LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
HOME-RULE IN IRELAND.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
EIR,—A conversation I had lately with a gentleman who is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, a Home-ruler and member of the Land League, contained two remarkable admissions, which ought not to be lost sight of just now. One was, that when Irish aspirations are satisfied and Home-rule established, there may be grave disturbances, and even civil war, for two or three years. "No young country," he remarked, "became settled all at once, but things would quiet down in time, and Ireland would be a nation," &c. Are we not reminded of the line : "He makes a solitude and calls it peace "? Again, when asked about giving Ireland a Local Government, his reply was: —" Not for worlds ! Every village tyrant would be on these Boards, and life would be intolerable." He went on to explain that the Parliament in Dublin would gradually get the best men, and would view everything dispassionately from their exalted position, under the gaze of the world, but that we could never trust any subordinate Board or Council, and, in fact, that such a Council would never work fairly between man and man. Such admissions as these do not require
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