The Irish standard., 1907-03-09

II u very BTdslyluSs dHQ 30 4er eatls.
factory, to find that at the recent OPEN !
ing of tho British parliament on the
very first day Of the session, Prime
Minister Campbell-Banne thought
st his duty to once again place on rec
ord in unmistakable language dec.
laration of his policy Of Home Rule
for Ireland, says the Irish World. Here
are Sir Henry's words on the subject
"My view has been made as clear as
day again and again in and out OF the
House. The whole point is this: Are
you prepared to deny that the Irish
people are entitled to manage their
own domestic affairs so long as they
do not interfere with ours, and so long
az nothing is done to infringe the su-
prsmacy Of parliament, and therefor
the solidity Of the connection between
the three countries? It does not make
any difference whatever In the solidity
Of the empire that the irish people
should have what every self-govern-
Ing colony llas-ths power Of manag-
ing their own affairs. That is the
larger policy Of which have spoken.
What desire, although it may not be
possible or desirable to do it all at
once. is this: Let US remove the more
obviously Objectionable features in the
present system, and let us do it in such
a way as to be consistent with the
adoption Of that larger policy. do not
think need say more. There is no am
biguity whatever about it. It might be
possible to improve the administration
Of Dublin Castle by sending over one
or two picked administrators, but that
would be concentration Of adminis-
tration. What We want to do is to
enlist the support Of the Irish people.
and, for my part, I shall not be too
fastidious or too critical as to the par
ticular manner in which that is done
50 long as it is an honest and effective
scheme for bringing the Irish people
into play in the management Of their
own affairs
The day after this statement of the
governments Irish policy was made,
that il, on the second day Of the ses-
sion, the new chief secretary Of Ire
land, Mr. Birrell, gave formal notice
that "at an early date" he will intro
duce a bill "to improve the government
Of Ireland" And i'll a speech in the
House Oh the same day, replying to
Mr.. Long, he reiterated his own and
the prime minister's belief in Home
Rule by observing that: "The prime
minister, like myself, is perfectly sat-
isfled that ultimately the only solution
that will give satisfaction to the great
majority Of the population Of Ireland
will be what is generally called Home
Rule parliament. Therefore, he says
he would never make himself respon-
sible for any measure that would be
in any way likely to obstruct or to in
terfere with the fulflment OF those
hopes"
The Mr.. Long above mentioned was
chief secretary for Ireland under the
Tories at the time Of their resignation
from Office before the last general elec-
tion. Though not an Irishman, he is at
present the leader Of the Ulster Tory
contingent in the House Of Commons,
that party not having among them
selves a man Of sufficient brains to lead
them. This English leader Of men
claiming to be Irish made a speech
against Home Rule in which, cfaallens-
ing the assertion of John Redmond that
the poverty of Ireland is due to Brit
isl rule, he (A1r. Long) claimed that
the prosperity of Ulster under the
Union proved that Mr.. Redmond's con-
tention was untenable."
This Is q very old and oft and easily
refuted argument against Home Rule
the Ulster prosperity" argument. Ul-
stsr 10 prosperous under British gov