Mr. Gladstone has consented to go to Belfast,—which, as he
remarked, means visiting Ireland,---in answer to a very cordial invitation with three thousand signatures coming from the people of Ulster, and presented to him in person by a deputation headed by Mr. M'Clure, M.P., on Wednesday. The deputation con- gratulated him heartily on both the Land and Church Acts,—the Acts which, according to Mr. Disraeli, plundered landlords and despoiled a Church,—and declared, moreover, that amongst the 3,000 who invite him, there were peers, landlords,. Roman Catholic bishops, priests, Presbyterian ministers, and in short all classes of the Irish people. We believe this visit of Mr. Gladstone's will be most useful, not only to him,. but to the political temper of Ireland. There is nothing the Irish feel more than the comparative personal neglect which seems to be shown to them by the Throne and the Administration, nothing which will reconcile them BO much to Union as feeling that they take their fair place, not merely legislatively, but per- sonally, in the society of the Empire. Of course the visit will not take place till the long vacation.
Previous page
