THE CAUSE OF THE IRISH IMBROGLIO.
[TO THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."]
Snt,—Is not the ultimate cause of the present Irish difficulty to be sought in the want of any real sense of responsibility on the part of both governors and governed ? The Parlia- mentary leaders of the Liberal Party have, it seems clear, pressed forward Home Rule, not so much from any strong personal conviction of its intrinsic expediency, as from the belief that Liberals throughout the country are in favour of it, that, as would appear from recent general elections, it is also desired by a decided majority of the whole body of electors, and that, in short, Home Rule " must come." The electors, on their part, have voted Liberal, partly from the force of habit, partly through preoccupation with other questions of less vital importance to the State, and partly from a general notion that the Liberal Party is devoted to the interests of the working classes. They—the electors—do not take much interest in the Irish problem, and refuse to trouble their heads about the probable consequences of Home Rule or the difficulty of carrying it into effect, which they regard as the affair of the Government. The result is that there is no adequate sense of responsibility anywhere. Is there any remedy for such a state of things P It happens to be created, or at least rendered possible, by that divorce between the power of deciding and the duty of executing which is a characteristic of the democratic form of government.—I am, Sir, &c., Civzs.
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