The Speeches (In Full) of the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., and William O'Brien, M.P., on Home Rule, Delivered in Parliament, Feb. 16 and 17, 1888. — John Shaqi
The Speeches (In Full) of the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., and William O'Brien, M.P., on Home Rule, Delivered in Parliament, Feb. 16 and 17, 1888.Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
History
The Speeches (In Full) of the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., and William O'Brien, M.P., on Home Rule, Delivered in Parliament, Feb. 16 and 17, 1888.
Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
Home rule -- Ireland; Ireland -- Politics and government -- 1837-1901
degrade us, I won't say in the eyes of our countrymen, for that would be
absurd, but in the eyes of every honest man within these three realms.
He has failed in every one of those calculations in which he indulged so
confidently last autumn.
I shall prove before I sit down that failure is written on every clause
and upon every provision of this act, abject failure, discomfiture, and
disgrace. I shall be able to prove that sorely as our people have been
tried and wronged, that they have managed to survive one of the most
horrible Coercion Acts that has ever been directed against human
liberty: that they have been able to crush and baffle it at every point,
and that without one deed that they look upon with shame, but by sheer
force of an incomparable national feeling. (_Cheers._) Now, in the first
place, I shall try to deal very shortly with my own case; and if I refer
to it at all, it is, not in order to notice the coarse sneers of the
honorable member for South Tyrone (Mr. T. W. Russell),--I do not think
it would be as parliamentary as it is true to say malignant sneers
("_Hear, hear_"),--I think it possible that before very long those
sneers may be answered in the only way they deserve, by the electors of
South Tyrone,--it is because I recognize that I am the very worst
parliamentary criminal under this act. I am the only one who could have
been proceeded against under the ordinary common law, with the shadow of
a chance of conviction. Every colleague of mine who has been punished is
being punished for new and statutable offences for which no jury in the
world would convict under the ordinary law. The point I press upon the
House is that if I can justify my offence, then I say, with a thousand
times more force, the conviction of every one of my colleagues is an
outrage upon justice, and their treatment in prison is an indelible
disgrace to the man who planned it. I find that foul misrepresentation
has been resorted to to mislead and to deceive the English public as to
the offence for which I was sentenced.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account