The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-02-25

great conference which assembled at
the Rotunda, in Dublin, on the 18th,
18th, goth and 21st of November,
1873. There the basis of Home Rule
was laid down, and, for the first time,
Repeal of the Union was formally and
definitely abandoned by the rep-esen-
tatives of the Nationalist of Ireland,
and Federal Union proposed. From
that date until now thirty-seven years
have elapsed, and the demand put for
ward by Isaac Butt has never been in
substance varied, and remains today
the demand Of the Irish people. Glad
ent with general scheme by Federal
ism; and his bill Of 1898, by the re-
tention of Irish members at Westmin-
ster, would have created a new Irish
constitution ready, there and then, to
form part of a general federal
scheme whenever that system might
come into existence.
The Demand Put Forward by ParneIl
Has Not Changed.
The article makes quotations from
resolutions passed at Butts meetings,
and from his speeches in proof Of this
statement. From this Mr.. Redmond
passes to Parnells clear and full &C
ceptance of the Federal scheme, and
quotes in support an interview with
Parnell, a speech delivered by him on
the Home Rule Bill of 1886, and his
letter to Mr.. Cecil Rhodes when ac-
cepting Mr.. Rhodes subscription of
$4,000.
Mr.. Redmond concludes his article
as follows:-I claim to have shown by
these, citations, first, that the Federal
idea TO: a settlement of the Home Rule
Question, so fa- from being new, dates
from the year 1882, and that so far
from such settlement being incon-
sistent with what is called "Parnellitc
Home Rule" it would be quite consist
emit with every demand ever put for
ward by Parnell or his SUCCESSORS.
The one thing essential for us to
be perfectly clear about is this: that,
while we are willing that our new
constitution should be SO framed as to
fit in readily with q general system of
Federalism later on, we must get our
constitution at once, and must not be
asked to wait until the other portions
of the United Kingdom have made up
their minds to obtain Parliaments for
themselves. In England know Of no
such desire for Home Rule at all,
which is perhaps quite natural, consid-
ering the fact that England possesses
an overwhelming and permanent ma
jority in the existing Parliament at
Westminster. To ask Ireland, there
land, Scotland, and Wales were all
ready to enter into q Federal arrange
ment would be preposteroua Ours is
the most urgent case. For Ireland it
is a matter Of life and death, and we
cannot wait. Subject to this consider
alton, / repeat we have no objection
whatever to what is called Federalism,
which, In reality, is nothing more no-
less than we have been demanding for
ireland for thirty years. We stand,
therefore, where Parnell stood" Par
nell stood where Isaac Butt stood,
and Isaac Butt stood where O'Connell
stood when he wrote his famous letter
in 1874
Irelands demand is for full legisla-
tive and executive control Of all purely
Irish affairs, subject to the supreme
authority of the Imperial Parliament.
The statute constituting the new Irish
Parliament must settle the question
Of what are purely Irish affairs. There
fore, that question rests in the hands
OF the present Imperial Parliament.
The retention Of Irish members in tho
Imperial Parliament, and what num-
Der of them should be retained, must
also of course he settled by the I'M
perial Statute. When such an Irish
Parliament as I have indicated has
been created, it will be there, a ready
made portion of any federal system
that Great Britain may create in the
future. Let mo again give a deflni-
ton in as precise and definite words
as possible Of what we mean when
we ask for Home Rule.
We mean an Irish Parliament with
an executive responsible to it, Great
ed by an act of the Imperial Parlia-
ment, and charged with the manage
ment of purely Irish affairs, such as
land, education, local government,
transit labor, industries, taxation for
local purposes, law and Justice, police,
ETC., ETC., ETC.. leaving to the Imperial
Parliament, in which Ireland would
continue to be represented, but prob
ably in smaller numbers, the manage
ment, as at present of all Immortal