John Morley: “Gladstone’s phrase had unset every joint of the compacted fabric of continental Europe.”

With a few exceptions, a political speech like the manna in the wilderness loses its savour on the second day.

How should we look in the face of the civilised world if we had so turned our back upon our duty and sovereign task?

To stint Ireland in power which might be necessary or desirable for the management of matters purely Irish, would be a great error; and if she was so stinted, the end that any such measure might contemplate could not be attained.

If the idea was the direct gift of heaven, the policy was due to the sagacity and mother-wit of the great ecclesiastical statesmen.