The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-01

with Q Conservative minority upset Q
Liberal Government. Much less could the
Lords be expected 10 ratify a proposal 10
place Ireland on the footing Of the Cana
dian Dominion or the Australian Common
wealth. because then Ireland could not be
taxed at all and the Imperial Government
could exercise over It only a purely nomi-
nal authority. In fact, Ireland under such
circumstances could, and doubtless would,
follow Canada's example and impose aduty
on imports from Great Britain. The asser-
ton ofsuch a right, although as reasonable
.on one side Of the Atlantic "a the other,
would OF course strike British Unionists
with horror.
II, on the other hand, the bill which
Chief Secretary Bryce is engaged in
framing should amount simply to an
extension Of the facilities for individual
independence and local self-rule already
granted TO Ireland, we feel by no means
certain that tine House OF Lords might
not suffer it to become a law. II is,
after all, to Unionists that Irishmen owe
the local government act, whereby the
Nationalist, who constitute four-fifths
Of the population. now exercise in
fOur-dfths Of the counties the functions
formerly monopolized by a Protestant
minority. To them also is due, as we
have said, the Wyndham land purchase
act, which, although it is thought to
have enabled landlords to drive a hard
bargain, promises to put an end to land
lo1dsuro NJ. npCOx~,On @ost;0oA that IN
n coupty, Wexford, all the agricultural
land has already been taken up by peasant
proprietors, and he expresses.t the opinion
that within ten or fifteen years the tenants
ought to wi the land they till all over the
island. The change in the condition OF
the mass Of the Irish population since the
Land League was founded twenty-seven
years ago is indeed amazing. Very little
of the change can be attributed to any
voluntary philanthropic concession on
the part of the British Government. II
we except the Gladstone land act OF 1881,
every one OF those concessions has been
extOrted by the pressure exerted by the
Irish Nationalist party, which since the
general election Of December, 1885, has
sent from eighty TO eighty-six representa-
tives to the House Of Commons.
The attitude of the House Of Lords
toward Ireland is at present sensibly
different from what it was in 1885 or 1898.
At those dates many members Of that
body we're Irish landlords, and as such
were, or supposed themselves to be,
pecuniarily interested in opposing home
rule. Now they are rapidly ceasing,
and soon will have wholly ceased, to W
any agricultural land in Ireland. A
question which before seemed vital is
fast tending 10 become in their eyes
sentimental, and ever academic. When
the pocket is no longer touched they
may be inclined to listen to logic, and
logic suggests that having allowed
Irish Nationalists to become supreme
in county government they ought to
round out the system by granting them
at least considerable influence in the
central administration of the island.
That has been the position maintained
consistently by Under Secretary Sir
ANTONY MAcDoENELL, and the appoint
ment of that Official was in a measure
countenanced, as Mr.. O'CoNNoR points
out, by Lord LANsDowNE, who lately
was Secretary for Foreign Affairs and
who is now the Conservative leader in
the House Of Lords.
Under all the circumstances il seems
possible that the House of Lords might
acquiesce in a bill s~uperseding Castle
Government by a central administra-
tive council in which Irish Nationalists
should exercise an influence fully or
nearly proportionate to their numerical
strength.