TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE NEW IRISH COMPROMISE. THE Irish are very clever. The compromise or modus vivendi between the factions, which in spite of formal denials the popular Irish Members have evidently hit upon, would do credit to the oldest diplomatist in Europe. The problem looked, to the duller wits of Englishmen, at first sight insoluble. Mr. Gladstone had declared to the world that he would not act with Mr. Parnell, and Mr. Parnell had declared that, being the representative of his nation, and not of any mere section within it, he would not resign his leadership. His enemies had begun assailing him furiously, one of those enemies being the Catholic Church in Ireland, and another a majority of Irish Members ; and he had rejoined in language so violent as to reveal a carefully concealed phase in his character which astonished his English admirers. The English Liberals and Mr. Parnell, the Catholic Church and Mr. Parnell's followers, the majority and minority of Irish Home-rulers, the American Irish, and the Irish Irish, were all at loggerheads, divided by a quarrel which seemed every instant to grow more embittered, and in which the worst section of the Irish mob, the section which black- thorns Mr. Healy and throws lime at Mr. Parnell, were taking a violent part. How was it possible to devise any plan which would meet such conflicting conditions ; which would keep Mr. Gladstone at his old post, yet leave Mr. Par- nell unexpelled ; which would enable the Catholic Church to be quiescent, yet not further irritate the Irish Revolution ; which would allow the irritated factions to work together, yet ask neither of them for a surrender ; and which, finally, would suggest to both Americans and Irish that reunion was at hand, yet without proclaiming it, and so arousing the wrath of the protesting Nonconformists of Great Britain ? It seemed impossible ; but to Irish brains impossibilities of wile do not exist, and some master of finesse, trained surely, if a dull Englishman may suggest such a thing without accusation of prejudice, in some great ecclesiastical career, has solved the problem, and, at all events, averted further appearance of warfare among the Irish factions without defying either Mr. Gladstone or the Noncon- formists who urged him into motion. The mot d'ordre is simple enough, "Lie down, men ;" but it exactly meets the situation. Nobody can hit men who are lying down. The factions have ceased to abuse each other, and consequently the bitterness is dying away. The leaders, when they speak, are all moderation. We noticed Mr. Parnell's new tone at Tralee last week ; and this week we have Mr. McCarthy at Manchester. Mr. McCarthy is not given to violence, and probably could not, under any conceivable circumstances, descend to blackguardism ; but he is quite capable of vitriolic epigram, and just compare the speech he uttered with the speech he could have uttered if the order bad been to "Charge upon Parnell." He not only does not attack Mr. Parnell, who certainly had given him ample provocation, but he does not mention him except in words which to Irish ears convey nothing but praise, and which even to Englishmen suggest reluctant admiration. As for Sir John Pope Hennessy, he has gone back to clubland with the glee of an habituo ; while Mr. Dillon and Mr. Sexton and Mr. O'Connor are cooing like doves, and Mr. O'Brien suppresses the Insuppressible by tele- gram, because the editor to whom he publicly gives a good character was a little too free in his comments on Mr. Parnell and his men. Even in the House collision is avoided, for Mr. Parnell summons the party and Mr. McCarthy does not, and each waives his claim to stand forward as the fighting representative of " coerced " Ireland in favour of Mr. Morley, who, not being an Irish- man, belongs to neither faction. Even Mr. Healy is quiet, though, we should imagine, melancholy, his prospect of the Chancellorship receding as the prospect of peace opens out ; and Dr. Tanner withdraws in the most gracious manner a promising action for libel against his " dismissed" chief. The effect of all this is, that the Eighty-six, whether reunited or not, can pull together if they wish it, that Mr. Parnell is leader without the name—he keeps the insignia though—that Mr. Gladstone is not so affronted as to be forced to act, that the Catholic Chureh has no opportunity for further denunciations, and that Irishmen, instead of spending their time till the great Election in faction- fights, will spend it in obstructing English Bills and winking at one another. They do not need to be told, as our stupid countrymen would, what it all means. They understand without words, and rejoice ; for next to defeating an opponent in a riot, it is delightful to them to outwit, or, in the local phrase, to "circumvent him by artifice. They are a clever people, the Irish, as we said ; and above all, they are quick to take a hint that the English must be befooled. Mr. Labouchere flatters him- self, not always without justice, that he is a master of strategy ; but he is outdone this time, and must acknow- ledge that, in the national art of " deludhin'," Pat stands. his superior.
It is said, we see, by many commentators, that this. sweet peace cannot last ; but we do not precisely see why. The Irish have a genius for waiting as well as for worrying, their impetuosity by no means always showing itself in an impatience of delay. They do not mind talking aimlessly for a week, or, what is more wonderful, listening for a week to aimless talk, if only they may obstruct a Bill ; and they have been trained to passive resistance for a good many generations. They will wait if they are bid, we believe, resignedly enough, though the suppressed passions may flare out when the day of contest arrives. A quarrel may, too, break out over the delicate question of money, there being no General Booth in the party even if there is a leader ; or some entirely un- foreseen incident may cause a fresh eruption of, the smouldering fires. But we do not know that an eighteen months' truce is impossible, and if it can be kept, it is difficult to doubt that it will tend to the advantage of the Parnellite side. Mr. Parnell is himself, to begin with. Incredibly quick as the Irish are—just look at the whole of them ducking under, like Roderick Dhu's followers under the bracken, at a word of command which the thicker-skulled English- men can scarcely hear—they need cues, and there is nobody competent to give good cues but Mr. Parnel]. The very method of his autocracy has suppressed all rivalry, and Ireland is as much without an alternative popular leader, unless it takes Mr. Da,vitt, who does not approve of peasant-proprietorship, as a German Parliament is. without an alternative Cabinet. The temptation to glide back informally to the old and successful chief will be very strong, more especially if the Irish people and the American Irish both desire it ; and they cer- tainly show no symptom of growing animosity to Mr. Parnell. Time is in his favour, for in the months of waiting and comparative peace, he may be married, which in England, if not in Ireland, will half-efface the jury's verdict ; he may go to America and receive a new mandate from the treasurers of the Home-rule Party ; and. he may efface by a series of guarded speeches much of the effect produced in England by his summons to the "men of the hillside." Time may even modify the view of his conduct entertained by the Catholic Church, or, if that is impossible, may at least convince its rulers that in yielding to him on politics, they yield to force majeure, and are morally irresponsible. They did not, that we know of, refuse to recognise Louis XV. as a rightful and" most Christian" Xing. In that event, Mr. Parnell will return, as he evi- dently thinks he will return, with a reunited host, and will ask the Liberal Party, just then, as he hopes, inflamed by a victorious Election, whether they are anxious for power or not, for if they are, they must accept him and as much of his plan of Home-rule as the electors can be induced to bear. They must make him ruler of Ireland, or he will make their election sterile. That, we feel confident, is the central Idea of the compromise which was adopted at Boulogne after long discussions over details, which is now in working operation and affecting every Irish speech, and which is only concealed, or half-concealed, for fear of wounding English susceptibilities, before the near prospect of power has induced Liberals to reflect whether the expulsion of a. necessary ally, however guilty, may not be contrary to the true intention of the Law of Love. It is a wonderfully clever idea, the difficulties of the situation being considered, aud if it fails, as it will fail at. the last, it will be because great historic movements involving the destinies of entire nations are never greatly affected by the cleverest of dodges. Those movements obey strong laws of their own, the outcome of centuries of slow growth ; and this compromise, though most creditable to the genius of its author for diplomatic finesse, is only a. dodge after all. Mr. Gladstone could undo it all with a breath, and the Irish understand very little of Mr. Glad- stone, except that he is not displeased when anybody speaks of him from a hustings as the "Grand Old Man." Theirs is on this point the shallow judgment of those who think that because the great enjoy flattery, therefore it alters their conclusions.
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