MR. FORSTER AT TULLAMORE. 46 B ETTER late, than never," is
a maxim of which Ireland is destined, we hope, to verify the truth in relation to more than one excellent and potent policy ; but hitherto, we have undoubtedly been compelled in her case rather to see the force, if not the absolute truth, of the lamentable cry," Too late, too late 1 you cannot enter now." We urged last autumn, that far more important than any coercion would be the at- tempt of English statesmen to traverse Ireland, explaining Mr. Gladstone's policy and the feeling of the English people towards the Irish people, face to face, so as to undermine the trust placed in those crafty and evil counsellors whom it is of very little use to shut up in Kilmainham, when shutting them up in Kilmainham only adds to the confidence which so many of the Irish people place in them. We believe that if as soon as the Liberal Government came in, the line of action had been adopted which Mr. Forster so admir- ably began on Monday at Tullamore, and had been adopted not merely by himself, but by a considerable group of English Liberals, large enough to " stump Ireland," we should have had no need for the Coercion Act, and a very sensible diminu- tion of that popular hatred and distrust which the Coercion Act has so greatly stimulated. The Irish are a suspicious people. They are constantly told by their misleaders that every good thing which England does for Ireland is extorted by fear, and they believe it when they see little or nothing in person of those who confer this good, and see a great deal of those who, with every expression of scorn and contempt, assure them that the political connection with England is the source of all their misery, and that they will never be happy till they cast off what- these men are pleased to represent as the English yoke. Personal contact powerfully affects the Irish, who, even when they read, read papers which only echo what their own Land-leaguers tell them • and hitherto, their personal contact with politicians has been almost entirely confined to the harangues of the Land-leaguers or the predecessors of the Land-leaguers, who had no object so much at heart as to misrepresent and slander the purpose of the English Government. We do not feel any doubt at all that ten or twelve leading Liberals, with clear heads and a tongue in those heads, might have done more by stumping Ireland daring these last two years —with the Land Act to illustrate what the speakers meant, when they spoke of the policy of the present Government,—than all the Coercion Acts ever carried. Mr. Forster has, however, now made a brilliant beginning, and a beginning which we will still venture to hope is " better late, than never." Let us trust that it will be as brilliantly followed
np,—it cannot be followed up without very efficient aid, for Mr. Forster has something mach more important to do than speech-making, either in England or Ireland,—and if it is, we will answer for it that the condition of Ireland will begin to show light at last. It is the utter disbelief in- English public feeling and political sympathy, much more than distrust of the actual English policy, which keeps Ireland so sullen and furious. Let that disbelief be removed, and the Irish problem would soon be not only soluble, but solved.
Mr. Forster's speech was admirable, not only for its tone of sympathy, but for its tone of honest indigna- tion. It is noticeable that the moment Mr. Forster said anything complimentary of the physical courage of the Irish, the scoff of "soft sawder " burst out from his one opponent in the crowd ; but when he reproached the Irish vigorously for their want of moral courage, and said that outrages of the kind committed in Ireland,—outrages such as brought that blue and livid light on poor Morony's face which proved too truly the omen of death,—could not be com- mitted in England or Scotland without arousing all society against them,—when he declared that the Irish Government, the English Parliament, the whole British people, and more than all, the laws of God, were the forces with which the midnight ruffians had to fight, there was no dissent even from the one scoffer. He was listened to even more respectfully when he spoke his mind frankly on the dastardly character of these outrages, and again when he said that it mattered very little whether the people who were listening to him thought well of him or not, than he was when he was de- claring his sympathy for Ireland, and his determination to render cruel evictions difficult, and the loss by a farmer of all the fruits of his own improvements impossible. The Irishmen believed him when he told them what he thought of their political crimes, and respected him for telling his thoughts. They saw there a specimen of the moral courage in which Mr. Forster truly said that they were deficient, and they must have felt that nothing really cuts at the root of malevolent suspicion like the display of moral courage. One reason why we believe that a stumping of Ireland by English statesmen would be of so much use is, that the present deep-seated suspicion of England could not at least wholly survive so genuine an exhibition of moral courage as that which Mr. Forster gave at Tullamore. It is impossible to indulge secret suspicions of those whom you see day after day finding fault freely, as well as freely admitting the fault which is to be found with themselves or those whom they represent, and dis- cussing frankly with you the grounds of the bitterness dis- played on either side. Make the Irish feel that the English statesmen are co-operating heartily with Irish statesmen for the good of Ireland, are not conceding anything to fear, and are as willing to tell home-truths as to hear them, and even the deep roots of their suspiciousness will begin to die away. One much more certain, though, no doubt, much less import- ant, result of the course of action which Mr. Forster commenced in his speech at Tullamore, will be its good effect on English con- stituencies. The English people have been bewildered by the little result of the new Irish policy of the Government, and have begun to suspect that there is no real point of contact between English policy and the Irish people at all. Such speeches as Mr. Forster's, listened to as Mr. Forster's speech at Tullamore was listened to, will do infinitely more than anything else to remove that impression. Note the effect which the reading of that speech had on almost every English politician. There was a sort of sigh of relief given by the readers, and more than one of them might have been heard to mutter, " That is the way to get at Ireland I If he would only go on like that, he would bring over the Irish people more effectually than even by beneficent legislation itself."
What has been felt very deeply is, that the more we have done for Ireland, the wider has seemed to grow the gulf be- tween the politicians of the two countries. Such speeches as Mr. Forster's, received with the sort of respect with which Mr.
Forster's speech•was received, must undermine that fatal sense of political despair more than anything else could undermine it.
Here we see a beginning of something like mutual understand- ing between the people of Ireland and the people of England, —a beginning of that force of persuasion which alone can ultimately reunite the two countries, by convincing the Irish that the English do not hate them, and do wish to be understood by them, as well as to understand them, as equals are understood by and understand equals. Let English con- stituencies believe heartily that that work is begun, and they will be patient with the Irish policy of the Government, whereas they were beginning to get impatient. Mr. Forster has taken the first effectual step towards this mutual under, standing. We believe that it will do great good in Ireland, if properly followed up. We are sure that it will do great good in England, and secure for the Government that patient confidence of which there is most need.
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