IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

Temuka Leader, Issue 2395, 13 August 1892, Page 4

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

London, Aug, [). Mr Gladstone, speaking on the amend ment to the Address in Keply, said that the elections hud conclusively decided the questiou on which au appeal had been made-to the country, and ha denied that Home Rule had been carried by the Irish majority. There was, he said, no ground for distinguishing between votes for the purpose of validating decision of the country, and he thought it would be quite time to criticise tke policy of the new Government when it caiaa,into office. That the evicted farms were still tenantless was, lie contended, a proof of the total failure of the Irish policy of the present Administration. He hoped that the evicted tenants' difficulty would be settled in the autumn by voluntary arrangements, but as to giving a pledge to gant :n amnesty to political offenders, that could not be done until ho entered office. Parliament had bequeathed him a heavy task in the amendment of the piiy&ipjil measures, especially the Irish, .uaud Act U 1887. The measure* introduced by the Conservatives fell short of what had been anticipated. They were a nebulous Government and could not state th-air policy. The Irish majority, ho contended, was .a proof of the necessity of dealing with the question of autonomy for Ireland, and that a permanent Coercion Act as given the force of law by the Governjuont was a violation of the equality of the people. The Coercion Act, he thought, ought to fee removed from tke statute book, but it was impossible to say itfhat a new Government would submit to Parliament six months hence. The claims of Ireland fhad for years been in the fore fro'it of tne battle, and the Homo Btila Bill which he proposed to introduce would p:ov;d w the full and effectual 0

the Imperial supremacy, while at the same tunc transferring to Ireland the conduct ,tf local affairs. He adhered to the opinion that it was tlie duty of a Liberal Government to select the beat form to be adopted for the maintenance of Irish representation at Westminster, but how he could not answer until placed in a position of responsibility. When the Home Rule Bill was sent up to the House of Lords its members would never have to decide a question of greater moment to the Empire and to themselves. If the Bill were rejected, he did not think the policy of sending up the measure year after would be politic or just. The Liberal Government would not regard the rejection of the Bill as terminating their duty, but next year it would be their duty to call the attention if not of the whole, yet of the sensible portion of the British to the country's wants. Mr Balfour, replying to Mr Gladstone, said that the Government had followed the precedents of 1841 and 1859, and these were the be3t precedents, because they were dealing with a party having three separate forces, each with a different leader. He taunted Mr Gladstone that his majority depended upon allies, who were his masters. Government, he claimed, had a right to point out the nature of that alliance, which was a Nationalist party who had been squared, and a Nationalist party who had not been square 1. He asserted that any attempt to govern Ireland by ordinary law would be a failure. He insinuated that Mr Gladstone had obtained support of the Irish members by promising the release of the prisoners Daly and Egan. He scouted the notion of enquiry into the question of the evicted tenants, who, if roofless, had the Opposition to blame for it. As to the Home Rule Bill he was not at all surprised that the Liberals had not revealed its details, because they did not know the details themselves. He argued that if Mr Gladstone's party carried out half their promises tlfey would make themselves a spectacle before the world. It was said that the Government had not the confidence of the House of Commons, but he pointed out that Mr Gladstone's confidence was that of a slave to a master whom he knew could force him into doing anything, however ignoble. Mr Asquith, who moved the amendment, asserted that the Tories had abandoned their historical traditions and were content with a peddling and huckster policy. Mr Burt, the seconder, expressed the opinion that the Liberal Party would grant the demands of the labor representatives.

Mr Goschen, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was confident that the Unionists possessed a majority of British votes, and lie doubted whether the Irish Liberals vvoald give their adhesion to an unknown policy and conspiracy of silence. The debate has beo:i adjourned. In the House of Lords the Marquis of Salisbury declared that the Lords re[liviKinted the British people better than the House of Commons, and that next session the House of Lords would be the centre of interest. He asserted that the present political crisis was unexampled in British history. The Duke of Devonshire, in his rem irks, declared that the opening of the .(i-ir.h question was courting disorder and arre-ding reform. The Address in Reply was agreed to by the House of Lords. Aug. 10. In his speech on the amendment Mr Gladstone insisted that it was a moral and not a material cause that had brought the claims of the Irish people to the present prominent position. Mr Harrington and W. lledmond declared that Mr Gladstone was parrying the question by announcing an amnesty for political offences. The refusal to hold an autumn session to enquire into the position of the evicted tenants in Ireland would create wide discontent, and they would lose a number of votes unless the demands of the people were fully mei. The debate was adjourned till Thursday, when the division is expected to take place. Sir W. V. Harcourt and Mr J. Morley Will not speak, believing that Mr Gladstone's speech will form a sufficient exposition of the yiews of the party. Mr Gladstone made a splendid speech upon the amendment to the Address in Reply. He spoke for an hour. He declared that if the Government remained in office, it would be contrary to Disraeli's manly precedent it 18G8, and that followed by himself in 1886. Mr Henniker Heaton has given notice in the House of Commons of a motion that the Empire should purchase tho cables, and another for the appointment of & Select Committee to consider the question o{ aj) Imperial penny post. The Standard beliuves that the debate has shown that Mr Glachvtoiu* will have no majority left when he meets Parliament with definite proposals.