=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 295, col. 649. Second
reading of the Home Rule Bill, June 7th.
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
even than hers. You have been asked 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, 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 relation
with Ireland 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 honour, 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.