New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-06-14
MR.. GLADSTONE'S MANIFESTO
THE BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED FROM
IRISH HOME RULE.

THE PREMIER's APPEAL TO THE ELECTORS or MID.
LOTHIAN AND THE COUNTRY AT LARGE-
MISTAKES OF THE LATE TORY Gov-
ERNMEN1-A BLOW AT THE
"UNIoNIsTs."
LONDON. June 13.-Mr. Gladstone has issued the
following manifesto to the electors of Midlothian:
GENTLEMEN: In consequence Of the defeat of
the bill for the better government of Ireland. the
Ministry advised and Her Majesty was pleased to
sanction the dissolution of Parliament for deci-
sion by the nation Of the gravest and likewise the
simplest issue that has been submitted to it for
half century. 1t Is only sense of the gravity of
this issue which induces me, at period of life
when nature cries aloud for repose to seek, after
sitting in thirteen Parlaments, seat in the four
teenth and with this view to solicit for the fifth
time the honor Of your confidence. At the last
| election endeavored in my addresses and speeches
to impress upon you the fact that great crisis had
arrived in the affairs of Ireland. Weak as the late
Government was for ordinary purposes. 1t had
great advantages for dealing with that crisis A
comprehensive measure proceeding from that Gov
ernment would have received warm and extensive
support from within the Liberal party ard would
probably have closed the Irish controversy within
the present session and have left the Parlia-
ment Of 1885 free to prosecute tho now
stagnant work OF ordinary legislation, with the
multitude of questions 1T nclndes. Ny earnest hope
to support the late Cabinet in such course of
policy.
On the 26th of last January the opposite policy
Of coercion declared to have been the choice of
the Government. the Earl Of Carnarvon alone re-
fusng to share in it. The Irish question was thus
placed in the foreground to the exclusion of every
other. The hour. all felt, come. The only
point remaining to determine was the manner in
which it was to be dealt WITH In my judgment,
the proposal of coercion was not justified by facts
and was doomed to certain and disgraceful failure.
Some method of governing Ireland other than
coercion ought as thought, to be sought for and
to be found. Therefore. / viewed with
regret the fall OF the late Cabinet, and when sum-
mOned by Her Majesty TO form new one, under
took it on the basis of IN aDti-coercion policy with
the fullest explanations to those whose aid sought
as colleagues, when proposed to examine whether
it might not be possible to grant Ireland domestic
legislature and maintain the honor and consolidate
the unity Of the Empire. Government was
formed and the work was at put in hand. You
will now, gentlemen. understand how and why it is
that the affairs of ireland and not for the first
time-have thrust aside every other subject and adj
journed hopes of useful and progressive leglsa
ton. As question of tho first eessities of social
order it forces itself into the van The late Cabinet,
though right in giving it that place, were, as we
thought, wrong in their manner OF treating it, 1t
was our absolute duty on taking the Government.
if we did not adopt their method, to propose an
other Thus, gentlemen, it that this great and
simple issue has come upon you and demands your
decision.
Will you govern Ireland by coercion or will you
let Ireland manage her own affairs To debate in
this address this aud that detail of the lately de-
l. h, J,-fr hi
and would be as futile as to discuss the halting,
stumbling, ever-shifting and vanishing pro
ects of an inter mediate class which have pro-
ceeoed from the seeding Liberals. There two
clear, positive and intellgbe plans before the
world there is the plan of the Government aud
there is the plan of Lord Salisbury. Our plan Is
that Ireland should under well-considered condi
tions transact her own alflrs. His plan IS to ask
Parliament to renew rcprcssive laws and
force them resolutelv for twenty years, by the end
of which time, he u.s. Ireland will be tit to
accept any government in the way of a local gov
ernment, on the repeal of the coercion laws, you
may wish to give her.
leave this Tory project TO speak for itself in its
unadorned simplicity, and | turn TO the proposed
policy of the Government. Our opponents,
gentlemen, whether Torres or seceders, have
assumed the name of Unonists. deny them the
sts alike but the union they refuse to modify is in
Its present shape "a paper union obtained by force
aud fraud aud never sanctioned or accepted by the
Irish Nation They are not UnOnists, but paper
Unlons;s True union is to be tested by the senti-
meuts of the human beings united. Tried by this
crier.o on, have less union between Great
Britain and Ireland now than we had under the
settlement of 1882.
Enfranchised Ireland, gentlemen, asks through
her lawful representatives for the revival or her
domestic Legisature-not the face of it an in
novating, but a restorative, proposal. She urges
with truth that the centrallzation OF Parliament
has been the division of peoples, but she recog-
nlzes tho fact that the Union, lawlessy as it was
obtained, cannot and ought not to be re-
pealcd She Is content to receive her
legislature in form divested of pre-
rogatives which might have impaired her
Imperial interests and better adapted than the
settlement of 7S2 to her regular control of
her own affairs She has not repelled but has well
coined the stipulations for the protection of the
minority. To such provisions we have given and
shall give careful heed, but | trust Scotland will
condemn the attempts SO singularly made to I'M
port INTO tue controversy a venomous element OF
religious blgotry. Let her take warning by the
deplorabe riots in Belfast AID other places Ill the
North.
Among the benefits, gentlemen, anticipate from
Your acceptance of our policy are these:
The consolidation of the united Empire and great
addition to its strength.
The stoppage of tho heavy. constant and de-
moralizng waste OF the public treasure.
The abatement and gradual extinction of ignoble
feuds IN Ireland, and that development of her
resources which experience shows to be a natural
consequence of free and orderly government.
The redemption of the honor of Great Britain
from the stigma fastened upon her, almost from
time immemoria, in respect to Ireland, by the
judgment of the whole civilized world; and lastly,
the restoration Of Parliament TO Its dignity and
efficiency and the regular progress of tie business