The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1906. THE MacDONNELL MYSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 257, 3 November 1906, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1906. THE MacDONNELL MYSTERY.

For the wrong thai needs resistance, for the future in t!io distance, And *7ic good that tec «.ut do.

Irelan:] like Africa has bc?n the grave lof many reputations, but a? a rule tlie ' tragic episodes of its history iv modern ■ times have bren quickly forgotten. It i may seem somewhat extraordinary. i therefore, that the agitation 'that a:o-r> I more than three years ago over the ap- • pointment of Sir Antony MadDonnell to ' the post of Under Secretary for Jrcland j shows no s-ign of abatement. Sir A. MacDonnell is undoubtedly an able and ' vigorous administrator, but he has not ' yet done anything that would encourage . the moft enthusi.ir-tie Honir-Rulor to , talk about him whiie forgetting Parnell. ! But the fact rrmains that lor pome : months past a vigorous controversy Ir.is been raging round him in British uov.s- ---! paper?, and the sensation tn.it ought to i have culminated witn the resignation of

Mr. Wyndham ln.«t year is increasing in intensity ra.her tban dying a-.vay. Just .' now th? trouble i? that ?ir A. MacDonnell his been challenged by }.ir. I ; Walter Long, -who succeeded .Jr. 'Wynd- : ham as Chief Sscretsry, to produce certain correspondence bearing en his ap- j 1 pointment, and so fay Sir --ntouv has ■ i not seen Ins way to cnmpiy with this J request. To soms extent public interest i ' in the mystery has bern quickened by ! a ?ppfc'i in which Sir A. MacDcnnell j two months ago definitely prea.o.ed tha 1 : achievement of Hor;ie Rule within b year: and the pressure now being J brought to b?ar upon the chief actors • j in this little episode to .=ny all they ■ know is so strong t'jQt we msy soon i i orjprct to bear further sensational reve- ! lations about the methods of managing ; Ireland adopted by the Unionist Ciovcrnment during its last term of office. '' Some light may be thrown upon this ','Curious mystery by a brief reference to I the circumstances of Sir A. MaeDor.rjeiVs appointment. FO'.ir yeirs : gn Lord 3 : LandsdcTfne recomn-.ended to the post ■ of Under-Scerptary for Ireland Sir ■ \ A. JfacDonnrll, who had earned a considerable reput 'lion as an administrator in India. As Sir A. MaeDonnell was a Liberal, a R.Om.in Catholic, and an outspoken advojeate of Home Ku]e. the appointment in I itself, coining from a Unionist was somewhat extraordinary. But , the conditions under which it was mado were more unusual still. Three years later Sir A. MacDonnell, who, to do ', him justice, had quite. con?istently and i honestly endoavoiired to cany out lm ! Mwti polity, publicly endorsed the - 'De- : volution" scheme evolved by Lord Dun-

aven. This scheme -was publicly reudiated by Mr. Balfeur and Mr. Wyndtain, and the Unionists proceeded to sk some very searching questions in lie House concerning the Permanent Un-er-Seeretary. The unfortunate Mr. v".vndharn n= compelled to produce ome of the letters that had passed bcvreen himself and Sir A. Mac-Donnell; nd we may say briefly that these leters showed that the Unionist Ministry aj consented to appoint to the position t L'nder-Seeretai-y for Ireland a man i rho not only publicly advocated Home | lule. but demanded as a condition of his cceptance of office that he should be ilowed practically a free hand to carry ut his views. As proof that we have not overstated j he case, we will quota briefly from ths ; vidonce already forthcoming on. this emarkable incident. In the first place, j ,ord Lan;dovrne explained that Sir A. ' lacDonnell's record as an administrator ns so exceptional that Government was . ustified ia frying almost any cngtli to secure his services ' or Ireland. "Of couree,"' said | iur Foreign Minister, 'a man of i hat kind, a man of those antecedents. ! ould scarcely be expected to be hound y the same narrow rules of routine ; rhieh are npplieablo to an ordinary mem- ; icr of the Civil Service;' , and he prn:pe.ded to explain that Sir A. MacDonneli ook cilice solely on the understanding hat. he was to have "gteater freedom of ction, greater opportunities far initiaive" lhau he could otherwise have de- ! muded or utilised. Mr. IVyndham fur- !' her admittou chat Sir A. MacDonnell ( tad hern appointed "'rather as a rol- I .engue Iban as a mere t'nder-.Seoretary ;■ to register my will."' A? a further ex- .; pl.nnation, he (juoWl from a letter th.it he haa received from Sir A. MaeDonnell, .. in which the Under-Speretary-eleet hou- ] ertly deilarfd that his views differed;! op fovernl important points from the ' pclii-y hitherto adopted by the Unionist j Government, and refused office unless a . vi ry wide discretion «m jrranfod him. ' 1 _\Tr. Wyndham gratefully accepted the ' term? laid down, and Sir A. MacDor.nell. ■ a professed Home Ruler, then proceeded j □ administer Irish alTairs on lines conintent with his own notions oT what Ihe i foverement of Ireland by England ! < )t:g!it to be. . '

AVc need not enter into th» details 01 | Sir A. MacDonnell's administrai.on; nnr , have wo any idea of blaming him foi | taking full advantage of the unexainpK-u opportunities thus conceded to him. The point around which the controversy lias cent rod is the fact that a Government ' "placed in power avowedly for the p'.ir- j pose r.f upholding the Union' , should : appoint to such a po-ilion a man v.ho made no attempt to conceal his Home Rule convictions, and should grant him ab?oiutelv unprecedented conditions for the exercise 01 his own discretion in administrative affairs. What the Unionists have been asking ever since the revelations of rebruary. 1000. is— AYhy tvas Sir A. MacDonncM appointed - ;:n this circuitous and ferret fashion and !on such unusual terms? This is the reason for the insist put demand now being mncle in the "Times' , and other le:nlin™ jonrnals that t:;? wholi enrri- ,- ---spondeni-p relating In t'le appointn'.Mi' shall be produced in public. Our readers may recollect thnt one result uf the "Devolution" tinsco last year was t::e of Mr. Wyndham. But Sir A. MncDocnell, who had adopter! Devo Ir.tion. retained in oftiep hv i ac Government which rejected ii: and >o.

too, was Lord Dudley, tan Lord Lieutenant who had fi<lcd with Sir A. ••laeDormell against Mr. \Vyndli~.m. Moreovpr. when Mr. Long sueceedf-d, Mr. Wyndham, ho found to his astonishment that Sir A. MacDonnell was practically independent of thp Chief Secretary, tir _\. MacDonnell stated that he must in-si:-t iij'on "an adequate opportunity of influencing the policy and acts of tlir Iri-h Administration," , and "freedom of action in executive matters. - ' Mr. Long was forced to accent thc.-r terra*, and Sir A. Macrlonneil. who thrcatoned tn resign unless he prot his way. was rrtnir.ed in odice. Mr. Wyndham lia.- all along insisted ttiat no "'unenustitutionnl"' power wns granted to the Under Secretary, and that i>ir A. Macdonnell was appointed to carry out "a strictly Unionist policy.'' This may bo trm>: but if true it merely renders thn MacDonnell mystery more inexplicable than bofore, and provide* a convincing argument for the immediate production of vhat Sir A. Ma.eDor.nel] calls "these embarrassing letters.''