The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-03-03 00:00:00

IRMIRMIPMIII

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

the closure by the Conservative party, which he de-
clared was making a rope to be put round its own neck,
and on a division the proposed rule was agreed to by
256 to 134.
The third rule, empowering the Speaker or Chaii
man to order members whose conduct is grossly dis-
orderly to withdraw immediately from the House and
its precincts tltiritig the remainder of that day's sitting
was also agreed to, after an ineffectual attempt by the
Opposition to exclude the precincts of the House from
its operation. Other rules, relating to motions for ad-
journment in abuse of the rules of the House, the
arrangement of business on Government days, com-
mittees of the whole House, and amendments on re-
ports were agreed to after discussion, and at five
lutes ta 12 the debate was adjourned. The other
,mess on the paper having been disposed of, the
,use adjourned at 12 o'clock.

ir- I

MR, GLADSTONE ON HOME
RULE.

Mr. Gladstone has written some "Further Notes
and Queries or, the Irish Demand,"in the Contemporary
Review. He begins by saying : "Ever since the
question of Irish autonomy, or Home Rule, was fully
opened, two years am), when Ireland through her
tsentatives wisely and frankly accepted the
c' of a Statutory Parliament, I have maintained
to .; best of my ability that the adjustment of this
g, ; question could but be effected by the co.
c ttion of -the two historic Parties of British
PC 'es, to whom it offers an open ground for common
ad I 71. In particular I have desired and still desire
to :cis this-. proposition, that there is nothing in
the principle of the measure which ought to repel a
Tory or Conservative Party from its adoption. It is a
measure which acknowledges and consecrates the
traditions of the country that calls for its application.
It is a measure which restores ancient and prescriptive
rights, long enjoyed in principle, and in 1783 most
solemnly and not less unanimously, acknowledged by
Great Britain. I descend to a much lower order of
ideas When I-add, it is a measure which, whatever
particularform it may take, must certainly diminish. •
the weight. and activity at St. Stephen's of an element
which, whether by its nature democratic or not (and
on.thii point there may be serious doubts), is and
must be under its present circumstances discontented
and estranged, and on that account inclined to promote
political and administrative innovations. The last-
named reason is ircumstantial, and I admit that tiler(
are also circumstances in the state of, Ireland whieL
may weigh in the other scale. But the two first lie
at the root of the whole matter, and must operate on
minds disposed to Conservatism, when they can be
regarded with tranquility and outside the vortex of
Parliamentary politics." 4
Prddeeding to consider the pecuniary cost of our
present relations with Ireland, which he thinks are of
unpaYalleled infelicity, Mr. Gladstone says that Ire- -
land is..governed in civil matters worse than England
and Scotland, and at about twice the annual cost per
head; whilst as regards the Army he estimates the
charg at sixteen shillings per head in Ireland against
five shillings in Oreat Britain; Aiiierica seems also,)
to the right hon. gentleman, to be or opinion that, in
the matter of this Irish questiory she has some title:
to coniPlain of u. for vexing her with a cause of in-
ternal trouble.. • Whether this be so or not he thinks;
there can be -little doubt that she suffers, in
her internal politics, from the unsettled state;
of flie qUeStiun,' and says it is ob-,
violfstg. if& her interest that the various races and
nationalities represented by the crowds of emigrants
to her shores should as rapidly as possible melt down, :
and4rierge into the great American unity. Mr. Glad-
stone then, proceeds to inquire, What is Unionism ?
"I deeire," he says, "to :•inciunt myself for a
few: ,inoraents on. the ness,-the stage, or other
eminen* 'Which forms the point of view for the I
opponent.; and to have what kind of outlook;1
from;atliat-Ipoint of .view, spreads itself before
Now it must air fairness be admitted that there is much'
to iny;te, the :adversary to a -sanguine and confident
reply 'Other, rdst of these: inquiriesY Unionism, is brig
one sense, a great fact. It is the Parliamentary name"
assumed, and undoubtedly assumed with entire sin-
cerity, by a combination which, eighteen months ago,
included nearly four hundred members of the House of
Commons; which as yet may include three hundred
and eighty, and which will still bear much depletion
before the figure of the descending majority comes
near to the point of junction on a level with that of
the ascending minority. The composition of the Party
is still more commanding than are its imposing
numbers. It is not a Party majority; it includes
nearly seventy men who have been professed and
habitual opponents of the Tory Party, withwhich they
now devotedly co-operate; and in this important con-
tingent are included many cases of keen and extreme,
some of eminent, and one at least of splendid and
never-to-be-forgotten Liberalism. The alliance has
been tested to the uttermost by the strain of circum-
stance, and it has borne the strain. This large pro-
portion of the House of Commons has at its back nine-
tenths of the House of Lords; nine-tenths at least of
what is termed the 'wealth of the country, and of the
vast sources of social influence; an overwhelming
share (in its own estimation) of British
intellect, and undoubtedly an enormous proportion of
those who have received an academical education in
England. Conservatism for half a century faced in
the field, with unequal yet not grossly unequal forces,
the unbroken power of Liberalism; how much easier
must its task be now, when it has only to encounter
'the Gladstonian wing of the Liberal Party?' Such a
Goliath surely can have no misgivings as to smashing
so mutilated and so poor a David. It seems very diffi-
cult to detect a speck in this nectarine, or a rift in
this lute. Tn contemplating the vast and serried array
of Unionism I am, however, apt to recollect the
Austrian Quadrilateral in Northern Italy It was
always 'impossible 'for Austria to surrender so power-
ful a linot of fortresses. It was impossible 'for any
military power' to conquer it. But a very few years
had elapsed, when Verdna, Mantua, Peschiera, and
Legnano, which composed that Quadrilateral, one and
all formed part of a United Italy. I predict no speedy
surrender. I do not agree with those (if any) who
!think that, so soon as the House of Commons removes
,itself from the battered field of Irish queoions to the
more diversified and wide arena. of British interests,
Unionism (as it is called) will break in pieces. I
admit, then, that there is a ready answer to my
inquiry, What is Unionism? It is, if not a principle,
a faCt But the affair will, I think, be found much
more serious if we can induce Unionism, by a friendly
request, to retire into its chamber, and to lock the
door, and to be still: and then to ask itself, "What is
Union ?" •
Mr. Gladstone next examines Lord Salisbury's
arguments against Home Rule based on experience
in other countries, and says: "It is easy to
multiply broad distinctions between the four con-
solidations of Lord Salisbury and the con-
solidation he proposes partly to maintain, partly to
effect, with Ireland. No one of them exhibits a Par-
liamentary union , with another people stretchier,
over sea. No one of them . a union effected, like
the ; Irish Union, by force or fraud. No one of them
a union which, after nearly a century, had not
gained but lost ground in the affections of the
people. No one of them a union of which it has
been found necessary." either to cripple, or
altogether to refuse; the privileges of self-government
in the minor local circumscriptions. No one of them a'
union following upon a nearly unbroken series of many
centuries Of the most cruel wrong. No one of them a
union where every political franchise con.;
fpred formed a new base of operations certain to be
undertaken for the purpose of changing it. No one of
them a union which has, permanently and con-
tinuously, and now in an increasing degree, been
maintained by the overweening strength of the
more powerful against the will of the weaker popula-
tion." •

iesign
thr
:eat
,per
ioi
P'

EXPENSIVE PIPE LIGHTERS.
A court-martial assembled on - boatd -.the Duncan,
flagship at Sheerness.,, on Tuesday, for • the trial Of
William John Harris, ship's steward, of 11.M.5. Triton,
who was arraigned upon two charges—first, with
stealing £9B in gold and notes belonging to the Crown,
on Jan. 24; second, with deserting from the Royal
Navy on Jan. 2.5. The evidence showed that the
prisoner took the keys of the ship's money chest from
&drawer in the staff commander's cabin and abstracted
the amount named in the charge. - He changed three
of the notes in Chatham on the day of the robbery, and
then disappeared from the port, no further tidings being
gained of him until he surrendered himself to Mr. H.
Vile, RN., barrack-master at Sheerness, on Feb. 17. The
prisoner was brought up before Flag-captain Curtis, and
informed him that he had 'secreted most of the notes in a 1
house at Manchester. In order to recover them, the
naval authorities at Sheerness sent the prisoner, in
custody of a police-constable, to the kouse at Man-
chester, when his story was found to be correct, but
only about £3 was recovered. The house became
vacant after he left the city, and the notes were
found by some boys, who lighted, their pipes with two
£5 notes before they had ascertained their value.
The boys divided the remainder of the notes, and
had spent nearly all the money before inquiries were
made into the matter. The prisoner pleaded guilty,
and said he committed the robbery while under the
influence of drink, and had since wandered about
the country ashamed to face the officer of his ship.
llis certificates showed him to be-a man of excellent
character. The Court ordered him to undergo 18
months' hnprisonment with hard
,labour, and to be
dismissed from tho Royal Navy 'With disgrace.