The debate on Thursday was opened by Mr. E. Beckett
(M.P. for Whitby Division of Yorkshire), who made a rather formid- able attack on the trustworthiness of Mr. Parnell's denials, illustrating his case by a denial which Mr. Parnell had given concerning the doings of a certain Balla Association, as well as by a statement which he had made concerning the Queen's sub- scription towards the Irish famine, both of which were shown to be untrustworthy. Mr. T. P. O'Connor described the Bill as one intended to procure the power of locking up Irish Nationalist Members of Parliament for six months, and Lord John Manners insisted on the importance of inspiring such confidence in law that British capital would return to Ireland. Mr. Morley, who followed him, intimated that British capital had been rather mischievous than otherwise in Ireland, and that if the half-ruined proprietors had not been able to raise money on mortgage, Ireland would be better off now than she is. That may be true enough, but certainly does not show that Ireland is not in need of the peace and confidence which attract capital. Whether capital goes into the wrong hands or into the right can hardly be determined by legislation at all. But it is simply certain that without capital Ireland is not likely to prosper. You cannot improve a poor country without wealth, and Ireland is always asking for help in public works. Mr. Reid's amendment was rejected by a majority of 101 (341 to 240), and the Committee was fixed for yesterday. Lord Rosebery has come back from India a more militant Home-ruler than he went. He made a great speech at Glasgow on Wednesday, as the President of the Glasgow Liberal Association, in which he threw up his heels a good deal, especially at the Liberal Unionists. He said that the Govern- ment were bringing forward the Irish Question "in a most offensive and distressing manner, in an unjust, causeless, and wanton Coercion Bill." He said the Government might imitate certain Edinburgh householders who pat up a placard on their house when they leave it, as to where the key may be obtained. The Government might put up: "This house is empty or nearly so; for keys, look to Devonshire House, and address all communi- -cations there." If the two sections of the Liberals were not as yet wholly estranged, it was because the Gladstonian leaders were so meek that when smitten on the one cheek, they always offered the other ; but before long, Lord Rosebery thought, they would -" come to an end both of their patience and their cheeks." The general drift of Lord Rosebery's speech was that the Liberal Unionists were not to be conciliated, and that they had better be shut out from his party. And, on the whole, we are disposed to agree with him. Lord Rosebery never made a cleverer speech, and we never before believed that he could make one so unstatesmanlike.
Previous page
