The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1907-08-31

rising which began in May, 1898. was
suppressed in torrents of blood and in
untold horrors which are only family
depicted in the self-revelation of the
CORVALLIS Correspondence. 1t was not
till the late autumn of 1898 that the
question Of the Union was even
preached.
Grattan was absent from parliament
when his great and comprehensive gen.
ius and knowledge of affairs would
when Joined with the hold he possessed
over much that was best and purest in
irish life. have been likely to save the
situation. The Union measure, whep
first introduced into the Irish House
OF Commons, was rejected. If Grattan
had been there, the man who had been
able to inspire the Volunteer Move
ment twenty years previously would
have been able to prevail in the Shaving
off Of ruin from his country. He would
have devised some method of counter
acting the Government in their remod-
cling of the House Of Commons with
out a General Election by an abuse Of
the Place Bill. whereby members OPP
posed to the Union were obliged by the
ination boroughs for which they sat
to resign their seats, which were i'm
mediately filled by Unionists, many of
whom were English officers with no
stake or interest in the country. He
would likewise have been able to bring
pressure from without to bear upon the
corruption within the Parliament; and,
instead Of a Union with England, he
would probably have secured the re-
form Of parliament and the complete
emancipation of the Catholics. When
indeed. Grattan returned to the House
of Commons. in January. 1900. the Irish
Parliament had been mortally stabbed
and was beyond all recovery. Had he
remained in that Parliament instead of
abandoning it in 1897, it is not too
much to say that the Parliament which
was destroyed in 1900 would have, In
that very year. been reformed by the
destruction of the rotten boroughs, the
extension OF the franchise, and the ad-
mission Of the Catholics to complete
civil and religious equality with their
Protestant fellow countrymen. Mr.,
Gladstone. In an article on Sheridan,
IN the Nineteenth Century" for June,
1896, has placed on record his sense
Of the weakness and Of the folly of a.
secession from Parliament, even when
matters look their darkest Much more,
no doubt, would he have condemned
such a course, when the certainty Of
success was assured. In treating Of
the passing of the Union mea sure in
| the English Parliament he contrasts
thus the conduct Of our great country
man. Sheridan who fought to the last
with that of Fox, who Seeded" THE
grand occasion on which Sheridan is
found in occupation Of a separate DO
ntical position is that of the Irish
. Union. Mr. Fox completely united with
Sheridan in condemning the enactments
= OF such union in defiance of the sense
OF the Irish people found in secession
from the House of Commons a conven-
lent cover for his silence. and thereby.
OF course, diminished both in numbers
and in credit the small residue of these
who stuck to their guns At their head
was that true and brave and also wise
politician. whose position on the page
OF that final historical record we are
now considering. He resolutely fought
the battle. though supported by minor
tiles which were numerically little bet
ter than ridiculous. But the insieni6-
cree of his resistance. as measuroa
o. merely external criterion, is the
tru> measure of its moral grandeur
His work would have been an easv ona
IN comparison had he been sustained
oy such volleys Of cheering as sounded
forth from the crowded benches of the
Ministerial side. The truest test of =,
statesman's worth is to be SOUGHT and
round IN the conduct he pursues under
the pressure of adversely, and m
statesman can better stand the ann,,-
cation of that test than Sheridan IN
the occasion of the Irish Union" Mr.
Gladstone in letter to myself in refer
! ence TO the Parliamentary secession q,
FOX and of Grattan. said: "Fox's n,an
OF withdrawal provided him with an
excuse, and very bad one. We are al,
m'sied in our judgments by our in
chnations. and I think Foxs se,f-in,
posed exile was gross case of e.
Grattan saw his error and retrieved :, +.
The error of Grattan was M do,h+
as Mr.. Gladstone says "retrieved +" h,,
retrieved" too late to save 1ro,a ~
from the horrors Of 'ss and tho a.
0tSUCSl6n