HOME RULE AND THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. [To on Exaroa
or nu r'Sracreroa,•r]
SIM—I fear that many of your readers must have acquired the opinion during the present crisis that English Quakers are callously indifferent to the position of their coreligionists in Ireland. Certainly there is some ground for this opinion, political considerations too often leading even good men into a world where they may talk romance and close their eyes to the lessons of history. You will be pleased to learn, however, that (as in 1886 and 1823) many Friends in this country are filled with the deepest sympathy for their brethren in Ireland, and that only recently one of our official gatherings in the North of England sent a deputation to the Yearly Meeting of Friends at Dublin to give expression to this sympathy. In fact, were it not for the strange deflecting influence of politics above referred to, there might not even be found a single English Quaker assenting at this time to a policy so opposed to the feelings and aspirations of Irish Friends, and so fraught with peril for their future ; for a sense of solidarity in vital matters is of the essence of the Quaker faith, and in the past the grave concern of one section of the body has rightly been the grave concern of all.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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