A GREAT IRISHMAN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 9, 5 October 1917, Page 6

A GREAT IRISHMAN

SIR HORACE PLUNKETT AND THE CONVENTION (From the "Westminster Gazette.") ' Sir Horace Pluhkett lias more than, once been described as" the "greatest; .of living Irishmen." His unanimous election to the Chairmanship of the Irish Convention is certainly the greatest tribute that his countrymen could, at such a time and in such circumstances, pay to any living Irishman. That afc their very first session the men of the North and South, in Convention • assembled, should have agreed so promptly on the first and not least of the problems they have met to solve is not only thn best of good omens for the Convention itself, but a tacit admission that in.the chosen Chairman they have a great Irishman ' ■ Jfo one who has not a first-hand ac : quaintance with Ireland, especially rural Ireland—which, after all, means by far the largest part of Ireland—and its economic problems can realise why Irishmen of all parties acknowledge Sir Horace Plunkett to be a great Irishman— and the foremost of- peace-makers. Put the common instinct which prompted the Convention's • choice can be indicated in ii sentence-Sir Horacp lives for Ireland and Ireland's good. He has given, the best half of a busv life—he will be sixtythree next October—to the sorely-needed betterment of the country.

A Visionary. A visionary, with a genius for putting ideals into practice, Sic Horace has worked while others talked. And when hs has talked he has been pointed and purposeful, definite and downright, without at any time losing that tolerance of outlook, tactfulness of tongue, and charm of mien which have made him acceptable to men of widely /divergent views, and which essentially qualify him for his latest and most onerous office. There are several reasons why Mr Horace Plunkett is an eminently fitting choice for the Chair of the Convention, better reasons than the obvious one that he is a persona grata all round. He bears, to begin -with, an ancient anil honoured Irish name. He is a. Phuket* of Dun=anv, a fifteenth-century barony that i""one of the oldest of Irish peerages. The fifth Baron Dnnsany was ona of the. Peer* of Parliament assembled in. Dublin in 1541; the eleventh Baron. as an adherent of King James the Second and the Jacobite cause, achieved out-lawry-always a key to the favour of wayward Irish hearts. It was inly aftei of Limerick that the Dnnsany estates were restored, and it was not ~ntiU7!)l that the head of the Ptantette as thirteenth baron once,more took hia seat in the Irish Parliament. . Then Sir Horace has lived in Uie United Stales, whither Ireland has sent so many of her sons and daughters.. When his Eton and Oxford days were over he went to Wyoming, and there spent ten years ranching. Returning home.in 1889 he began a peaceful revolution-in rural Ireland. Apart from "landlordism . and fl.o agrarian troubles of the .'eighties Si* ■Horace, as a practical agriculturist , di,cerned a vital weakness of the bud system of Ireland Having a firm faitli in the "oldest and most honourable of human occupations," be applied.himself to the regeneration of Irish af wuHure. Now Ireland is, and for a hundred[ ywr» or more has always been, a Land of leagues. If you would enlist Irish enthusiasm you must form a league. The, vonng- rancher from Wyoming formed a league-a farmers* league.. After ranking speeches at some fifty meetings he Znagel to initiate his first co-operatiVe deiry society. . - His Lonely Furrow. It was for a while a lonely, furro-r that Sir" Horace Plunkett ploughed. ; But there were other* who came to see *itfc him that Home Rule could be of Dttlo use if there were no homes to rule. And to make and maintain Irish homes on Irish soil was an imperative necessity Politics resolved into one plain fact, that as it was well put, "whether the Irish farmer owned or rented Ins and, and whether Ireland governed herself or was governed a complee revolution was necessary m Irish rural affair*. • Here was a field for practical politics, crone for an agrarian revolution. 4 no. Ml the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society was founded. Within fifteen years the "1.A.0.5.," as it became: widely known, had organised Irish farm.eis into co-operative associations numbering nearly a thousand, with a turnover running into millions sterling. This was constructive statesmanship, with a veryv real bearing oh the problem of Ireland's future. And in this connection it is worth while noting that the Sinn Fein movement started out with a not dissimilar constructive poller? which aimed at the fostering of Irish industries, the founding 01 national banks, and tho opening up of foreigrTtrade. A prosperous Ireland is an aim on which allparties can agree even. Tv.„ «i„T. foin Party. It is the only plank in Sir Horace Plunketfs plat-' f °Sir' Horace ,has represented an liish constituency at Westminster; he ministered a Department of Irish <io%eftmentin Dublin; he has shown a decTsrvY disregard of party fetters and a whole-hearted hopefulness in the prosnects of the Convention. The Convention has held two meetings and adjourned, content to entrust to Sir Horace Plunkett, with the .help of the Secretariat; the task of framing the form of nrocedure along with tho Path ot Iveoonciliation may bo taken. This done, the real work will begin, and, whatever tlfo result, tho chairman will have puS The crowning effort to a public career at all times honestly, and unweanedlj devoted to tho betterment of Iroland.