Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 5.djvu/181

 JAMES BRYCE

��of honorable members opposite, even more than of members on this side. And what does the government do? The government is guided by- its chief secretary, and the chief secretary is guided by the permanent officials at Dublin Castle, so that to talk of Ireland having any real self-government is altogether idle, because Ire- land is governed in and through this House, in which Irish members are in a small, and usually also an unpopular minority.

It is idle to think of legislating satisfactorily for Ireland in a House in which the Irish mem- bers constitute a small minority out of sympathy with the majority — a House chiefly composed of members who have never been in Ireland, and have no direct personal knowledge of Irish con- ditions and Irish sentiment — a House whose acts and votes are checked and nullified by another and an irresponsible House, in which there is not a single representative of Irish national feeling. The thing most necessary to us in this matter at this juncture is to look facts fairly and fully in the face. I have felt this strongly in reading the powerful speeches, delivered during the Easter recess, of my right honorable friend, the member for East Edinburgh [Mr. Goschen], whom I am sorry not to see in his place, lie seems to me to speak like a man who does not see — who, at any rate, does not realize — the dom- inant facts of the situation. Those who desire a strong, repressive government for Ireland talk as if, in order to succeed in ruling and pacifying 155

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