Excerpt from Speeches of the Right Honourable Lord Randolph Churchill, M. P., 1880 1888, Vol. 2 of 2

I cannot conceal from you - it would be wrong if I concealed from you - my Opinion as to the dangerous and deadly nature of the combination which is now arrayed against the interests which you hold dear - the combination of Mr. Gladstone with his personal following, supported by the Radical party, and supported by the party which follows Mr. Parnell. I believe and I say it with some amount of shame as an Englishman that the success of the resistance to this policy meditated by this combination primarily rests with you. The vast bulk of our modern English electoral body has begotten apathy and uncon cern. The glamour of Mr. Gladstone's prestige and the spell of Mr. Gladstone's oratory are still powerful in England over the minds of men, and it is only by demonstrations the most im posing, by energy the most striking, and by action the most emphatic that you can rivet the attention of the democracy of England on any particular part of public affairs, or that you can enable them to entertain doubts in their minds as to the personal infallibility of Mr. Gladstone, who has been for so long a time with a great portion of them their most venerated and adored idol. You are, gentlemen, I believe, in this great crisis the first line of defence, the second line of defence, and the last line of defence. With you it primarily rests whether Ireland shall remain an integral portion of this great empire, sharing in all its glory, partaking of all its strength, benefiting by all its wealth, and helping to maintain its burdens or whether, on the other hand, Ireland shall become a focus and a centre of foreign intrigue and deadly conspiracy directed against a dominion with which is indissolubly connected the happiness not only of the Western but also of the Eastern world. Upon you, gentlemen, lies this most tremendous responsibility to you the issue means everything. It means honour, religion, liberty.

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