THE IRISH QUESTION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2919, 31 March 1891, Page 4

THE IRISH QUESTION.

Mr A. !'. Mm;, i.s v. lii-; as " ih lie- Mi" :;' i I'ni-lii -I "ii : I:.1 • 1' :i 111 1 'I'' 1,, i in-- i.i-i- I!'. ' ■'' : 1 " ' u ''''; ;l '' ,1- lii.'l ».V r.-in •■*•"""• , Mi- i'-iM.-'ii. in i'i" <•»«<• <•» ;V : , "IV.V Am- •!'" I'-i;' :i .,iini-- ;i ditter. !l1 I'll 1 " 1 -'' t" l','!;" winch it v.vav, in ritli'T <Wr:,l 1',,1-nn in' livi-i!"!- 1,1 i vi-I• 111' Ii! Celtic (Uiil Komsm Catholic population. u ,,l il.:' event ual iTeat ion 'lift er (lif Ijminaliijll of slli'l) " JlH l '" " ' til I,'' found ill I'l -!i-r :iis-l • where 1,1 :M1 'V Au ''" li-iilin tin: l<.i>innii Cutliolic or Irish vot" amounts. sis I have s.iiil, to about onefoiirth of tin: whole: ami with us tin: Irish question implies how to work theuiachincry of English constitutional friivi-rninpnt against tin' opposition ot large an organised a section ot tl»«population. Under our system o! iii-inliood suffrage ami party government tin to am thrc- piactical methods :-(I) To placate or break up the Irish party l»y putting the.vleaders in the Cabinet, and giving them an altogether undue share ot the public patronage. (2) To hand over the o-overnment, under an lush pumi minister. to an organised and importunate minority. (:<) For the recognised party leaders to form a coalition, with the view of excluding the Irish. Each of these methods have been tried, but with all the drawbacks_ ot such selfish compromises as those involved in the first and third plans, I can only say that plan No. '2, which may be described as the " colonial plan ot Irish Home l\ule," always proves sn disastrous in practice that the bul v of the people in a short tune awake ,Y„m tin-lr lethargy, mid promptl> kick the Irish Government out. When in Victoria a time ago, owing to tbo almost equal y balanced state of parties, a local Irish politician became for a time prime minister, it was truthfullv said that his public iippoinuients "might have been mistaken for several columns of theDublui Directory. " Of course tins conduct —•which the Irish politician display* without, I believe, the slightest sensi even of its impropriety-soon bring* its due punishment in any community worthy of self-government. Would vou have me," once said a prominent Irishman with characteristic naivetewould you have mo app int mi inimics r'' when I pointed out tin folly, as well as the grofs injustice, o a batch of Ivish appointments. LI may bo said that this is, after all. n small matter, and that m the colonies we have only to submit, to every public office being filled by Irishmen to. this source of public corruption to bi at an end - that is to say, wt should be content to suffer the state, which is three-fourths British, to become purely Insb. y mely, too, i communities in wlucli the Jibongiiiu, [i-i-h only forms a fourth at" tliu: menaced by the dread of an unwortli> domination, is it iwy wonder that thoughtful Australians wl.o slll cherish a love for English institutions, should regard with something like horror the spectacle of a veteran English statesman and of a great English party making common causc with such a man as Sir Purneil (oi Sir Ilealy) to bring about what n called Home llule in Ireland.