A 73 Ireland Under Mr. BalfoUr. FIVE YEARS OF UNIONIST GOVERNMENT. On Tuesday Evening, 23id June, 1891, Mr. T. W. Eussell, M.P., was the guest of the Liberal Union Club at the Criterion Eestaurant, London. Mr. Joseph Chamberlaio, M.P., presided. After thanking the Club for the great compliment paid him, Mr. Eussell said : — When I received and accepted your iuvitation for to-night, I had to think of what I should say. It is easy to talk the platitudes of politics. What I asked myself was, whether it would not be possible to say something which would be of use to the Members of this Club in the work they are doing all over the country. Looking at the matter in this light, I resolved to endeavoiu* to do two things : first, to ask what had been the results of our action as a party in 1886 as regards Ireland; arid second, to make clear what we had lost and gained by the Udiionist Alliance. We are nearing a General Election, when we shall be called upon to make answer on these two points, and I hope that which I am about to say, and the facts and figures I am about to quote, may prove useful beyond the- confines of this room. IRELAND IN 1885-86. What then was the position in Ireland when the Unionist party- came into power? It is quite true that there was a lull in Irish disorder between June, 1885, and June, 1886. The dates are full of significance. During the first part of that period the Conservative leaders vrkre coquetting with Mr. Parnell, and, during the second, Mr. Gladstone had gone over, bag and baggage, to the man and the party he and his followers had previously denounced. During this period, therefore, Irish disorder was held in check. But with the advent of the Unionist party to power, the dogs of war were let loose once more. Agrari«-n crime at once began to increase^ The plan of campaign was formulated. Juries disregarded their fX.^^CLoiiths, and acquitted prisoners whose guilt was clearly established, l^ojcottin^ was extended and became an engine of savage and heartless cruelty. Evictions increased. Everything was, in fact, done to make Government impossible. This was the position of affairs shortly after the Government took office. IRELAND IN 1891. Let me give some figures illustrative of how things stood then, and how they stand now. For many months England rang with the story of Irish Evictions. They constituted the staple of Gladstonian oratory all over the country. At bye-elections they were made to do enormous service. Now we never hear of them. Whv is this? Mere are the fiiirures. EVICTIONS. 1800 Year. Total of Actual Evictions. 3781 38G9 1609 1356 1421 These figures speak for themselves. They are official, and cannot be questioned, and they prove that, so far from the Unionist policy having encouraged or increased evictions, the passage of the Land Act of 1887, and the Crimes Act of the same year has reduced them by over GO per cent. AGRARIAN CRIIVIE. Agrarian crime has always been the special disorder of Ireland. We condemn it, and we do right. Bat we ought to remember (and the thought ought to make us not indeed tolerant of the crime, but anxious to find the remedy) that this evil tree sprang from a root of our own planting. It is a sad history the record of these three hundred years — the abolition of the old Irish laud system under which tribal rights were acknowledged; the planting of Irish landlordism under the English system of tenure ; the strife, the bloodshed, the misery which followed, and the wild revenge of secret societies, by means of which the peasantry sought to right their wrongs. It is a ghastly record — only lit up by the awakening of England in recent years to a sense of her duty and her obligations. But with all this I am only incidentally concerned to-night. The real question before us is, how has Ireland fared in this respect since 1886 V I again quote the official figures. Year. Agrarian Crimes exclusive of Threatening letters. Total threatening letters. 1886 632 424 1056 1887 591 292 883 1888 411 249 660 1889 341 194 535 1800 320 199 519 Here, again, there is absolutely uo room for doubt. A solid re- duction of 50 per cent, in this class of crime is something worth boasting about ; and the decrease still goes on, the quarter ending 31st March of the present year showing a downward tendency, with^ only one single offence against the person. BOYCOTTING. This offence, in many respects the most heartless and cruel' product of the Irish and Gladstonian conspiracy, assumed alarming proportions in 1886. Mr. Gladstone understood what it was, and denounced it in 1882. He invented the name of '• Exclusive: dealing " for it in 1887. But how much Ireland suffered, and how many people were hopelessly ruined by it, may be gathered from, the official records : — Date. Persons wholly boycotted. Partially boycotted. Total. 30th June, 1887 866 .. 4035 .. 4901 31st Dec, 1887 . 287 . 2182 2469 „ 1888 56 . 656 712 1889 .. 2 . 150 152 1890 .. — 472 .. 472 31st May, 1891 — 403 403 It will be seen by these figures that this evil was almost extinct in 1889, and that it revived in 1890. This was due entirely to the Tipperary struggle, now happily being brought to a close. And the significance of these returns will be seen when I mention the fact that out of the 403 persons partially boycotted at the present moment 312 live in the area still left under the full effect of the Crimes Act. In other words they are in County Clare, or on the Clanricarde, Smith-Barry, and Olphert estates. Outside of this area there are only 91 persons partially boycotted in the whole of Ireland. It is almost impossible for those who have not seen the working of this system of torture to realise what these figures mean. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. The Plan of Campaign has for several years been the great weapon of the Parnellite and Gladstonian alliance. I am aware tliat now, when it is dead or dying, politicians of the type of Mr. •Samuel Smith and Mr. Rathbone are making haste to declare that they never approved of ir. But whilst Mr. O'Brien was shrieking its praises and defending its palpable dishonesty below the gangway, these gentlemeo, with a great load of Welsh Nonconformity weigh- ing down their consciences, were conveniently silent. What are tiie facts to-day regarding the Plan ? Mr. O'Brien maiotains that it has everywhere triumphed. Has it triumphed at Tipperary ? There, on a great scale, involving- probably an expenditure of £50,000, this scheme of dishonesty and insanity had a fair field. It was blessed by an archbishop, who, now that the whole edifice has come tumbling about his ears, mournfully tells his people that '^ Home Rule is dead," and that he at all events " will not live to see it." It was backed by a system of terrorism almost infernal in its completeness. It has absolutely failed. Mr. Smith-Barry has not been ruined. Tipperary has nearly been destroyed. Has it succeeded at Luggacurreu, at Coolgreany, at Gweedore, at Danleer, or at New Ross? The fact is the Plan of Campaign is on its last legs. It is not quite dead. But it is dying. And those *' Children of the Nation," who, Mr. O'Brien was wont to assure us, would be taken care of by the Irish race so long as they had a shilling to spend or a crust to spare, are now being handed over to that broad-shouldered but on the whole kindly gentleman, the British tax-payer. A few weeks, or at most months, will probably see the last of this wild and insane policy. THE CRIMES ACT. Gentlemen, the Crimes Act constitutes the head and front of our offending. Coercion wa,s not only doomed to failure, it was to sound our death knell as a party. Has it failed ? Sx) far from having failed, practically the whole of Ireland has been relieved from the provisions of that Second Section around which such iierce battles were fought in the House of Commons. But there are things so saggestive about the later history of this measure that I cannot refrain from mentioning them. I have two sets of figures — •the first of which brings the working of the Act down to the end of 1890^the other to the end of April 1891. Here is the first : — Period. Total. Discharged. Convicted. rosecutions under Act to 31st December, 1887 628 213 415 1888 1,475 393 1,082 1889 839 242 597 1890 530 130 391 -■• These figures are highly satisfactory. But they do not possess the same interest as the second set to which 1 have referred I secured them in reply to a question in the House from the Chief Secretary for Ireland. The figures deal with the first four months of 1890 and 1891. ULSTER. First Period. Courts Held. Cases Tried. Persons Tried. 9 9 Sfxond Period. 42 4 4 LEINSTP]R. First Period. 12 Courts Held. Cases Tried. Persons Tried. 6 6 Second Period. 27 5 5 MUNSTER. First Pkriod. 31 •Courts Held. Cases Tried. Persons Tried. 33 33 Second Period. 136 15 16 CONNAUGHT. 48 ■Courts Held. Cases Tried. First Period. Persons Tried. 23 24 Second Period. 48 i 8 10 In the first period, the four months of 1890, there were 71 Crimes Courts held. In the second period there were 31. In the first period there were 72 cases tried. In the second there were 33. In the first period, the persons involved numbered 238. In the second^ there were only 101. These are most suggestive figures. What caused the drop of 65 per cent. ? The answer, is plain. This class of crime requires incitemenr. It requires organization. It requires the incitement of vitriolic speech. It requires the organization of the paid organizer, No Irish peasant goes moonlighting out of sheer gaiety of heart. 'No. It requires orgaTiization, and oftentimes coercion. During the past six months, the vitriolic speech has been entirely absent from Ireland — or^ if it has been heard at all, the patriots were fiercely denouncing each other to the neglect of what they call the common enemy. And as for the paid organizer — he, too, has felt the pinch. His weekly allowance has been stopped to the immense advantage of the country. This, and this alone, explains the collapse of this form of crime — a collapse which, has enabled the Government not indeed to dispense with the Crimes Act sword, but to return it to its sheath, THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. And, finally on this head, the House of Commons attests the reality of the pacification of Ireland. We are neariug the close of one of the most memorable Sessions that any Parliament ever witnessed. It was heralded by a great flourish of Opposition trumpets. It has been a triumphant success. Ireland has secured a great measure, under which it will at least be possible for 100,000 tenants to become owners in fee of their holdings, and on terms such as no State in the world ever dreamed of giving. She has also secured, and will shortly be in the full enjoyment of, an exten- sion of her railway system, such as few Irishmen ever contemplated. A period of want in the congested area has been successfully met. Education is to be freed and made compulsory, and a great measure of temperance reform has received the approval and support of the Government. But, whilst all this has been done, or is in process of being done, the change in the House of Commons is very great, Mr. O'Brien no longer shrieks below the gangway. Mr. Dillon's pensive face is not to be seen. Mr. Parnell flits in and out, but does not stay. Even Mr. Healy prefers his briefs iu Dublin to his duties at Westminster, and Mr. Sexton is all that is left of the famous band. What things have come to may be realized when I say that an Irish member in my hearing lately gave utterance to- an opinion that '' the Chief Secretary was not utterly depraved.'* Things are sadly out of joint when an Irish debate empties the House — when members go about declaring that there is nothing to equal it in dulness, save, perhaps, a Scotch discussion on a Roads and Bridges Bill. COMP/IERCIAL PROSPERITY. But, Sir, we have not only secured a peaceful, we are rapidly approaching a prosperous Ireland. In 1880 there were 18,640,000 passengers travelled on Irish railways. In 1880-00 the number had risen to 20,203,000. In 1880 tho goods traffic amounted to £1,270,000. In 1889-00 it had risen to £1.300,000. The Irish Hanks tell the same story. The cnsh balances standing in these Banks at the close of 1886 amounted to £30,172,000. At the end of 1890 they stood at £33,325,000, whilst the balances at the end of both years in the Trustee and Post, Offtce Savings Bank stood at £4,710,000 and £5,600,000 respectively. It does not really matter into what path the enquirer strikes, the result is the same. The population is diminishing. This is the stock cry of the Irish patriot everywhere. It is true, and the pity is that the exodus is not always from the congested area. But even here the balance is on the right side. During the five years ending 1885, 398,058 persons left Ireland for other countries. For the same period, 1886-90 the number was 335,817, a reduction of 10 per cent. PAUPERISM. If we turn to pnuperism the figures are also satisfactory. The average number of paupers in Irish workhouses for the five years ending December, 1885, was 51,558. For the same period ending 31st December, 1890, the number was 40,110 — a reduction of 11 per cent., whilst ordinary as distinct from agrarian crime has suuk to a lower figure than it lias stood at for twenty years. FIVE YEARS OF UNIONIST GOVERNMENT. I hold, therefore, that in the face of the country we can give not only a good, but a triumphant account of our work in Ireland. It is almost an unbroden record of success. Otliers may claim the credit. Those who lal)onred to make Government impossible, who laimched the Plan of Campaign, who have ruined whole districts and thousands of people, may say that these results are due to their action, that we have had no policy, save that of coercion. This will hardly deceive the ordinary British elector. We have, undoubtedly, coerced psople. We have coerced the evil-doer. We have coerced the coercionist, and by our auction real freedom has been restored to the country. And, whilst doing this, we have redressed wrongs^ remedied grievances, and gone a long way towards solving the Irish Land Question, the real root of all the trouble in that country. Whether, therefore, we win or lose at the General Election, I am certain that the historian will do us justice, and that these five years of Unionist Government of Ireland will stand out as the most successful of modern times. (Cheers.) 8 FURTHER FACTS. It is uuiversally admitted that one of tlie surest indications of the prosperity of a country is the state of its commercial credit ;. and the improvement in the condition of Ireland during the last five years cannot be better tested than by examining the value of the shares in her leading commercial securities. We give below a table showing the market value of the shares in the leading Irish banks, railways, and tramways at three different periods : — First, in January, 1886, before the introduction of Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill; secondly, in May, 1886, while that Bill was before- Parliament, and its fate was uncertain ; and thirdly, at the present time, when a Unionist Government has been nearly five years in oflBce, and the fears which were excited by the possibility of the establishment of an Irish Parliament have died away. We com- mend these figures, which are taken from the Stock Exchange quotations, to tlie attention of business men, who can appreciate their full significance : — I 1886 1886 1891 jJanuar} May Dec. Bank of Ireland Stock ..." Ulster Bank Shares (£2 10s. paid) City of Dublin Steamship Company Belfast and I^orthern Counties Railway, Ordinary Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, Preference Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, Debentures Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway, Ordinary Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway, Preference Great Northern of Ireland Railway, Ordinary ... Great Northern of Ireland Railway, Preference Great Northern of Ireland Railway, Debentures Great Southern and Western Railway, Ordinary Midland Great Western Railway, Ordinary Midland Great Western Railway, Preference Midlantl Great Western Railway, Debentures ifast Street Tramways ... Dublin United Tramways 271 260 ... m 9^ 113i 110 691 68 981 93^ 105 lOli ... 54^ 42i 100 99 1031 95 ... mi lOli 107i 105 ... 102^ 95 68 6U iOO 94 ... 105 lOOi IIH mi lOi 10-,J« 326 1011 121 122^ 116 120 43 126 131g 131 123 117| 105i 116 1221 151 lOA- UJ o UJ 1- < BOSTON COLLEGE 3 9031 025 19215 4