MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1886. THE IRISH DIFFICULTY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2220, 15 February 1886, Page 2

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1886. THE IRISH DIFFICULTY.

The-(lrish' difficulty^ more ■ 'than : " Iv.'cfin tui y, "(and "if: at-'' the-present'-'time it is the burning question' at Homw,' it is not because the country is in an abnoiinal state of discontent, anil adversity. P -It is rather, because the Irish; vole .bun at this juncture put out a Ministry, and,dictate terms to either the Liberals or the Conservatives, It is the solution of. this.political difficulty, rather than any. abstract question of justice to. Iruland, which agitates men's minds. Mr Gladstone is accused of having made some mysterious compact with Mr Pamell by which the integrity of the British Empire is endangered. This, however, is very improbable. It is much more likely that the Parnellites, finding that they could not .make terms with the Conservatives, have gone over to the Liberals without making any bargain with Mr Gladstone, Their' agitation may flourish more vigorously under the reign of the present Premier, but neither the political difficulty nor the real difficulty are any moie likely to be solved aow than at any time during the past fifty years, Were the political difficulty solved, (}# leaders of tho party would find their .Qecwpa£ion gone —and a very profitable one it £g. It is an absurdity to attribute Irish .distresses to English uvsgoyernpnt, The Irish haw? suffered in the past from the operation ,ojE pwise laws j but then the English and the %>toh have probably suffered in.,an : equa;l from the same cause,- I,hey jjiajip po,t, however, been in an equal-' degree as poor, as turbulent, and as weak. The truth is that there are unthrifty elements in the Irish character, which retard the progress of the country as a

whole. The present condition of the Irish people is better than it was fifty years .ago, but the development has been slow, and it will continue to be slow in the future. Whatever success may attend the efforts of political agitators, no great measure of relief can be secured without a change in the' character and habits of a laige proportion of the people. Such a change cannot be rapid, and few now living can hope to see it completed. No Irish Parliament would bo ever likely to confer prosperity on- the' country. When such a legislature formeily existed the members of it were notoriously venal, and there is little reason to believe that the standard of political morality has been materially raised since the Union. Time, and time alone, will solve the Irish difficulty, and its prominence now in political circles is less on account of the welfare of Ireland than it is on account of English party embarrassments.