The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-05-28 00:00:00

THE IRISH QUESTION,

THE PREMIER ON THE SITUATION,
Replying to the toast of "Her Majesty's Minis-
ters," at a dinner given by the Merchant Taylors'
Company of the City of London, Lord Salisbury,
having thanked his hosts for the reception given
to the toast, said: When I was young, and bills were
necessary to maintain order in Ireland, they were
introduced in the morning, and were laws before
night. So long as that state of things went or,
there was not the least reason why bills should not
be annual, but the fact that now, in order to pass a
bill for restoring order, it is necessary to devote a
whole year to the purpose, naturally makes us un-
willing to repeat the process more often than is neces-
sary. What I wish to call your attention to is the
fact that Mr. Gladstone is master of this great
engine, this powerful instrument, this tremendous
whirlwind of obstruction which now breaks upon
US. IG is not a mere masterless exhibition of
Inanimate energy; there is a great spirit which rides
the storm, and which directs it. lam not surprised
that he is proud of the position of this tremendous
machinery, which is able to reduce to nothing the
boasted power a the House of Commons, and to
make attempts at 'egislation in England a mockery.
But I would only grge upon him, if be is in posses-
sion of a giant's sti ength, not to use it like a giant,
and to remember the results which must inevitably
follow if obstruction should be carried to the length
which it appears likely to reach, and the whole ses-
sion should be devoted to interfering with and arrest-
ing a single bill. Of course, it is in his mind to
reply, and no doubt sincerely, that obstruction is due
to the very wicked character of the measure which is
being produced ; but I have observed that the measures
which are produced by a Government are always so
in the eyes of an Opposition. To me, on the other
hand, the language which is used by him and by others
with regard to the bill appears to be the very acme of
irrational extravagance. This, I dare say you will
observe, is the view Ministers take of the criticisms of
the Opposition. (Laughter). The important point to
notice is that there is nothing remarkable either for
the Opposition to think a measure to be very bad, or
for the Government to think it to be very good, but
if you once, by practice or by precedent, establish the
rule, or introduce the law, that measures may be
legitimately defeated by devoting a whole Session to
obstruction, there is an end to the working of your
Parliamentary machine. (Cheers.) What has been
done this year will be done next year, and the year
after that, and through a long succession of changes
of Ministry, Parliamentary activity will consist of
Ministers perpetually trying to bring in one single
bill which the Opposetion will spend seven months in
defeating. Nothing will result from all this activity,
the probability being that the people will in the end
conclude that it is not necessary that this work should
be carried on by animate beings, but that we shall
have to provide a steam Irish party, an electrical
Ministry, and an automatic Speaker. (Laughter.)
These are dangers which—so far as I can abstract
myself from mere party or personal feelings in the
matter, so far as I can forget that I am interested in
the success of this particular bill—seem to me to out-
weigh any possible advantages which the Opposition
can expect from the course they are pursuing. This
danger seems to me to strike at the very root of
Parliamentary government, and that Parliamentary
government will not survive if repeated experience
convinces the people that it is a farce. In resisting
this obstruction we are, therefore, fighting a great
battle. You must pardon him if Mr. Smith is absent
from your table this evening, for he is a Minister per-
forming a duty which even your invitation would not
permit him to neglect. You must pardon those who
were to have joined me, but who have remained to
perform their duty, and that reflection leads me also
to the thought that it is not Ministers to whom, in
this crisis, you should wish well, and whose action
should be the principal centre of your interest. I
have heard that it has been said by a great authority
—and I believe well said—that on the temper, the
endurance, and patience of the Conservative and
Unionist members of the House of Commons
during the present crisis the future of Par-
liamentary Government depends. They have, indeed,
to fight a struggle in which they need your sympathy;
it is without excitement and without distinction, and
yet upon it the most momentous issues depend. I
am convinced that when the historian has to write the
history of these times he will have to point to this
juncture as the parting of the ways, as the time at
which renewed life and vitality, and greatness, or the
deplorable decay of the English Empire, commenced.
(Cheers.) All honour to those whose resolution and
determination have upheld them to this time, and woe
to us if by any weakness or want of courage, or re-
gard for the petty pruderies of political theorists, we
are untrue to the great trust which is deposited in our
hands. lam sure that from you we 011111 receive
support and sympathy. It is from you in this City
of London, who have been exercised to political
thought for so many centuries, who have been inured
by constant efforts to political exertion and political
sacrifices —it is from you we shall receive
support—(cheers)—and, I am convinced, effective
support, in leading to victory the struggle which is
going on, against the most dangerous, the most
deadly, the most insidious power that ever menaced
the integrity of our Empire. (The noble Marquis
resumed his seat amid loud cheers.)