PREFACE.
The present seems an excellent moment for bringing forward the arguments
in favour of a new policy for Ireland, which are to be found in the
articles contained in this volume.
We are realizing the first results of the verdict given at the election
of 1886. And this I interpret as saying that the constituencies were not
then ready to depart from the lines of policy which, up to last year,
nearly all politicians of both parties in Parliament had laid down for
their guidance in Irish affairs.
We have had the Session occupied almost wholly with Lord Salisbury's
proposals for strengthening the power of the central Government to
maintain law and order in Ireland, and for dealing with the most
pressing necessities of the Land question in that country.
It is well, before the policy of the Government is practically tested,
that the views of thoughtful men holding different opinions should be
clearly set forth, not in the shape of polemical speeches, but in
measured articles which specially appeal to those who have not hitherto
joined the fighting ranks of either side, and who are sure to intervene
with great force at the next election, when the Irish question is again
submitted to the constituencies.
I feel that I can add little or nothing to the weight of the arguments
contained in these papers, but I should like to give some reasons why I
earnestly hope that they will receive careful consideration.
The writers have endeavoured to approach their work with impartiality,
and to free themselves from those prejudices which make it difficult for
Englishmen to discuss Irish questions in a fresh and independent train
of thought, and realize how widely Irish customs, laws, traditions, and
sentiments differ from our own.
We are apt to think that what has worked well here will work well in
Ireland; that Irishmen who differ from us are unreasonable; and that
their proposals for change must be mistaken. We do not make allowance
for the soreness of feeling prevailing among men who have long objected
to the system by which Ireland has been governed, and who find that
their earnest appeals for reform have been, until recent times,
contemptuously disregarded by English politicians. Time after time
moderate counsels have been rejected until too late. Acts of an
exceptional character intended to secure law and order have been very
numerous, and every one of them has caused fresh irritation; while
remedial measures have been given in a manner which has not won the
sympathy of the people, because they have not been the work of the Irish
themselves, and have not been prepared in their own way.
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