The Northern Guardian. — 1892-01-07 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

IRELAND HAD AN INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENT. _ _  Ireland at that time was -denuded of all armed force. The Irish made it the occasion of being entitled to raise a great volunteer force. They did RO and mustered 300,000 men in arms, and their very first I demand was that they should have a parliament of their own, which never ceased during the 18 years of its existence to coerce their fellowmen. And this armed force, demanding a parliament of their own, twice invited the landing of a foreign power, ' and ended in the rebellion of 1798, when thousands of precious lives were lost and cost millions of money, and upset the peace of the country to such a degree as they never hoped to see again in our day. (Cheers.) Was it not certain then--as certain as the day followed the night—that the Irish would do the same thing to-morrow? Had they followed Mr. Gladstone's advice and created a separate Parliament, even at this moment we should have been engaged in a bloody civil war with Ireland, which it would have taken the whole of our armed force to put down. (Cheers.) They Unionists took the other side and said: We will not do this or give Ireland the power of injuring England in any way; but we will redrees their grievances and insist that as they are bound to us by one tie that they shall be subordinate ' to a just and wise rule, and, when they deserve it, shall enjoy the full powers that we have. The Unionist Government had fnlfilled every pledge; and by the wise statesmanship of Mr. Balfour —the ablest statesman that had ever ruled in Ireland (cheers) all the designs of the National League had been put to an end, boycotting had ceased, agrarian murder was unknown, people were allowed to go about their legitimate business undisturbed and people who were once opposed to him were obliged to admit that MR. BALFOUR'S REMEDIAL MEASURES had effected a tranquility in Ireland as great as we  enjoyed in tht county of Durham t)-day. (Cheers.) The lion. gentleman went on to review our foreign administration. He raid for himself who had served the Queen in every corner of the globe (cheers) and had consequently seen how our domestic concerns were not confined to our own shores—with our flag flying on every sea, and our commerce serried on in every corner of the world—that we could only hold our own by preserving our integrity and defending it against the claim that any foreign fort* may bring. (Cheers.) They had also by the help of Mr. Goscheu—(cheers) the great Chancellor of the Exchequer which ; the Liberal - Unionists had the honour of I lending to the Conservatives, of having the burdens of the people considerably diminished. They had had a great conversion of thu national debt and a benefit extended to the taxpayer of £1,400,000, and in the course of a few more years several hundred millions of money would have been knocked off the national debt. (Applause.) They had nearly a free breakfast table; 1 millions had been taken off tea and the benefit gone to the mother of every family in the land; £300,000 had been taken off t:lacco and the benefit given to every man, rich and poor, in the kingdom; house duty was diminished on the poorer class cf houses, not on the richer; and whilst he liked a glass of dry champagne him. self—(laughter)— they had had a reduction of 78. to the dozen in this direction also. In conclusion, the gallant gentleman asseverated that there was not one vote that he had recorded in the House of commons which he should not repeat exactly as he had done before. (Cheers.) Mr. G. T. REAY proposed "The Health of the Greatham Conservative Club," and said that if the chairman of every polling district would put his shoulder to the wheel in the way Mr. Appleby did he was quite certain Sir Henry would be again returned by a triumphant majority. (Cheers.) The CHAIRMAN, who was heartily cheered in rising to respond, said their association had been an extremely successful one. (Cheers.) When Sir Henry came forward at the last election he was given every vote with the exception of one or two in the district (cheera)—and he was sure that at the next election he would not find a more solid or hearty vote anywhere in the division. (Cheers.) He thought they had every reason to be satisfied with the action of the present Government and the legislation it had passed —(cheers)—and he would do all he possibly could to secure its return to power. (Cheer.) The