Mr. Morley made the usual misquotation of the Attorney- General,
who never boasted of having driven the National League into secrecy, but who said only that small and insignifi- cant meetings of the League held secretly are not calculated to excite the people nearly so much as great popular meetings at which the people are encouraged to disobey the law. Mr. Morley made the now too usual attack on Irish Magistrates, for whom he was once himself responsible, and concluded by sug- gesting that the great majority of the Oxford Union were really going to vote for the amendment which he suggested that they should accept from his hands, as better expressing their true view than a blunt rejection of Home-rule. The amendment in question opened very ingeniously, but fell into foolish exaggeration at its conclusion which very much weakened its effect. The opening passage ran thus :—" That inasmuch as coercion, after being tried in every form and under all varieties, has failed to bring to Ireland that order and content we all earnestly desire, coercion shall be made the permanent law of the land; that as perfect equality between England and Ireland is the key to a sound policy, coercion shall be the law in Ireland and shall not be the law in England ; that as decentralisation and local government has been long recognised and constantly promised as a necessary reform in Irish affairs, the time has at length arrived for definitely abandoning all reform in Irish local government." If Mr. Morley had stopped there, he would at least have made his irony tell powerfully on his opponents ; but, unfortunately, he went on into recitals so entirely contrary to the facts of the case, that he lost his advantage, and virtually replied to himself. The Oxford Union rejected Home-rule by a majority of 200 (359 against 159).
Previous page
