In his manifesto,
in the shape of a letter to the Duke of Marlborough, the Prime Minister
referred to the attempt made to sever the constitutional tie between
Great Britain and Ireland, and said: "It is to be hoped that all men of
light and leading will resist this destructive doctrine. There are some
who challenge the expediency of the Imperial character of this realm.
Having attempted and failed to enfeeble our colonies by their policy of
decomposition, they may now perhaps recognize in the disintegration of
the United Kingdom a mode which will not only accomplish, but
precipitate, that purpose. Peace rests on the presence, not to say the
ascendency, of England in the councils of Europe."
Mr. Gladstone and Lord Hartington issued their counter-manifestoes. Mr.
Gladstone repudiated Lord Beaconsfield's dark allusion to the repeal of
the union and the abandonment of the colonies, characterizing them as
base insinuations, the real purpose of which was to hide from view the
policy pursued by the Ministry, and its effect upon the condition of
the country; and said that public distress had been aggravated by
continual shocks from neglected legislation at home, "while abroad they
had strained the prerogative by gross misuse, had weakened the Empire by
needless wars, and dishonored it in the eyes of Europe by their
clandestine acquisition of the Island of Cyprus.
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