For many months the hostile attitude assumed by the leaders of the Irish people toward the British government has been the most exciting topic of the current news. It has been the most important as well as the most perplexing problem with which the present British ministry have had to deal. The serious nature of the disturbances which have arisen is evident from the fact that they seem to increase rather than diminish with the lapse of time.
The attitude of the Irish toward England betokens the most intense hatred and the bitterest rancor. It is indicative of an uncompromising determination to accomplish their purposes, even by the most foul and unscrupulous methods. Assassination, boycotting, deeds of violence ofevery sort, are the deliberately chosen weapons. The ultimate design of the Irish leaders is not only to obtain redress for present grievances, but also to deliver Ireland from English rule, and to establish its independence. But it is by no means necessary to perpetrate revolting crimes in order to secure a country’s liberty. When the American colonies determined to free themselves from what they considered the oppressive tyranny of Great Britain, there was no resort to assassination in all its horrid forms; there were no Guy Fawkes plots, no boycotting, no bloody deeds of violence, but the simple and determined uprising of an united people in might and majesty. The assassin’s dagger, infernal machines and dynamite explosives are poor arguments with which to convince the world that the Irish people are deserving of being freed from English rule, or are fitted for taking a place among the nations of the earth. The spirit which has been manifested by the representatives of the Irish people in carrying out their plans is not only hostile to England, but also to the welfare of society in general, and to government of all kinds. England has sought with patient forbearance and wise legislation to modify or eradicate the evils of which its Irish subjects justly complain. All its overtures have been met of late with threats of violence, or vandal attempts to destroy the public buildings of the realm.
The sympathy which has been manifested toward the Irish people since the outbreak of the present troubles by many of those familiar with the story of their ancient wrongs is steadily decreasing, because of the violent measures adopted by the would-be champions of the Irish cause. The barbarous methods which have been employed to carry out their designs have not only alienated the sympathies of the civilized world, but have also demonstrated that the Irish, at present at least, are utterly unfit for self-government. If, by any combination of circumstances, they should be able to secure national independence, the result would doubtless be productive of a state of anarchy, or even of a return to barbarism. Only the utmost cruelty and tyranny exercised by a government toward its subjects can justify violence in order to secure what they think to be their rightful liberties.
The facts are, that not liberty, but license and lawlessness are the necessary outcome of the methods employed by the unprincipled and unscrupulous men who now are in the ascendant in Irish affairs. If the Irish people would meet the overtures of the English government with a like conciliatory spirit, and heartily second the efforts of the present administration to secure a speedy and thorough redress of all grievances; would cast the mantle of oblivion over the past, and devote their energies to developing the varied resources of their beautiful island, in a very brief time peace and harmony would be restored to their distracted country; Ireland would enter upon a career of prosperity that would rival, if not excel, anything ever recorded in its previous history.