The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-14

were crowded. When the doors were opened
! there was a disorderly rush for seats, the
members shouting and struggling like MOB
| OF excursionists. The veteran member.
| Caleb Wright, was borne down, trampled
on, and was with difficulty rescued.
| Gladstone entered the House at $3.50
| o'clock, and was greeted by prolonged and
enthusiastic cheers by the Liberals and Irish
members. A quarter Of an hour later, when
! he rose to introduce the nOme-rule bill. there
was another demonstration. lasting several
minutes. Gladstone spoke in a clear, strong
| and resonant voice.
Il may, without imprOpriety," he said,
"remind the House that those voices which
| have usually pleaded the cause of Irish self
| government in Irish affairs have within
these walls. during the last seven years,
been almost entirely mute. I return, there
| fore. to the period OF 1886, when a PROPOSE
! ton OF this kind was submitted on the part
| Of the Government Of that day. and l beg
to remind the House OF the position then
taken by all the promoters of these meas
ures. We said we had arrived at a point
in our transactions with Ireland where the
| roads parted. You have we said. TO
choose one or the other. One is the way of
Irish autonomy. according to the cOncep-
! tiOnS have just referred to; the other is
the way of coercion. That is our conten-
| ton 1t viii be within the recollection Of
the House how that contention was most
! stOutly and largely denied. 1t was said
| over and over again by many members OF
! the opposition. We are not cOercionists; ;
we do not adopt that alternative, and
neither can we adopt It, ministerial
cheers That assertion of theirs was un-
| doubtedly sustained by the proposals, es-
/ pecially from the dissentient Liberals. of
various plans of dealing with irish affairs.
Those plans. though they fell entirely
short in the principle and the scope Of
Irish self-g0vernment, yet were of no
trivial or mean Importance. They went
far beyond what had heretofore been usu-
ally proposed in the way of local self
government for Ireland.
well, what has been the result of the
dilemma, as then put forward on this side
of the House and repelled by the other?
Has our contention that the choice lay be-
tween autonomy and coercion been justified
or not? Liberal eheers.l What has be-
come of each and all those important
schemes for giving Ireland self-gOyernment
in the provinces and giving her even a een-
trail establishment in Dublin with limited
powers? All have vanished into thin air,
but the reality remains. The roads were
still there, autonomy or coercion. The
choice lay between them. and the choice
made was TO repel autonomy and embrace
coercion.
GU cannot always follow coercion in an
absolutely uniform method. For the first
time coercion was imposed on Ireland in
the shape Of permanent law added to the
statute book. This state of things consti-
tuted an offending against harmony and
the traditions of self-goYeTnment 1t was
distinct and violent breach of promise
on the faith of which union was obtained.
| That permanent system Of repression in
| ficted upon the country a state Of things
which could not continue to exist. 1t was
| impossible TO bring the inhabitants OF the
country under coercion into sympathy with
the coercing power"
Gladstone then proceeded to dilate at
/ length upon the circumstances under which
the act of union passed. the proyiso Of
| equality in the laws and commercial eQual-
| ity, under which the. union was effected.
ut was then prOphesied confidently" he
! said, that Irishmen would take their
places in the Cabinet of the United King
dom. But il has been my hon0red destiny
10 sit in Cabinets with no less than sixty
or seventy statesmen, of whom only one
the Duke OF WelliDgtOn-Was an IrIshman,
while Castlereagh was the only other Irish
man who had sat in the Cabinet since the
union. Pitt promised equal laws when the
union was formed. but the broken promises
made to Ireland were unhapDily written in
| indelible characters in the history Of the
| country.
Coming to 1882, when the resurrection
| Of the people began, thence down to 1880,
| Ireland could present only a small minority
| in favor of restoring to her something in
the nature Of constitutional rights and prac-
tical self-government. 1t is to me aston
ishing that so little weight is attached by
many TO the fact that before 1SS6-before
1855. indeed-the Irish wishes Of self-gov-
eTnment were represented only by a small
minority. Since 1880. when the wide ex-
tension Of the franchise was protected by
the secret ballot. Ireland's position has
been improved in Parliament. In 1886 there
were eighly-fye Nationalist, or more than
fve-eighths. [Cheers.l They have been
reduced from eighty-fve to eighty under
| circumstances somewhat peculiar lHearl
| Hearil. and, l must frankly OWL. 10 my
self, among others. for reasons totally and
absolutely uniBtelliglble. Loud cheers.l
Let US look at the state of the case as It
now stands. There are but 80 ont OF 100
| that is to say, the wishes # ireland for
/ Irish self-gOvernment in Irish matters are
| represented only By foUr-fifths. Laughter. !
| The honorable gentlemen seem to have no
respect for such a majority as that. Do
| they recOlect, sir, that never in England
| has there been such a majority? lCheers. !
/ No Parliament Of the last fifty years has
/ come within a measurable distance Of ii.
| If there be anything in tie great principle
| of self-goVernment, which, il it be reality,
never can work except through the machin-
! cry and by the laws OF representation, at
| any rate the voice Of the Irish people, the
| persIstency Of the Irish people In delivering
| that voice and the peaceful constitutional
| circumstance under which il has been de-
| livered Ministerial cheers and opposition
| laughter constitute great fact in history.
at is said. and | admit with truth, that
Ireland is not a united country. do not
deny that the division which exists is fact
Of great moment. In truth, were Ireland
| united, anything that can render Ireland
formidable would become much more for
midable. We're Ireland united all Opposi-
| tOn would vanish as a shadow. Hear,
| hear. Ireland is not united 10 this sense,
that in one portion Of the country, not a
mere majority OF the higher classes. but a
considerable popular feeling. is opposed to
| the present national movement"
Abiding to the English feeling toward
! Irish home rule, Gladstone said he would
refrain from urging that England would
| find herself exhausted and her work made
| impracticable by resistance to Irish de-
mands. He could well conceive England
maintaining, il so minded, resistance to the
Irish demands. but England's conversion to
home rule had been rapid. In 1886 Eng
lands majority adverse to home rule was
| 211. 1t had now declined 10 II. In the face
| Of such facts. who would guarantee the per-
| manenca of the nnnnsifinn of the rem inder Q