The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-04
Mr.. BLAINE's RECENT SPEECH.
Unfavorable Comment by English Papers
What Mr.. Blaine Said About Salisbury.

LONDON, June 3-The Times. commenting
on Mr.. Blaine's Portland speech. says:
Mr. Blaine may or may not catch
the Irish vote by performances such as
that of Tuesdays speech, and so win the
prize which, fully as much on personal as on po-
litical grounds, has been snatched from him
once and again; hut we refuse to believe that his
ignorant and presumptuous rant represents the
honest and independent opinion and reflection of
the Americans. 1t is peculiarly absurd that he
should pose as the advocate of a plan which he
supposes, quito wrongly, of course, would place
Ireland in the position Of State of the Ameri-
can Union. He has been conspicuous, for the
same reasons which now make him fatterer of
the Irish, in the bloody-shirt campaign against
Southern State rights, and il any Southern
State should now attempt to deprive the negroes
of the suffrage he would be the first to favor the
settlement of that local affair by the armed In
reference of the central government. His his
tory is almost par with his reasoning. which
deserves to be cassed with Sir William Vernon
Harcourts latest contribution, whereon Mr..
Lecky has something to say"
What Mr.. Leekey has Ito say" is contained in
another column of the Times, in the form of
letter This is criticism of Sir Williams argu-
ment that the home-rule measure proposed by
Mr. Gladstone aimed at simply the revival Of
Henry Grattan's Irish Parliament. Mr.. Lecky
says tie argument is absurd Grattan's Parlia-
ment, Lecky contends, placed the government OF
Ireland in the hands of the Protestant gentry.
who were bound to the English connection by
the closest ties of interest and sentiment. 'They
were," adds Mr. Lecky, 'pre-eminently the repre-
sentatives of property, whose political power 1t
has been Mr. Gadstones steady object tn de-
stroy. The effect of his scheme would be to
throw the government OF Ireland into the hands
of men hitherto the avowed enemies Of both
property and the empire"
The ST. James Gazette SAYS 1t does not think
that the sentiments uttered by Mr.. Blaine ex-
press the genuine opinion of the Americans upon
the Irish question. 1t adds that 1t is impossible
to formulate scheme of home rule which would
be satisfactory to the ''extreme elrish-Americans"
Continuing, ths Gazette says "Mr. Gladstone
is eager to snatch every semblance of support
however obscure and tainted. and does not
hesitate to recognize the opinions of United
States wire puers, thus giving the meddlesome
throughout the world a locus standi in England's
politics. The securing OF the Irish vote Is the
prime object of the Yankee ofice-seeker. and Mr..
Blaine has made his bid"
The Times publishes letter from a corre-
spopdent At st. Louis who says it Is slander
upon the American people to say that twenty or
even ten millions of them are ready to back the
IrlSn In the nOme-rul0 nRnC WIN 0lLner tn6lr
money or their influence. The writer asserts,
without fear of contradiction, that there are
not 8. 600 American-born citizens of the United
States who have ever contributed cent to the
home-rule fund.-" He adds: mo homerule
- mpathy has been shown from our greatest in
dustrial class, the farmers. When you hear of
public men donating to the Irish cause, remem-
Der that they either office holders office
seekers, with large Irish constituencies to please.
The sentiments of the purely Irish element in
our cities must not be mistaken for the senti-
ments of the American people. Nine-tenths of
the leaders in the recent strikes in this country
were Irish. A firm determination exists if
these labor agitations, carried on by foreign
born men, continue, to form party of native
born Americans only, TO that none but
natives of this land obtain offices of trust or
power"
AUGUSTA, Me-, June 3-The Kennebec Jour-
nal this morning publishes letter from Mr..
Blaine denying that in his recent speech at Port
land he had applied the words 'impudent, inso-
lent and brutal" to Lord Salisbury. Mr. Blaine
writes: II was referring to his lordships declar-
alton that the Irish might remain as they now are
or emigrate, and l said, interrogatively, is not
this impudent propositionq Is 1t not insolent
in its terms2 Does it. indeed, stop short of being
brutal in its crueltyF It is parliamentary to say
that statement is not true. but it is altogether
unpariamcp tary to say that its author Is guilty
of falsehood The first describes the thing; the
second assails the person. My Characterization
was aimed at the proposition, and not at Lord
Salisbury personally"