" But yet did oftener tell a tale
Of more prevailing sadness."
But there was such a golden moment--it was in 1795--it was on the
mission of Lord Fitzwilliam. At that moment it is historically
clear that the Parliament of Grattan was on the point of solving
the Irish problem. The two great knots of that problem were, in
the first place, Roman Catholic emancipation; and in the second
place, the Reform of Parliament. The cup was at her lips, and she
was ready to drink it, when the hand of England rudely and
ruthlessly dashed it to the ground in obedience to the wild and
dangerous intimations of an Irish faction.
"Ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri,
Spes Danaum."
There has been no great day of hope for Ireland, no day when you
might hope completely and definitely to end the controversy, till
now--more than ninety years. The long periodic time has at last
run out, and the star has again mounted into the heavens. What
Ireland was doing for herself in 1795 we at length have done. The
Roman Catholics have been emancipated--emancipated after a woeful
disregard of solemn promises through twenty-nine years,
emancipated slowly, sullenly, not from good will, but from abject
terror, with all the fruits and consequences which will always
follow that method of legislation. The second problem has been
also solved, and the representation of Ireland has been
thoroughly reformed; and I am thankful to say that the franchise
was given to Ireland on the readjustment of last year with a free
heart, with an open hand, and the gift of that franchise was the
last act required to make the success of Ireland in her final
effort absolutely sure. We have given Ireland a voice; we must
all listen for a moment to what she says. We must all listen--
both sides, both parties, I mean as they are, divided on this
question--divided, I am afraid, by an almost immeasurable gap. We
do not undervalue or despise the forces opposed to us. I have
described them as the forces of class and its dependents; and
that as a general description--as a slight and rude outline of a
description--is, I believe, perfectly true. I do not deny that
many are against us whom we should have expected to be for us. I
do not deny that some whom we see against us have caused us by
their conscientious action the bitterest disappointment. You have
power, you have wealth, you have rank, you have station, you have
organization. What have we? We think that we have the people's
heart; we believe and we know we have the promise of the harvest
of the future. As to the people's heart, you may dispute it, and
dispute it with perfect sincerity. Let that matter make its own
proof. As to the harvest of the future, I doubt if you have so
much confidence, and I believe that there is in the breast of
many a man who means to vote against us to-night a profound
misgiving approaching even to a deep conviction that the end will
be as we foresee, and not as you do--that the ebbing tide is with
you and the flowing tide is with us. Ireland stands at your bar
expectant, hopeful, almost suppliant. Her words are the words of
truth and soberness. She asks a blessed oblivion of the past, and
in that oblivion our interest is deeper than even hers. My right
honorable friend, the member for East Edinburgh (Mr. Goschen)
asks us to-night to abide by the traditions of which we are the
heirs. What traditions? By the Irish traditions? Go into the
length and breadth of the world, ransack the literature of all
countries, find, if you can, a single voice, a single book, find,
I would almost say, as much as a single newspaper article, unless
the product of the day, in which the conduct of England towards
Ireland is anywhere treated except with profound and bitter
condemnation. Are these the traditions by which we are exhorted
to stand? No; they are a sad exception to the glory of our
country. They are a broad and black blot upon the pages of its
history; and what we want to do is to stand by the traditions of
which we are the heirs in all matters except our relations with
Ireland, and to make our relations with Ireland to conform to the
other traditions of our country. So we treat our traditions--so
we hail the demand of Ireland for what I call a blessed oblivion
of the past. She asks also a boon for the future; and that boon
for the future, unless we are much mistaken, will be a boon to us
in respect of honor, no less than a boon to her in respect of
happiness, prosperity, and peace. Such, sir, is her prayer.
Think, I beseech you, think well, think wisely, think not for the
moment, but for the years that are to come, before you reject
this bill.