Balfour's Blunders.

Samoa Times and South Sea Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 23, 23 March 1889, Page 3

Balfour's Blunders.

(From ih« Ettntwj } Mn4, f Unary 10.) There inustory cowoluingthatperemptory monarch Frederick 1., the father «if Frederick the Great. He was probably the staunchest believer that ever lived in the virtues ol what is called putornxl Government, mid wm oven addicto 1 to making use of Ida royal cane On the shoulder* of those who tamo with the sphere of his personal influence. It is recorded that on one occaxion, he wa« seen pursuing some luckless wight who had offended him, and ejaculating between the resounding thwacks which ho administered, " Why don't you love me, you scoundrel?" This little history has so in i • resemblance to that of Mr. Balfour's grievance concerning the unrolinees of the Irish. The great difference is that the secretary to the LordLieuturtant has voiue too lato into too old a world. The caae is out of date. It is still irritating as it was in former times; but as the Irish know that public opinion will not, without the vory gravest cause, permit it to be followed by anything more serious, it is irratir.g only, and therfore useless. Mr. Bnlfour is engaged in caning the Irish in the persons of Mr. William O'Brien, Father M'Fuddon, and others; but as lie wants the people some day to lovo him, that is to accept and be content with a settlement of the difficulties rtow existing, his present proceedings appear calculated to defeat his own ultimate designs. Hii strokes aro 100 cutting. If tho Government believes that' its parliamentary' and priestly enemies are inciting to riot, and that their speeches when at liberty are- a very doubtful proposition—a more potent incitement than their sufferings when in durance, it is perhaps justified in eorduiuig them as a temporary pre- } c.i tu tii Hi. Precautionary measures arc, j however, u vory difierent thing to vin- , dictivc puufshniout'; and what "can bo I said of a ruler who etui add exultation jto vindietivoness? We Tead in a recent telegram that Mr. William j O'Brien is suffering" from tfie effects of his incarceration in Clunniel Gaol; | that it is asserted that he is in a very precuneus' state,of health, and that Mr. B:ilfour ridicules the assertion. Mi. O'Brien is known to be n delicate i man, having some atleetion of tho I lungs, and it is notorious that -upon j i>i« committal to prison lie was forcibly I stripped of his clothing and forced to j don prison garb. To anyone not ! bound by ved-tiipo or prejudice this I treatment appears to have been even ; more"ri|ly than Cruel. Mr. O'Brien's ('iistodiaus, if tliey bud exercised tho least oouunoii seuae, wonld. in their own interest, not only not luvetreatod their captive with harshness but would have avoided giving anyone the exeiii-e for saving thuy had done so. As things standi flttoio is not another mistake for them to make in regard to the case. Mr Balfour has hoeuhatsh and has called attention to bis harshness by the exorcise'of bis powers of ridicule. If Mr. O'Brien dies at any time within tho next two years, his fate will be Attributed to his prison sufferings, and will ruiso up moro enemies to England than his speeches could have made in half a century. Tho argument used to justify the treatment of O'brieij aud his followers, of course, is that those who urgo to disorder should be punished'irTtho sumo moasure us dupos who may accept their precepts, But is it worth whilo for a Government to be so particular about this potty bit of logic when it upholds such an illogical proceeding as giving to Ireland a lnrge representation in Parliament, and then makingresistanco to tho wishes of the Irish members a cardinal p»ent of polioy? For tho sake of a li'll6 bit of protended consistency in :no administration of the (.'rimes Act England is not only behaving to political prisoners in a manner opposed to the practice 'of the civilised nations of the Continent but is needlessly prolonging hor own difficulties. It should be apparent to every one that, as there Uno idea of I disfranchising Ireland, a permanont polioy of ignoring the opinions of the immense majority of tho Irish mem-

bers is as impossible as it is ridiculous. It must be plain, even to cocrcionists, that every politician who undergoes the indignity of the plank bed and convict clothing means on additional enemy of rossonabl« compromise, and it is equally evident that «ven if Irishmen could in their own, country he cowed by harsh n«ss, the effect would bo counterbalanced by the angry ,tM* lags that would be raised lp the more Biworful and greater Ireland in the nited States. In regard to the main question of orraagtag a' settlement, there are, it must be- admitted huge diflkultiss; Bttt, ra irjito Of' attempts 'to raise false iotuat by partisan«**, k the wiadou' of' man tn derto*. some

' ruiienal sshtiwa whartbr i palfem jnf five aiiymu might be mad* svateat ' without' endangering the mfghtiact i empire in the worlil. What is chiefly wanted it the clearing of the public mind from prejudice and raoootrr. A Tory can males' a partisan point by showing that Mr. Gladstone expressed confidence in Parnell, even while rooming Mujor Lecaron's reports, and a Liberal may choose to iguore everything but the barbarous custom of burning the bouses of evicted tenants. Idling at the matter from a distant and comparatively neutral standpoint, wo aee more of the huge national discredit involved in the spectacle of a British Poland than of such small details as the petty tyrannies of land agents and tho doubtful tales and certain villainies Of' spies- and bravo*. The heaviest pecuniary sacrifice that could be incurred to settle the agrarian question would be more than • repaid, as it would take all danger from political concestion. Sacrifice and Concession would both be justified by the desire to finally regrets the undoubted wrongs of former times. The thing to be deprecated is rushing from the extreme of anger to the extreme of pliability. The example of 1 the Emperor of Austria, who. 1849, hanged the Hungarian patriot Andrasey in effigy, and a few years later accepted liim an Minister, is not meet for the imitation of British statesmen.