| Title: | McMahon Glynn, Patrick to Glynn, James P., 1890 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4403 |
| Collection | Patrick McMahon Glynn: Letters to his family (1874-1927) [Gerald Glynn O'Collins] |
| File | glynn/55 |
| Year | 1890 |
| Sender | McMahon Glynn, Patrick |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | lawyer |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| Destination | Gort, Co. Galway, Ireland |
| Recipient | Glynn, James P. |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | siblings |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 781 |
| Genre | elections, money, politics |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Adelaide, April 6th 1890 My dear James With a very bad cold, and certain fagged out feeling induced by scribbling a leading article, I am only in a condition for a few hurried lines. Let me in the first place explain the delay in replying to your last, by saying that I am in the midst of a general election. This is not light matter in my district, as the population is about half German who follow their mis-leaders in the politics of the pocket, rather than the suggestions of what is due to an approved career. Against me are, 1st misrepresentation in private of unscrupulous opponents, 2nd difference of intellectual levels, 3rd sectarian bigotries aroused by a suggested and inadequate grant to private schools, and 4thly consistency, which precludes one from shaping speeches to local likings. However, I think I will get in. If not, as I am in the last batch, other districts would return me willingly—but the matter cannot be helped now. I refused the Attorney Generalship a fortnight ago. If I cannot act on my wish and send you cash now, it is because my all is in stocks at present down, owing to financial collapse in Victoria, and that I cannot know how the elections will touch my credit. Later on, I may be in a position. But, as some of your hints in regard to Tullow seem to imply that I have a capacity for charity which is not exercised, I must tell you that unless some one doubles my income I can stand no more drains than are made on my pocket. I do send cash there now and then—but really there is an aunt in Melbourne who is occasionally and successfully exigent, calls from Sydney that can't be answered, and political benevolences without end. The sphere of my benevolence is rather wide, I can tell you, on this side of the world. I don't mind, but must be just to myself, or rather my reputation when the guage [sic] seems out. Now, as to Ireland, I am sorry I have not your letter with me, but I think you spoke about no one but idiots living out of the country supporting Home Rule. Well, I am a veteran in intensified experience now, so can, without doing injustice to critics, take a wide view of issues. You surely don't imagine that my intellectual food is the Dublin Freeman's Journal, or, for that matter, the Daily Express. I subscribe to the Times, strange to say, and my weekly is the Spectator. Stranger still, I regard Davitt and Archbishop Wallsh as the only men who grasp the true solution to the Irish difficulty. Again, I wish that the necessity for Home Rule had never arisen, and for reasons very different than the mental poverty of most unionists ever suggests; but that it has arisen, a good many wise and balanced heads believe. To my mind, the only man that ever properly stated the true difficulties of Home Rule is Dicey, in his republished Spectator articles. But for the ephemeral warfare & issues of Messrs. Balfour and Parnell, I care scarcely a fig. As to Ashbourne Acts1, have you ever read the statistics of peasant proprietorship in France? The Times has often unintentionally pointed [out] their Moral, and the best commentary on the Ashbourne Acts is the Times recent article on them. They show that the gombeen men [— money-lenders] inevitably come to the front. But, of course, for politicians whose national future is the length of a Parliament, the Ashbourne Acts are perfect. I am afraid, James, you allow the limited view, or local bias, which you implicitly condemn in Dublin & Co, to influence what otherwise would be an urbane temper. At all events you must remember that I am a man of action—that is my fate—and that compromise is the basis of politics. If Home Rule is inevitable, it is merely as a balance between evils. I would be a unionist, after Dicey's not Balfour's fashion, if the conditions allowed. But I am still afraid they don't. Well, let politics go to the dogs, and let me enquire about yourself. I hope your book is a success. What about Eugene? If luck turns again, you will hear from me soon, and never think I would regard anything as a loan which you would not. I wonder would it be well for you to come out here? If the amenities of life arc against you at home, think about it. Give my love to all, and write soon to Your affectionate brother P. McM. Glynn J. P. Glynn Esq. Boyle Ireland. |
