Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-04-09
their liking. O'Connor said that when his
colleagues discovered this conspiracy, they at


/ suit. and added that the Irish cheers woulC
not be only fully throated but unanimous
/ Right Hon. Arthur Wellesley Peel, speake
OF the House. took the chair promptly at 4
o'clock. The chamber at the time was packed
TO the very extreme limit of its capacity, anG
every doorway showed the railways crowded
with people.
/ The weather at thi. time suddenly changed
/ the clouds lowered; and thunder Was heard
Nevertheless the mass of people outside in
creased ami became denser. Catholic priest.
were conspicuously numerous in the crowd
and no less than 35 branches of the London
organization Of the Irish National League
were represented by rull deputations, whose
identity was easily established at distance
by their green regalias. Political clubs be.
yond numbering were also present to take
part in the popular denomination. At 4
o'clock deputations from 32 Liberal clubs
alone had been counted in the throng.
Mr.. Gladstone went to the House in an
| open carriage, and his appearance was greeted
with deaiening cheers. The enthusiasm OF
the people all the way from the door of his
house 10 the entrance of the Commons was
spontaneous and thrilling. Ii vented itself
at the beginning of the journey in a roar OF
applause, and when the hole immense null
utude caught the signal ,one tremendous, long
sustained cheer was set up, the like of which
was never before heard in London, and which
was plainly audible in the House. The cheer
ing continued until long after Mr.. Gladstone
had entered the Parliament. Within the
building the prime minister's reception,
though less demonstrative, was equally enthu-
slastc with that he had just received without.
As sson as the usual formalitles attending
the opening of a session of Parliament were
over, it was vot to postpone the reading and
answering of ali questions on the notice
paper. Hardly had This beeI done when, at
4.30 o'clock, Mr.. Gladstone entered the room.
His entrance was followed by loud and pro-
longed cheers, which were continued for sew
eral moments. Among the Liberals and
Parnell party, thu widest enthusiasm pre-
vailed, and it is safe to say that no such scene
was ever witnessed before in the House of
Commons.
AS soon as the cheering had ceased, Mr..
Gladstone rose and moved for permission to
introduce bill to amend previous legislation,
and to make provision for the future govern
ment of Ireland. On making this motion.
Mr.. Gladstone said.
could wish 1t had been possible TO expound
TO the House the whole policy and intention
OF the government with reference to Ireland
Although the questions of reform in the ten
ure of lani and the Irish government are so
closely and inseparably connected, il Is vet
impossible to undertake the task of elucdat-
ing both qustions together. | do not know
OF any previous task laid upon me involving
so diversified an exposition.
In contemplating the magnitude of this
task am filled with painful mistrust, but
that mistrust is absorbed in a feeling of re-
sponsibllity that will be upon me if should
fail to bring home to the public mind the
magnitude and various aspects of the ques-
tlnn We should no longer fence or sklr-
mlsk with thus question our cheers We
should come to close quarters with il
cheers We should take means not mere
ly intended for the wants of TODAY and to-
morrow, but should look into the distant
future. We have arrived at stage in our
political transactions with Ireland when the
tw road part, not soon, probably, to meet
again. The time is come when it is incum-
bent on the duty aad honor of Parliament to
come to some decisive solution in this mat
ter. Our intention IS therefore to propose
to the Commons that which, if happily 'jac-
cepted. will, we think, free the liberal Par
Lament from the restraints under which, of
late wears, it has Intellectually struggled to
perform the business of the country and will
restore British legislation to its natural,
unimpeded course and above all to establish
harmonious relations between Great Britain
and Ireland hear hear
On the footing of those free institutions to
which Englishmen, Scotchmen and Irishmen
alike unalterably attached loud cheers. pro-
longed by home rule members |. After re-
viewing the condition and crime existing in
Ireland since 1888. Gladstone described CO.
erCive legislation enforced during same period
as not exceptional but habitual. He com
pared Ireland during all this period to a man
trying to find sustenance in medicine only
meant for cure. Coercion, however, had, he
said, proved to cure. Serious disaffecton
continued to prevail in Ireland. and if Eng
land and Scotland suffered similar hardships
he believed the people of these countries
would resort to means similar to those the
Irish had used to ventilate their grievances
Parnellite cheers Coercion was admitted
to have been failure for the past fittv-three
years. hat was the basis Of the whole mis-
chief was the fact that law was discredited to
Ireland. 1t came to the Irish people with
a foreign aspect and then the alternative to
coercion was to strip the law of its foreign
character and invest it with domestic char
acter. Loud Irish cheers Ireland, though
represented in Parliament numerically
equal with England or Scotland was really
not in the same position politically, as Eng
land made her own laws. Scotland has been
encouraged to make her own laws as effectu-
ally as if she had six times the present re D.
resentati0n. The consequence was the main
spring of law in England and Scotland was
felt to be English or Scotch. The handspring
if law in Ireland was not felt By the people
to be Irish. He therefore deemed it little
less than mockery TO hold that state of law
which he had described conducted to real
unity of this great and noble worldwide EN-
pire. Something must be done" continued
Gladstone. Something is imperativelv de-
manded from us TO restore in Ireland the
first conditions of civil life, the free course
of law, the liberty of every individual in the
exercise of every legal right, then confidence
IN the law and their sympathy with the law,
apart from which no country can be called a
civilized country"
What then was the problem before him ?
1t was this-how to reconcile imperial unity
with diversity of legislatures. Other coun-
tries had solved the problem and under much
more difficult circumstances. We ourselves
might be said to have solved it with respect
to Ireland during the time that Ireland had a
separate Parliament; did it destroy the unity
of the British Empire? Cheers
Gladstone then pointed to the cases of Nor
way and Sweden. which countries were, he
said, united on faa'irg of strict legislative
( independence al quality He also re.
ferred to the case o. Auseris and Hungary to
show legislative diversity and government,
unity in Opa ampira No, n