arliament, sporadic barbarities
in some of the wilder portions of the island, the hideous murders in the
Park, had all deepened and vivified the scowling impressions nursed by
large bodies of Englishmen for many ages past about unfortunate Ireland.
Then the practical operation of shaping an Irish constitution, whether on
colonial, federal, or any (M113) other lines, was in itself a task that,
even if all external circumstance had been as smiling as it was in fact
the opposite, still abounded in every kind of knotty, intricate, and
intractable matter.

It is true that elements could be discovered on the other side. First, was
Mr. Gladstone's own high place in the confidence of great masses of his
countrymen, the result of a lifetime of conspicuous service and
achievement. Next, the lacerating struggle with Ireland ever since 1880,
and the confusion into which it had brought our affairs, had bred
something like despair in many minds, and they were ready to look in
almost any direction for relief from an intolerable burden. Third, the
controversy had not gone very far before opponents were astounded to find
that the new policy, which they angrily scouted as half insanity and half
treason, gave comparatively little shock to the new democracy. This was at
first imputed to mere ignorance and raw habits of political judgment.
Wider reflection might have warned them that the plain people of this
island, though quickly roused against even the shadow of concession when
the power or the greatness of their country is openly assailed, seem at
the same time ready to turn to moral claims of fair play, of conciliation,
of pacific truce. With all these magnanimous sentiments the Irish case was
only too easily made to associate itself. The results of the Irish
elections and the force of the constitutional demand sank deep in the
popular mind. The grim spectre of Coercion as the other alternative wore
its most repulsive look in the eyes of men, themselves but newly admitted
to full citizenship. Rash experiment in politics has been defined as
raising grave issues without grave cause. Nobody of any party denied in
this crisis the gravity of the cause.

Chapter VI. Introduction Of The Bill. (1886)

Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all....
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark broad seas.