The San Francisco call., 1909-09-21

In a period of so years. then we and
4s bills for the benefit of the suffering
tenants introduced in the imperial pars
nament. Not a single one of them was
passed. During the same period tba~s
were fe coercion acts, each establish
ing for the time being form OF MAJ
stiaI law which placed the peopIe AZ
the mercy OF magistrates appointed
oy Dublin castle. During the nine
.eenth century there were 81 Of these
Three words fairly describe the
course of the government OF Ireland
curing that century. Corruption brand
ca the so Called union; coercion was
the remedy applied for so years To
economic evils; Cancellation was the
method of the last so years. Corrup
tlon ana coercion have been done away
with 10 large extent, discredited bv
their failure and condemned by pub
Tic opinion Cancellation has accom-
plished much in the way of reform but
II leaves the basic problem of misgov-
ernment unsolved.
PEOPLE DO NOT RULE
Who Cor WHAT rules IreIandys asks
r. Barry O'Brien, in an exhaustive
work recently issued 1T may be the
English cabinet; II may be Dublin cas-
tie; IL may be the Irish boards; ii may
be all three combined; but IL is not the
Irish people"
This Is from an Irish writer, but the
statement is strictly and inpartiallv
true Whatever the government OF Ire
land may be, 1t Is not self government.
The people are ruled by forces over
which they exercise no control which
are really irresponsible. We can take
the testimony of Joseph Chamberlain.
In 1856 he said:
An lrtshman can not. move a stem.
ne can not lift finger in any paro-
chial, municipal or educational work.
without being confronted with. inter-
fered with, controlled by an English
ofncial. appointed by foreign govern
ment, and without a shade or shadow
or representative authority"
We can take the testimony of James
Bryce, once chief secretary for Ireland
now British minister to the United
States. author of The American Com
monwealth-''
The English government in Ire
land, he wrote in 1888, lis still practi-
cally a foreign government 1t seems
to them (the Irish) an external power.
set In motion by forces they do not
control. conducted on principles which
may or may not be good, but which
are not their principles"
These utterances are as true todav
as when they We're written. except that
since 1898 there has been form Of
home rule in strictly local affairs The
root OF the whole matter is that Ire
land is governed by men who are for
efgn In race. religion and political SYM
pathies.
RELIGION A VITAL ISSUE
In ordinary discussion OF this
kind reference to religion would have
no place. but it must be remembered
that the very system inflicted upon Ire
land makes such reference necessary
During the last 100 years from three
fourths to four-hfths OF the peopula-
tion has been Catholic. During that pc
riod there have been 80 lords lieuten-
ant-several having held office more
than once-not one OF whom was a
Catholic; so chief secretaries. not one
Catholic; 20 permanent under secre-
taries. three being Catholics Four OF
the lords lieutenant. seven, of the chief
secretaries and four OF the under secre-
taries have been at least partially sym
pathetic toward the great mass of the
Irish people; the others have been
openly contemptuous Of and antago-
nistic to the race they were appointed
to govern
In the face Of such a record as this.
such a deliberate and long continued
policy of governing a people without
regard to their wishes, 1T is idle TO
protest that the religious element
should be excluded from the discussion.
The religious element was interjected
by England. and for centuries has been
the very foundation of English rule; it
will be eliminated when the religious
test for governmental positions Is
abandoned in practice we'll as in
theory, and when the majority of the
people of Ireland have fair representa-
tion.
This does not mean that the appoint
ment of Catholics TO government ofnces
would solve the problem; in fact. the
- Of Mt % Inv
riably under suspicion. What the Irish
want is Irish appointments Catholic
and Protestant) by an Irish national
government