The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-05-18
HOME RULE BILL.
Second Reading Preceded by a
Speech from Gladstone.

the second reading of the Home
Rule Bill in speech extending over
an hour and quarter. He opened
by (as he said) bringing home to the
minds of the members the question
When, and where, and how is this
great controversy to end? and by
slightly quizzing Mr.. Courtney for
suggesting that all that was wanted
was reasonable stock of patience
that, of course, was to secure an Ire
land unanimously in favor of the
legislative Union. All the indica-
tions, however, he (Mr. Gladstone)
thought, were the other way; and
he proceeded to enlarge upon the
evergrowing demand for Home Rule.
Then he fell foul of Mr.. Chamber
lain's article in the last number of
the Nineteenth Century" and of
the virtual argument therein-that
there was nothing human about the
Irish except the form; new version
of the double dose of original sin"
theory that Mr.. Gladstone very
warmly repudiated. Remarking
that arguments in favor of the bill
had been asked for, Mr.. Gladstone
proceeded to enumerate number
the present method of governing
Ireland is Incredibly almost i'm
measurably and wonderfully" waste
full; it is far too costly; it is excess
sively inconvenient, the House being
perpetually plagued with Irish sub
jects; it has failed to produce con-
tentment in Ireland; change is de-
sirable in the interests of the good
fame of this country. Other argu-
ments there were, too, derivable
from the example of other countries;
and, in the course of an examina-
ton of other instances where Home
Rule prevailed, Mr.. Gladstone laid
down four propositions, which he
commended were incontrovertible-
that there is no Incorporating union
(of States or peoples) effected or
maintained by force-cide the separ-
alton of Holland and Belgium, the
creation of the duel monarchy of
Austria-Hungary, failure of the Rus
sian government of Poland; that the
incorporating unions that have flour
ished have been those favored by in
cidents of history, geography, reli-
gion, or race-uide, France, Spain,
and Italy; that no concession of
Home Rule, unless made under COM
pulsion, has failed to promote the
attachment of the receiving to the
giving power-uide, Turkey and the
Lebanon; and that the unions not
incorporated but autonomous have
been in all cases successful, either
completely so or considerably So
ride, Austria and Hungary, Norway
and Sweden, Russia and Finland, the
German Federation, the British
Colonies. Mr.. Gladstone then re-
ferred to two details in the bill
the retention OF the Irish men,
bers and the proposed financial ar
engagements. He concluded-Until
a very recent period--a very recent
period indeed; certainly until, l
think, the last sixty years, the epoch
of the Reform Act-the question be-
tween Great Britain and Ireland
was question between nation and
class, or rather between a class
and a nation, because l don't think,
except in very limited sense in
deed, that we can call this country
substantially self-governing coun-
try until the period of the first Re-
form Act. The question was then,
after the long deplorable centuries
the question was still, in the main,
one between governing class on
one side Of the Channel and a nation
on the other. But, sir, it is not so
now-(cheers). 1t is now question
between a nation and nation
(cheers). If there is--as we believe
there is-injustice in the present
Legislative relations between England
and Ireland, and if that injustice be
deliberately accepted and prolonged,
it will not be inflicted by a class up
on nation-not by an aristocracy,
not by body of landed proprietors,
not by body of merchants and
manufacturers, not by the property
of the country, but by the people of
the country-(hear, hear. This has
now become, it appears to me, a
consideration OF extreme importance.
1t has now become question in the
strictest sense between nation and
nation-not only between nation
and nation, but between a great ma
ton and small nation, between a
strong nation and weak nation, a
wealthy nation, and a poor nation.
Sir, there can be no more melancholy,
and, in the last result, no more de-
grading spectacle on earth than the
spectacle of oppression, or the spec
tacle of wrong, in whatever form in
llicted, by the deliberate action of a
nation upon another nation, and
especially by the deliberate act of
such country as Great Britain on
such country as Ireland-(cheers).
But, on the other hand, there can be
no nobler one than that which we
think is now dawning upon us-the
spectacle of nation deliberately
set upon the removal of injustice,
deliberately determined to break
not through terror, not in haste, but
under the sole influence of duty and
honor-determined to break with
whatever remains still existing of
evil traditions, and determined, in
that way, at once to pay the debt of
justice and to consult, by bold