THE REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF IRELAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 116, 16 July 1875, Page 9

THE REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF IRELAND.

The • London Daily Telegraph ' said only a short time ago : " When a young Irishman is called to the bar, it is an even bet whether he will end by sentencing* or being sentenced to penal servitude." It used to be so ; but the odds are now a thousand to one on the prudent and selfish s-ide. Ireland's poverty of reliable public men is one of the saddest facts of the day. " Men of means, for the greater part, ape English ways and crawl after English distinctions. The shining lights and even the farthing candles of the professions in literature, law, and whatnot, let out their wits to hire, and only England, who holds the purse, can huj. Only Isaac Butt's abilities save him from ostracism in his own class. Such as he are exceptions which but prove the rule. There are free lances enotigh that would enroll themselves under Home Rule colors if they could see their way to deserting upon profitable terms ; it speaks well for public opinion in Ireland when they keep aloof. But the fact stands, that the country cannot supply representatives in quantity or quality at all equal to the demand. At the last general election fully ten seats were lost or want of men to fill them. Mr. A. M. Sullivan was, we under, stand, solicited to stand for at least twenty places. The O'Gorman Mahon was torn asunder between Kerry, Ennis and Tipperary. Urgent telegrams assured Captain King Harman he had only to say the word to be elected for Leitrim, for Kildare, for Kerry; for Waterford, for Dublin ; and he ended by leaving the country to escape the honors. It is a fact that for a few days a full dozen telegrams used to reach the Home Rule office in Dublin, praying " For God's sake send us a candidate I" Two seats for the County Waterford might be had for the taking, and nobody turned up but an Englishman named Longbottom, whom the Home Rule League had to disown. Take the Tdsh representation as it startds ; better, ori the whole, and honester than ever it was. Nearly half the fifty are well-meaning country gentlemen who give a vote and a prosy speech once or twice a year on the Home Rule side, and go home to their constituents with what The O'Donoghue called " the Home Rule annual" in their buttonholes. They were accepted for want of better ; and, indeed, have done much better than was expected of them. We think we do not pry too much into private affairs when we say that, as to the balance of hard workers, their attention to public business involves personal and pecuniary sacrifices that ought not to be the penalty of public life. The joke of the English that a certain Irish member had an objection to attending the London Parliament, being hard up for his railway fare, is only an ungenerous exaggeration of the hardships more than one popular representative has to face in order to be constantly at his post. It is well known that Mr. Butt has sacrificed 'the most lucrative position at the Irish Bar. Mr. O'Shaughnessy can well afford it ; but he has also resigned practice at the bar. Mr. A. M. Sullivan with amazing industry edits two newspapers, and is able to engage Disraeli himself without gloves upon the deepest and the most different topics. His colleague in the representation of Louth, Mr. Harley Kirk, is a tenant farmer with a not over indulgent landlord. Mr. William H. O' Sullivan, the member for the county Limerick, is a business man, who is the life of his business. Mr Fay, the member for Cavan, and Mr M'Carthy, of Mallow, are practising attorneys, whose clients grumble when they are away. Dr O'Leary (who enjoys the distinction of being the smallest man in the House, as Mr O' Sullivan is the tallest and Major O'Gorman. the weightiest) has a wide circle of patients in Dublin who might tske a fever or colic while their medical confessor obeys the ring of the division bell. Mr O'Connor Power, the young member for Mayo, must give readings and attend his law lectures in the intervals of the sessions. The Chevalier O'Clery writes for a small weekly newspaper. The hardship is that these are the men who always mount guard and do the work. Their more showy but less sincere associates only put in an appearance on parade. There were already too few men like John Martin, with leisure enough and will to be always at their post, and keep the waverers in countenance. In this way, and in the loss of his private influence, the death of John Martin will be sorely felt. But the loss is not altogether irreparable. The Home Rule Movement was not checked by the death of two of its most notable champions — George Henry Moore and John Francis Maguire : it will survive even this third blow. There are youth and promise enough in the country. If there is a scarcity of public men of leisure and ability, there is at least an absence of profligate public men, such as held the helm for many a day in Irish politics, It would be hard to despair of the country that had three such men as John Mitchel, John Martin, and John Gray to honor, and knew how to honor them. — 'Pilot/

No less than 24,855 immigrants arrived in California overland alnce April 1, 1874.