The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6. 1889. THE HOME RULE MISSION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2295, 6 December 1889, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6. 1889. THE HOME RULE MISSION.

The temperate and telling speeches which have been delivered throughout New Zealand by the Irish delegates m the course of their mission must havo had the effect of removing a great deal of prejudice on the part of thoße whose precoueoived opinions had led them to regard the Home Rule advocates as pro pagandists of disaffection and disloyalty. They have made it abundantly clear that the party which is laboring to secure for the Irish people the right of managing their own local affairs, is m no way seek ing to weaken the allegiance of Irishmen to tbe Throne, but on the contrary to dtrengthen it by removing the only too patent cause which they now have for dissatisfaction with British rule, nay, we are of opinion that to call the opponents of Home Rule Unionists is a misnomer, aB the true Unionists are those who are seeking to remove the causes of disruption. That within the last four years Parliament has begun to pay some attention to the just grievances of the Irißh people is no answer to those who urge that the Imperial Parliament is really incapable of the task, inasmuch as, not* withstanding recent legislation, there is existing to-day m Ireland, as there has been almost at any time during the greater part of a century, a state of things which is a disgrace to any civilised country. Does any sane man refuse to see that there must be something radically wrong m the administration of Ireland when scores of coercion Acts have been passed when famine and expatriation are the frequent lot of thousands of its people, when evictions are carried on wholesale over large districts, and the privileges of free speech and the rights of public meeting, and trial by jury — m a word all the rights of freemen withdrawn, Tho story of affairs m Ireland is, indeed, well nigh incredible and reads more like that of a Russian than a British Administration. And we verily believe that nearly all this is due to the act that the English people, if not the English Parliament, are m the main unacquainted with Irish affairs, and that the only cure for it is to be found m allowing the Irish people to manage their affairs for themselves. This mno way involves the disruption of the Union ; but, on the other hand, will firmly consolidate it, and it would be wonderful, therefore, if the people of New Zealand, knowing themselve3 the benefits of local administration, did not sympathise with the people of Ireland m their efforts to obtain the same boon. That they do sympathise with thoße efforts is evident from the hearty reception which the delegates have everywhere received and the handsome amounts subscribed to the fund, and indeed wo feel sure that the great bulk of tbe people of those colonies would hail with gladness the success of a movement which aims at the securing for Ireland peace and prosperity, and for tho Empire a consolidation such as is only possiblo when all its parts are free, happy, and m mutual sympathy with each other.