HOME RULERS AND HOME RULERS.
[To THE EDITOR OF TUB "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Permit me to say that the proposal for Home Government put forward by the Rev. Thaddeus O'Malley, and condemned by Mr. Bright, is not the proposal of the Home-rule Conference which was adopted by the Home-rule League, and constitutionally ratified at the last General Election by the return of a majority of Irish Representatives pledged to support it. Mr. 011alley's is quite a different proposal; it was rejected by the Conference, and has been adopted by nobody but its ingenious and learned author.
It is quite possible that when Mr. Bright has had time to make himself acquainted with the real demand of the Irish constituencies, he may condemn it with equal vehemence, though, I hope, in language more courteous than he has thought fit to address to an aged and distinguished ecclesiastic. But he cannot condemn it for the reasons alleged in his letter to Mr. O'Malley. it is not open to the censure that it would involve a rearrangement of the affairs of the Three Kingdoms, because it is expressly restricted to the internal affairs of Ireland. It is not open to the censure of vagueness, because it is clearly explained in the resolutions of the Conference, in the principles of the League, in the treatises ap- proved by the League, and in the speeches of Irish Representatives.
I venture to add, in conclusion, that Mr. Bright's mistake is itself an illustration of the desirableness of some readjustment of legislative business. When a statesman of Mr. Bright's eminence mistakes the proposal of an individual for quite a different pro- posal put forward by the majority of Irish Representatives, it is difficult to expect accuracy in matters of less importance from less distinguished men. It surely is worth considering whether it may not be for the advantage of all concerned to let at least local Irish affairs be managed by' those who know all about them, who have time to attend to them, and whose interest it is that they should be properly managed.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Harbour View, Cork, March 8. J. G. MACCARTHY.
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