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302 discarded and abjectly surrendered; and the ipse dixit of the statesman who has changed his mind and his policy more frequently and more completely than any other in history, is the sole guide of his infatuated followers. It cannot be too often or too strongly urged upon the British people that since the withdrawal of the two bills upon, which Mr Gladstone's Irish policy was wrecked and his party shattered, the "old parliamentary hand" has committed himself to no alteration in those bills, and to no definite scheme, but simply asks the country to- give him a "blank cheque," without the slightest security that he will succeed any better than before in producing a measure which would satisfy Ireland or be approved by the British people. He has studiously dealt in generalities ever since the meeting of the Parliament elected in 1886, and has contented himself with finding fault with the action of the Unionist Government, and accusing them of having broken pledges which they never made, and of having forsaken principles which they never avowed. Indeed, it is worthy of remark that whilst Mr Gladstone and his lieutenants allude to the question of Home Rule in their out-of-door speeches, and describe it in general terms as "self-government for Ireland," concession to "the just demands of the Irish people," and suchlike unmeaning phrases, their main object and endeavour, in and out of Parliament, has been to ignore for the moment the question of Home Rule, for the purpose of concentrating their forces in attacks upon the Government with reference to that which they are pleased to call "coercion." Their aim and object is to throw Home Rule into the background for the moment, and to gibbet the Government before the country as a Government which has demanded and obtained from Parliament exceptional powers of "coercion" under false pretences, and is employing those powers in. a harsh and oppressive manner. Thus it is that, at every bye-election, earnest appeals are made to the generosity of the British people, and their natural sympathy with a people subjected to coercive legislation, the all-important facts being carefully kept out of sight, – first, that coercion only affects those who deliberately break the law; and secondly, that the very men who now denounce it have been themselves the authors and administrators of similar and even much more severe legislation, adopted by them and by their leader (as is abundantly shown in the 'Life of W. E. Forster' recently published by Mr Wemyss Reid), after grave and careful deliberation. In view of such dishonest and discreditable action on the part of the Gladstonians, the discussion introduced by the Duke of Argyll in the House of Lords upon the 12th of July served the useful purpose of placing the true issues of this question before the eyes of the public. No words could better define the truth than those employed by the Duke, who affirmed that "her Majesty's Government deserves the support of Parliament in securing for the subjects of the Queen in Ireland the full enjoyment of personal freedom in all their lawful transactions, and in protecting them from the coercion of unlawful combinations." This simple description of the actual position and action of the Government cuts the ground at once from beneath the feet of the Gladstonian