ABSTRACT
The question between Great Britain and Ireland was a question between a nation and a class, or rather between a class and a nation. The Liberals who had been inclined to revert to their party before 1889 and 1890, in their dislike of coercion, had good reason to hope that Ireland might be pacified after all without Home Rule by such measures as these. Meanwhile the state of Ireland offered a further argument for holding back. An Englishman looking at Irish problems saw a Unionist Government taking in hand great constructive reforms, and looking at Irish politics saw Ireland torn between two factions, with the Church using its worst weapon since “priests first traded with the name of God.” Ireland, under John Morley and Lord Houghton, was administered with sympathy and success.
