On the same night, Sir John Lubbock made an admirable
speech, chiefly on the economic dangers of this measure to Ireland. He attributed the restlessness and discontent in Ireland largely to her poverty, and anticipated a further great deterioration in her physical condition from the proposed measure. Irish Railway Stocks were already from 15 to 20 per cent. lower than English Railway Stocks of the same kind, and this was due chiefly to the uneasiness as to the future. As to the analogy which Mr. Gladstone had assumed between the case of Austria-Hungary and the Anglo-Irish scheme of the Govern- ment, it was admitted that, in spite of the Austrian Emperor's personal energy, the dual Empire does not work very well, nor is it in a condition at all like that of Great Britain and Ireland. A better analogy is the subordinate union between Hungary and Croatia, and even Mr. Shaw-Lefevre,—an eager Home-ruler,- had admitted that the union between Hungary and Croatia is rather a warning to us of the difficulties before us, than an augury of good omen for the new policy.
