Upon Ireland Mr. Gladstone rises to his highest level. He
earnestly entreats the electors to lay aside passion, and to forget "premature and prejudicial words which may have been spoken in the acutest stage of a long and bitter controversy." We have no right to expect that the remedial stage in human affairs shall always be greatly shorter than the period of mistakes and misgovernment, and it is the duty of all men to work for an equitable settlement. "In my opinion, not now for the first time delivered, the limit is clear, within which any desires of Ireland, constitutionally ascertained, may, and beyond which they cannot, receive the assent of Parliament. To maintain the supremacy of the Crown, the unity of the Empire, and all the authority of Parliament necessary for the conservation of that unity, is the first duty of every representative of the people. Subject to this governing principle, every grant to portions of the country of enlarged powers for the management of their own affairs is, in my view, not a source of danger, but a means of averting it, and is in the nature of a new guarantee for increased cohesion, happiness, and strength."
