Lord Salisbury made what is for him a rather moderately
bitter attack on the Government, at a Stratford meeting of the South Essex Conservative Registration Association, on Wed- nesday, his main contention being that the trouble in Ireland is all of Mr. Gladstone's causing, for which he quoted the autho- rity of the late Mr. Burke, as reported by an Irish magistrate, Mr. Staples, in a letter to the Standard. Lord Salisbury maintained that four separate times has Mr. Gladstone taught the Irish people that a policy of outrages is good policy for them, since the Liberal party will always attempt to buy off outrages by political bribes. The first time was when the attack on Clerkenwell Prison was made the occasion for proposing the Disestablishment of the Church; the second was the reward given to Irish violence in 1880, by the proposal of a Land Commis- sion ; the third was the release of Mr. Parnell and his colleagues, in return for the promise of their support to the Liberals ; and the fourth was the Arrears Bill, with which outrages were to be bought off. Lord Salisbury, after this pleasant parody on modern history, explained his own policy, which was to crush Ireland first, as the Federals crushed the Confederates, and then to be generous to the conquered foe. Lord Salisbury is sufficiently frank. We do not think that the English people will give him any chance of trying his specific for Irish pacification.
Previous page
