The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-06-24
The PREmIER's APPEAL.
Gladstone Issues q Manifesto
to the Electors Of England
and Scotland
The Issue Plainly Stated, Which
Must Be Met in Manly
Way.
Mr.. Gladstone has issued the following
manifesto To the electors Of Midlothian:


manifesto to the electors Of Midlothian:
GENTLEMEs-In consequence Of the defeat Of
the bill for the better government OF Ireland the
Ministry advised and her Majesty was pleased
10 sanction, the dissolution OF Parliament for .
wise the simplest issue that has been submitted
20 il for half a century. IL 10 only sense OF
the gravity OF this issue which induces me. at
a period of life when Nature cries aloud for re-
pose, to seek. after sitting in thirteen Parlia-
ments, a seat In the fourteenth, and with this
view to solicit, for the nth time, the honor OF
At the last election endeavored In my adj
dresses and speeches to impress upon you the
fact that great crisis had arrived in the affairs
of Ireland. Weak as the late Government was
for ordinary purposes,'it had great advantages
for dealing with that crisis. comprehensive
measure proceeding from that Government
would have received warm and extensive sup
port from within the Liberal party, and would
probably have closed the Irish controversy
within the present session and have lett the
Parliament of 1886 free to prosecute the now
stagnant work Of ordinary legislation. with the
multitude Of questions IL includes. My earnest
hope was 70 support the late Cabinet in such a
course Of policy. On the Goth Of last January
the opposite policy OF coercion was declared
to have been the choice of the Government,
share in it. The Irish question was thus
placed In the foreground, to the exclusion Of
every other. The hour. as all felt was come.
The only point remaining TO determine was the
manner in which it was to be dealt with.
In my Judgment, the proposal Of coercion was
not justified by the facts, and was doomed TO
certain and disgraceful failure. Some method
of governing Ireland other than coercion ought,
as thought, TO be sought for and to be found.
Therefore i viewed without regret the fall OF
the late Cabinet, and. when summoned by her
Majesty to form a new one, undertook ii on the
basis OF an anti-coereon policy, with the fullest
explanation TO those whose aid sought as col.
leagues when proposed to examine whether 1t
might not be possible to grant Ireland domes-
tic Legislature and maintain the honor and con-
solidate the unity OF the empire. govern
anf apAf ba NJ m mt
in hand
You will not, gentlemen fail to understand
how and why it is that the affairs OF Ireland and
not for the first time, have thrust aside everY
other subject, and adjourned our hopes OF use
full and progressive legislation. As a question
OF the ifst necessities OF social order u forces
right in giving 1t that place, were as we thought,
wrong in their manner OF treating it 1t was
we did not adopt their method, to propose an
other Thus gentlemen, it is that this great
and simple issue has come upon you and de-
mands your decision. Will you govern Ireland
by coercion or will you let Ireland manage
her own affairs? To debate in this address
this and that detail OF the lately defeated bill
would only be to disguise this issue, and
would be as futile as to discuss the hating,
stumbling, ever shifting, and er-advancing
projects OF an intermediate class which have
proceeded from the seeding Liberals. There
are two clear, positive, and ineligible plans
before the world: There Is the plan OF the
Government and there is the plan OF Lord Sails
well-considered conditions, transact her own
affairs His plan is to ask Parliament to renew
repressive laws and enforce them resolutely for
twenty years, by the end of which time he as
sures US Ireland will be fit to accept any govern
ment in the way Of local government, on the
repeal OF the coercion laws, you may wish to
give her.
True union Is to be tested by the sentiments Of
the human beings united. Tried by this critic
rion we have less union between Great Britain
and Ireland now than we had under the settle
ment OF 1852. Enfranchised Ireland, gentlemen,
asks through her lawful representatives for the
revival Of her domestic legislature-not,
on the face OF It, an innovating, but
q restorative proposal. She urges with
truth that the Capitalization of parliaments has
been the division of the peoples, but she recog-
nized the fact that the union, lawlessly as it was
obtained, cannot and ought not to be repealed.
She is content TO receive her Legislature in q
form Invested Of prerogatves which might have
impaired her imperial interests and better
adapted than the settlement of 1872 to secure to
her regular control of her own affairs. She has
not repealed but has welcomed the stipulations
for the protection of the minority. To such pro-
visions we have given and shall give careful
heed, but trust Scotland will condemn the
attempts so singularly made to import into the
controversy q venomous element Of religious
bicotry. Let her take warning by the deplor-
able riots in Belfast and other places in the
north.
Among the benefits, gentlemen, anticipate
from your acceptance OF our policy these:
The consolidation OF the united empire and
great addition TO its strength the stoppage of the
heavy, constant, and demoralizing waste Of the
public treasure the abatement and gradual ex-
tinction of ignoble feuds In Ireland and that
development of her resources which experience
shows to be a natural consequence of free and
orderly government; the redemption of the
honor OF Great Britain from the stigma fastened
upon her almost from time immemorial in re-
spect to Ireland by the Judgment of the whole
civilized world and, lastly, the restoration OF
Parliament to its dignity and efficiency and the
regular progress of the business OF the country.
Well, gentlemen, the first question now put
to you is, How shall Ireland be governed
There is another question behind il and involved
in il. How England and Scotland to be
governed2 You know how, for the last six years
especially, the affairs of England and Scotland
have been impeded and your imperial Parlia-
ment discredited and disabled. All this hap
pened while the Nationalist were but small
minority of the Irish members without sup
port from SO much q handful of members
not Irish. Now they approach ninety, and
entitled TO say: I'VE are speaking the views
of the Irish nation" It is impossible to deal
with this subject by half measures. They are
strong in their numbers strong in British sup
port, which brought 313 members to vote for
their country strongest of all in the sense of
being right. But, gentlemen we have done our
part the rest remains for you. Electors OF the
country, may you be enabled to see through
and cast away all delusions refuse evil, and
choose good. have the honor to be, gentle
men, your faithful and grateful servant,
WILLIAM Z. GLADSTONE.