MR. GLADSTONE AND TASMANIA.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SrEcTATOR.1
Szn,—" Inquirer" and " Onlooker" must be totally un- acquainted with Mr. Gladstone's speeches or they would at once have known where to find the quotation referred to by an " Australian " in the Spectator, March 25th. The quota- tion is to be found in "Speeches on the Irish Question in 18807 issued by Andrew Elliott, Edinburgh, and revised on Mr. Gladstone's behalf. It was made in a speech on June 25th, 1886, and is as follows :—" We have given the gift of local government to Frenchmen in Canada, we have given the gift of free autonomy to Dutchmen at the Cape. We have gone further. We had Australian Colonies, we had one in particular, the colony of Tasmania, in which the absolute majority of the population were either convicts or the descendants of convicts. We gave them this free local government; and with them, as well as all over the world, it has acted like a blessing and a charm."—I am, Sir, etc., [The speech in question was delivered by Mr. Gladstone at Manchester on Friday, June 25, 1886, and the report in the Times of the following day contains the passage quoted by our correspondent.—ED. Spectator.]
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