MR GLADSTONE ON IRISH HISTORY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2215, 18 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

MR GLADSTONE ON IRISH HISTORY.

In answer to a correspondent who asked for advice as to the be>.t books to read on tho historical side of the Irish question, Mr Gladstone has caused the following letter to be written :—": — " In reply to your request for advice as to the best books to read in connection with the Irish question from a historical point of view, Mr Gladstone believes that at present, so far as he knows, there is a great lack of any complete work. But there are many books to be recommended which deal piecemeal with the question, such as Mr Goldwin Smith's article on Pitt in his "English Statesmen," Mr Lecky's "Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland," and " History of England in the Eighteenth Century," many portions of Mr JTryude's " English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century," and Lord Cioncurry's " Personal Recollections of bis Life and Times, with extracts from his correspondence;" but, above all, Mr Burke, and, for Irish purposes, his writings on America, as much as on Ireland itself, as to the principles applicable. These works form merely a sample of the reading Mr Gladstone would suggest to you. He desires me to add that on the recent history of the land question Mr Barry O'Brien's articles in the Nineteenth Century are instructive."

Don't expect the colts that are just weaned to pick for a living and do well. They must have attention or they will suffer for it. Mr Gladstone.— The Rer. Stephen Gladstone sends to the Liverpool D-xily Post the following letter, which was written to a correspondent who had pointed out an extract in a Tory newspaper contributed by "A London Correspondent," alleging unhappy differences of opinion and feeling in Mr Gladstone's family circle:— " Hawarden Rectory, July 17. Dear Sir,— l thank you for your letter. It us a hopeless task to expect to be able to contradict the 10,000 lies circulated by Tories about my father. In the present instance ev*>t'y single statement made by ' A London Correspondent ' in the extract you send me is false. This is the only answer I have to make. Friends may rest assured, in spite of the present reverses, that Mr Gladstone has no more doubt that Ireland's aspiration for self-government will eventually be conceded to hep than thatjthe sun which is hidden to-day will soon shine out splendidly again ; for my part, I firmly believe that England, when better informed, will yet, unless the Conservatives change their mindu, wish to give him and his brave and true colleagues tin- 1 c •mmission to ciny out a great vi> j .i.s'.ire •■( lush sel'-'^uMii incut which will be b.-t .m act of wisdom, justice and good will. — Yours very faithfully, Stephen E. Gladstone."