But when Lord Salisbury came to mention Ireland, he was
still more emphatic. He said :—" Our business is to carry into effect that mandate in favour of the integrity of the Empire which we received from the constituencies last summer, and afterwards, subject to that great and paramount consideration, to enforce the law which has been too long neglected, to uphold the rights which have been too long trodden under foot, and by so doing to restore that prosperity which can be based upon no other foundation than respect for the law and the maintenance of rights." He thought that the relations of landlords and tenants had been improved. General Buller had already repudiated the notion that the Government claim any dispensing power in relation to the enforcement of the law; but they had in private exhorted all to exercise their legal rights with due consideration for their fellow-citizens. " It is not to legislation, but to a steady course of honest government, if we can obtain it, that I look for the restoration of prosperity in that country. I do not exclude legislation ; it may be necessary, but I should recom- mend as little of it as possible, and that that which we have of it, should be undertaken with as little haste and with as much caution and prudence as we can command. The salvation of Ireland for the time is to be found more in good government than in an alteration of the law, and the sooner we can dissuade her population from speculating in politics, the more rapidly they will take to more wholesome modes of thought." We do not know what Sir Michael Hicks-Beach will say to that. It is certainly not in complete harmony with his latest Parlia- mentary promises.
