MUNSTER AND HOME RULE.
[To THR EDITOR OF TICE " SPRCTATOR."1 SIE,—I should like to draw your attention to what I believe to be the present feeling on the Home Rule Bill throughout the south of Ireland. Those who see most of the people, talking to them in confidence on country roads and in their houses, agree that so far from therellbeing any enthusiasm for Home Rule among the rank and file of Nationalists, there is actually a strong and growing fear of it. The country is greatly prospering in a quiet way, and Irishmen are nearer to contentment to-day than ever they have been since Ireland first grew feed for men and cattle. They fear a change, and particularly a change of masters, knowing very well who the new masters are to be. District and County Councils have opened their eyes to the dangers of government by local patriots whose judgment is apt to be continually twisted by importunate adherents, by cousins, brothers, and all the clannish influences of an Irish countryside. And they have learnt the value of officials in Dublin who draw their authority from a distant power sitting in Olympian calm far above the reach of wirepullers in Ballyclonbeg. There may be a few enthusiastic patriots who still believe that national regenera- tion will follow the return of the Nationalist members to Dublin, and there are broken men who cannot be hurt and may be benefited by a change, and there are the professional roliticians who would not be human if prospects of power and office in their own country did not influence their judgment— perhaps quite unconsciously. But the backbone of the people —the " strong " farmer and the shopkeeper, every man with cows in his byre and his instalments of rent paid up to the Government—these men actually dread Home Rule, and if they trust you they will tell you so in private. Home Rule has been for so long the foundation of the Nationalist faith that no one dare risk his reputation as a patriot by openly denouncing it. That anyone should do so is almost unthinkable here in the south of Ireland, where men fear more than anything else to be in a minority, and where the dissenter by tempera- ment is unknown. The fact of the matter is that very few in their heart of hearts have believed that Home Rule stood any chance of becoming law. The Governmeut is far more dis- liked here than it is in England, and no one ever thought it would last so long. The People's Budget, Employers' Liability, National Insurance, the quarantine of Irish cattle, and now the affair of Queenstown and the mails have all added seriously to this dislike, which has reacted on the popularity of the Nationalist Party. Never, I believe, have they been held ift less repute, for the Irishman is a bargainer by genius and long education. He well knows the value of his party's vote, and sees that he has bought Home Rule, which he does not want, at the price of shouldering burdens which be loathes. And what is the end to be ? Only a few years ago old animosities had almost died away. Orangemen and Hibernia.ns lived side by side with more kindness and toleration than. political parties in many English towns. Landlords and tenants had met in conference, and interests that had seemed hopelessly opposed to each other were apparently reconciled. To-day the north of Ireland is like a powder-barrel that some small accident may fire at any moment. Racial and religious hatreds, generations old and fast dying, have been stirred into new and terrible activity. So far the forces have been held in check, but who can tell how long it will be possible to hold. them ? We south of Ireland Protestants who count Catholic neighbours among our most trusted friends, cannot believe that we need fear any personal violence, but all history is against our confidence. A week of fighting in the north, with its wild news of outrages and reprisals, would almost certainly send out hot-headed lads on nightly raids. Lonely farm- houses would be blazing across the bogs, and families widely scattered over the country would be murdered without hope of combination for defence. No one could stop such things— certainly not the police. The priests, I am sure, would do their best, but the forces of hatred, envy, and greed, once set in motion, are very hard to be checked, even by denunciation from the altar steps. A terrible responsibility rests on the men who have allowed the country to drift so far.—I am, Sir,
AIIINSTERMAN.
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