3 JULY 1886, Page 13

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

your issue of June 19th, I tried to show that the whole case relating to it is by no means complete, if we confine ourselves to the only two alternatives for its solution which Mr. Gladstone has so earnestly pressed upon the attention of the country. Another course is open, by which we should neither have to surrender to a party whose character is tainted, nor to resort needlessly to a policy of repression. In developing this point, I touched upon a further and very serious question, which was this :—What guarantee was there that the measure proposed by Mr. Gladstone was accepted as final by the Irish people ; and what assurance was there that if it had passed, it would have restored law and order in a country so long distracted by crime and anarchy P Above every other consideration, there is one thing that is clear; we cannot take a leap in the dark, when the question at issue involves a fundamental change in the very elements that hold Irish society together, and when the step, if once taken, will be irrevocable, and cannot be retraced by future repentance.

I take it, therefore—and in this Mr. Gladstone himself would not contradict me—that without the assurance of finality, the very foundation upon which he builds up any scheme for Home- rule crumbles to the dust ; because unless those for whose benefit the scheme is intended, will honourably accept it in its entirety—the clauses which give them autonomy as well as those which bind them to the Empire—the bargain will be, with a vengeance, one-sided, dangerous, and quite unsustainable. That is, they will have unlimited power to agitate against the welfare of the nation which is now asked to give them this power ; and the restoration of peace and tranquillity will be as far off as ever.

But we are told to trust the Irish people ; they are not

cursed with a double dose of original sin ; and contentment will prevail among them, if they are but allowed to govern them- selves. The argument, I think, scarcely needs a serious answer ; it seems calculated only to captivate the ignorant who catch at phrases and refuse to look into facts. There is no one who can tell us what the intentions of the Irish are, if they themselves will not inform us clearly what exact form of autonomy will com- pletely satisfy their aspirations ; and Mr. Parnell himself, not so many months ago, uttered words to show that even he could not place a limit to the onward march of the Irish Nationality, if once it gets elbow-room to develop itself. The policy of con- fidence is an amiable weakness ; but it has its bounds, and can- not be carried to extremes by practical men of business, who have everything to lose by political and social disorder. He indeed would be a traitor to his country who would give Ireland un- controlled power to deal with England, as Roumania treated Turkey not more than ten years ago in the last Russian war.

The great ascendency acquired by Mr. Gladstone may induce many to give him plenary powers to settle the Irish difficulty as he chooses, with the confident belief that he will not fail to protect the interests of the British Empire. But I have to point out that these persons will reckon without their host, if they permit him to carry out his present policy, and propose of his own initiative another measure for Home-rule. The essential condition of finality and the restoration of social order cannot and does not depend uponlim ; it depends solely upon the Irish people themselves, and over them he does not pretend to have any con- trol. The guarantee for a settlement cannot be given by the half- hearted speeches of ephemeral Irish Members, in Westminster

or in England, nor by their purely personal acceptance of the general principle of any Bill that may be presented to them ; it can only be given, in so important a matter as that of a National Constitution, by a clear and unmistakeable indication on the part of the Irish people themselves that the conditions which are attached to autonomy, and which are to bind them to

the British Crown, will be faithfully observed and loyally carried out. We have not had, nor have we now any such indication ; it is impossible to determine whether the necessary checks to pre- vent the ascendency of a Separatist Party, will be accepted in Ireland ; and this for the best of all reasons,—because none of the stipulations of this nature have been explained to those who are to be asked to submit to them.

The conclusion is thus forced upon us, and more especially upon persons anxious to support Mr. Gladstone in his attempt to give the Irish all he thinks they may legitimately aspire to,— that no proposal finally to adjust the Irish Question can pro- ceed from the brain of an English statesman, however eminent he may be; his voice is not the expression of an Irish public opinion, and he cannot and does not command their confidence. The scheme for autonomy, if it is to be granted, must originate with the Irish Members, who, by being responsible for its con- struction and for its details, will thus give the all-important security that it will be accepted as a definite and final settle- ment by those they represent.

If this is so, and the justice of this reasoning cannot be assailed, every proposal of Mr. Gladstone to bring about his own plan of Home-rule is marred by a fatal blot which he can- not efface ; and thus it is that, on his own showing, his recent and present policy is vitiated by a fundamental error of strange inconsistency. If he produces a Bill to give autonomy to Ire- land, he cannot secure the condition of finality ; and yet it is solely because he asserts he can settle that distracted country by a measure of his own, that he now claims the support of the British nation. The elections are at hand. It will be curious to see whether power will be given to him to attempt the pacifica- tion of Ireland by a scheme which is contradictory to its own essential and openly avowed principle.—I am, Sir, &c., AN IRISH CATHOLIC.