Mr. Goschen made a great speech in the Potteries on
Wednesday, in the Victoria Hall, Hanley. He recognised the milder tone which Mr. Gladstone had assumed in his Western tour, and hoped that Mr. Gladstone's lieutenants would imitate him. As to the charge that Ireland was being reduced to the condition of Poland, he wondered how any one could regard Ireland as in such a condition who was aware that the Irish are better represented in Parliament than the inhabitants of any other section of the United Kingdom, and that no Press exists in Europe which is more absolutely unfettered than the Irish Press. As for Mr. Gladstone's charge that the popula- tion of Ireland has been reduced during the last fifty years, and that the wealth of Ireland is now only one-twentieth part of that of the United Kingdom, Mr. Goschen held that Mr. Gladstone himself could hardly maintain seriously that this is due to English misgovernment, or that Ireland is not now in every respect richer and more prosperous than it ever was before the Union.
