- Mr. Devitt replies to Lord Cowper's letter that the plain
issue put to Ireland by Mr. Parnell was this,—National self-govern- ment or not ? and-contends that the Land Question was not even nominally before the people. That is perfectly true; but it may very well be that the Irish voted for self-government in Mr. Parnell's sense mainly because they thought that in that way they should have the best possible chance of abolishing rent. Mr. Parnell had himself advised the withholding of rent in a meeting in which one of his followers spoke of three years' purchase as a fall price for land in Ireland, and without reproof. Is there not sufficient ground for supposing that in the opinion of Ireland, self-government -means -Mr. Parnell's government, while Mr. Parnell's government means the almost total abolition of rent without compensation ? Supposing Mr. Parnell to change his -attitude on that question, and to ask for self.government for Ireland with a full guarantee of their properties to the landlords at the rata of twenty years' purchase,—would not his popularity pass away in an hour?
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