Most men, in these dull times, will read the speech
of the Marquis of Waterford, who followed Sir Stafford IsTortheote, with a certain intellectual pleasure. It is not often one comes across anything so consistent and so thorough-going. The Marquis is for governing by pure repression. He would prohibit meetings, "act stringently," and refuse all reforms. He would reject the smallest measure of local self-government, however plausible it might appear, and would refuse votes to the labourers, because they might become Home-rulers. All this he defended on the ground of the supreme interest of the kingdom in maintaining the Union. Lord Waterford forgets the grand objection to his plan. It has been tried for three hundred years, and at the end, Catholic Ireland enthrones Pro- testant Parnell because he promises that the Union shall come to an end. An absolute Government might govern Ireland for twenty years by pure repression, and so greatly enrich her ; but it would not bring the true Union of the Islands one whit nearer.
