The Irish Liberal opinion on the Eastern Question seems as
much coloured as ever by the incapacity to agree with the Eng- lish, and the wish to take distinctions against the Liberal party. Mr. Mitchell Henry, at Ballinasloe, on Wednesday, took this view. The Irish Catholics, he said, "were not so bigoted as not to sympathise with the Greek Christians," but they distrusted English statesmen on both sides. He felt convinced that "if Mr. Gladstone and the Liberals were in power, they would have done precisely what Lord Beaconsfield and the Tories had done, namely, adhere to the traditional policy of Eng- land in supporting Turkey, no matter what she did, in order to prevent Russia getting to Constantinople, and thus en- dangering our empire in India. The Eastern Question was, no doubt, exceedingly difficult, and he distrusted the Russians as much as he distrusted the Turks." No doubt he did. The genius of Distrust is not unnaturally the genius of Ireland. But uni- versal distrust without any trust, is universal paralysis, and that is the deep-rooted disease of Irish politicians.
Previous page
