Mr. Trevelyan then rose, and made a speech fall of
manliness and fine passages, but too long and too discursive, part of it containing his reasons for entering and quitting the Cabinet, part of it an argument about the social condition of Ireland, and part of it his alternative plan for the government of the country. We shall notice only the first and third parts. In brief, Mr. Trevelyan entered the Cabinet because, although he rather dreaded the proposal the Premier would make, he thought his colleagues "would knock it about as one does in Cabinet," till it became a proposal he could accept, —rather a misreading both of Mr. Gladstone's character and his powers. He quitted the Government because Mr. Gladstone prevailed, and because he proposed to hand over Ireland to a Parliament in which Sheridan and Egan would have seats—(by the way, where does the pardoning power go ?)—and which would be ruled by the Parnellites, who had persecuted every man who endeavoured to enforce the law. He dilated greatly on Irish-American influence in Ireland, and finished this portion of his speech by declaring that he would not support the Expropriation Bill, which left every one to be ruined except the richer landlords. It was a manly speech, and one sentence startled the House into a burst of enthusiasm :—" Upon a question like this, who cares for a career, who cares for one's political future ? There are other careers. There is the career of a private citizen, who has it not upon his conscience that he gave over the law-abiding citizens of the country to the mercies of a Parliament in which men like Sheridan and Egan are sure to be prominent."
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