CHAPTER II

THE QUESTION OF HOME RULE

The question of Home Rule not extinct--The reasons--Butt's scheme of Home Rule--It is denounced and ridiculed by Mr. Gladstone, and defeated in the House of Commons--Death of Butt--The Home Rule movement becomes allied with a foreign conspiracy--Davitt and Parnell--The Land League--Mr. Gladstone's surrender to it--The movement makes no progress in the Parliament of 1880-85--The General Election of 1885--Mr. Gladstone suddenly adopts the policy of Home Rule--The probable reasons--The Home Rule Bill of 1886--Its nature and tendencies--Decisive objections to the measure--It is rejected at the General Election of 1886, having been previously rejected in the House of Commons-- Policy and conduct of Mr. Gladstone--The Home Rule movement makes some progress in England, and why--The Home Rule Bill of 1893--It is much worse than that of 1886--The reasons--It is rejected by the House of Lords--Home Rule under different forms--The Union must be maintained--Proposal that Parliament should occasionally sit in Dublin--The over-representation of Ireland should be redressed 39-83