What I fear is rather this, that if resistance to the national voice of Ireland be pushed too far, those who now guide the mind of that nation may gradually lose their power, and may be supplanted and displaced by ruder and more dangerous spirits.
Addressing the House of Commons on Home Rule, Gladstone warns that excessive resistance to Irish national sentiment could lead to more extreme leadership.
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This is not the only place where extra legal combinations and anti-legal combinations have been brought into existence for the purpose of mitigating social disorder.
I do not expect, any more than I desire, these foreign complications, but still it is not wise wholly to shut them out.
Has the administration of the law been of a character to reconcile, or has it been of a character to estrange, or has it been calculated to teach respect for the Government, or to bring the Government into increasing hatred or contempt?
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