MR. MORLEY'S TASK IN IRELAND

From Irish Ideas by William O'Brien, 1893

Page 96

MR. MORLEY'S TASK IN IRELAND

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MR. MORLEY came to Ireland with the powers of a Cromwell; but he is a Cromwell with a Royalist army. Without his majority at Newcastle at his back, he would have had every major official, and most of the minor officials, around him directing operations upon the calculation that he would be overthrown in six months. The shout of ' Fair Play!' from the Newcastle democracy has rendered them cautious and complaisant; but they regard Mr. Morley's apparition at the Castle with the same feeling with which ancient retainers would regard Cromwell's top-boots in a Cavalier drawing-room. They simply keep their maledictions under their breath. Why not purge the public service, then, of such servants? Is not the work of ' clearing out the Castle' the very job Mr. Morley has come to perform? There was just one sound Home Rule official whom the Tories found at the Castle. Their Chief Secretary's first task was to transport him to the Colonies. Why not begin by sending Sir West Ridgway back to Afghanistan, and by putting some man in his place who does not believe the policy of his chief to mean treason and red ruin? But that is just where the difficulty comes in. It is easy for a Tory Chief Secretary to find Sir West Ridgways by the score; but where is Mr. … continue reading »

[1] Published in the Fortnightly Review, November 1892.

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