INDEPENDENCE FOR IRELAND.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In the Spectator of the 12th inst. you suggested, in re- ferring to Sir Wilfrid Lawson's speech on Home-rule, that the first effect of Irish independence might be civil war in Ireland. Recent events in the North of Ireland (night to make this quite obvious to all, but it has always been so to those who know Ireland, and can view the situation without excited hopes.
Home-rule would be giving Ireland up to an ignorant democracy, in that state of excitement in which the most violent counsels are the most certain to be followed. The magistracy would be made elective, as it has been in some parts of America, and impartiality would be the last qualification for the magistracy that the electors would think of. The results of an elective magistracy in America are not encouraging, but what would they be in a country divided by religious sects who regard war between them as their normal state P—I am, Sir, &c.,
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