Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1887-10-08 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.  MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND HIS CONSTITUENTS. The Bight Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, addressing hie constituents at West Birmingham, said it was not Birmingham but Hawarden, that was to blame fordelayMg the needful settlement of the Irish question. Mr. Gladstone ought to be grateful to Birmingham for opp^sing two bills which he himself admitted were so unsatishartory that they were dead, and could not be r.vived. The Irish question ought not to be allowed to stand in the way of reforms needed by England and Scotland on the subject of religious equality, licensing and land laws, local government. public expenditure, and protection of life at sea. Pealing to the urgency of the Irish land question, he said that the Government bad pledged themselves so completely and absolutely that they could not in honour refrain from endeavouring to deal in something like a final manner with that great and important subject. He had repeatedly protested against British capital and credit being pledged for the purpose of buying out Irish landlords, and maintained that there was no insuperable difficulties in the way of a satisfactory settlement. If the Government saw their way to deal with the subject and secure the abolition of dual ownership without pledging British  credit, they would do a great deal more towards a needful settlement of the Irish question than many of those who were so loud in their condemnation. (Hear, hear.) Irrespective of all political considerations, the country owed a debt of gratitude to Lord Randolph Churchill—(loud cheers)— for having called attention to the important subject of economy in public ex. penditure, and for the sacrifices which he had made in connection with it. It remained a fact, whether they liked It or not, that he was the first statesman for many years who had made any practical advance in the direction of public economy. (Hear, hear.) The right hon. geatieman condemned the present system of debates on the estimates in the open House as serving no useful purpose, and said the only way by which they would be likely to make progress with real economy was by transferring such business to the standing committees, which should have power to take evidence, to examine thoroughly into the questions of expenditure and the estimates which came before them. He also referred at great length to the urgent necessity which existed for the provision of additional security against loss of life at ass, and replying to the taunt, "Why didn't you stick to it when you had it fr said that that was a most ungenerous charge, seeing that he only gave up his measure on the urgent representations of Mr. Gladstone as to the state of public business. He quo..ed from the recently issued report of the Royal Commission on the subject, and mid that recently there was profound sympathy expressed with three p.rsons who lost their lives in an unfortunate riot; but surely there ought to be sympathy also with the thousands of men who were done to death by muses winch wer within the reach of prevention. (Applause.) No Irish question ought to be allowed to prevent justice being done to great classes of our fellow-countrymen, who were none the less entitled to sympathy bemuse they did not rely upon outrage and murder —feud cheers) —and because they had not 8(3 votes at the disposal of either party in the House of Commons. (Applause.) It would be scandalous if they allowed party contest, to prevent justice being done to these men, or to suffer any question to stand between them and the redress to which they were entitled. (Cheers.) In conclusion, he referred to recent events in Ireland, ohserving that if the Nationalists were so certain that they had a majority of the English people at their backs, and so sure that all their deinande would be granted in a short time, why did they have recourse to open defiance and resistance to the law? Surely they could bear even with the present Government for the few months which they pretended it was destined to exist. If they were as certain of that as they pretended to be, he believed they would not hear of the disturbances which he hoped were the last expressions of a dying saltation. (Cheers.) Unless the people of England had lost all the virtue and the vigour which distinguished the race when it spread itself over vast continents and eetabllshed an Empire such as the world neversaw before, it would not yield one jot nor bait one hair's breadth to the noisy threats of a clamorous and discordant faction. (Loud and proonged cheers.)