The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-28 00:00:00

POLITICAL SPEECHES.

Mr. Goschen addressed a meeting of Unionists at
Hastings on Monday evening. He devoted the early
part of his address to a reply to Mr. Gladstone's allu-
sions to himself in his Dover speech, and defended
himself from the charges of inconsistency. He ex-
pressed a belief that the country desired the next to
be a normal session of Parliament; but to accom-
plish that the House of Commons must give up
some of its abnormal activity. It must cease
the dangerous practice of reviewing the decisions
of juries and judges all over the Empire. Ho
hoped that some of the time thus gained for
leislation might be devoted to the financial affairs in
which he was chiefly concerned. Whilst abstaining
from anticipating the Queen's Speech, he said the
Ministerial programme was a wide and large one; it
was conceived in a spirit both Conservative and
Liberal, and he believed it would commend itself to
the suffrages of the nation. He denied the stories of
dissensions in the Cabinet, and said the report that
the Liberal Unionists had put pressure upon them
respecting the Local Government Bill was a pure in-
vention. As Ministers were united and had confi-
dence in their allies, he believed they would hold
their own in the coming session.

Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, M.P., on Monday evening ad-
dressed the members of the Bradford Chamber of
Commerce, and alluded to the wave of Protectionism
which was spreading over the greater part of Europe,
and to the improvement in the trade of this country.
Having recently been on the Continent, he was able
to bear witness to the extent to which German manu-
factures were superseding English goods, and ho
urged that there was no real reason for this beyond
the greater readiness of the Germans to adapt them-
selves to the wants of their customers. He blamed
the Universities for the backward state of English
commercial education, and urged that more of their
endowments should be devoted to the encouragement
of the study of modern languages.

Lord Cranborne, M.P., speaking at Walton, near
Preston, on Monday night, in reply to a resolution of
confidence in the Government's endeavours to restore
law and order in Ireland, said he regretted to see that
there was a certain number of Irishmen of high posi-
tion who had taken side with the Land League. It
was to be deplored that Archbishop Croke had not
thought it beneath him to advocate as an absolute
active policy the refusal to pay taxes in Ireland. The
evil disease in that country demanded a strong
remedy, which he thought they found in the Crimes
Act. If the Government had succeeded in trampling
on the National League, and had at last got the
dragon by the throat—and he believed they had—
it was due to the action of Mr. Balfour. In doing
this, however, he denied that the law had been
strained.

Earl Compton was on Monday night the principal
speaker at a Liberal banquet at Earls-Barton. In
seconding a resolution disapproving the present policy
of the Government, and expressing sympathy with
Mr. Gladstone Li his endeavours to give peace and
justice to Ireland, which was moved by Mr. Channing,
M.P., Lord Compton said they all disapproved of the
policy of the present Government, and should do more if
they knew more what that policy was. It seemed that
they did nothing but punish, but if they hoped to govern
the country and the whole of the British Empire by
punishment they were greatly mistaken. They had
better change those views altogether, for if that was
the only way to govern it would bring about exaspera-
tion, and the nation would inevitably suffer. It was
because they were convinced that this policy should
no longer prevail that they were determined to
support the more humane policy of Mr. Gladstone.
The Conservative policy appeared to him to be that
of giving as little as possible and as late as possible.

Mr. Matthews, the Home Secretary, addressed his
constituents in Birmingham on Tuesday evening. He
said the union between Great Britain and Ireland was
safer now than when he last met his constituents,
and the alliance between the Conservatives and
Liberal Unionists was closer and stronger than ever.
In respect to the Government programme for the
ensuing session, he enumerated the Railway Rates
Bill, a reform of the Employers' Liability Act, and of
the Limited Liability Acts, Local Government, the
relief of local taxation, and a measure to provide
technical education.

Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, addressing a meeting at Brad-
ford on Tuesday night, criticised the Irish policy of
the Government, and strongly condemned the treat-
ment of Mr. Blunt.

The Council of the Home Counties Liberal Federa-
tion held their first meeting on Tuesday, and ap-
pointed the members of the Executive Committee
and other officers for the ensuing year. The meeting
passed a resolution strongly condemning the method's
of Tory rule in Ireland; and resolved to present an
address to Messrs. W. O'Brien and T. D. Sullivan on
their arrival in London.

Mr. J. Dillon, M.P., addressing a Liberal meeting,
at Cambridge on Tuesday night, dealt with the con-
tention that the Crimes Act created no new offences,
and challenged the Government to arrest him for say-
ing in England what others were enduring imprison-
ment for uttering in Ireland. Trial by jury in Ireland
he denounced as a mockery, and asked how they
could expect people to obey the law when they saw
in it the instrument of oppression. Having dwelt on
the English fears of separation, he expressed a hope
that the present opportunity of granting Home Rule
to Ireland would be embraced.

The first meeting of the •Council of the Home
Counties Division. of the National Liberal Federation
took place on Tuesday at the National Liberal Club in
London, Mr. Belsey, and afterwards Mr. R. K. Causton,
presiding. A report was adopted describing the orga-
nisation of the division, and stating that 58 out of the
67 home constituencies are already represented on the
Council; that 109 meetings have been held in the
Home Counties with the help of the organisation, and
that many of the Parliamentary divisions of the Home
Counties have been visited by the secretary, with a
view to the local organisation being resuscitated or
reformed. Lord Rosebery was re-elected president,
and other officers were appointed. A resolution was
passed strongly condemning the action of the Govern-
ment in Ireland, and it was also resolved to present
an address to Mr. O'Brien and Mr. T. D. Sullivan on
their arrival in London.