Correspondence.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3474, 12 February 1880, Page 2

Correspondence.

THE CASE OF IRELAND.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.)

Sir. —I venture to write on a subject somewhat tabooed by many ultra loyalists, who seem as a rule notwithstanding their professed broad and liberal views to consider that the Irish nation should, like unhappy Poland, be allowed none of the privileges of free citizens. The Chevalier Clery-hiM fur many successive sessions of the Home Parliament endeavored to get permission lor the formation.of volunteer corps in the Green Isl<», but hitherto without success. The turbulent character of Irishmen is attributed as the reason for the refusal As an old Imperial soldier and a. loyal Englishmen, who was employed in the suppression of the Fenian panic of 18^6 7,1 would fain venture to express my impressions on ttye conduct of the British Government towards our Irish brethren, than whom no more loyal subjects of the present reigning dynasty exist. The character of the Crown prosecutions of 1867 evinced a remarkable degree of blood-thirsty persecution to wards the Irish patriots } the evidenpe of one or two despicable paid informers in almost every case, led tq the conviction of the prisoners, meu whose oath should have carried no more weight on the minds of an impartial jury than the idle wind, JJot to, be accounted sedjtious, however, I will'not dwell too long op the policy <f those persecutions. I was loiat'd in Ireland, in' the midst of a purely Catholic people, and isi tiie execution of duty ofttimee felt my sympathy wai with the people Whom I Rud my

comrades were employed to repress. If I had cared to. he. an informer, many were the 5 Irishmen I could have impeached for huhly treasonable (patriotic)' language, addressed to me in confidence. I could not perceive that roy duty ! required me to inform on men who addressed me in similar phrases to what I had heard some time before from the gallant; Poles serving in the ranks of the Russian army at Cronstadt, and at St. Petersburgh. What I always in 1866 -pointed out to the Cork men was'the hopelessness of any attempt they might make to regain their constitutional liberties by force of arms, I assured them that I for one, should implicitly obey the orders of my military superiors in the event of any outbreak, in accordance with my oath of allegiarce. When it is considered for what a length of time the Irish have been under British rule without having their nationality extinguished, surely there must be true love of country and patriotism as its primary cause. I maintain, that give the Irishman equal civil rights with other Britons and he will be equally law-abiding and loyal. In this colony they have equal freedom, and their is no gainsaying their loyalty. Look at the Auckland Irish Volunteers, tho Hobson Volunteers, and on the Thames We have a fair proportion of Irishmen in every corps, 'i a!k about loyalty, I say that Irishmen have shown an example to Englishmen in adhering to royalty when under a cloud. When England first took possession of Ireland, her people were termed " the King's Irish I'nemie." British law classed them as .aliens ; this was British law for centuiies. down lo 1607. The Irish people bad no existence in the eye of the law. Men were convicted and" executed for sedition according to law. With the opening of the 17th century, however, came a golden opportunity for ending the melancholy state of Irish affairs. In the reign of of Jamas 1., English law for the first time extended to every corner of Great Bntian and Ireland. The Irish came into the new order of things frankly, and in good faith, and if wise council had then prevailed what a glorious ending their might have been to the feud of centuries. The Irish submitted to the G.ielic King, in their eyes he was of a kindred race. .He was of a line of Gaelic Kings that had oft.times befriended. Ireland. Submitting to him was not yielding to the brutal Tudor. It is remarkable that from that day to this, though England has seen many bloody revolutions, Ireland has ever held faithfully—too faithfully perhaps—to the sovereignty thus adopted. Charles I came to the throne. Disaffection became rife in England and Scotland. Scottish "Fenians," otherwise Oovonanters, took the field against him, because of the attempt to establish Episcopacy as a State church. By armed rebellion against their King they won rights which made Scotland contented and loyal. His concessions to the Catvinistic Fenians of Scotland did not, however, save Charles. The English Fenians of that day, under ,their head centre, Oliver Cromwell, drove him from the throne and murdered him on a scaffold. How did the loyal Irish act? They stood true to their allegiance, and rose in arms for tbeir king. What was the result ? T.hey were given over to slaughter and plunder by the Oromwelliau soldiery. Their gentry were proscribed, their children sold as slaves to "West Inclian planters ; and their gallant struggles for the English king was denounced as sedition. Time went on, another James sat on the throne; and again English Fenianism consp red for the overthrow of their king.' They invited foreign aid from Holland and Swedeu to begin the revolution for them. They were successful, and drove their king from the throne. The Irish stood by their colours, tbey again took tho field for the king, not against him. He landed in Ireland ; and had Ireland been let alone, slre r might now be a neighbouring bir friendly kingdom I under ths ancient Stuart line. King James opened the Irish Parliament in person. Once more the Irish people bled for their loyalty. Once more confiscation devastated the land. The English Fenians and their foreign aids, assisted by the rebels "flf Ulster, triumphed over the loyal Irishmen. King Willam mounted the throne, the Irish submitted, and had the law been just and tolerant, might have again become good subjects ; but the penal code in all its horrors was enforced to fill the Irish with hatred and dismay. "Law" forbade the Irish to educate their children, in the faith of-their fathers. An Irish Protestant Parliament, however,* struck off the first link of the penal chain, and once more Irish national sentiment was in warm sympathy with the laws. " Eighty* two" came Irish Protestant patriotism, backed up by the hearty sympathy of the Catholics, iaised up Ireland to a proud and glorious position. Had that regime been prolonged, Ireland would be a noble country this day. But their independent national legislature was torn from them by fraud and force- No one cau write Irish history without committing sedition; yet what would New Zealand colonists say if their colonial Parliament were taken from them, and they were governed from Downing street. O'Conaell ;ied the? people towards liberation—not of a creed, bqt of a nation. What did he seek P To restore the constitution of Queen, lords and commons. Law grasped him as an unsuccessful conspirator. What is required to make Ireland contented end happy is simply the sa.mo privileges as what we enjoy in New ZuaUnd : a free and independent Parliament of their own, and just and equitable land laws. There will then be no danger iv extending the Volunteer Act to Ireland. Apologising for the length of my letter, I am, &c, Loyalist.