27 MARCH 1886, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A " GOOD " PARLIAMENT IN IRELAND.

THERE is one argument that we find weighs heavily with the few English friends of Home-rule, and especially

with some new Radical Members, which has been very little discussed. The more extreme Irish, of course, never mention it; and the English, as a body, take its falsity so completely for granted, that they feel no temptation to discuss or even consider it. It touches, however, the very root of the ques- tion, and it is this. The popular assumption in this country, say the friends of Home-rule, that the Irish Parliament will be a bad one, or a foolish one, or an intractable one, is an assumption only, resting upon delusive evidence, and at variance not only with experience, but with ordinary logic. Granting all that is said about the Parnellite group, even by their worst enemies, their conduct or their character are no indices of the character or conduct of an Irish Representative House. They are not sent up to London either to legis- late or to govern, but to annoy, affront, and impede the British House of Commons, until, in despair of other relief, it abandons the task of attempting to govern Ireland. For that work any men are competent, provided they hate England sufficiently and will obey a dictator ; and, consequently, candi- dates are accepted whose faces would never be seen in any Irish Assembly, even if the suffrage were universal. One chooses a shillelagh without reference to its utility in digging. The mere play of sectional interests, of local prepossessions, of the religious and secular differences within the Nationalist Party itself, all of which would be set free by Home-rule, would of themselves break up the existing unanimity, and ensure the election of more varied representatives, among whom the ablest and most competent, the men most in accord with universal laws, would of necessity rise to the top. The Irish Parliament would speedily clarify itself, and become, like every other Parliament, a public meeting of fairly competent persons, guided in their general action by " leaders " of more than average intelligence. If this is not true, say those who argue thus, then the principle of represen- tative government rests upon nothing, and that method of conducting human affairs becomes only a local ex- pedient accidentally snccespful in certain ages and among populations of a certain disposition. The Irish intel- ligence is not a low one, as witness its comprehension of the weak points in the English system ; and intelligence in the nation being granted, representative intelligence, and therefore capacity, must be granted too.

We have, as Liberals, a strong respect for this argument, and may fairly commence our answer by admitting that, as an argument for Separation, it might be worthy of the deepest attention. It is extremely probable, if we may accept the teachings of history, that if Ireland were left to herself, she would, after passing through the social revolution which would then be inevitable, and fighting out the bloody civil war which would then be unavoidable, discover the method of government which suited her, and thencefor- ward be a fairly orderly and contented, though excessively poor, little State,—illustrated, possibly, by the vivid genius of a few among her sons. All other white States, even in South America, where the conflicts of race, colour, and internal civilisation are exceptionally bitter, have reached that stage, and there is no reason why Ireland should not reach it too. Her people possess the social qualities, and on occasion display even exceptional powers of compelling a minority to obey. Her ultimate form of government might therefore be re- presentative, though it would probably be cantonal, and the representative body might be as good as that of any other country of the same creed and aspirations. But it is forgotten that the grand condition in favour of that result does not exist, while two other unfavourable conditions do. Ireland under Home-rule is not to be a separate State. She is not to be permitted to pass through her social revolution, and so to ascertain what utopias are possible and what not ; still less is she to fight out her civil war, and so discover where the effective forces within her population really lie. Those forces are by no means in all countries included in force of numbers,—governing strength, indeed, over half the world appertaining to small minorities. Whatever the terms of Home-rule, Ireland, while British, will be compelled to abstain alike from revolution and from insurrection, even as she is now. That being the case, the hatred of England, which is now pleaded by her friends as the cause of her singular selection of representatives—singular, at all events, in this, that they themselves profess to possess but one political brain among eighty-six persons—will still be the grand operative force. Incompetent or even evil persons, whose claim to popularity is hatred of England, will still be chosen on account of that hatred, with a mandate to injure her or to extort from her concessions supposed to be beneficial to Ireland. A Nationalist like Mr. Biggar will be preferred to a Nationalist like Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, because, while Sir Charles can govern a State, Mr. Biggar can make himself a nuisance to the " foreigner." A fixed idea like that is a terribly disturbing force in politics, and a most injurious one ; yet we are about to legislate so as to leave it, of all others, the most operative. It is acknowledged to be the grand force now, and exemption from the interference of the British Parliament will not kill it, for that exemption is enjoyed by the American Irish, who, on the evidence of all Irish Home-rulers, are the bitter enemies of Great Britain. All the passion of Irishmen, which would, no doubt, if the countries were separated, be directed towards forwarding or preventing revolution, will be concentrated upon a quarrel with England ; and until that is settled, the representatives will be what they are now,—persons who reflect only a single feeling, and are ready to neglect for its gratification all other objects, and many of the laws other Christians obey.

This, however, is not the single difficulty in the way of a good Parliament for Ireland. If it were, we might expect to see in the Dublin House of Commons at least an infusion of the older and better Nationalists, who proposed to fight England fairly, and who numbered among them many men of high character and competence for affairs. They were under an illusion, but that once over, they did in all parts of the Empire high credit to the native ability of their country. There are two other conditions present in Ireland neither of which can tend to the creation of a good Parliament. One is the absence of any class from which good candidates can be drawn. What is called the governing class is in Ireland ostracised. The people will not choose, and cannot choose, among landlords, bankers, merchants, or professionals, for they would not represent them ; and they have shown no disposition to choose either peasants or artisans. So far as we know, no real tiller of the soil sits among Mr. Parnell's nominees, and he cer- tainly has not been influenced in his recommendations by aris- tocratic prejudices. The electors are driven back, therefore, on politicians by profession, who will, of course, be paid out of re- venue, and who will make it their business to be before all things delegates, reflecting and realising the ideas they know to be most popular among those who return them. Such politicians will be under one irresistible temptation, namely, to appeal to their electors by promises of securing to them, in return for election, direct pecuniary gain. This tendency, strong in France, and showing itself in this country, must in Ireland, for a time, be an overmastering one. The body of the people, poor for many ages, yet strangely resentful of its poverty, has imbibed with the spirit of democracy a thirst for material com- fort, and a dislike amounting to hatred for those who already possess it. So eager and hot is this passion, that the Irish, who in their usual condition of mind have an exceptional contempt for theft, appear to have temporarily lost the sense of property when property means anything belonging to certain classes, corpora- tions, or the rich. We see already how they listen to those who promise them land for nothing, though it belongs to other people ; and when the land is divided, those will be the favourite candidates who promise them cheap houses, low rail- way rates, cheap loans, bounties on produce, profitable public works, and multitudes of little, salaried places. Such men will seem to them the pleasantest of all orators, and they will be returned in preference to all others, and especially to those who tell them the hard and alarming truth that the first necessity for enfranchised Ireland will be public thrift. Good and competent men, even if they are strenuous Nationalists, will not make these promises, for they will doubt their power to fulfil them ; and the electors will therefore be driven back upon lower representatives, who, under most difficult financial circumstances, with a country in which respect not only for law, but for all disagreeable facts, has to be revived from the beginning, will devote themselves, first of all, to keeping their seats secure. They will promise lavishly, and they will so far perform their promises that by law the pint pot will be punish- able for not holding a quart. With those conditions statesmen would not be sanguine about self-government in any country, and they certainly have no reason to be so in Ireland, where

ill-fortune—whatever ill-fortune be—seems to have her chosen home, and where whim enters largely into the national, as into the individual, life, making it, it is true, singularly interesting, but diminishing at every turn its chances of stability. If Ireland is to have Home-rule, our one hope is that she may have a good Parliament ; but to predict a good Parliament amid such conditions appears to us unreasonable optimism. We should have little ultimate fear for Ireland if the grand condition were Separation, for awful as the strife would be, society must in the end revive ; but it is Home-rule that she is demanding, and Home-rule, its advo- cates say, which is to be conceded.