Mr. G. H. Moore has written a very long and,
in its way, an able letter to the Times, in which he asserts that England has never done justice to Ireland except under pressure of fear, that the twenty years of " independence " before 1800 were the best years Ireland ever had, the years in which she produced the greatest men, and that she has now made up her mind to have done with the foreign domination which drains her at once of her treasure and her in- tellect. " Ireland has no fears of the vigorous measures you threaten, no hope in the remedial measures you propose." She wants other and larger reforms, in other words, independence, or at least, repeal. The assertion may be true, but the argument comes to this, that the moment when remedial measures are being carried, is just the moment when Ireland ought to proclaim that it has no trust in the Legislature which carries them. What is this but to invite the abandonment of those measures, and a return to the old policy of mere repression ? You only yield to fear, says Mr. Moore. Well, we will yield no more. Whether you yield or not, we shall feel no gratitude. 'Well, then, it is easier not to yield. Those are the answers the average Englishman will make to such assertions, and he is no true friend to Ireland who compels him to give them. The difficulty of the Liberal task is quite great enough already, without their being told in advance that their success or failure will be alike a reason for secession. Mr. Moore and men like him will before long elicit the old, dumb, everlasting, John- Bull No, as Kingsley calls it, before which statesmanship and common sense are equally powerless.
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