ENGLAND AND MR. GLADSTONE. T HE letter from Mr. Gladstone which
was read by Mr. Blake at the Irish-Day Celebration at the World's Fair, and which has only this week found its way into the English papers, is interesting, if for no other reason, as affording a clue to the thoughts which occupied the Prime Minister's mind at the moment it was written. It was• written, it is necessary to remember, on the day after the third reading of the Home-rule Bill by the House of Commons ; and with this great triumph fresh in his memory and its speedy nullification by the action of the House of Lords clearly foreseen, what is the dominant note of Mr. Gladstone 's letter ? Neither jubilation over the success achieved in one Chamber, nor any great display of anger at the obstructive action of the other. The Lords are told, indeed, that their vote is "no more than a dilatory vote ;" but instinctively Mr. Gladstone seemed to recognise, and, with what was probably un- , intended candour, to admit, that not the House of Lords, but England is the real obstacle in his way—England proper, that is to say, apart from the two Kingdoms and the Principality which are united with her. He sees what some of his followers do not see, or pretend they do mot; that, whether the Lords be right or wrong, they are fighting not the battle of a class, nor the battle of a party, but the battle of a nation. The change of opinion in England between 1886 and 1892 was great, but " Eng- land,' he tells his American audience, "still exhibits her reduced majority to intercept one of the greatest benefits ever conferred, not only upon Ireland, but upon her. In this attitude she is alone amongst all the people of the English-speaking race." It is characteristic of Mr. Glad- stone's courage that he is not at all daunted by this great fact of the persistent and still powerful opposition of the leading portion of the United Kingdom ; and it is equally characteristic of another feature in his mental constitu- tion, which may best be described as a certain inability to discriminate where votes are concerned, that he treats England merely as one among the many peoples of the English-speaking race, not differing in essentials from the others, nor entitled to any special consideration for her voice and opinions. It is by reason of the same mental disability that he refuses to assign any more weight within England herself to the educated classes and the classes trained in politics and accustomed to government, than to an equal number of the newly enfranchised masses,—only there he does discriminate, and in favour of the unlettered and inexperienced; and that in Ireland he accepts the votes of a crowd of illiterate peasants as giving sanction to a revolu- tion, while the intelligence, industry, and property of the country, irrespective of religion, are on the other side. But here, again, there is discrimination, for the very existence of a " loyal minority " in Ireland is persistently ignored. England may deem herself lucky if Mr. Gladstone does not soon discover that she is suffering from some special incapacity which renders her political judgments only valuable as creating a presumption in favour of the con- trary propositions.
But others will remember, though Mr. Gladstone does not, that, if England is alone on this question of Home-rule amongst all the people of the English- speaking race, she has some right to stand alone. She is the mother of them all, and it is from her they have learnt to speak English. Scotland, Wales, and Ireland are in favour of Home-rule ; the Colonies, in so far as they have any opinion on the matter, sometimes show a leaning to the same side ; and Americans, as Mr. Gladstone says, "in all ranks and in all parts of their magnificent country, have shown an active and almost universal sympathy with Ireland ; " that is to say, with his own particular plans for the amelioration of Ireland. In his view, no doubt, this isolation of the Mother- country on this matter is simply due to her dull and obstinate clinging to prejudices which ber more quick- witted children have abandoned. But England, let us remember, is the home and primal source of the political capacity of the race, armed with which it has gone forth to so many triumphs all over the world, both in self-government and the ruling of subject peoples. And it is there, if anywhere, that we should expect to find the political strength and judgment of the race unimpaired, as at the fountain-head we expect to find the stream flowing pure and undefiled. This Irish con- troversy is from beginning to end on the question of setting up in Ireland a separate Parliament with a separate Ministry responsible to it according to the English model ; and what would Ireland ever have known of Parliaments and Ministries responsible to them, but for her connection with England ? The nation which invented the machinery ought to be the best judge of the expediency of applying it in any particular instance. And if it be argued that England has not the knowledge necessary for a right decision, the answer is easy. Where you find a knowledge of Ireland, there you find a belief in the Union ; where you find. ignorance, there, probably, you find a belief in Home-rule. And, looking at the matter from a larger and Imperial point of view, is not the judgment of England on the question whether a proposed rearrangement of Govern- mental machinery would strengthen the Empire or other wise, the most likely to be the true one ? She is at the centre, and in the best position for a wide and unbiassed survey of the facts. It is she that created the Empire, and she that has the responsibility of maintaining it. Scotch- ,men, Welshmen, and Irishmen have brought their many and various gifts to aid her ; but the guiding spirit has been English, the steadying element has been English, and the tradition which sustains the Empire, raising individuals to its own elevation and filling them with its own strength, had England for its birthplace. It is easy to understand why the Colonies, at a distance from the facts, and with no sense of responsibility in the matter, should be attracted. by the sentimental aspect of Home-rule, which is the first that presents itself ; and when sentiment fails, there is the more powerful argument of the Irish vote. But their " sympathy with Ireland " need not be allowed to shake us in our con- viction of the unwisd.om of setting up an Irish Parliament. Their facilities for judging wisely and impartially on the question are too few, and their motives for judging in one particular sense are too many, to make their decision of much value. As to Mr. Gladstone's call to the Americans to rise up in judgment against us, that may be dismissed at once. The Irish-Americans, whatever historical justifi- cation they may possess, are the bitter, unrelenting, and by no means chivalrous enemies of the British Empire ; and we who have to guard it need not go to them for instruction as to our policy. Apart from these, the sym- pathy of the Americans with the Irish movement is utterly artificial and unreal. The nation which produced Grant and Lincoln, and fought the bloodiest war in the history of the white races to preserve the unity of the Republic, has not degenerated. from the parent stock ; and there can be no doubt of what its decision would be in a position similar to our own.
No ; England need not be ashamed or afraid to stand alone on this Irish question. It is her own special con- cern, and, on the principle that every one knows his own business best, her judgment on it is the most likely to be the right one. The instinct which has enabled her to divine that the Irish rift would be the beginning of the end, and which has prompted her to oppose it, not indeed. with all her might, but still with sufficient energy to thwart it, is a sound one. Scotland alone we might perhaps have expected to find. on the same side ; but even in Scotland. there is a spirit of lingering Particularism among the masses which unfits them for looking a great Imperial question in the face, though Mr. Gladstone is lasing rather than gaining ground among them. While England, however, stands in the breach, the citadel of the Union is safe ; and that even Mr. Gladstone seems to recognise, though he thinks, of course, that she is coming over to his side. She is quitting her attitude of hostility, lie says; "yet the struggle still remains, and, like the former struggle, it will be great." England has indeed shown signs of faltering, and the change from 1886 to 1892 is ominous enough. She has been talked into a state of bewilderment about Ireland, and power has passed into the hands of a class which thinks chiefly of its food and raiment, and has hardly yet come to realise its share in the national life. But unless the change has been greater than we, imagine, there can be only one issue to the struggle which Mr. Gladstone foreshadows. Wo have faith in- " Our slowly-grown And crowned Republic's crowning, common-sense, That saved her many times."
Previous page
