ted all its honour
and all its power--a union that could never be broken by the force of
domestic traitor or foreign foe--yielded at last under the pressure of the
political ambitions and party exigencies of British statesmen.

The orator's stately diction, his solemn tone, the depth of his
conviction, made a profound impression. Newer parliamentary hands below
the government gangway, as he went on, asked one another by what arts of
parliamentary defence the veteran minister could possibly deal with this
searching appeal. Only a quarter of an hour remained. In two or three
minutes Mr. Gladstone had swept the solemn impression entirely away.
Contrary to his wont, he began at once upon the top note. With high
passion in his voice, and mastering gesture in his uplifted arm, he dashed
impetuously upon the foe. What weighs upon my mind is this, he said, that
when the future historian speaks of the greatness of this empire, and
traces the manner in which it has grown through successive generations, he
will say that in that history there was one chapter of disgrace, and that
chapter of disgrace was the treatment of Ireland. It is the scale of
justice that will determine the issue of the conflict with Ireland, if
conflict there is to be. There is nothing we can do, cried the orator,
(M53) turning to the Irish members, except the imprudence of placing in
your hands evidence that will show that we are not acting on principles of
justice towards you, that can render you for a moment formidable in our
eyes, should the day unfortunately arise when you endeavour to lay hands
on this great structure of the British empire. Let us be as strong in
right as we are in population, in wealth, and in historic traditions, and
then we shall not fear to do justice to Ireland. There is but one mode of
making England weak in the face of Ireland--that is by applying to her
principles of inequality and principles of injustice.

As members sallied forth from the House to dine, they felt that this
vehement improvisation had put the true answer. Mr. Plunket's fine appeal
to those who had been comrades of the Irish loyalists in guarding the
union was well enough, yet who but the Irish loyalists had held Ireland in
the hollow of their hands for generation upon generation, and who but they
were answerable for the odious and dishonouring failure, so patent before
all the world, to effect a true incorporation of their country in a united
realm? And if it sh