Mr. Gladstone further urged that no party had more interest
in such compression of debate as to give sufficient time for the adequate discussion of important measures, than the Irish, who are always crying out for a measure of decentralisation such as he himself believed to be essential for the remedy of Irish grievances. But how such a measure was to be carried, when the Scotch and English Members found the time of the House entirely unequal to their own demands on it, without a great economy of the time now wasted in the House, it was impossible to imagine. Of course, this very weighty and very just remark has been at once construed by the
innumerable fierce detractors of the Prime Minister as a bid for the support of the Irish party, by the virtual offer of Home-rule for Ireland ! It really was the reiteration of a. conviction, often expressed before by Mr. Gladstone, that more local government in Ireland is the true equivalent for Home-rule.
Previous page
