Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-06-05

/
ent elements shall be impartially represented
| rApplausel. That would be our direct, short,
hand method of settling the question. Under
that system we have lived and grown and
prospered for more than two hundred years
in the United States of America, continually
expanding and continually strengthening our
| Institutions. Applause.
| | do not forget, that II would be pollticai
empiricism to attempt TO give the details Oh
any measure that would settle this long con-
tention bet~ cen Great Britain and Ireland.
/ To prescribe definite measures for British
! Parliament would be a presumption on our
part a. much as for the English people to pre-
scribe definite measures for the American
/ Congress. have noticed so many errors,
even among the leading men of Great Britain
| concerning the United States tina. have been
taught modesty 10 attempting 10 crIiIclse the
processes aud the specific measures OF Far
| lament. / we'll remember that Lord Palm
/ erston on a grave occasion during our civil
war, Informed the House of Commons that
1.-THE President of the United States could NOT
of his own power declare war; that it re-
uuired the assent of the Senate" And yet
every school boy in America knows that 1t is
the Congress OF the United States, both Sen
ate and House, to which the war power Is
| given by the Constitution of the
| United States. But Lord Palmerston's error
was not so bad another which Is said to
have occurred IN the British Parliament !;
when a member 10 an authoritative manner
assured the House that no law in tine United
States was valid until it had received
the assent of the Legislatures of two
thirds of the several States; Laughter] and
fellow member corrected him, saying, You
are wrong. The American Congress cannot
discuss any measure until two-thirds OF the
legislatures of the States shall have already
approved it," Renewed and prolonged
laughterl Admonished by these and like
instances refrain from any discussion of the
details of Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule bill.
1t may not be perfect. Ii may
not give to Ireland all that she is
entitled 70. / only know that it is a
steo in the right direction, and that the
long oppressed people of Ireland hail it as a
great and beneficent measure of relief. They
and their representatives understand it, and
more than all, Mr. Gladstone understands it,
and that is enough for me. Long continued
applause,
On the occasion of Lord John RusselPs
somewhat famous motion in the House OF
Commons in 1874 to inquire into the condi-
ton Of Ireland, Mr.. Seward said mean
Lord Macaulay, but am sure that the MEM
DRY of neither will be injured by installing
one for the other applause Lord Macau-
lay said in one of his most eloquent speeches :
You admit that you govern Ireland not as
you govern England, not as you govern
Scotland, but rs you govern your new con-
quests in India; not by means of the respect
which the people feel for the law, but by
means of bayonets and artillery and en-
trenched camps" If that were true in 1874
| am sure do not exag1erate when say that
the long period OF fJrty-two years which has
interviewed has served to strengthen rather
than to diminish the truth of Macaulay's
words. Applause. And now without in
any way denying the facts set forth in Ma
caulays extraordinary statement, Lord Sails
bury comes forward with a remedy of an ex-
tremely harsh character. He says in effect
that 1.-THE Irish can remain as they are nov
situated, or they can emgrate." But the
Irish have been in Ireland quite rs long as
Lord Salisburys ancestors have been in
England, Laughter and l presume much
longer. His Lordship's lineage is not given
in Burke's Peerage beyond the illustrious
Burleigh of Queen Eizabeth's day, and pos
sbly his remote ancestry may have been
Danish pirates or peasants in Normandy be-
fore the Conquest and centuries after the
Irish people were known ia Ireland. l re-
peat, therefore, Lord Salsbury's proposition
is extremely harsh. Might we not, indeed,
with good reason call it impudent? Would
it transgress courtesy if we called it insolent?
Would we violate truth if we called it brutal
in its cruelty? We have had occasion in this
| country to know Lord Salisbury too we'll.
lie was the btterest foe that the government
| of the United States had in the British Par
lament during our civil war. He coldly adj
vocated the destruction of the American
Union simply as a measure of increasing the
commerce and prosperity of Great Britain.
His policy for Ireland and his policy towards
the United States are essentially alike in
spirit and in temper.
Another objection to Mr. Gladstone's poll
cy comes from the Presbyterisns of Ulster in
the torn of an appeal to the Presbyterians of
the United States against granting the boon
of Home Rule to Ireland. As Protestant
deplore this action. | was educated under
Presbyterian influences, in a Presbyterian
college. have connections with that church
by blood and affinity that began with my life
aud shall not cease until my life ends. And
yet am free to say that | should be ashamed
Of the Presbyterian Church of America if it
responded to an appeal which demands that
| five millions OF Irish people shall be perpet-
ually deprived of free government because of
the remote and fanciful danger that Dublin
| Parliament might interfere with the religious
| liberty of Presbyterians in Ulster Great ap-
| plause Mr.. Chairman, if the Home Rule
| bill shall pass, the Dublin Parliament will
| assume power with a greater responsibility
to the public opinion of the world than was
ever before imposed upon a legislative body.
because if the Dublin Parliament is formed
! it will be formed bv reason of the pressure of
public opinion from the liberty loving people
of the world. Applause. And if the Irish
men who compose il should take one step
| against perfect liberty of conscience, or
against any Protestant form of worship, they
would fall under a condemnation even greater
in its intensity than the friendship and sym
pathy which their own suferings have so
widely called forth. Long continued
applause But l have not the remotest
| fear that any such result will happen. The
Catholics and the Presby terisns of Ireland
will live and do just as the Presbyterians and
| Catholics of the United States live and do.
| They will accord perfect liberty of conscience
each to the other, and will mutually be gov
erued by the greatest of Christian virtues,
which is charity.
| Mr.. Gladstone's policy includes another
measure. 1t proposes to do something to re-
| lieve the Irish from the intolerable oppression
of absentee landlordism Let me here quote
Lord Macaulay again. Speaking of Ireland
whose territory is less than the territory OF
thousand square miles in extent. Lord
Mscsuiay in the same speech from
which have already quoted, says: I'm nat