Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-06-25
GLADsTONES MANIFESTO.
The Old Man Asks for "A Seat In Parliament
for the Fourteenth Time.

was pleased to sanction, the dissolution OF
parliament for n decision by the nation OF
the gravest and likewise the simplest issue
that has been submitted To IL for half n
century. IL is only sense OF the gravity
of this issue which induces me at period
of life when nature cries aloud for repose,
TO seek, after sitting IN thirteen parma
ments a seat in the fourteenth, and with
this view TO solicit for the fifth time the
/ honor of your confidence. At the last
/ election | endeavored in my address ana
speeches 10 impress upon you the fact that
IA great crisis had arrived III the affairs Oh
/ Ireland. Weak as the late government
was for ordinary purposes, IL had great
| advantages for dealing with that crisis a
! comprehensive measure proceeding from
/ that government would have re
ceiVed warm and extensive support
from within the Liberal party and would
probably have closed the controversy
/ within the present session and have left
the parliament of 1855 TO prosecute the
! now stagnant work of an ordinary leglsla-
/ tion with the multitude of questions II in
/ cludcs. Ny earnest hope was 10 support
! the late cabinet in such course OF policy.
On the % of last January the opposite
police of coercion was declared 10 nave
the choice of the government the Earl or
/ CarnarVOn alone refusing to share IN IT.
The Irish question was thus placed in the
foreground to the exclusion of every
other. The hour, all felt, was come.
The only point remaining to determine
WAS the manner Ill WHICH III NdS 10 bc
dealt with. In my judgement the propos-
al of coercion was not justified by the
facts, and was doomed to certain and dis
graceful failure. Some method of govern
ing Ireland other than coercion, as |
thought. ought to he sought for and found.
Therefore i viewed without regret the fall
of the late Cabinet, and when summoned
by her majesty TO form new one | under
took it on the basis of an anti coercion
policy with the fullest explanations to
hAg rhf.ea s.i1 1 - llan rrt nc
when proposed to examine whether 1T
might not be possible to grant Ireland n
domestic legislature and maintain tho
honor and consolidate the unity of the
empire. \ government was formed and
the work was at once put in hand.
You will now, gentlemen, understand
how and why it is the affairs of Ireland,
and not for the first time have thrust
aside every other subject and adjourned
our hopes of useful and progressive legiS-
lation. As question of the first necessity
of social order il forces itself into the van.
The late Cabinet, though right in giving
III III that place, were, as we thought,
wrong in their manner OF treating 1t. 1t
was our absolute duty on taking the gov
eminent. if we did not adopt their method,
to propose another. Thus. gentlemen,
this great and simple issue has come
upon you and demands your decision.
Will you govern Ireland by coercion or
will YOU let Ireland manage her own af-
fairs: To debate in this address this and
that detail of the lately defeated bill would
only be to discuss this issue and would be
as futile aS TO discuss the hating, stumb-
ling, ever shifting. ever vanishing projects
of an Intermediate class which have pro
ceeded from the seeding Liberals.
There are TWO clear, positive and lntelh-
gent plans before the world. There Is the
plan of the government and there is the
plan of Lord Salisbury. Our plan Is that
Ireland should. under well considered con-
ditiOnS, transact her own affairs. His
plan is TO ask Parliament to renew repres-
sive laws and enforce them Tesolutely for
twenty years, 10y the end of which time he
assures Us Ireland will be fit to accept any
government in the way of a local govern
ment on the repeal of the coercion laws
you may wish to give her.
leave this Tory project 10 speak for
itself in its unadorned simplicity. and /
turn to the proposed policy OF the govern
ment. Our opponents, gentlemen, wheth-
er Tories or secederS, have assumed the
name of CniOniSts. ! deny them the title
to il. In intention and III deed We are all
UnionistS alike, but the union they re
fuse TO modify i in its present shape
paper union. obtained by force or fraud,
and accepted by the Irish nation. They
are not Cnionists but paper Cnionlsts.
True union is 10 tested by the sentiments
of the human beings united. Tried 10y
this critera. we have less union between
Great Britain and ireland now than we
had under the settlement of l'o2. I'm
franchised Ireland, gentlemen, asks
through her lawful representatives for
the reval of her domestic legislature-not,
on the face of IL, an lnnoNatlng, but
restorative proposal She urges VIII
truth that the Capitalization OF Parlla-
ments has been the division of peoples, but
she recognizes that the union, lawlessly as
il was obtained, cannot and ought not TO
be repealed. She is content TO receive her
legislature in form Invested of
prerogatives, which might have impaired
her imperial interests and better
adapted than the settlement of 1852 10 Sc
cure to her regular control of her own af-
fairs. She has not repealed but has well
coined the stipula tions for the protection
of the minority. To such provisions we
have given and shall give careful heed, but
] trust Scotland viii condemn the at
tempts SO singuarly made to import into
the controversy Venomous element or
religious bigotry. Let her take warning
10y the deplorable riots III Belfast ana 9th
CT places in the north
Among the benefits, gentleman, | antici-
pate from your acceptance of our policy
are these; The consolidation of the
United Empire and great addition to Its
strength: the stoppage OF the heavy, con-
slant and demoralizing waste of the pub
lie treasure the abatement and gradual
extinction of ignobie teuds IN Ireland. and
the development of her resources which
experience shows to be a natural conse-
quence of free and orderly government;
the redemption of the honor of Great Brit
ain from the stigma fastened upon her al
most from time immortal in respect TO
Ireland 10y the judgement 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 que stion now
put to you is, how shall Ireland be govern
ed. There is another question behind IL
and involved in it-how are England and
Scotland to be governedi You know how,
for the last six years especially, the affairs
of England and Scotland have been inn
peded, and your Imperial parliament dis
abled. All this happened when the ma
tionalists were but small minority of the
Irish members without support from so
much as a handful of members not Irish.
Now they approach ninety and are entitl-
ed to say: I'VE are speaking the views of
the Irish nation 1t is impossible to deal
with this subject by half measures. They
are strong in their members strong in
British support, which brought 3l3 mem
bers 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
81. 4. II. 4.