The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-12-30

1S@A ASSAPS4s~SAo
need or even want it. In other words
If all that is healthy in the patient
battles desperately. and not in vain
first against irritant poison, and then
against soporific drugs. this healthy
struggle for preservation is at
tributed not to native vitality, but to
the bracing regiment of coercive gov
eminent.
Underlying all is nervous terror
of the abuse of freedom, founded on
the assumption that men will continue
to act when free exactly as they acted
under the demoralizing influence of
coercion. The British Empire has
grown, and continues to grow, in spite
of this deeply rooted political uoc.
her proximity to the seat of power
has exposed her for centuries to an
application of the doctrine in it's most
extreme form. and without any hope
of escape through the merciful acci-
dents to which more fortunate com.
munities owe their emancipation.
The Case of Canada.
Canada owes her position in the
Empire, and the Empire itself exists
in it's present form today, because OF
the accident that the transcendantly
important principle Of responsible
Government advocated by Lord Dur.
ham as remedy for the. anarchy and
stagnation in which he found both the
British and the French Provinces OF
Canada in 1888 did not require inn
perial legislation, and was established
without the parliamentary or electoral
sanction of Great Britain. Lord Dur
ham was derided as visionary, and
abused as unpatriotic for the asser-
ton of this simple principle"
Mr.. Childers then describes in fore
ible and direct language the effect Of
comforting self-government on Can
ada, and to what it has led.
He then delivers a severe blow to
the Ulster Unionists. He says 1.-THE
real paradox is that any Irishman,
Unionist or Nationalist. should toler-
ate advisers who howevev sincere and
patriotic, avowedly regard Ireland as
the parasite of Great Britain; who ap-
peal to the lower nature of her peo-
pie; to the fears of ore section, and
the cupidity of both; advising Union
ie,te, tn, Dit ,l>
Irishmen on British aims.
"A day will come when the HUI
initiation will be seen in its true light.
Even now l do venture to appeal to
that small but powerful group of
moderate Irish Unionsts who, SO far
from fearing revenge or soliciting
charity, spend their whole lives in the
noble aim of uniting Irishmen of all
creeds on a basis of common endeavor
Cor their own economic and spiritual
salvation; who find their work check
petual maintenance Of a seemingly
barren and sentimental agitation; who
distrust both the parties to this agi-
tation, but who are reluctant to accept
the view that. without the satisfac-
ton of the national claim and with
out the national responsibility there
by conferred, their own aims can
never be fully attained.
Mr.. Childers pleads for a dispas-
sionate consideration of Irelands claim
on it's merits. He says: Party pas
sion invariably discourages patient
constructive thought, and all legisla-
ton associated with 1t suffers in con-
sequence. Tactical consideration,
sometimes altogether irrelevant to the
In the case of Home Rule, when the
balance of parties is positively deter
mined by the Irish vote. the difficulty
reaches it's climax. 1t is idle to blame
individuals. We should blame the UNI
ion. So long as one island democracy
claims to determine the destinies of
another island democracy, of whose
special needs and circumstances it is
admlttedly ignorant so long Will both
islands suffer-"
Irish Electorate Competent.
Mr.. Childers says that even the Irish
Unionists are to realize at last that
the British electorate feels that the
Irish electorate is competent to de-
hide Irish questions and adds: "Some
LAY we shall all marvel in retrospect
that the union was so long sustained
. by a separatist argument. reinforced
in latter days by such an inconsist-
ent and unconscionable claim.
IF they are to have Home Rule,
Irish Unionists-even those who now
most heartily detest twill want the
best possible scheme of Home Rule,