HANDBOOK OF HOME RULE BEING _ARTICLES ON THE IRISH QUESTION_ BY THE RIGHT HON. W.E. GLADSTONE, M.P. THE RIGHT HON. JOHN MORLEY, M.P., LORD THRING JAMES BRYCE, M.P., CANON MACCOLL E.L. GODKIN, AND R. BARRY O'BRIEN _WITH PREFACE BY_ THE RIGHT HON. EARL SPENCER, K.G. EDITED BY JAMES BRYCE, M.P. SECOND EDITION LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., I, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1887 EDITOR'S NOTE. 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. CONTENTS. PREFACE. BY THE RIGHT HON. EARL SPENCER, K.G. AMERICAN HOME RULE. BY E.L. GODKIN HOW WE BECAME HOME RULERS. BY JAMES BRYCE, M.P. HOME RULE AND IMPERIAL UNITY. BY LORD THRING THE IRISH GOVERNMENT BILL AND THE IRISH LAND BILL. BY LORD THRING THE "UNIONIST" POSITION. BY CANON MACCOLL A LAWYER'S OBJECTIONS TO HOME RULE. BY E.L. GODKIN THE "UNIONIST" CASE FOR HOME RULE. BY R. BARRY O'BRIEN IRELAND'S ALTERNATIVES. BY LORD THRING THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE IRISH QUESTION. BY JAMES BRYCE, M.P. SOME ARGUMENTS CONSIDERED. BY THE RIGHT HON. JOHN MORLEY, M.P. LESSONS OF IRISH HISTORY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. BY THE RIGHT HON. W.E. GLADSTONE, M.P. PREFACE. The present seems an excellent moment for bringing forward the arguments in favour of a new policy for Ireland, which are to be found in the articles contained in this volume. We are realizing the first results of the verdict given at the election of 1886. And this I interpret as saying that the constituencies were not then ready to depart from the lines of policy which, up to last year, nearly all politicians of both parties in Parliament had laid down for their guidance in Irish affairs.