The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-07 00:00:00

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has z • -ither significance. Upoß the intro-
'bet; ef the Crimea Act into Parliament '
last se . .n it was received by such howls of
hatte,'• 7,- en the Nationalist gang and their
allies ',a; the firet effect of the Oppositien
was to e'..-en unstable politicians. A fter
tie) hoe execration had snbsided every
C .nceiveble obstruction was. placed in tho I
way of the passage of the bill throe:eh
Parliament, upon the teesumption that. if r.
Gladstone'e cry of "IrelarikbloCks the
could be made an incontestable.fße'
would get disgusted, and possibly i,e teti,o;.ei =
into conceding the claims of the l'aeee ,
Patience, endurance, unswerving -eenrege.
however, were the chief trail 8 ia the ;
characters of those men who had been scut ;
ill opposition to Mi. Gladstone to rale the !
destieies of the Empire, and the-soli I virtue
of these characteristics can hardly y et'. be :
appreciated. Confident of the justice and
:eventual success of the policy of reeolute ,
government,. the Unionist Ote.Loyalist party,
under what has been aptly termed the
level-headed leadership" of Mr. .W. 11.
Smith, met the dishonest opposition
,dry
after day, and doggedly won the tight.
Simultaneously with the battle in the House
of Commons, Ireland was the , scene of an
even more lamentable encounter. Treason-
able associations were combating the
authority of the Crown—they were defying
methods of government which the majority
of the people of these realms approve. Suc-
ceeding, and .as a consequence of these
aBsociatiOns,-.we' had the Plan of Campaign
a plan worthy the ingenuity of Dillon and
the rren who haveloi'so., long sucked the
very life-blood of Irishmen at home. au'd
abrdad merely to gratify- their selfish am-
bitions to pose as martyred' agitators. Rents.
were not paid at the dictum of Mr. Dillon's,
plan. -They were practically made irre,
covetable, except when the law-abiders
event to the trouble and expense of display-
ing expensive and overwhelming force.
BoVcottinee or as the ex-Premier euphernisti-
-1 celly called it, "exclusive dealing," berame
I the paramount law of the land. Widows
I were dehied ordinary means of burying their
dead husbands; dying men and women
debarred from those consolations of religion
which are so dear to the Catholic heart;
the ordinary necessities of. life were
unosteinable, and innocent youngsters were
excluded from school, and even assaulted in
the presence of their dead mother. This
was the "kettle of fish " which awaited the
manipulation of the Chief Secretary when
he entered upon his duties. In !so short a
time he may be congratulated upon the un-
deniably permanent good which has been
wrought in defiance of the letters of Mr.
Gladstone, the blatherings of the Blunts,'
the Laboucheres, the Illingsvrorths, and the
rest of the nondescript tribe. Crime is
dying one in Ireland. If they like the term,
Balfour has " coerced " crime out of Ireland.
The coercion, however, of which he has been
the instrument is synonymous with that law
under which we live, and which. is exereised.
in the protection of our homes, our lives,
and our property.

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