UNIONIST HOME-RULE. [To 7131 Emma or Tar SPECTATOR."] SLR One
more word, if you will give me space for it, to show the streogthof the position of the Unionist Home-rulers, which ought to go a long way to show that the Irish Party do not ask for Separa- tion. On June 25th of last year, a very critical date, Mr. Parnell made a speech at Portsmouth, which was reported folly in the
Times of the next day. This speech bears evidence of careful
preparation, careful even for Mr. Parnell, who hardly ever speaks carelessly. The best part of this speech is devoted to showing, and, as it seems to me, proving to demonstration, the absurdity, the folly, and the impossibility of Separation. To some people, it may be open to say that no one can ever believe a word that Mr. Parnell says ; but those who quote Mr. Parnell's speeches in America as indicating Separation, are bound in -honesty to quote also his speeches in England which ridicule the idea of it ; and if they give credit to what he says on the other side of the Atlantic, they must also listen to what he says here.
It is easy enough, but not very wise at such a moment as
this, to string together wild and foolish utterances of Irish mob- orators in America and elsewhere who have clamoured for Separation. Is it not a better policy to register the loyalty of the responsible leaders of the Irish Party to the Union, when they express it, as Mr. Parnell has on a critical occasion, and bind them to it ? To a Unionist Home-ruler, this seems not only good policy, but simple justice.—I am, Sir, &C.,
FREDERICK W. VERNEY.
6 Onelow Gardens, S.W., January 24th.
[We do not see how Mr. Parnell's careful utterances in this country on one side of a question on which he has spoken in the exactly opposite sense in the United States, can command confidence. The two neutralise each other. But the danger is not due exclusively to Mr. Parnell's intentions, good or bad. The centrifugal forces which could alone carry Home-rule, will, if they get the upper hand, certainly carry much more than Home-rule:ED. Spectator.]
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