In this case Ireland could have no foreign relations. It is impossible to allow her to communicate direct any more than Australia and Canada. But this was a great source of complaint by Irish patriots in the time of Grattan's Parliament. The difficulties of any plan are almost insurmountable, but the worst of all plans would be one which kept the Irishmen at Westminster while they had their own Parliament in Dublin. {307} I end as I began. We shall be smashed because the country is not prepared for Home Rule.--Yours very truly, J. CHAMBERLAIN. _Mr. Labouchere to Mr. Chamberlain_ 10 QUEEN ANNE'S GATE, Jan. 4, 1886. MY DEAR CHAMBERLAIN,--I think your scheme an excellent one; only Ireland is so wretchedly poor a country, that it will not pay its contribution; that, however, is a detail. I am perfectly certain that Mr. Gladstone is determined to go on, and that any idea of a Whig cum Radical demonstration to induce him to keep quiet will not avail. Rosebery writes, "He is boiling over with the subject," and you know how, when once an idea gets hold of his mind, it ferments; as Hawarden said in a recent letter, he is determined to stand or fall by it. I suspect that this scheme is passing through his ingenuous mind. To get in by the Irish vote, then to ask the Conservatives to consult with him as to a plan. The Irish, however, are quite cute enough not to help him in, until, one way or another, they are secured against this. I have just received this from Churchill: "The Queen's Speech will be delivered on the 21st. No mention of Home Rule. What a blessing it would be if we could get rid of the Whigs and the Irish at one coup. But I am afraid that this will be impossible, and that the former as usual will knock under." --Yours truly, H. LABOUCHERE. _Mr. Labouchere to the "Times"_ (_Extract_) REFORM CLUB, Jan. 2, 1886. You, sir, possibly have not been brought closely in contact with the Irish leaders. I have; and more practical, sensible, I may indeed say, more moderate men, when not under the influence of temporary excitement, I never came across.... I have indeed been greatly struck with their largeness and broadness of view, which contrasts advantageously with our supercilious mode of treating political opponents who have not the advantage of {308} being Anglo-Saxons, our insularity, and our want of facility to grasp new ideas, or to realise the necessity of adapting ourselves to circumstances, as Bunsen--one of our great admirers--said, what most struck him during his residence here was "the deficiency of the method of handling ideas in this blessed island."--Yours truly, H. LABOUCHERE.[1] To the Editor of the _Times_. _Lord Randolph Churchill to Mr. Labouchere_ INDIA OFFICE, Jan. 7, 1886.