Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, Volume 1Bright, John
History
Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, Volume 1
Bright, John
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1837-1901
Now I believe the real difficulties which beset this question do not
arise from anything in Ireland, so much as from the constitution of the
Government. This House, and the other House of Parliament, are almost
exclusively aristocratic in their character. The Administration is
therefore necessarily the same, and on the Treasury benches aristocracy
reigns supreme. No fewer than seven Members of the Cabinet are Members
of the House of Lords; and every other Member of it is either a Lord by
title, or on the very threshold of the peerage by birth or marriage. I
am not blaming them for this; it may even be that from neither House of
Parliament can fourteen better men be chosen to fill their places. But I
maintain that in the present position of Ireland, and looking at human
nature as it is, it is not possible that fourteen Gentlemen,
circumstanced as they are, can meet round the Council table, and with
unbiassed minds fairly discuss the question of Ireland, as it now
presents itself to this House, to the country, and to the world.
The condition of Ireland requires two kinds of remedies--one political,
the other social; and it is hard to tell where the one ends and the
other begins. I will speak first of the political remedies. At present,
there prevails throughout three-fourths of the Irish people a total
unbelief in the honesty and integrity of the Government of this country.
There may or may not be good grounds for all this ill feeling; but that
it exists, no man acquainted with Ireland will deny. The first step to
be taken is to remove this feeling; and, to do this, some great measure
or measures should be offered to the people of Ireland, which will act
as a complete demonstration to them that bygones are to be bygones, with
regard to the administration of Irish affairs, and that henceforth new,
generous, and equal principles of government are to be adopted.
I have on a former occasion stated my opinions on one or two subjects,
and I will venture again briefly to explain them to the House. Ireland
has long been a country of jars and turmoil, and its jars have arisen
chiefly from religious dissensions. In respect of matters of religion
she has been governed in a manner totally unknown in England and
Scotland. If Ireland has been rightly governed--if it has been wise and
just to maintain the Protestant Church established there, you ought, in
order to carry out your system, to establish Prelacy in Scotland, and
Catholicism in England; though, if you were to attempt to do either the
one or the other, it would not be a sham but a real insurrection that
you would provoke. There must be equality between the great religious
sects in Ireland--between Catholic and Protestant. It is impossible that
this equality can be much longer denied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account