IRISH WRONGS AND ENGLISH REMEDIES.* A STATEMENT OF FACTS. It is now nearly two hundred years since the last conquest of Ireland was completed by William III. ; yet Irish disaffection is to-day the difficulty and the danger of the Empire. Apart altogether from the question of causes this fact has to be faced. But what are the causes ? The irreconcilable character of the Irish people, Englishmen say ; Irishmen, the unwillingness and inability of the Imperial Parliament to do complete justice to their country. Let us look at the English and the Irish case, and consider the facts on which each rests, or is supposed to rest. Englishmen say,“We know that the government of Ireland in the past was very bad. We do not attempt to defend the penal laws, and we even admit that, between 1800 and 1829, the administration of Irish affairs was scandalously unjust. But a new order of things arose after Catholic Emanci* Nineteenth Century, November, 1885. B pation. A policy of conciliation was then adopted, and ever since we have been engaged in conceding Irish demands and in repairing the wrongs of bygone days. See what a goodly list of concessions we have to show. National Education in 1831 ; Parliamentary Reform in 1832; the Tithe Commutation Act in 1838; the Poor Laws; the Irish Reform Act of 1868; the Church Act of 1869 ; the Land Act of 1870; the Intermediate Education Act of 1878; the Royal University Act of 1879; and the Land Act of 1881. Assuredly to name these measures is to prove the willingness and the ability of the Imperial Parliament to do complete justice to Ireland.” Irishmen reply, “The "The wrongs which you inflicted on our country in the past were so grievous, that a century of effort to repair them would scarcely atone for your misdeeds. Yet on your own admission the policy of reparation began only fifty years ago. But was it even then generously taken up and perseveringly carried out ? Assuredly not. You never gave with a free hand. Your 'concessions' were yielded to force, not to justice. When you could you coerced, and when coercion became inconvenient or dangerous you conceded. Your policy in Ireland for the past fifty years—and you yourselves are ashamed of your record up to that time -has been an alternation of kicks and kindness' - kicks freely given, and kindness grudgingly |