In his second and more important speech, addressed to a
popular audience in the City Hall, Lord Randolph considered, with great power of thought and expression, the fundamental and essential ideas that underlie the Union. No political arrangement between three separate communities could produce complete harmony. There must at times be the clashing of diverse interests. "But by the principle and system of a united Legislature those diverse interests become merged and minimised in the great mass of the Imperial Commonwealth, and those mutual jealousies and reciprocal complaints become expended and assuaged in the vastness of the Imperial policy." This is a contention well worth keeping before the country, for the ordinary voter can almost instinctively appreciate its truth. The rest of the speech was full of good matter, and was remarkable for the declaration that, in the speaker's belief, "the hereditary discord leading to the paralysis and to the shattering of the party," which has before broken up every Irish political combination, now "exists in the party which follows the lead of Mr. Parnell."
Previous page
