Madison times., 1886-06-26
THE PREMIER'S APPEAL.
The Great Question Referred Di-
rectIy to the People.

Mr.. Gladstone has issued the following .
manifesto to the electors of Midlothian:
GENTLEMEN-ln consequence of the de
feat of the bill for the better government of |
Ireland, the ministry advised and her majeS-
ty was pleased to sanction the dissolution 0f |
parliament for a decision by the nation of |
the gravest and likewise the simplest issue |
that has been submitted to it for half a cen !
tlIry. 1t is only sense of the gravity of this
issue which induces me. at a period of life /
when nature cries aloud for repOSp, 10 seek |
after sitting in thirteen parliamentS. seat |
in the fourteenth and with this view To sOnc !
it for the fifth time the honor of your con- |
fidence
At the last election [ endeavOred in my |
addresses and speeches to Impress on you the |
fact that great crisis had arrived in the af |
fairs of Ireland. Weak as the late govern |
ment was for ordinary purposes, it tad |
great advantages for dealing with that crisis |
A comprehensive measure proceeding from
the government would have received warm
/ and extensive support from within the Lib
eral patty and would probably have closed
the Irish controversy within the present
session and have left the parliament of 1885
free to prosecute the now stagnant work of
ordinary legislation. with the multitude of
questions it includes Ny earnest hope was
/ TO support the late cabinet in such a course
OF policy. On the 18th of last January the
/ opposite policy of coercion was declared to
have been the choice of the government, the
Earl of CarnarvOn alone refusing to 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 facts and was doomed
to certain and dsgraceful failure. Some
method of covering Ireland other than CO.
erciOn ought, as thought, to be sought for
and TO be found.
Therefore | viewed without regret the fall
OF the late cabinet and when summoned by
her majesty to form 4 new one 1 undertook
it on the basis of ant;-cOerciOn policy with
the fullest explanations to those whose aid
sought as colleagues when proposed to
examine whether il might not be possible to
grant Ireland domestic legislature and
maintain the honor and consolidate the uni
ty of the empire A government was FORM
ed ami the work was at once put in hand.
! You will now, gentlemen, understand how
and why it is that the affairs of Ireland, and
not for the first time, have thrust aside
every other subj ject and adjourned our hopes
) of useful and progressive legislation. As a
4 question of the first necessities of social or
q der it forces itself into the van. The late
4 cabinet though right in giving it that place
a were, as we thought, wrong in their manner
! of treating it. I. was our absolute duty on
!, taking the government, if we did not adopt
; their method, to propose another. Thus
:, gentlemen, it is that this great and simple
. issue has come upon you and demands your
8 decision. Will you govern Ireland by cOer
ciOn, or will you let Ireland manage her own
affairs?
To debate in this address this and that de-
; tail of the lately defeated bill would only be
to disguise this issue, and would be as futile
!, as to discuss the halting, stumbling, ever
- shifting and ever-vanishing projects of ar
- intermediate class which have proceeded
:, from the seeding Liberals.
/. TWO PLANS.
,e There are two clear, positive and intelli
l. gible plans before the world: There is th'
5. plan of the government, and there is the plaI
rs of Lord Salisbury. Our plan is that 1relan'
I'd should, under well considered conditions
n transact her own affairs. His plan is to asl
parliament to renew represslve laws and en-
at force them resolutely for twenty years. b.
" the end of which time he assures US lrelan'
es will be fit to accept any government in tn
st way of loca. government, on the repeal o
,a the coercion laws, you may wish 10 give hei
A. leave this Tory project 10 speak Tor ltsei
III in its unadOrned simplicity, and turn 10 Tn
"a proposed policy of the government
" Our opponents, gentlemen. whether lore
X OF seceders, have assumed the name OF vi
no iOnis,s. l deny them the title TO IT, In IL
sc tentioD, indeed, we are all ununionists allk'
NJ but the union they refuse to modify Is In 4
ne present shape paper union, obtained B
III force and fraud, and never sanctioned {
ie1 accepted by the Irish nation. They are NJ
ie- uDionists, but paper uniOnists. True unlO
W is to be tested by the sentiments OF the b
IN maH beings united. Tried by this crlteriC
ne we have less union between Great Erita
'ry and Ireland now than we mad under the st
tlement of l7S2. Enfranchlsed Ireland, ge
tIemen asks through her lawful represent
tlyes Tor the revival of her domestic leglSl
ture pot in the fact OF II, as lnnovatln