THE IRISH QUESTION.
(TO THE EDITOR Or THB " SPICUDATOR.1
Sin,—Two things specially strike me in the speeches of your politicians about Ireland. One is that they never appear to have studied Irish character in the United States, where it probably displays itself most freely, and most plainly fore. shows what those people, left to themselves politically and industrially, would do. The other thing is that no attempt is made to forecast what the state of Ireland, left to herself, would be. I say left to herself, and I presume nobody is so simple as to believe that you could effectually control after separation that which you fail to control under the Union. On the probable position of Ulster, with power in the hands of the Celtic and Catholic majority, no thought is bestowed. The politicians and the priesthood would at the start be united. What the politicians are may be gathered from the lively work of Mr. O'Connor; and I had myself a glance at them when I was associating with the Peelites, some of whom were at one time rather inclined to a flirtation with the Irish. But the politicians are personally open to the critical and scientific influences of the age. The Catholic priesthood of Ireland and the priesthood of French Canada are, I should think, about the two best things that Roman Catholicism has to show. Bat I know Maynooth. One of its Principals was my very dear friend. The educa- tion is—at least it was when I was a guest in the College— extremely narrow, and likely in the end to breed antagonism between the priesthood and the laity, especially if these new Universities are "Modernist," which they can hardly fail to be. Moreover, if I mistake not, the demands of the Church upon the national purse are beginning to be felt. What would become of Ulster, who can tell ? It is not unlikely that, abandoned by you to her enemies, as abandoned evidently she will be, she will become, and deservedly, your bitterest foe. Why are not the Irish Home-rulers called upon to say precisely what it is they demand, and especially in what relation the Irish Home-rule Parliament is to stand to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, instead of being allowed, as they are, to draw concession after concession out of an English party, keeping their ultimate object veiled P—I am,
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