THE IRISH CHURCH.
70 THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Permit me to point out two fallacies in your remarks on my last letter :-
1. You confound Englishinterests with English ideas and principles. No one now, I fancy, wishes to " establish English interests in Ireland at the cost of the Irish." But that the Act of Union was intended to establish English ideas and English rule in Ireland, and that such ideas and rule are very much for the true interest of Ireland, is what most educated men in Ireland, who have any- thing to lose, are well convinced of. If those ideas and that rule are not to be maintained, then the sooner the Act of Union is repealed the better.
2. The other fallacy lies in the parallel you draw between Ireland and Sbotland. These two countries have always stood on quite a dif- ferent footing as regards England. Ireland was conquered by Eng- land, Scotland was not ; the Church of Ireland, ever since the time of Henry II., has been one with the Church of England, the Church of Scotland never. We cannot, therefore, in plain language, govern Ireland as we govern Scotland. The very attempt to do so involves an absurdity. For if we consulted, not indeed the interests, but " the wishes of the majority of the Irish people," as we do of the Scotch, not only would the Act of Union be at once repealed, but all connection between the two countries would be dissevered.
In conclusion, let me add that union for the interests of Ireland is no monopoly of any party, though " true Liberals " are too fond of talking as if they alone could feel it. But the one party thinks that the true interests of Ireland can only be attained by sometimes disregarding the blind and ignorant wishes of the mere majority, counted by heads ; the other party has yet to find this out by what I greatly fear will be bitter experience. Again thanking you for your courtesy, on which I shall not further
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