinecures, and can get competency
made reason for official appointments,
instead of having pull at the Cas-
tie, he will have an army of place
holders and hunters against him.
With the best intentions it would be
impossible for any one in MacDonnell's
position to introduce efficiency into and
effect any real economies in the pres
ent extravagant system of government
in Ireland. There can be no real
economy in administration until the
people of Ireland have the raising and
expenditure of taxes under their own
control. At present, no one wants
economy, because, if money is saved in
one direction, it is misspent i'm another
The revenue raised in Ireland goes into
the English exchequer and funds ex-
pressfy assigned for approved and use
fIIl hax
tinually diverted from such purposes
to other and Objectionable ones in spite
of the protests of the Irish members
AS the money for Irish purposes. good
or bad, useful or useless, is voted in
parliament at Westminster. English
people generally, and some Irish, think
every grant to Ireland is a gift to Ire
land, an act of generosity; this, in
spite of the report of the Royol COM
mission on the financial relations of
England and Ireland that Ireland was
contributing to the English exchequer
three millions sterling year more than
her fair and just proportion. Since that
report was made in 1894, the excess of
1reland's contribution to the Imperial
eXchequer has risen from three to five
millions sterling. Every interest and
industry in the country is neglected,
education is starved. drainage. piers.
narDofS, transit Facilities are neglected.
Every national want and grievance is
freely admitted by the English states
men who rule us, but the stereotyped
reply is, there is no money.
In finance, all that is asked by Irish
men is that, subject to fair contribu-
ton to really imperial purposes. Ire
land shall have the spending of her
own revenue, which is now wasted i'm
the most eXtravagant administration
in Europe. Chief secretaries may come
or go, but the methods of government
remain unchanged. The prime minister
has declared that it would be contrary
to all principles of unionism that the
Irish people should have the manage
ment of their own affairs. He echoed
the behests of a dozen Orange repre-
five Of them being place
holders under the government and the
remainder expectants of place. whose
voices prevail over those cf the eighty
Nationalist members. Ecofficial and
Unionists openly avow
their approval of the Irish amendment |
to the address moved by John Red
mond. This declared that the present |
system of government i'm Ireland is in
opposition to the will of the Irish peo- |
pie, gives them no voice in the manage |
ment of their own affairs, is ineffective |
and eXtravagantly costly, does not en- |
JOY the confidence of any section of the |
population, and is productive of uni |
versal discomfort and unrest; and that |