The Irish standard., 1907-07-06
HOME RULE FAR OFF
A. Review Of the Present Sit
-sP' uation in Ireland.
Unless the People Shout They
Will Never Be Heard.

Under date of June ~ the following
interesting communication from "P. w.
IT, Dublin. Ireland appeared in the
st. Louis Western Watchman:
Before complying with your request
to write a letter on the present situa-
ton in this country have sought to
gather informal ton from more than one
source. Indeed. l have spoken with
farmers. workmen. shopkeepers. with
one magistrate. many priests and an
archbishop, whose name carries weight
wherever it is known; and need hard
" say it is we'll known in America.
AS have said in another letter, Ire
land has a genius of her own, and one
can not and should not judge her by
other countries Even Scotland, which
is Celtic and which is almost in sight
of her north coast is nevertheless en-
tirely different from Ireland. What it
is that makes this difference it is not
easy to say; but it is as real and as
pronounced as it is indefinabe. 1t is
in the atmosphere. and one breathes
It, 1t is in the green lanes, and on the
hills; it is in the fir bushes and by the
holy wells; the birds sing of it and
the lengthy evenings reveal it in the
twilight And there is one thing Ger
tain. England has never understood it,,
much less appreciated it; and l see no
loAt ho
tries UNTIL she comes to it. and think
that she is not coming to it,
1t is now two years since thick fog
settled over Ireland and today the sun
is behind the clouds; certainly the po-
litical sky is not a clear sky. And
while a storm is not predicted, yet it
might be the quickest way of purify
ing the atmosphere Many people have
lost heart and are tired; some are sus-
picious or critical, but anger has not
80 far found expression. Any way. the
popular or Nationalist party has lost
ground. They have not made good
their promises. and so far as l have
been able to observe they surely are
fast losing the confidence of the coun-
try. Things are in a mess. Ability is
conceded to John Redmond, but he is
no Parnell in any sense; nor is he a
Sexton or a Healy. He is boss with
out the practical talent which the word
implies in America. In other words. he
does not deliver the goods. 1t is going
on two years since there was a real
meeting or council of the members of
parliament, whereas Parnell called fire.
quent meetings Of the party. Redmond
with running things and with having
run them in the ground. They put up
and knock down candidates and con-
troll conventions, SO far as they have
conventions in Ireland. The ring en-
tered into a secret alliance. or quasi
alliance with the Liberals and the
council bill recently presented was the
puny offspring of secret meetings with
the cabinet. Campbell Bannerman and
Birrell of the cabinet are honest Home
Rulers, but it is charged here in Dub
lin that Redmond misled them in sc
far as he made them believe that the
bill would be quite satisfactory to the
Irish people. The rank and file of the
party never knew what was in the bill
before it was presented. Any alliance
with any party was against the wishe.
of the electors and it's existence wa:
not known. That a pact did exist has
been let out by Sir Thomas Esmone
in message to the Independent news.
paper in which he said if the bill was
not accepted by the Dublin convention
1T would break up their understand
ing which existed between the Irish
party and the liberals. Immediatel,
before the convention was held Their,
was meeting of the party and it wa!
not until then that Redmond and r
P. O'Connor learned just where the,
stood. Redmond, who had promised
to have the measure adopted, wa
forced to move its rejection For tw,
years Archbishop Walsh has withheld,
his subscriptions to the party fund an,
his approval of its managers
In any event it is certain the lord
would have thrown out the bill. for al
though useless, yet it was drawn up o.
apparent home rule lines, at least in s
u far as. the elective members of the con
templated council were to have bee
chosen after the manner and by tn
same constituents which elect member
to. parliament. About 1900 count
s council bill was passed which create
n q body to take the place of the oil
81 grand jury and I am informed IL tn
new. bill had provided for the selectio
Of trained members from the count
councils for the new council it woul
have been a development of the HON
Il