=Source.=--_The Times_, April 14.
_Demonstration at Her Majesty's Theatre against the Home Rule Bill._
LORD SALISBURY: ... The great result which I hope from the
brilliant debates that have taken place is that the conviction
will be carried home to the British people that there is no
middle term between government at Westminster and independent
and entirely separate government at Dublin. If you do not have a
Government in some form or other issuing from the centre you must
have absolute separation. Now I ask you to look at what separation
means. It means the cutting off from the British Islands of a
province tied to them by the hand of Nature. It is hard to find a
parallel instance in the contemporary world, because the tendency
of events has been in the opposite direction. In every country you
find that consolidation, and not severance, has been the object
which statesmen have pursued. But there is one exception. There
is a State in Europe which has had very often to hear the word
"autonomy," which has had more than once to grant Home Rule, and
to see separation following Home Rule. The State I have referred
to is Turkey. Let anyone who thinks that separation is consistent
with the strength and prosperity of the country look to its effect,
its repeated effect, when applied to a country of which he can
judge more impartially.... Turkey is a decaying Empire; England, I
hope, is not. But I frankly admit that this is not the only reason
which urges me. The point that the Government have consistently
ignored is that Ireland is not occupied by a homogeneous and
united people. In proportions which are variously stated, which
some people state as four-fifths to one-fifth, but which I should
be more inclined to state as two-thirds to one-third, the Irish
people are deeply divided, divided not only by creed, which may
extend into both camps, but divided by history and by a long
series of animosities, which the conflicts that have lasted during
centuries have created. I confess that it seems to me that Whiteboy
Associations, and Moonlight Associations, and Riband Associations,
and murder committed at night and in the open day, and a constant
disregard to all the rights of property--these things make me
doubt the angelic character which has been attributed to the Irish
peasantry. I do not for a moment maintain that they are in their
nature worse than other people. But I say there are circumstances
attaching to Ireland--circumstances derived from history that is
past and gone through many generations--which make it impossible
for us to believe that, if liberty, entire liberty, were suddenly
given to them, they would be able to forget the animosities of
centuries and to treat those who are placed in their power for the
first time with perfect justice and equity. You must not imagine
that with a wave of a wand by any Minister, however powerful, the
effects of centuries of conflict and exasperation will be wiped
away.... My belief is that the future government of Ireland does
not involve any unmanageable difficulty. We want a wise, firm,
continuous administration of the law. We want a steady policy. But
you must support it, or it will not take place. There has been
a great contest between England and the discontented portion of
the Irish people. It is a contest that has lasted through many
generations past, through many vicissitudes, and now you are asked
to submit to a measure which is placed before you, and to end that
contest by a complete and ignominious surrender. It is not a
surrender marked by the mere ordinary circumstances of ignominy. It
is a painful thing for a great nation to lose a battle and have to
acknowledge defeat. It is a painful thing if defeat involves loss
of territory, and the nation has to be content with a restricted
Empire. But these things do not represent the depth of infamy to
which you will descend. There is something worse than all this,
and that is when defeat is marked by the necessity of abandoning
to your enemies those whom you have called upon to defend you, and
who have risked their all on your behalf. That is an infamy below
which it is impossible to go; that is an infamy to which you are
asked to submit yourselves now. Your enemies in every part of the
world will be looking on what you do with exultation. Your friends,
your supporters, your partisans, will view it with shame, with
confusion, and with dismay in every quarter of the globe.