The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-04-09

since 1910. brt MANY of those laws have been
passed under an influence which | can hard
1y describe other than as the influence of
fear. ''He did not deny the good intentions
of the British parliament to pass good laws
for Ireland" but he said, In order 70 work
out the purposes of the government there IS
something more in this world occasionally
required than passing good laws. lheaI
heard 1t is sometimes necessary not OnIy
that good laws should he passed, put also
that they should be passed by the proper
! persons. The passing of many good laws Is
not enough. In cases where the strong IN
| stincts OF people, distinct marks OF charac-
| ter, situation and history require not only
that these laws should be good, but that
| they should proceed from congenial and ma
| tive sources, and that besides being good
laws they should be their own laws" Irish
cheers:) AT times doubted whether this
necessity had been fully developed and es-
! pecially with respect to Ireland, but if doubts
| could be entertained before the last general
election they cannot now be entertained.
| The principle have laid down l am not
| laying down for ireland exceptionally.
| When held office at the colonial office fifty
| years ago the colonies were governed from
| Downing street. The result was that the
| home government was always in conflict
| with those countries winch had legislative
assemblies. We had
Continual Shocks With the Colonies
then. But all that has been changed. The
| British Parliament tried to pass good laws
| for the colonies but the colonies said, eve
| own good laws" and Parliament at length
| admitted the reasOnableneSs OF this princi-
| pie This principle has now come home to
| us from across the seas and the House has
now to consider whether it is applicable to
the case of Ireland. We now stand face to
face with what is termed 'Irish Nationali-
| ty,' venting itself in the demand for gen.
eral self-government in Irish, not in imperi-
al affairs"
In conclusion Mr.. Gladstone said, 81 hold
| there is such thing as
Local Patriotism,
| which in itself is not bad but good. Cheers
| Welshman is full Of local patriotism; a
| Scotchman is full of local patriotism Now, the
| Scotch nationality is as strong. as it ever
| was and if need were to arise | believe it
| would be as ready to assert itself as it was in
the days of Bannockburn. .(Cheers) II |
read Irish history Alright misfortune and ca
| lamity have welded her sons to their soil
with an embrace yet closer than is known
| elsewhere and an Irishman is still mole pro-
| foundly Irish, but it does not follow that be-
be incapable of imperial patriotism"
''TheTe are two modes of presenting the
| subject which have argued.
One of them is to present what
| we now recommend as good and the other is
| to present it as choice of evils and as the
least among varied evils with which as pos
| sibilities we are confronted. Well, l have
| argued the matter as if it had been a choice
of evils / do not know whether it may ap-
pear too bold but in my own heart cherish
the hope that this is not merely the choice
| of the lesser evil but that it may be proved
to be ere long good in itself. loud cheers.l
There is. know, an answer to this, and
| what is the answer? The answer is only
| found in the view which rests upon the
basis OF despair, of absolute condemnation
| of ireland and Irishmen as exceptions to
sthose beneficial provisions which have been
made in general, Europeans in particularly,
| English and Americans, capable of self-gov
| ernment, that the Irishman is LuSus
| nature that justice, common sense, moder-
alton and natural prosperity have no mean
| ing for him that all he can understand and
all that he can appreciate is strife and per-
petual dissensiOn. Now, sir, l am not going
to argue in this House whether this view,
this monStrous view, is correct one. | say
an
lrishman is as Capable of Loyalty
as any other man. (Renewed Irish cheers.
But if his loyalty has been checked, why it
is because the laws by which he is governed
do not present themselves to him as they do
to us in England or Scotland, with native
say that Ireland, through her constitutional
ly elected members, will accept the measure
propose. hope they will, but | have no
right to assume it. Nor have ! any power to
enforce it upon the people of England and
Scotland. But | rely on the patriotism and
sagaeity of this house, ON free and full dis
cuSsion and more th an oil, upon the just anu
generous sentiments of the two British ma
tions; and, looking forward, ask this house,
believing that no trivial motive could have
driven us to assist in the work we have un-
dertaken-a work which we believe will re-
store Parliament to its free and unimpeded
course,-I ask them to
Stay the Waste of Public Treasure
under the present system of government and
administration in Ireland, which is not a
waste only, but waste which demoralizes
while it exhausts. ask them to show to
Europe and America that we, too, can face
political problems which America had to
face twenty years ago and which many
countries in Europe have been called on to
face, and have not feared to deal with. L
ask that we shall practice as we have very
often preached, and that in our own case we
should be firm and fearless in applying doc
trines we have often inculcated to others
that the
Concession of Local SeIf-Govern-
ment
is not the way to sap and impair, but to
strengthen and consolidate unity. ask that
we should learn to rely less on mere written
stipulatiOns and more on those better stlpu-
lations written on the heart and mind of
man. ask that we should apply to Ireland
the happy experience we have gained in En-
gland and Scotland, where the course of
generations has now taught us, not as q
dream or theory, but as matter of practice
and of life-that the best and surest founda-
ton we can find to build on is the founda-
ton afforded by the affections and eonvic-
tions and will of man, and that it is thus by
the decree of the Almighty that, far more
than by any other method, we may be en-
enabled to secure at once the social hap
piness, power and permanence of the EN-
pire."
Mr.. Gladstone resumed his seat amid
bursts of enthusiastic cheers, which were
sustained for several minutes.
Mr.. Gladstone's speech was three hours
and twenty-five minutes in duration. He
finished at o'clock.
When the applause had subsidized, George
Otto Trevelyan, who recently resigned his
position of Secretary for Scotland, arose.
After eulogizing Gladstone's Grafton, Treyel-
yam said he resigned because he could never
consent to such scheme as Gladstone had
proposed. He had done his best to prevent
the Liberals from identifying themselves
with what he regarded as neither for the
welfare nor benefit of the country. For his
part, he had no hesitation in saying the
complete separation of Ireland from Great
Britain would be preferable to the plan OF
the government just proposed. We should
then know the worst at once. AS an alterna-
tive scheme, Mr.. Trevelyan proposed one of
MS OWN, giving 1TeldHu uS0lI-SOV6r0LleHL only
in the most trivial affairs.
At the conclusion of Trevelyan's speech
which was chiefly denunciation of Glad
stones proposition, Parnell arose and was
received with cheers by the Irish members.
He ridieuled Trevelyan's propositions, insin-
uated that he had not given the real reason
for his resignation and referred feelingly to
the sympathy in America with the cause of
Ireland. Parnell congratulated the House
on the fact that there was still living an En-
glish statesman who could devote his atten-
tion to this important matter and begged to
thank Gladstone for what would not only
prove beneficial measure from an Irish
point but what he ParnelD believed would
be of equal benefit to England.
The bill, nevertheless, contained blots which
the Irish representatives would do their best
to remove. One of these was to be found in
the financial proposals of the bill, which he
regarded as very unfavorable to Ireland, eS-
pecially in regard to the Irish tribute to the
imperial eXchequer. He also complained of
the proposition relative to the two orders
intended to constitute the Irish parliament
on the ground that the first, consisting of
peers not subject to the influence of a pOpu-
lar vote, would have the power of hanging
up measures demanded by the people and
their representatives for two or thee years.
On the whole, however, apart from these
defects, he believed the measure would be
cheerfully accepted by the Irish people and