Mr. Goldwin Smith, who has just delivered in Dublin one
of the ablest lectures ever spoken on the relation of political economy to civilisation, publishes in the Pall Mall Gazette a remarkable letter on the situation. He is, it must be remem- bered, a convinced, not to say bitter, Liberal, while his long absence in Canada has given him a detached position. Ile de- clares that, in his judgment, the agitation in Ireland is wholly agrarian ; that the leaders are using it solely with a view to the independence of Ireland ; that religion has nothing to do with the matter, the Liberal policy having killed religious bitterness ; that the Catholic Church is on the side of law, but afraid to speak ; that the outrages are exaggerated, but not their effect, the people rapidly transferring their allegiance to the Laud League; that "a secret and lawless organisation has sup- planted authority and law ; " that the Irish landlords have let their cause go by default; that the League may prevail on the people not to use the Laud Act, and that then the English must decide, "and quickly," whether the Union shall stand or fall. He regards Mr. Parnell's arrest as we do, as a sad necessity, and recommends the dissolution of the League, and an end to the coercion which it exercises. Those are the opinions, be it remembered, of a man who has through life been a determined Radical, who detests Imperialism, and who is, we imagine, convinced that Canada must at last enter the United States.
