"
GLADSTONE
(1893).
PREFACE
It must surely be clear to-day to many of those who opposed the Home
Rule Bill of 1893 that there is a problem of which the solution is now
more urgent than ever. We who were Gladstonian Home Rulers approached
the problem originally from the Irish side: those who did not then
approach it from that side refused to admit the existence of any
problem at all. Since that time circumstances have made it necessary to
approach the problem from the British as well as from the Irish side.
The British Parliament has hitherto been regarded as a model to be
imitated; if it continues to attempt the impossible task of transacting
in detail both local and Imperial business, it will end as an example
to be avoided. In the last fifty years the amount of work demanded for
particular portions of the United Kingdom, for the United Kingdom as a
whole, or for the Empire has increased enormously; in all three
categories the work is still increasing and will increase: one
Parliament cannot do it all. This is one new aspect of the Home Rule
question.
Mr. Spender states the case with force and sympathy from the Irish
point of view, with which none of us, who were convinced supporters of
Home Rule twenty years ago can ever lose sympathy, and with which the
younger generation should make itself acquainted.
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