Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-28
MIR. GLADsTONE's POLICY.
1t IL to Wait and Let the Force of
Events Bring Home Rule.

Events Bring Home Rule.
| Mr.. Gladstone arrived at Edinburgh yes
terday. as telegraphed to The Star, and last
evening addressed his constituents of Mid
| lothian in Albert Hall.
1t had been announced that Mr.. Glad
| stone would in his address to the commit
| tee declare the policy that the government
| intends to follow until the next general
| election. Great interest was everywhere
displayed in political circles as to what he
would have to say in regard to the gov
| ernments program, and the hall was
crowded to the doors long before he ar
| rived.
With reference to the disestablishmen mt
| of the Church of Scotland, he believed that
| the bill prepared by Mr.. Cameron was de-
| signed as practical settlement Of the
| question and would open the doors for
| union of the Presbyterian communions. He
hoped that the friends of the established
church would accept this chance for
| moderate settlement
| Turning to the home rule BILL Mr. Glad
stone said the responsibility for it's failure
| to become law rested with the house of
| lords.
4 Il was not so sure when Lord Salisbury
! threatened year ago to destroy the home
| rule bill that the lords recognized that this
| might involve the question of their own in
dependent and responsible existence. pro
longed cheers.)
IF 1t should ever happen in the vicissi-
| tudes of political affairs that the house of
| lords, by some accident or collateral pro-
cess. should bring about a dissolution OF the
| house Of commons. depend upon it. the
| people will not consider the home rule bill
| alone, but will mix with it another ques-
ton. one which the lords may bitterly la
| ment when II Is too late. that they ever
/ raised an issue"
| He counseled neither violence nor vehe-
| mence All that was necessary was a quiet
| determination to cling to the hope that bet
| nd ho
| house of lords to grant to Ireland some
| Just satisfaction of her national aspira-
| tons. If the worst came. the worst con-
ISOLATION that could be offered would be to
| remind them of recent history and of the
| vast changes of the past sixty years, not
one of which originated In the house Of
| lords.
| Defective Institutions.
| ''The fact is that the present parliament
tary institutions are too weak for their
| purpose. They overweight and don't meet
| the demands of the country. There Is
something wrong and defective in the pres
| ent institutions"
| Mr.. Gladstone then proceeded to review
| the relations that have existed between
the house of lords and the house Of COM
| mons since the passage of the reform bill,
| in 1882.
| Since iS41.' he said, 1.-THE legislation Of
| the house of commons has been a perpet-
| ual challenge to the house Of lords. Some
| times the latter has declined to accept the
| challenge and has passed the measures pro-
| posed. because unless they had done 50
there would have been no house of lords at
/ this date" AS instances he cited the re-
| peal Of the corn laws in 1876, the repeal of
| the soap duty in 1853, Irish disestablish-
ment In 1859 and the passage of the land
| act in 1870.
THE verdict Of the people on the Irish
question:" continued Mr.. Gladstone, 1.-The
lords have now reversed. What are their
pleas for that reversal? A majority Of the
4 lNrdo ,t.tA III
majority Of the commons an opinion In its
| favor. Yet it is hardly case in which
| one opinion Is as good as another. The
peers form their opinion for themselves;
| they are responsible to nobody, and II 1t
proves wrong they will neither be abused
nor be made to suffer in any way. Our
opinion is not solely our own. but was
| formed in discussion with the nation and
was given with all the authority that a
| national verdict can confer. / think. there
| FORE that the peers don't stand well on
their own showing. They certainly stand
| worse on the showing Of their friends In
| the house of commons"
In answer to the plea that the people
| knew nothing in advance Of the details of
| the Irish bill Mr.. Gladstone instanced the
| case of Sir Robert Peel refusing at general
| elections to explain the details of the new
| corn law until he was put into office. The
| country's ignorance OF the clauses of the
| Irish disestablishment bill In 1868 was in
| stanced as a similar case.
These" continued Mr.. Gladstone, ARE
| the very things to be entrusted to delibera-
| tive assemblies"
MIR. Gladstone Encouraged.
For my part" said Mr.. Gladstone, II
| find the retrospect sufficiently encouraging
If the nation Is determined 1t will not be
baff1ed by a phalanx of 500 peers. We have
| the will of the country to execute and can
not submit to the house of lords, although
they bear high-sounding titles and sit in
| gilded chamber. The next session will not
| pass without your seeing this subject again
| appearing above the waves where 1t has
| for the moment appeared to founder. The
nation has given us the authority and pro-
| PEELED US on our course, and it is our duty
| and our hope and belief that we shall find,
with the help Of the Almighty, means to
| reach the goal"
At the close Of the speech there was pro-
| longed cheering. A vote of thanks to Mr..
| Gladstone was then adopted and the meet
| ing dispersed An immense crowd followed
Mr. Gladstone's carriage as he drove to his
| hotel In response to the cheers Of the
| crowd Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone appeared on
the hotel balcony and bowed their acknowl-
| edgments.