Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-04-09
government of Ireland" On making this
motion Gladstone said:
GIadSfape,s Spaa.t,

questions together | do not know of anv
previous task laid upon me Involving so
diversified an opposition. In CunteInplat-
ing the magnitude of this task, am filed
with a painful mIstrust, but that mistrust
| is absorbed in the feeling of responsibility
| that will be upon me if | should fail to
bring home to the public mind the rnagpi
tude and various aspects of the question.
We should no longer fence or skirnish
with this question. Loud cheers.l We
should come TO close quarters with il.
lCheers. We should get at the root of il.
We should take means, not merely in
tended for wants of to-day or Tomorrow.
but should look into the distant futnre
we have arrived at stage in our political
transactions with Ireland when two roads
part, one from the other not soon. prob
ably, to meet again. The time is come
when it is incumbent on
THE DUTY AND HoNoR OF PARLIAMENT
To come to a decisive resolution on This
matter. Our intention is, therefore. to pro-
pose to the House of Commons that which
If happily accepted, will. we think, liberate
Parliament from the restraints under which
of late years it has Intellectually STRUGGLED
to perform the business ofthe country. and
will restore British legislation to It's ma
tural, ancient, unimpeded course; and
above all, establish harmonious relations
between Great Britain and Ireland Hear
hear on the footing of those free institu-
tons to which Engishmen, Scotchmen
and 1rishmen alike, are unalterably at
tached. Loud cheers prolonged by the
Home Rule members
Alter reviewing the condition and crime
existing III Ireland since 1888, Mr. Glad
stone described the coercive legislation en-
forced during the same period as not
exceptionable, but habitual. He compared
ireland during all this period to a man
trying 10 find sustenance in medicine only
meant for cure. Serious disafection con
hnued to prevail in Ireland, and if England
and Scotland had suffered similar hard
ships he believed the people of those
countries would resort to means similar to
those the Irish had used to ventilate their
grievances. lParnellte cheers. Coercion
was admitted 10 have been failure for the
past tltty-three Years, only two of which
had been wholly free from repressive legis-
lation. coercion, unless stern and unbend-
ing, and under an autocratic government.
must always fail. Such coercion England
should never resort to until every other
means had failed What was
THE BASIS OF THE WHOLE MISCHIEF
Was the fact that the law was discredited
in Ireland. Ii came to the Irish people
with foreign aspect, and their alternative
W SCSiNiOit was 10 SlIID ll1t law OF
its foreign character, and invest it
with domestic character Loud Irish
cheers Ireland, though represented in
Parliament numerically equal with Eng
land or Scotland, was really not in the
same position politically. England made
her own laws. Scotland had been encour
aged to make her own laws The conse-
quence was that the handspring of law in
England and Scotland was felt to be Eng
llsh or Scotch. The handspring of law in
Ireland was not felt by the people to be
Irish. He therefore deemed i. little less
than mockery to hold that the state of law
which he had described conduced to the
| real unity of tins great, noble, worldwide
empire. Something must be done" con-
tinued Mr.. Gladstone something is i'm
peratively demanded from us, to restore in
Ireland the first conditions of civil life, the
free course of law, the liberty of every indi-
vidual in the exercise of
EVERY LEGAL RIGHT,
Their confidence in law and their sympathy
with 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. Mr. Grattan
held that these purposes were reconcilable.
More than that, he demanded the sever
ance of Parliament, with q view to the con-
tinuity and everlasting unity of the EN-
pire. Was that an audacious paradox
Other countries had solved the problem.
and under much more difficult circum-
stances. We. ourselves, might be said to
have solved it with respect to Ireland dur
ing the time that Ireland had separate
Parliament. Did it destroy the unitv of
the British Empire? [Cheers.]
OTHER COUNTRIES CITED.
Mr.. Gladstone then pointed to the case of
Norway and Sweden. which countries
were, he said, united upon a footing of
strict legislative independence and CO.
equality. Then there was the case of Aus.
tria and Hungary, and with regard to those
countries he asked whether the condition
OF Austria at the present moment was not
more perfectly solid, secure and harmo-
nous than 1t was prior to the existing con-
dltlon between that country and Hungary. |
Ii could not be questioned that its condi- |
ton was one of solidity and safety. COM
pared with that of the time when Hum
gary was making war upon her. The !
claim OF Ireland to make laws for herself
was never denied, continued Mr.. Glad |
stone, until the reign of George H. The |
Parliament of Grat.au was as independent |
in point OF authority as it could be. They
tthe GovernmenD were not about to pro- |
pose the repeal of the union 1t was i'm |
possible to propose the repeal of the union !
until they had settled what was the
essence of the union that where
as before the union there were two
separate and Independent Parlamcnts
Bitter the union there was but one. |
10 speak of the dismemberment of the
Empire was in this country monstrous and
All absurdity The fault of the adminis- |
trative system of Ireland was that its spring
ana source of action was English [Cheers.1 !
The Government, therefore, felt that set |
uement OF the question was to be found by |
establishing Parliament in Dublin Irish |
cheers] for the conduct of business of both |
a legislative and an administrative nature |
The political economy of three countries |
must be reconciled. There should be an |
equitable distribution of Imperial burdens |
Next, there must be reasonable
SAFEGUARDS FOR THE MINORITY,
And why could not this minority in Ire |
land take care of itself. He had no doubt |
about its ability to do that when we have |
passed through the present critical period, |
and been disarmed of the jealousies with I
which any change was approached but |
for the present there were three classes of |
people whom they were bound to consider |
First, the class connected with land sec |
ond, civil servants and officers of the Gov |
ernment in Ireland: third, the Protestant |
minority. The speaker could not admit |
the claim of the Protestant minority, in |
Ulster or elsewhere, to rule on questions !
which were for the whole of Ireland |
Several schemes for theseparateg government |
of Ulster had been submitted to him. One |
was that Ulster province should be excluded |
from the operations of the present bill. |
Another was that q separate autonomy
should be provided for Ulster, and a third |
suggested that certain rights should be reserved /
and placed under Provisional Councils No one |
of these proposals had appeared to the Govern |
ment to be 30 completely justified by its merits
or by the weight of public opinion in its favor |
as to warrant the Government including il in |
their bill. However, they deserved fair consld. |
Grafton ard the discussion that would follow !
the introduction of the present bill might lead !
to the discovery of one plan which had a pre- |
dominating amount of support and the Govern :
ment would do their best to adopt the plan that |
seemed likely to give general satisfaction
THE SETTLEMENT OF 1852
Referring to the great settlement of 1880 Mr. |
Gladstone said: IL was not real settlement. /
and why Was it Ireland that prevented a real |
settlement being made? Irish cheers No N |
was the mistaken policy OF England in listening
to the pernicious voice and claims of ascen. |
deDcy The Irish Parliament labored under
great disadvantages, yet il had in il a spark of |
the spirit OF freedom, and it emancipated the /
Roman Catholics of Ireland when the Roman
Catholics of London were i'll uuemaucirafed
. sod Tf.~7