CROMWELL AND IRELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.
[To TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIB.,—Mr. Stephen Gwynn in the Spectator of September 10th seems annoyed because I charged the United Irish League with
intolerance at Bantry. It is not necessary for my purpose to enter into a controversy on the point. He and Mr. O'Brien can settle it to their own satisfaction. The fact which I desire to bring home to your English readers is that the Nationalists have not learned the elements of toleration. Whether it is a case of dealing with each other or dealing with Unionists. brute-force, where it is available, takes the place of argument with Nationalists. What has Mr. Gwynn to say regarding the savage scenes that took place at Dundalk a few days ago, when hundreds of hired blackguards took charge of the hall in which Mr. T. M. Healy proposed to hold a meeting? Mr. Healy's friends were brutally assaulted, and forced to leave the hall to
their opponents. Mr. Healy had to be escorted to his hotel by a large force of police. Had these representatives of Saxon power not been present, it is safe to say that Mr. Healy would not have been allowed to leave the place alive. One Nationalist paper in Dublin has had the courage to condemn the scandalous attempt which is being made to suppress free speech ; but here is a point I would like to submit for Mr. Gwynn's consideration. Mr. Redmond and several of his colleagues spoke at Limerick a few days after the Dundalk outrage, but never a word of condemnation was uttered. The members of the United Irish League and of the secret sectarian society (which, by the way, Mr. Gwynn as a Protestant is debarred from entering) were not told at Limerick, or, indeed, anywhere else, to exercise tolerance towards opponents. No, the only tolerance preached is that of Mr. Redmond, when he bombastically talked about crushing the Protestant minority with a "strong hand." I say now, and I defy Mr. Gwynn to deny it, that free speech is impossible to-day in Nationalist Ireland. If my memory serves me rightly, it is not so long ago that Mr. Gwynn him- self was assaulted by Nationalists at a Nationalist meeting, so that he too has been a victim of what is a disgrace to any civilised country.
But it is not even necessary to go to the common people in order to prove the charge of intolerance against the Nationalists. Their leaders stand hopelessly condemned of the offence. The Conventions in Dublin are supposed to represent the clarified Nationalist thought of the country. Who that was present at the Convention less than two years ago can forget the wild scenes of disorder when Mr. O'Brien tried to make known his views on the land question P It was afterwards proved in open Court that hundreds of baton men were brought from Belfast for the purpose of preventing Mr. O'Brien from getting a hearing. Did Mr. Gwynn approve of that action P I might occupy pages of the Spectator with instances of intolerance. The O'Brien meeting in Limerick does not lessen the charge, for, as Mr. Gwynn must have read in the League newspapers, " those present were admitted by ticket, and as they entered the hall they were closely scrutinised." Had this precaution not been taken, we would likely have had scenes like those in Dundalk. Only a few months ago Mr. James H. Campbell, the ex-Attorney-General for Ireland, made some remark in the House of Commons which was dis- pleasing to the Irish Nationalist Members. How did they treat him ? With that tolerance which Mr. Gwynn would have us believe is one of the characteristics of Irish Nationalism P Not a bit of it. They howled him down in a fashion which would do credit to those who broke up Mr. Healy's meeting at Dundalk. I have better opportunities than Mr. Gwynn can possibly have for finding out the opinions of the ordinary people, and I have no hesitation in repeating that everybody in Ireland who has anything to lose is opposed to Home-rule. The people are becoming sick of the posturings of the professional agitators. If they did not exist we would bear very little of Home-rule. Mr. Gwynn has still the enthusiasm of the recruit, but when he has a few more years' experience of the methods of the secret society which now runs Irish Nationalist politics, I have hopes that he too will revolt against them.—I am, Sir, &c.,
AN IRISHMAN.
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