freely chosen, and they are entitled to be heard. It is urged that they have power for mischief; but I reply that we have hitherto prevented them from having power for good. Let them have the duties and responsibilities of government. Sir C. Gavan Duffy was an Irish rebel; he has grown since into a Victorian administrator. Nor ought the Parnellite members to be judged by every rashly-spoken word they have uttered, or even by every criminal deed they have passed uncondemned. Our injustices have often been mothers of the agrarian crimes which have disfigured Ireland. Our paltry, selfish harshness has often been nurse and inciter to their rash speech and conduct. The past of England in Ireland will leave legacy enough of difficulty for statesmen who really desire peace and progress, without the constant revival of every unmeasured and intemperate word or wicked phrase spoken in heat or in bitterness, or in despair, or in the excitement of strife against oppressive authority.
Those who support a proposal for a subordinate legislature in Ireland, with exclusive powers, are now called Separatists; but such subordinate legislatures with such exclusive powers have for some twenty years existed in the Dominion of Canada, and separation has not followed. Yet surely Canada is more amenable to attraction from the United States than Ireland could possibly be from any foreign power. It is said that the Parnellites have advocated separation, and that is probably true; but if it be true, it is also true that when they so advocated separation we refused to consider any measure of Home Rule as within the region of practical politics. Now they declare themselves willing to accept the subordinate legislature offered, and all those in Ireland for whom they speak en-
