The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-11-04


Home Rule bill and has been work.
ing hard, and at the same time an
other committee, appointed by the
government and consisting of finan-
cial experts, has been studying the
very vexed question of the financial
relations between England and Ire
land with view to preparing the
ground for the final settlement of the
complex questions of finance in the
Home Rule bill.
BY a curious chance the dominating
figure of this latter committee is an
Irish Bishop, DR.. Kelly, the bishop Of
Ross. The diocese of Ross is one of
the small dioceses in Ireland, and it's
bishop up to the time he was raised
to the mitre, had been simply a col
lege professor and was apparently
unknown outside clerical circles. But
when William O'Brien and Mr..
Wyndham created the disastrous fin
ance of the Wyndham land act - a
Ii1SoouAC I1lhC AAoo lllC piiSS VI
land in Ireland more than so per cent
DR. Kelly began to write criticisms
in the Freeman's Journal, which, by
their masterly array OF figures, let
the world know that there was very
fine financial mind in the Irish Eps-
copate. When Ireland was asked for
la financial expert who would discuss
the complex financial questions, mems
minds turned to this admirable CO.
gent and practical thinker, and thus
the curious contradiction has come
that in a question OF business, the in
terests of Ireland are largely entrust-
ed to a cleric.
Measure irish or Federal?
! I have as yet no inside knowledge
i of what the committee Of the cabinet
on Home Rule is doing, but | have
myself been thinking over some of
/ the many very complex problems
with which the new measure will have
to deal. And first there is the pre-
liminary difficulty Of whether the
measure shall be strictly Irish or
shall be federal. That is question
which presents many difficulties. Fed
eral Home Rule has been the policy
OF the Irish party e;sr since the days
of Isaac Butt; that is to say, Home
Rule all round with regard to local
affairs in the Kingdoms OF England,
Scotland and Wales, as well as Of
Ireland, with all imperial parliament
to deal exclusively with imperial af-
fairs, in which the four countries
would have their proportionate repre-
sentation. This would be on the same
lines as the constitutions either Of
the United States or Canada; that is
to say, local legislature for local al
fairs, a common parliament for ma
tional affairs.
+, But the problem before the min
istry is whether they should propose
a complete and symmetrical scheme
all at once of extending local self
government to the other three coun-
tries as we'll as to Ireland, or whether
they shall propose bill dealing first
with the question of Ireland alone,
but at the same time so framing the
bill that it could easily be extended
to the other countries in due time.
On the whole, my own strong opinion
is that the only possible and prac-
tical course is to deal with Ireland
first and alone. The English people
|remain a conservative, cautious and
moving people, averse to great and
sudden political change, far more
ready to deal with questions piece
meal than with the symmetrical and
logical completeness that appeals sc
much to Frenchmen. And think
any scheme, therefore, which pro
posed such vast change in the
whole fabric of the imperial parlia
ment as Home Rule all round, and al
that at once, would be destined tc
failure.
Army General to Enter Monastery,