Lord Salisbury, in his reply, insisted that self-government, when spoken
of for Ireland, is a mere metaphor, since there is certainly no self to govern. Ireland, as it is proposed to govern it, would be in effect like a group of five people, three of whom would be sitting on the other two and rifling their pockets, and it is ridiculous to talk of such a group as enjoying the blessings of self-government. Again, nothing could be sillier than to suppose that if Home-rule were granted, the violent party now uppermost would make room for "a set of refined, scrupulous, and honourable statesmen" of whom we now hear nothing. In revolutions, it is the violent men who displace the prudent, not the prudent who displace the violent. Parnellite statesmen, Judges, Magistrates, and Constables would control the country, and certainly the Presbyterians would not feel very happy under them.
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