Of the articles contained in this volume, those by Mr. Gladstone, Mr.
E.L. Godkin on "A Lawyer's Objections to Home Rule," and Mr. Barry
O'Brien appear for the first time. The others are reprinted from the
_Contemporary Review_, the _Nineteenth Century_, and the _New Princeton
Review_, to the proprietors and editors of which periodicals
respectively the thanks of the several writers and of the editor are
tendered. In most of these reprints some passages of transitory interest
have been omitted, and some few additions have been made.
The object of the writers has been to treat the difficult questions
connected with the Government of Ireland in a dispassionate spirit; and
the volume is offered to the public in the hope that it may, at a time
of warm controversy over passing events, help to lead thoughtful men
back to the consideration of the principles which underlie those
questions, and which it seeks to elucidate by calm discussion and by
references to history.
_October_, 1887.