MR JOHN DILLON’S FAREWELL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 441, 29 January 1890, Page 5

MR JOHN DILLON’S FAREWELL.

At the farewell conversazione which closed th§ Australasian mission of the Irish Delegates, Mr John Dillon claimed that their visit to these colonies had been an unqualified success. So far as New Zealand is concerned, the fact that the leading statesmen of the country declared themselves- openly in favour of the liish cause, and that not a single politician who has held the position of a Minister of the Crown appeared on the other side, is undeniable and unanswerable. Moreover, with only two exceptions, the leading newspapers of the colony gave the delegates a cordial support. And if we add to these evidences the substantial sum of money which has been remitted to the Evicted Tenants Fund, it will be admitted that the claim put forward by Mr Dillon is well substantiated. It would, however, be unjust to the three missioners who, at great personal sacrifice, have carried out this work, if, in estimating the causes which have contributed tp’ its success, due weight were not given to the excellent impression made by the delegates themselves, The Irish leaders have been the victims of systematic misrepresentation, and no other antidote for these calumnies could have been so effectual as personal contact with men who hold leading positions in the counsels of the party. Their visit to this country has, we feel sure, been successful in removing prejudices from many minds that have not yet been won over entirely to the cause of Home Rule. We strongly suspect that if some of the colonial Tories who have been most consoicuous in their opposition would only indulge in that open confession which theologians tell us is so good for the soul, they would be obliged to confess that they were very much astonished to discover in the dreadful Mr ijillon, the arch apd l t ete noir of the Tory Government and press, a pure-minded, earnest man enthusiastically devoted to a great cause, but still appealing to men’s reason, and not to their passions. They would confess that the pleadings of justice and mercy on behalf of the evicted tenantry, visions of desolated homes and a suffering peasantry, had obtruded themselves unpleasantly in their quiet moments, and that conscience occasionally experiences unpleasant misgivings with regard tb the wisdom of upholding a system of Government which produces such Dead Sea fruit. They would be j obliged to acknowledge that it is utterly

impossible to associate Mr Deasy’s effervescing Irish humour and strong common sense with any suggestion of sympathy for those agrarian outrages which every true friend of Ireland so deeply deplores. And they would be forced to acknowledge that when a landed proprietor with a pedigree as long as that borne by Sir Thomas Esmonde is not alarmed by the prospect of an Irish Parliament, the landlord class cannot have so very much to fear after all. And if these reflections lead them to study Irish history we shall have no cause to despair of their ultimate conversion and due penitence for their past errors. For there they will learn that whilo outbursts of crime—in Ireland as elsewhere—have been the outcome of oppression, their occurrence is not to be named with the amazing patience that has been manifested by a warm-hearted people in the silent endurance of poverty, suffering, and w’rong. »Ve believe that three - fourths of the opposition to the demand for self - government in Ireland is simply the result of insufficient attention and study of the whole question. Of course there are people whom it would j be impossible to convince even though an| arch-angel should appear and plead with them. We have to count upon the selfish interests of absentee landlords and their satellites, and the blind prejudices of men who, being themselves in the enjoyment of class privileges of one sort or another, not unnaturally consider that it may be dangerous to disturb the existing order of things. Then there is the religious prejudice, which obscures the vision of many worthy people and causes them to look askance at their neighbours. But may we not hope that this influence is a diminishing factor in a country where religious equality and freedom of conscience are assured ? At any rate, in struggling for those privileges, social and political, which are every man’s birthright, in fighting against land monopoly and class tyranny, which have desolated Ireland and will blight and desolate every country where they are tolerated, we may surely bury our differences of creed, and stand shoulder to shoulder. The claim for self-government in Ireland rests upon broad democratic principles, which are applicable, in greater or less degree, to every country : and therefore, while it is perfectly true that the delegates have been well received in these colonies, their reception is scarcely to be wondered at, for it would have been an everlasting disgrace to Australasia if, although enjoying absolute self-government of the most liberal character themselves, they had refused their sympathy and support to those parts of the Empire which are merely demanding kindred privileges. “ Auckland Star,” Jan. 25.