The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-10-01 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER

tatton or qualification, committed himself to a decla-
ration that the firing from the barracks at Mitchels-
town was strictly in self-defence and in obedience to
orders from the officer in command. Now I say this
—it may be proved to have been so, but I only say
this—that at that time to make such a statement
was one of the rashest, one of the hastiest things
ever done by a responsible Minister of the Crown.
It is not disputed that the only authority that the
Chief Secretary had was information supplied to
him in the ordinary course by the] very officers
whose conduct was in question, and it is pen fectly
plain that the Chief Secretary adopted every
word of theie information before he had time to
test, to verify, or cross-examine it in any single
particular. He had not the complete material,
but still he did not hesitate to form a definite, and
complete, and settled judgment on an unverified
and one-sided statement of facts. He adopted the
course with a two-fold evil—with the effect, first of
all, of prejudicing and seriously damaging a judicial
inquiry which was about to take place; and, secondly,
and still worse, of destroying public confidence in
Ireland in the impartiality of the administration of
the law, of still more deeply engraving into the mind
of the Irish people the fatal lesson that the agents
and administrators of the law in Ireland are not
always agents of 'justice and of even handed fair
play. The Government pretend that their ultimate
object is reconciliation. Why do they not drop cent
in this matter? Why do they not tell us that they
mean to govern Ireland as they govern the Crown
Colonies, that they mean to disregard the represen-
tatives of Ireland, that they mean to pass what laws
seem good to them without consulting the wishes of
the people, that they mean to carry out the admi-
nistration with a strong and arbitrary hand?
Do not let us have Ireland made into a
Crown colony on the sly. All our history has shown
that Tory principles may divide a people, may make
them wretched, discontented, disaffected; but unite,
reconcile, and raise up a people, Tory principles never
have and never will. (Cheers.) Last year when Par-
liament was dissolved, in the Queen's Speech which
ended Parliament the Sovereign was made to say, "It
is my earnest prayer that the Parliament about to be
elected may be so guided as to promote the peace, the
happiness, and the contentment of my people, and
the strength of the union of the Empire." That
earnest prayer has not been heard. The happiness
and contentment of the Irish people ale further off
than they were a year ago. But let us not be dis-
couraged. (Cheers.) Let us urge upon the Irish
themselves to be patient. It may be hard. The pro-
vocation is great, but so will the reward of patience be
great. (Cheers.) There is only one thing that can
put back the cause, and that is crime and outrage,
and I hope all those in Ireland who have influence
with the people—and I believe that they will do all
they can—will mark their hatred and execration of
such atrocities as that which took place at Lisdoon-
varna. Those who perpetrated it—l refer to the oc-
currence which ended in the murder of a constable—
are enemies of the people. They have gained all they
have gained, not by crime and by outrage, but by firm
constitutional agitation; and if they will persevere
with the agitation, if they will strongly repress crimi-
nality, if they will continue to walk in the path of
peaceful and orderly and constitutional proceedings,
however energetic, they may be sure that we are not
going to desert them, and they may be sure that
before many months are over this false image,
with its front of brass and its feet of clay, will be
trampled into the dust under the feet of all the just:ce-
loving and freedom-loving people of these islands;
(Prolonged cheering.)

MR. RAIKES ON MR. MORLEY'S SPEECH.
Mr. Raikes, Postmaster-General, addressed a meet-
ing on Monday night in the Temperance Hall, Kirkin-
tillock. Sir Archibald Orr-Ewing, Bart., M.P., occu-
pied the chair. Mr. Raikes said that in view of the
audacious efforts made not merely by Irish members,
but by a great many other people who ought to know
better than to interrupt the business of the House by
irrelevant and fiivolous speeches, the Government
would have to do something to have that House pro-
tected from such impudent interruptions. They could
supply a short and telling answer to all the audacious
figments of all the Radical and Gladstonian
press when they pointed to the fact that
the present House of Commons, elected by
the extended franchise, were right when they
took the side of law and order, and when they showed
they were determined to frame measures to repress
anarchy and revolution. Mr. Morley had said that
the old controversy of Home Rule might be left aside,
and that the question of the land purchase in Ireland,
which was the largest question which could occupy
the attention of Ireland, and one which he thought
ought to be settled by the Imperial Parliament, and
could not safely be entrusted to the new Irish Parlia-
ment. He (Mr. Raikes) also maintained that the
solution of the Irish land question could not be made
by an Irish Parliament. If they wished to have the
picture of arbitrary government they had only to look
at the National League; but the Government of the
people bad coped with it, and it would be proclaimed
in every other district where the responsible advisers
of the Crown found sufficient reason to be-
lieve it necessary to take that step. If her
Majesty's Government had not taken a decided
step the National League would have carried on its
operations to such an extent that the trade of Ireland
would become paralysed and the nation would be
converted entirely into a nation of paupers. The
Government would not allow the tyranny of the
National League to be practised so long as it had the
confidence of Parliament to put it down; and he be-
lieved the Conservatives while in power would con-
tinue to pursue a policy which would restore a con-
stitutional government throughout the length and
breadth of Ireland. Mr. Gladstone had written many
letters; but there was one he had penned which he
ought to be sorry for, as it was addressed to a Glas-
gow gentleman, and contained these two remarkable
words : "Remember Mitchelstown !" Here was a
man who had been Prime Minister, who had
been in office for many years, and who come up to
London on the last day of the session to make a speech,
which he knew could only have the effect of em-
barrassing and hindering the hands of the responsible
and executive Government, and yet he had not the
courage to give a vote in support of that speech, but
he slipped out into the lobby with his distinguished
and gallant friend Sir William Harcourt. Mr. Glad-
stone's act was one which any other man in the world
would have been so ashamed of that he would have
sought to hide it in the deepest oblivion. But to Mr.
Gladstone that act was a matter of great rejoicing.
Mr. Gladstone bad said "Remember Mitchelstown !"
Why they would remember Mitchelstown. The people
of Great Britain would remember Mitchelstown,
especially when Mr. Gladstone was again a competitor
for the first place in power in the Council of this
Empire. (Cheers.)

MR. GLADSTONE AT BIRMINGHAM.
Replying to a gentleman at Birmingham who in-
vited him to visit that town. Mr. Gladstone writes:
"Like you. I naturally deplore the unhappy course
taken at Birmingham in delaying the needful settle•
ment of the Irish question at the cost of many public
evils, and among them the almost total loss of the
time so much needed for British legislation. But
with regard to my visiting Birmingham, I should
wish to be assured that it would not inflame what I
seek to allay."

DISORDERLY UNIONIST MEETING AT
PLYMOUTH.
A meeting was held on Monday at Plymouth to
listen to addresses by the Earl of Morley, Lord
Ebrington, Mr. Walter Morrison, and other repre-
sentatives of the Unionist cause. The meeting was
somewhat disorderly, and the uproar culminated
when Mr. Russell rose to address the meeting,
and after some attempts to secure a bearing he bad
to resume his seat. An amendment was proposed
to a resolution in favour of the Legislative Union,
denouncing indiscriminate resort to coercion. Lord
Morley rising, after consultation with his supporters,
announced that be intended to unite the resolution
and the amendment, inasmuch as the latter was
one in which all Unionists could agree. This
intimation was received with mingled shouts of
laughter and yells, in the midst of which the noble
lord proceeded to put the combined motion and amend-
ment. Comparatively few hands were bald up, and
the Gladetonians present determined to vote against
the resolution in that form were evidently in the ma-
jority. An exciting Beene ensued, the action of Lord
Morley being challenged as contrary to Parliamentary
practice. In the confusion, the platform was cleared,
and the speakers left the building, followed by an ex-
cited crowd. Mr. Russell was severely bustled, his hal
smashed, and be gave a youth into custody on a charge
of endeavouring to trip him up. The crowd subs°,
quently dispersed.

MR. BRIGHT AND THE PAYMENT OF
MEMBERS.

The attention of M—r.--B—ri—g—ht-la-t;ving been drawn to
the result of the voting of the Northumberland miners
respecting their representation in Parliament, and his
opinion asked to the important issue it raised, he has
replied as follows:
" Sir,—l am not in favour of the payment of mem-
bers of Parliament. Ido not wish to make Parlia-
mentary life a trade; it is quite enough so already.
As to the miner: ease, I should regret to lose Mr.
Bart from the House of Commons; but I doubt the
wisdom of Trades Unions being made associations
for political objects. lam not in favour of what is
called a labour party in Parliament. The beet
representatives of industry in past times have not
been labourers in your sense. Mr. Hume was
not a labourer, nor was Mr. Cobden, nor is Mr.
Charles Villiers, nor am ; and yet how much have
we and many others done on behalf of the bulk of our
labouring population. A Parliamontary representa-
tive should strive to further the interests of all classes
of our people, and to do justice to all. A Parliament
divided into sections is less likely to be wise and just
than one not so divided, and leads rather to confusion
than to union, and to a powerful instrument of legis-
lation and government. In years past we have had
:oo much of legislation of classes. Landowners and
farmers for a generation, from 1815 to 1846, ruled
both Houses of Parliament, to the great injury of the
nation. Let us not return to this system, or do any-
thing like it, under the idea that we should advance
the interests of the classes veho live by and from their
labour. I write this in the interest of our whole
people so far as I %in able to comprehend it.—l am,
respectfully yours, - JOHN BRIGHT,