MR GLADSTONE ON THE CRIMES BILL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2322, 28 May 1887, Page 2

MR GLADSTONE ON THE CRIMES BILL.

The following letter from Mr Gladstone appeared on Saturday i'i a Midd'Hsl.mu-jh newspaper, the North 7Ci-trrn D ilv Gazette, to whose editor it was addressed : " Sir,—You ask me to write something h the way of advising the mining population of the'Nortii to raise Us voice ii-'-iin-t, thj Coercion Bill of the Government. I can hardly suppose that there are t«n opinums amongst them, or that they require any suggestion from mo; yet I cannot refrain from calling their attention to the meeting which is to be held in l'lydo Park on Monday, and to which, as I understand, tens of"thousands of the working men of London itself generously intend to devote their holiday. If ever there was a time in which the English working man, in town and country, ought to bethink himself, this is the time. It is the first time when a Coercion Bill, if passed, is t > be passed by the vote of England alone, against the views of Scotland and Wale'. It is the first time when such a Bill will have been passed under the sanction of the householders at larjro, never enfranchised in town and county before, the last elections of 1885 and 188(5 ; it is the first time when coercion has been proposed for Ireland without an attempt by the Ministry to show, what we know they cannot show, a state of exceptional, flagrant, or growing crime. If England is to coerce Ireland, for crime, Ireland can reply that, relatively to population, she has less crime than Engr land, In my opinion, the rejection of this 33 ill is even in ore needed by England than by Ireland. For Ireland, it is a question of suffering, and she knows how to snlfer ; for England, it is a question of shame and dishonour, and to cast away shame and dishonour is the first business of a great nation. In 187(5 a meeting of the workinsr men of London first gave effectual force to the movement for Bulgaria, which brought about the election of 1880. May the meeting of Monday next ring the death knell of the worst, most insulting, and most causeless Coercion Bill ever submitted to Parliament.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant. W. E. Gladstone. April 9th.