Lord Hartington made two admirable speeches at Belfast, on Thursday,
speeches at once conciliatory towards the Irish Party, and firm on behalf, not merely of the Union, but of that just treatment of all classes in Ireland which the Union can alone guarantee so long as the National League justifies boycotting and the withholding of judicial rents. Lord Hartington appealed to the uniform adhesion of Irish Conservatives to the Land Act to prove that that Act was really a great measure, justified by the history and the circumstances of the country ; and he predicted that the time might come, and come soon, when the Ulster Conservatives would find the difference between themselves and the Liberals rapidly disappearing. He assumed tbat Mr. Parnell would be able to return eighty representatives of the National Party, or even more ; and he insisted that it was absolutely essential for the British Imperial power that the Liberals in the United Kingdom should be placed in command of a sufficient majority to dispense with Mr. Parnell's aid ; for this the Tories could not, under any circumstances, hope to do. If such a Liberal victory were gained, he contemplated very bold Irish reforms, all tending in the direction of decentralisa- tion, but all accompanied by substantial guarantees against civil war, and against the infliction of local injuries by class upon class which would disgrace the statesmanship of the United Kingdom. After the Land Act had been passed and accepted, the landlords of Ireland had a right to the protection of the State against those who were disposed to strip them of what the State had left them. Lord Hartington wished to see local liberty granted to Ireland ; but insisted that the Government should retain in its hands the power of cancelling and practically reversing all acts which might involve the persecution of one class by another.
