Sir: I have the honor to inclose a copy of the Queen’s speech at the opening
of Parliament yesterday. When the debates upon it are ended, I shall forward
a full report of them. Seldom has a session of Parliament begun under more
critical circumstances. The abnormal condition of Ireland and the question
of what remedy should be sought for it have deeply divided and embittered
public opinion. Not only has the law been rendered powerless and order
disturbed (both of them things almost superstitiously sacred in England),
but the sensitive nerve of property has been rudely touched. The opposition
have clamored for coercion, but while they have persisted in this it is
clear that a change has been gradually going on in their opinion as to how
great
[Page 493]
concessions would be
needful. It seems now to be granted on all sides that the Irish people have
wrongs to be redressed and just claims for rights to be granted. I think
that the government have at least gained so much by the expectant and humane
policy which they have persevered in under very great difficulties and in
spite of a criticism the more harassing as it seemed to have some foundation
in principles hitherto supposed to be self-evident.
There can be no doubt that Mr. Parnell was unpleasantly surprised by the land
league, and has been compelled to identify himself with a movement having
other and more comprehensive (perhaps more desperate) aims than that which
he originated. So far as can be judged, a great deal of the agitation in
Ireland is factitious, and large numbers of persons have been driven by
timidity to profess a sympathy with it which they do not feel. This, of
course, strengthens the probability of its being possible to allay it by
generally acceptable measures of reform. I am sure that the reasonable
leaders or representatives of Irish opinion see the folly of expecting that
England would ever peaceably consent to the independence of Ireland; that
they do not themselves desire it; and that they would be content with a
thorough reform of the land laws and a certain amount of local
self-government. Both of these measures, you will observe, are suggested in
the speech from the throne. You will readily divine that one of the great
difficulties with which the ministry has had to struggle has been the
presentiment that a change in the conditions of land tenure in Ireland will
be followed by something similar, certainly by an agitation for something
similar, on this side the Irish Channel.
The cabinet, I am safe in saying, are earnestly desirous of doing justice to
Ireland, and not only that, but of so shaping reform as to make the cure as
lasting as such a cure can be. No government can consent to revolution
(though this was deemed possible in some quarters as respects some
governments twenty years ago), but the present ministry are willing to go
all lengths that are feasible and wise in the way of reform and reparation.
Their greatest obstacle will be the overweening expectations and
inconsiderate temper of the Irish themselves, both of them the result of
artificial rather than natural causes. For no reform will be effectual that
does not gradually nullify the unhappy effects produced by the influence
through many generations of the pitiable travesty of feudal relations
between landlord and tenant, making that relation personal instead of
mercantile, and thus insensibly debauching both.
The condition of Ireland is not so disturbed now as it has been at several
periods during the last eighty years, and precisely the same system of
organization was brought to bear against the collection of tithes fifty
years ago that has now been revived to resist the payment of what are
considered excessive rents. The landlords are represented as the minions of
a foreign and hated domination, and the use of the epithet foreign has at least this justification, that there is certainly
an imperfect sympathy between the English and Irish characters, which
prevents each from comprehending either the better qualities of the other
or, what is worse, the manner of their manifestation.
I cannot perceive that the public opinion of the country has withdrawn itself
in any appreciable measure from sympathy with the cabinet, though there is
considerable regret among thoughtful liberals that coercion should have been
deemed necessary and that the proposed reforms should not have gone farther.
If the Irish could only be brought
[Page 494]
to have as much faith in Mr. Gladstone as he has desire for their welfare,
there might be more hope than I can now see for a permanent solution of the
Irish question.
[Inclosure in No. 115.]
Her Majesty’s Most Gracious Speech.
My Lords and Gentlemen: I have called you, at a
period earlier than usual, to the resumption of your labors, as some
affairs of more than common urgency demand your attention.
My relations with foreign powers continue to be friendly and
harmonious.
The main question relating to the frontier between Turkey and Montenegro
has been settled.
The powers are now engaged in communications which have in view the
determination of the frontier between Turkey and Greece.
Some important portions of the treaty of Berlin, which have so long
remained without fulfillment, continue to form an object of my anxious
attention.
A rising in the Transvaal has recently imposed upon me the duty of taking
military measures with a view to the prompt vindication of my authority;
and has of necessity set aside for the time any plan for securing to the
European settlers that full control over their own local affairs,
without prejudice to the interests of the natives, which I had been
desirous to confer.
I regret that the war in Basutoland still continues, notwithstanding the
efforts of the Cape Government. It would cause me much satisfaction if a
suitable occasion should present itself for friendly action on my part
with a view to the restoration of peace.
The war in Afghanistan has been brought to a close, and, with the
exception of the Candahar force, my troops have been recalled within the
Indian frontier. It is not my intention that the occupation of Candahar
shall be permanently maintained; but the still unsettled condition of
the country, and the consequent difficulty of establishing a native
government, have delayed for a time the withdrawal of the army from that
position.
Papers on the several subjects to which I have adverted, as well as
further correspondence on the military estimates of India, will be
presented to you.
Gentlemen of the House of Commons: The
estimates for the services of the coming year are in a forward state of
preparation, and will be speedily laid before you.
My Lords and Gentlemen: There has been a
gradual, though not very rapid, improvement in the trade of the country;
and I am now able to entertain a more favorable expectation of the
revenue for the year than I could form at its commencement.
The anticipation, with which I last addressed you, of a great diminution
of the distress in Ireland, owing to an abundant harvest, was realized;
but I grieve to state that the social condition of the country has
assumed an alarming character. Agrarian crimes in general have
multiplied far beyond the experience of recent years. Attempts upon life
have not grown in the same proportion as other offenses; but I must add
that efforts have been made for personal protection, far beyond all
former precedent, by the police, under the direction of the Executive. I
have to notice other evils yet more widely spread; the administration of
justice has been frustrated, with respect to these offenses, through the
impossibility of procuring evidence; and an extended system of terror
has thus been established in various parts of the country which has
paralyzed almost alike the exercise of private rights and the
performance of civil duties.
In a state of things new in some important respects, and hence with
little of available guidance from former precedent, I have deemed it
right steadily to put in use the ordinary powers of the law before
making any new demand. But a demonstration of their insufficiency, amply
supplied by the present circumstances of the country, leads me now to
apprise yon that proposals will be immediately submitted to you for
intrusting me with additional powers, necessary in my judgment not only
for the vindication of order and public law, but likewise to secure, on
behalf of my subjects, protection for life and property, and personal
liberty of action.
[Page 495]
Subject to the primary and imperious obligations to which I have just
referred, I continue to desire not less than heretofore to prosecute the
removal of grievance and the work of legislative improvement in Ireland
as well as in Great Britain.
The Irish land act of 1870 has been productive of great benefits, and has
much contributed to the security and comparative well-being of the
occupiers of the soil, without diminishing the value or disturbing the
foundations of property. In some respects, however, and more
particularly under the strain of recent and calamitous years, the
protection which it supplied has not been found sufficint, either in
Ulster or the other provinces. I recommend you to undertake the further
development of its principles in a manner conformable to the special
wants of Ireland, both as regards the relation of landlord and tenant,
and with a view to effective efforts for giving to a larger portion of
the people by purchase a permanent proprietary interest in the soil.
This legislation will require the removal, for the purposes in view, of
all obstacles arising out of limitations on the ownership of property,
with a due provision for the security of the interests involved.
A measure will be submitted to you for the establishment of county
government in Ireland, founded upon representative principles, and
framed with the double aim of confirming popular control over
expenditure and of supplying a yet more serious want by extending the
formation of habits of local self-government.
Bills will be laid before you for the abolition of corporal punishment in
the army and in the navy. You will be asked to consider measures for the
further reform of the law of bankruptcy; for the conservancy of rivers
and the prevention of floods; for revising the constitution of endowed
schools and hospitals in Scotland; for the renewal of the act which
established secret voting; and for repressing the corrupt practices of
which, in a limited number of towns, there were lamentable examples at
the last general election.
I trust that your labors, which will be even more than usually arduous,
may be so guided by divine Providence as to promote the happiness of my
people.
