Lord Harlington was quite vehement in his description of the
obstructive attitude of the Home-rule Party towards any reforms proposed for Ireland, an attitude which, he doubted not, would be maintained even towards the final Land Bill which he promised for next Session, and which would " estab- lish in Ireland a peasant-proprietary." He wound up a speech which was received with something like enthusiasm, by an eloquent apology for the Unionist Government, which had not only performed the elementary duty of all Governments, that of restoring order, but had tried to do for Ireland what an Irish Parliament would do, but with greater effectiveness, because with larger resources. He believed those who heard him would approve, but " you should exert yourselves, each within the limit of his own power and sphere, to counteract the mischievous and insidious efforts of those who, in the hope of some improbable and some impossible visions of prosperity, seek to overthrow those institutions under which your country has grown great and prosperous, and under which I trust it will always continue to prosper."
