Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-04-15
IRELAND FOR THE IRISH
The Grand Old Man Makes His
Master Effort.

| The Speech of MIR. Gladstone In the British
House of Commons in Behalf OF His
Bill for Irish Autonomy--The
Keystone of Unity.
LONDON, April e.-In the House of Com.
mons yesterday Gladstones great speech on
the Irish question occupied three hours and
twenty five minutes. The Premier began
at thirty five minutes past four and finished
| at eight O'Clock precisely. Every salient
point as.received with vociferous applause,
and at the conclusion his supporters ten
dered him perfect ovation, the cheering
lasting many minutes.
Mr.. Gladstone said that he could wish that
It had been possible to expound to the
House the whole policy and intention Of the
government with reference to Ireland. The
questions of the land and of the Irish Gov
eminent were closely and inseparably con-
nected. 1t were an impossible task to eluci
date both questions together. Continuing
he SAID
81 don't know of any previous task laid
upon me involving so diversified an exposi-
ton. In contemplating
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE TASK
7 am filled with painful mistrust, but that
mistrust is absorbed in the feeling of re-
sponsbility that will be upon me if fail
nitude of the various aspects of the ques-
ton. We should no longer fence and Skin
mish with this question loud cheersl: We
should come to close quarters with it
Tcheersl. We should get at the root of it,
and take means, not mer ly for the wants
of day or to morrow, but look into the
distant future We have arrived at stage
in our political transactions with Ireland
ohe 1w of
again. The time has come when in duty
and honor Parliament must come to some
aSixy col rtin on ON MAJ fpr (0ur in
tention is to propose to the House of Com
mons that which, If happily accepted. will
der which of late years it has Intellectually
struggled to perform the business of the
ton to its natural, ancient and 'unimpeded
course; and above all, establish harmonious
relations between Great Britain and Ireland
Hear! hear!l on a footing of those free in
situations to which Englishmen, Scotchmen
and Irishmen alike are unalterabiy attach
cd" Loud cheers which were prolonged by
the home-ruIe members
After reviewing the condition OF crime in
Ireland since 1893. Mr. Gladstone described
coercive legislation, not as exceDtional but
as habitual, comparing Ireland to man
trying to find sustenance in medicine only
meant for cure. But
COERCION HAD PROVED NO CURE.
Serious disaffection continued to prevail in
Ireland. and if England and Scotland had
suffered similer hardships he believed the
people of these countries would resort to
similar means as did the Irish to ventilate
their grievances. CheerS from the Parnell
ties Coercion was admitted to be a failure.
For the past fifty three years there had been
only two wholly free from repressive legis-
lation.
Coercion, unless stern and unbending and
under an autocratic Government, must fail.
Such coercion England should never resort
to until every other means has failed.
What was the basis of the whole mischief
was the law which discredited in Ire
land 1t came to them with foreign aspect
the law of its foreign character and invest
it with n domestic character. Loud cheers
from the Irish memberSl. Ireland though
represented numerically equal with England
and Scotland had not the same position.
England made her own laws and Scotland
as effectual as if she had six times the pres
ent represc ntatiOn. The consequence was
that the handspring of the laws of England
and Scotland was felt to be English and
Scotch. The handspring of the laws in Ire
land was not felt by the people to be Irish.
He deemed it
LITTLE LESS THAN MOCKERY
to hold that the state of law which he had
described oonduced to the real unity of this
great and noble world wide Empire.
was imperat uss demanded Gn from
the government. 1t was demanded that they
civil life. the free course of law, the liberty
of every individual in the exercise of every
legal right, the confidence OF the law and
the sympathy of the people with the law,
apart from which no country can be called
civilized country.
What. then. was the problem before him?
~
with a diversity of legislatures. Mr.. Grattan
held that those purposes were recOncilable
OF the Parliaments with a view to the con
tinuity and everlasting unity of the empire.
was That an amaaeiouS para,noad he he
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 unity of the
British Empire? Cheers:I
Mr. rafprrad n the of Nor
way and Sweden. which countries were
united upon a footing of strict legislative
was the case of Austria and Hungary;
and with regard to those s; countries es
A he hsae at tSe e1 present moment was not
more perfectly solid, secure and harmonious
than prior to the existing conditions be;
tween that country and Hungary. 1t could
not he questioned that its condition was one
of solidity and safety as compared with the
time when Hungary was making war upon
her. The claim of
IRELAND TO MAKE LAWS FOR HERSELF
was never denied until the reign of George
l. The Parliament of Grattan was as indie
pendent in point of authority as it could be-
The government was not about to propose
the repeal of the union. 1t was impossible
Until heT had Settled what the
of the union, and he defined the essence of
the union to be that before the existence of
the union there were two separate, indie
pendent Parliaments. but after the forma-
ton OF the union there was but one. To
speak or Cn0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Vi ile 6lHpHe
was in this century miSnomer and an alb
surdity The fault of the administrative
system of Ireland was that its spring and
source of action were English. iCheers.
The government therefore felt that the set
Element of the question was to be found by
establishing Parliament in Dublin lcheers
from the Irish bencheSi for the conduct of
both legislative and administrative matters.
The political economy of the three coun-
tries must be reconciled. There should be
an equitable distribution of the Imperial
burden; next, there must be reasonable
cofn a-1S for lla m mr.
not the minority in Ireland take care OF it,
doubt about it's ability to do that when we
have passed through the present critical
period and disarmed the jealousies with
which any change may be approached. But
for the present there were three classes OF
people whom they were bound to consider;
second, the civil servants and officers of the
government in Ireland; and third, the
Protestant minority. He could not ad
NIT the claims of the Protestant
minority in Ulster or elsewhere, to rule
questions which were for the whole of Ire
submitted to him. One was that Ulster
Province should be excluded from the oper
atoms of the bill; another, that separate
autonomy should be provided for Ulster,
and third suggested that certain rights
should be reserved and their administra-
tion placed under control of province coun-
ellis.
No one of these proposals had appeared
to the government to be completely justi-
fed by it's merits or the weight of public
opinion in its favor as to warrant them in
Including 1t In the bill. He ended, however,
by saying, those proposals deserved fair
consideration in the free discussion that
follow the intr0dnctiOn of the bill