EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH BY LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2773, 11 February 1882, Page 2

EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH BY LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL.

Lord Randolph Churchill, M.P., addressed a large meeting of Conservatives in St James’s Hall, Manchester, on the evening of Dee, 1. Speaking to a resolution ’affirming that the present Government had dishonored the country at home and abroad; he said the Government was without an ally in Europe, because it was their diplomatic maxim that foreign policy was nothing more than an alternative of insults, and apologies. The tnost gloomy feature of their case seemed to be that they were hopelessly ignorant of their deplorable condition; their self-complacency was quite astounding, and nothing, not even their complete extinction as a political party,, which appeared to ram to be imminent, could make them believe that they did not belong to d superior order and race of beings. Their connection with Mr Bradlaugh, instead of defiling them, defied Mr Bradlaugh. They called coercion freedom; successful revolution they denominated peace, and public plunder they dignified with the title of justice. An expenditure of 85 millions was their idea of retrenchment, and a single bill session was their harvest of reform. The Attorney General was equally pre pared for a fee of ten guineas au hope to defend a Prime Minister or hang a Lefroy. The devotion of the AttorneyGeneral might always be estimated by the 1 condition of the Woolsack. Turning to the state of Ireland, he call their attention to the powers at present possessed by the Government to preservelaw and order in that country, and said those powers consisted of 14,000 constabulary, exclusive of the police in the large towns. They had in addi tion, 40,000 soldiers with any amount of buckshot and ammunition. They had,the almost complete suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act; for dealing with treason and other crimes, the Arms Act,' which prevented anyone carrying arms without a license. They had a Heaven-born Minister for Chief, Seore tary; and last, but not leasts they’had Mr Herbert Gladstone on the spot. Notwithstanding all these things, they had not succeeded in preserving law and order in Ireland, and the number of agrarian, had increased instead of decreased since the passing of the Coercion Act. The worst fea tore of those crimes were that the perpretrators were never brought to justice and act With perfect impunity. If the people of England could for one moment folly realise the amount of terror which prevailed in Ireland owing to unpunished crime, they would rise as one man and hurl from office the wretched caucus which dared to call itself Government. How long was Ireland to be banded over to Mr Poster, to Lord Cowper, and to his satellite— Mr Herbert Gladstone—that triumvirate of twaddle ? Mr Forster clung to office in the face of his repeated disasters. They had Mr Bright and Mr Chamberlain clinging to office; although the policy they had over and over again repudiated and denounced. The proceedings qf the Land Commissioners were a Punch and Judy show, and the tale of their decision was one of blunder, of prostration of justice, and defiance of law. Through all the decisions there was not a trace of principle, not a shadow of justice. He had no hesitation in saying that One Land Act of 1881 was a hopeless failure. With regard to the disturbances, if two or three capital sentences, where murder was the crime, were carried out, and a dozen sentences of penal servitude for life where lesser crimes than murder were concerned, an immediate calm would follow in Ireland such as that country had not seen since the Government of Lord Beaconsfied fell.