MR GLADSTONE ON HOME RULE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1514, 18 November 1886, Page 4

MR GLADSTONE ON HOME RULE.

At Bawarden on October 4tb Mr Glad•tone and his wife repaired Mm T. D. SulHvaD, wife of fcne Lord Mayor of Dublin, and » deputation of Irith ladies, appointed by tie women of Ireland to present the ex-Pre-I mier with a mammoth petition in layout of Home Bule. The petition boars the signai rures of 600,000 Irish women. Great orowdi flocked to Hawaiden all day in view of the event. Accompanying the deputation of Iriih ladies were deputations representing the Municipal Oouncils of Cork, Limerick, Waterford, atd Glonmel.; The place was perfectly alire with' visitors,* who were aooorded the freedom of the •o■• i . During the formal ceremonies, Mr Gladstone, Mrs Gladstone, Mr Herbert Gladstone, the Ben Stephen Gladstone, and Mrs Helena Gladstone, were present. The Rev. Henry Drew, the ex-Pre-u ier's son-in-law, met the deputations as they entered the grounds, and conducted them into the libraray. When Mr Gladstone, with his family, yemeiged -from., the home to receive deputations, he was greeted by a multitude of visitors on the ground. Arrived in the library, Mr Sullivan read the address of the Irish women. The Mayors of Cork, Limeriok, Waterfoid and Olonmel then presented Mr Gladstone with the freedom of those cities, and thanked him for his splendid efforts to restore Ireland's Parliament, .expressing a hope that he would soon visit Ire'and to receive from the Irish people at their homes the thanks they felt due to him. When Mr Gladstone replied, his voice was somewhat husky, and he said he believed the deputation*-and the Nationalist members of the House of Commons truly represented the Irish as a people. " At my age however," Mr Gladstone taid, in reference to the request that he visit Ireland,'' the quest ion of visiting Ireland is beset with uncertainties. Whatever may be my condition, whether bodily presence or absence from among them, the Irish people will always largely share my interest and my effeotions." Mr Gladstone added that he must deny the statement that he had renounced his former attitude of I supporting the proposal to restore the Irish [Parliament. He said also he was thankful for the share he took in passing such Irish measures as had been made law during his'public career. He continued—" The whole character of Irish controversy has. altered. We do not oontemplate the dreadful alternatives our fathers taoed centuries ago, nor the alternative Wellington faced .when ho proposed" Catholic emancipation as the alternative to civil war. It was necessary that the late Government's Irish policy should have been put forward in aooord with I the deaireß of the Irish nature, and also to make it clear that the proposals Btood within the limits of Imperial honor, safety, and Wt Ifarv Those ideas were completely attained, | and they have been sustained by singular mildnets and temperance of expression, which have so far characterised the conduct of Irishmen at i every stage of the agitation till now. The cause represented by these deputations is the oause of order, <>f peace, of legality. lam in hopes of conducting the settlement of this great question in politioal affairs. I am quite prepared to withdraw from public life if I could believe that it were better for Ireland, but I am unwilling to arrive at that conclusion. England's interest is as much involved as Ireland's. On the lowest ground of civil and military economy, it is England's | interest to change in some way the present oivil government in Ireland; which oosts "the British taxpayers nearly 16s per head of the population, while civil government in Eng--1 land Scotland oosts yearly but 8s per head of the population. On far 'higher grounds England ought to aooede to Ireland's request. England's character is conoerned. There is a stain upon England in respect to her relation towards Ireland. I deny that the term which our-opponents use to describe the meaning of the late Government's proposal is correctly ac plied in the case. The -promoters of the Bill never thought of separation. We courted careful comparison of Grattan's Parliament with the Tarliament thVßill proposed. - The sphere within which Ireland derives free action, whioh is specially the sphere of local government, • would have been attained) under our Bill better than it was possessed under Grattan's Parliament. The present Government encourages Irish land occupiers to believe that judicial rents will be redooed. This idea was embodied in the appointment of the present Land Commission, also in the Marquis of Salisbury's speech at the commencement of Parliament, and what' he said concerning judicial rents. Begarding the legislation "which, ho said hie Government proposed for next session I reserve judgment, also on the wonderful encyclopedia delivered on Saturday by Lord Bandolph Churchill; whose performances are less known than his promises. I am unable to gather from either of these statement* a declaration of fresh concessions. Ido not wish to cloie the possibility of a futuxa modus vivendi, but I am unable to gather that anything remains to be done in that dlreotion. It would still be wise to reoonaider the pecuniary terms. The late Government's Bill proposed full justice to Ireland, and it requires a careful investigation of her financial history before we reach the conclusions ai to what should be accorded her. I hope that Ireland's triumph will come with promptitude, with cheerfulness, and with joy, and I hope that there will be no intervening period of gloo m."