The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-09-09
William Ewart Gladstone Issues a
3 Stirring Pamphlet on the Irish
Question.
He Tells or His Conversion to Home
Rule, and Criticises the POliti-
cal Situation.
The Grand Old Man Defends His Course
and Drops the Land Purchase
Scheme.
Gable dispatch from London. !


his pamphlet on the Bulgarian atrocities.
At the outset Mr.. Gladstone compares it
with the apology he wrote on his change of
attitude regarding the hish church. "But,"
he continues, in the present case / have
no such change to indicate, but have only
to point out the mode in which my language
and conduct We're governed by uniformity
of principle. l have simply followed the
various stages by which the great question
of autonomy for Ireland has been brought
to the stage of ripeness for practical legis-
lation."
The brochure is under two heads. The
first is the history of an idea in which Mr..
Gladstone summarizes the following con-
ditions under which alone, in his view, it
would become possible: First, the abandon
ment of the hope that Parliament could
serve as passable legislative instrument
for Ireland; second, the unequivocal and
constitutional demand of the Irish men,
bers; third, the possibility of dealing with
Scotland In a similar way i'm circumstances
of equal and equally clear desire. Reply
ing to the charge of Harrington and Cham
berlain that he had conceived the home
rule idea precipitately and had concealed
1t unduly, he denies that it is the duty of
minister to make known, even to his col
leagues, every idea forming in his mind,
which would tend to confuse and ret lrd,
instead of aid business. He continues:
what is true is that / had not publicly
and in principle condemned it, and also
that had mentally considered il; but had
neither adopted nor rejected it, and for the
very simple reason that it was not prepared
for adoption or rejection" Mr.. Gladstone
then goes on to point out that during all the
many years of his public life the alternatives
We're repeal on the one hand, and on the
other the relief of Ireland from grievances.
1t was not possible, he says, at that time
TO prognosticate how, in a short time, Par
lament would stumble and almost writhe
under its constantly accumulating burdens,
or TO pronounce that it would eventually
prove incapable of meeting the wants of
Ireland. Evidently there was period
when Irish patriotism, as represented by
O'Connell, looked favorable upon this alter
native policy and had no fixed conclusion
as to the absolute necessity for home
government, and seemed to allow that
measures founded in justice to Ireland
might possibly suffice to meet the necessity
of the case.
1t was as early as 1871, Mr.. Gladstone
says, that he took the first step toward plac-
ing the controversy on its true basis. He
opposed Mr.. Butts scheme because the
alternative described in the last paragraph
had not been exhausted, but even Mt that
time he did not close the door against n
recognition of the question in a different
state of things; for, instead of denouncing
the idea Of home rule as one In its essence
destructive of the unity of the empire, in
the following words he accepted the assur-
ance given to the contrary: "Let me do the
promoters of this movement the fullest JUS
o1r no xFi,ttn
as they most emphatically declare, and as
] fully believe them, that the union of
these kingdoms under her Majesty is to be
maintained, but that Parliament is 70 be
broken up"
Similarly in 1874 Mr.. Gladstone accepted
without qualification the principle that
home rule had no necessary connection
with separation. When Mr.. Shaw sue
ceeded to the home rule leadership in 1880
Mr.. Gladstone hailed his speech as show
ing an evident disposition TO respect the
functions of the House of Commons and
the spirit of the constitution. In 1881, at
the Guildhall, he announced that he would
hail with satisfaction and delight any meas
ure of local government for Ireland. Com
ing to the electoral campaign of 1885, Mr..
Gladstone says his great object was to do
nothing to hinder the prosecution of the
Il
efforts to impress the public mind with the
importance and urgency of the questian. 1t
was in this spirit that his Midlothian adj
sress was written. The Irish question was
severed from the general subject of local
government, and it was pointed out that 1T
would probably throw into the shade all
o her important measures which were ripe.
Once ripe, the time for action had come.
Just as if it had been n corntield, we were
not to wait until it was overripe. The heal
ing of inveterate sores would only become
more difficult; the growth of budding hopes
more liable TO be checked and paralyzed by
the frosts of politics. For England In her
soft arm chair, all security, consideration,
with adiounments interposed, rs it had
been usual, so also would it have been
comfortable. But for Ireland, in her leaky
cabin, it was of consequence to stop out
the weather.
In the second portion of the pamphlet,
the lessons of the elections, Mr.. Gladstone
begins drawing certain lessons from the
elections as they affect the Liberal party.
In the course of some full calculations he
estimates the loss TO the Liberal party from
the Unionist schism at two-sevenths OF the
whole, but this fraction is distributed, he
points out very unequally among the classes.
II has commanded five-s xths of the Liberal
peers. but not more than one-twentieth OF
the Liberal workingmen. Mr. Gladstone
points out that even now the Tories have
! failed to secure an absolute majority, and
draws the final conclusion that at the first
moment Liberalism is again united II
must again become predominant i'll Parlia-
ment. Mr.. Gladstone sees further ground fol-
hope in the abatement that has already
taken place in the Tory opposition. w
hear no more pot-valiant language" he
says, mo more of the Hottentots, and nc
more of the famous twenty years during
which Parliament was to grant special pow
ers for firm government in Ireland, and n
the end of which time, in larger or less
degree, the coercive laws might be repealed
and measures of local self-goyernment en-
! tertained."
Mr.. Gladstone then goes on to point on
that the unionists are already pledged to M
immediate and large concession, many OF
them on such a scale that they give to theil
idea the name of home rule, declaring
themselves favorable to its principle anC
only opposed to the awkward and pervers,
manner in which it was handled by the late
administration"
"Look Mt the question which way we will,
Mr.. Gladstone continues, "the cause o.
Irish self-government lives and moves, anC
can hardy fail 10 receive more life, more
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