THE ENGLISH PRESS ON THE IRISH QUESTION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 59, 13 June 1874, Page 5

THE ENGLISH PRESS ON THE IRISH QUESTION.

Some few years since it was almost a matter of impossibility to find a paper outside of the National orgam devoting a single paragraph to the claims of the Irish Nationalists. So preposterous were they held to be, and so utterly futile the efforts made for self government by the party, that the advocacy was either sought to be annihilated by a stroke of the j pen, or treated with sublime indifference. Since then, how- 1 ever, a change has come over the scene ; slowly, but surely, | the much contemned band have fought the unequal contest, until at the present moment the Home Movement has not only forced itself to be acknowledged, but compelled a favourable expression of the justice of its claims, and the necessity of their concession, from the great Thunderer itself. The London 'Times,' in a leading article written before the general election had taken place, but with an evident fore-knowledge oi the power of the league, reviewed the Home Rule position, and concluded by admitting that a tribunal or board sitting in Dublin to settle local affairs, would be of vast benefit to the Empire. This is what that journal says :—": — " Under the unquestioned control of Parliament, a board or committee sitting in Dublin, or, still better, conductiug local inquiries throughout the country, could by no possibility be manipulated into an Opposition Legislature, or centre of Nationalist hopes, and an engiue of Separatist strategy. On the other hand, it would

take away one of the few remaining practical grievances of which Ireland has a right to complain. The undertaking does not promise an abundant harvest of prosperity ; it will offend some influential interests ; and a large expenditure of Parliamentary time. But the plan is in its essentials a sound one, and if prudently worked out, would be of public benefit, not to Ireland only, but to the whole Empire." We suppose, on; the principle that might is right, tbe demand made by the Nationalists, backed as it is by four score votes, wears a quite different aspect, now, to what it did a few years since. The admission from the 'Times' that its want of self government "is one of the few remaining practical grievances of which Ireland has a right to complain" is the greatest tribute to the labours of its champions, and the strongest proof that the power which the organisation is possessed of will ultimately carry the day. The • London Daily Telegraph,' a .paper which boasts of the largest circulation in the world, and in weight and importance scarcely surpassed by its leviathan contemporary, while uttering a covert sneer at, is compelled to acknowledge the power of, the organised party. In a long article on the difficulties in the face of the present Parliament, it says :— " We shall be face to face with a new situation in English politics. There will b« a Liberal and a Conservative party, and an Irian Brigade wandering about at their own, or the Cardinal's sweet wilL If an united party of fifty or sixty members demanded, as the price of their alliance, any fair or reasonable concession to Irish prejudices — any boon not inconsistent with the permanent interest of the Empire, the chances are that they would succeed." The results of the general elections prove that not only has the supposition nun* tter mentioned by the 'Telegraph' been returned pledged to carry out the programme marked out, as it were, by that journal, but Great Britain herself has added over two dozen to the list. With regard to the " fair or reasonable concession to Irish prejudices" which will command the allegiance of the Nationalists, we have the dictum of the leading organ in England tnat it is not a boon inconsistent with the permanent interests of the Empire, but that it is » practical grievance of which Ireland has a just right to complain," the removal of which cannot longer with consistency, and will not with impunity, be mainta ned. Such, then, are the prospects of the coming struggle, and such the expression of opinions forced by the pressure of circumstances. The sun which has been so long hidden shall once more shine forth, and with a greater effulgence than before ; and the wrongs and struggles of the last three parts of a century, shall only make us prize the more dearly what we have been so long in winning, and of which we knew not the value until we had lost it. We may say, with the " Manchester Guardian,' in speaking of the progress of the general election, "History is repeatingitself; we are living again in the era of O'Conneli, and Ireland is once more mistress of the political situation." The tide of Irish affairs has begun to turn, and it is a matter of impossibility that they can remain in their present position. The miserable scheme adapted by some journals of characterising 1 the movement as designs of Ultratnontanism — a sort of bugbear by which it is imagined the susceptibilities of the people can be raised, and their prejudices traded upon — is charac teristically mean and despicable. The Irish, as a race, are intensely Catholic, as they are intensely national, but that they have been loyal aud true to the cause which claimed their allegiance, the devotion to the ill-fated Stuarts has amply proved. But the * Pall Mall Gazette,' and its kindred, instead of taking advantage of those sentiments to consolidate the Empire by devoloping those admirable qualities, systematically seek to crush out those sentiments, and wound the feelings of the nation by the denial of common justice, the perpetuation of admitted wrongs, and the studied use of contemptuous and insulting language.