Lord Hartington, in a stately opening speech, insisted on his
party's alliance with the Conservatives for the one object of main- taining the Legislative Union, as the very key of the situation. That alliance could not be given up. As for Mr. Gladstone's pro- posal that the Liberal Unionists should join him in spurring on the Government to bring forward their Irish policy, he could not accept it, because he did not wish the Government to produce a Home-rule policy of their own, or any substitute for it, and he was very glad that they were really pledged not to produce one. The fall of the present Government would mean the victory of a Home-rule Government, and that was precisely the calamity that the Unionists desired to ward off. There was, however, no reason at all at present to fear that it would strain the Liberalism of the Liberals to support the present Grovernment. The Ministry seemed to desire a very sufficient measure of reform, and he believed that the alliance with the Unionist Liberals was doing a great deal to liberalise the Conservative Government. He and his friends had always anticipated that they might have to face "outrage, disorder, assassination, dynamite," before the struggle was over, and already the National League was doing its best to introduce anarchy in Ireland. This did not move him a hair's-breadth from his political position. Finally, Lord Hartiugton challenged Mr. Gladstone, in a very impressive passage, to condomu the present policy of Mr. Dillon and Mr. O'Brien, and held that if such a condemnation was delayed, the credit of the Liberal Party would suffer very seriously, and for that credit he and his friends felt as keenly as any Liberal Home-ruler.
