The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-12-24 00:00:00

ON COMING LEGISLATION.

With regard to legislation, the next Session, his
lordship maintained, must be a British Session.
Ireland had had more than her share of attention,
and it was time that Parliament dealt with purely
British subjects. He referred to the probability of
measures on local government, limited liability, rail-
way rates, and the incidence of tithes. In regard to
Ireland, the consolidation of that country with Eng-
land was drawing nearer to its ultimate consumma-
tion. England must either be mast3r of Ireland, or
bring that country into the same political system, as
had been done with Scotland. The Continent of
Europe exhibited the same process of small States
struggling for independence; but one end remained
to rill.
ON AGRICULTURE AND IRE/AND.

At an overflow meeting held in the Drill Hall,
Lord Salisbury delivered a second speech, in which
he referred in sympathetic terms to the present agri-
cultural depression, but emphatically repudiated Pro-
tection as a remedy, observing that it would lead to
civil war, and was, in fact, practically impossible. He
strongly advocated emigration, both in England and
Ireland. Speaking on the Irish question, he pointed
out the evils which woald result from handing over
the government of Ireland to such men as the leaders
of the so-called National movement, who only kept
their agitation alive by appealing to the greed and
cupidity of the Irish tenants.

CONFERENCE OF GLADSTONIANS AT
GLOUCESTER.
A conference, attended by delegates from all parts
of the county, was held at Gloucester on Tuesday
under the auspices of the National Liberal Federa-
tion, Sir W. Foster, M.P., presiding. Resolutions
were adopted condemning the coercive policy of the
Governtuent, expressing a belief that a satisfactory
solution of the Irish question can only be arrived at by
the policy of conciliation set forth by Mr. Gladstone
at Nottingham, and, while recognising the existence
of widespread depression amongst the agricultural
and.manufacturing population, declaring that Pro-
tection_would be futile-ass remedy. The conference
also approved of the Nottingham programme, and
passed h resolution urging upon Liberals the im-
portance of organisation for registration and political
education.

....

!IR WM. HARCOURT ON THE PREMIER'S
DERBY SPEECH.
Sir William Harcourt on Tuesday evening
addressed a crowded meeting at Gloucester. He said
that Mr. Goschen had complained that the people of
Ireland had been taught to think that the Unionists
regarded them with hatred, aversion,and contempt.
That vias quite tile, but he • contended that it was
Lord Salisbury who had been mainly instrumental in
bringing this state of things about by his allusion
to the people of Ireland as Hottentots, and by
expressions of a similar description. In his latest
speech Lord Salisbury had given what he called
an historical review of the relations of England
and Ireland. He gloated over the treatment
of Ireland by England in the reign of Elizabeth;
over the outrages committed on her under Strafford
and Cromwell and the days of William of Orange
—chapters which any patriotic Englishman would be
glad to forget—passages of a shameful record in the
history of a free country; and then he said, "That is
the way in which we consolidated the relations of
England and Ireland." That was, to use the words
of the old English poet, "His great ex-
ample as it was his theme." and it was
in that spirit of hideous and naked and cruel coercion
that Lord Salisbury proclaimed and maintained the
union. He asked them to read that speech carefully,
and to say whether the summing-up of that argument
was not this: "Ireland has been our enemy, Ire-
land is our enemy, and always will be our enemy. We
have treated her, we do treat her, and we will treat
her as an enemy. It was in the same spirit that Mr.
Chamberlain went to Ulster, and told the people of
Ulster that the Unionists would stand by them to the
death. The Ulstermen were, according to Mr. Cham-
berlain, all that was virtuous, rich and intelligent in
Ireland. And why? Because they were not Irish,
because they were Scotchmen, and Englishmen and
Protestants. It was a great merit, but it was not the only
merit in the world. But this line of argument only
showed the spirit or hatred, aversion, and contempt
with which the Unionists regarded the Irish people.
He mentioned Mr. Bright's name with regret. His
services rendered to the Liberal cause and to Ireland
were not and would not be forgotten; but there was
this remarkable thing—that never since this Irish
question had arisen had Mr. Bright opened his mouth
in the House of Commons on it. What would Mr.
Pitt have said if he could have foreseen, after the
lapse of less than a century, this vilification of Irish-
men in Parliament, this contumely heaped upon them,
this treatment of them as Hottentots, this insolent
scorn of their brogue, this intolerant stigma of in-
feriority fixed upon them by men who claimed to
be heirs of the place he occupied? At the present
' moment the hero of coercion was Mr. Balfour
(hisses)—who deserved that niche in the temple of
fame, to use his own elegant alternative, in the
temple of infamy. (Cheers.) Mr. Balfour, by the
style of his language, did not deserve much quarter;
but it must be remembered that he was brought up in
a bad school, for he was private secretary to Lord
Salisbury at the time when the celebrated Salisbury-
Schouvaloff memorandum was discovered, and when
the present Prime Minister denied its existence. The
worst perhaps they could say of Mr. Balfour was that
he was the nephew of his uncle. (Cheers and laughter.)
Mr. Balfour had recently been making a lot of
charges against the Liberal party. It was formerly
the habit of Irish secretaries to make themselves
acquainted with the details of Irish administra-
tion. Mr. Forster—(cheers)—Sir George Trevel-
yan—(cheers)—Mr. Campbell-Bannermann, and Sir
Michael Hick.? I.3each—(cheers)—gave careful and
courteous replies, but details of frish administra-
tion were beneath Mr. Balfour's notice. He handed
them over in the House of Commons to a deputy
—aye, and such a deputy. (Laughter.) General
instructions were enough "Shoot somebody,"
"Arrest somebody "—it was no matter whom. What
did Mr. Balfour care? All forma of tyranny were
odious; but of all forms, the most miserable, the
most irritating, was that which was inflicted by a
nonchalant tyrant. Did they wonder then that
under such an administration the Irish hated the
Union, and the treatment which Union brought to
them? Another matter to be deprecated was the
violent and calumnious abuse with which the Irish
race in America was attacked by the Unionist press.
It was hardly necessary to insist upon the mis-
chievous effect of the language used, and the reason
for the attacks was simply because the people
were Nationalist. At this Christmas-time they
should des're "Peace on earth, goodwill to men,"
and, above all, they should desire to cultivate peace
with the great nation across the water. He de-
sired Home Rule for no reason mors than that it
would reconcile to this country the great Irish
population which formed so large a proportion of
the American Republic. (Cheers.) The Government
had failed; as they were bound to fail, in all that they
had attempted or were attempting. They had failed
to put down the League because they could not put
down the Irish people; and the League represented
the Irish people. They were making the maintenance
of the Union more difficult every day by the spirit in
which they were administering it. The Government
bragged of a power which was ever baffled. The Liberal
party,-on the other hand, sought to establish the true
authority of government over willing minds and over
loyal hearts, and it was his firm belief that if the
Union of England and Ireland was to be maintained
it must be by other measures and by other men Crain
by those who now usurped its name only to betray its
spirit and to defeat its end. (Prolonged cheers.)
A resolution welcoming Sir William Harcourt to
Gloucester, and condemning the Irish policy of the
Government, was carried amid enthusiasm.