[43] Mr. Smith to the Duke of Cambridge, October 9, 1885.
[44] Official memorandum.
[45] Colonel Burnaby was killed in action at Abu Klea, January 18, 1885.
[46] This was written ten days ago. Its contents are not much affected by recent events.—R. H. S. C.[47]
[47] The Memorandum and Lord Randolph’s footnote are both undated, but Lord Salisbury’s reply on the 9th shows that he had waited some days before replying. I conclude therefore that November 26 or 27 would be the latest date at which this document was written.
[48] Mr. Labouchere, who has checked and confirms this account of the conversation, remarks: ‘As a matter of fact, Lord Randolph Churchill had asked me some time before to tell Mr. Gladstone that he would urge Ulster to resist by arms Home Rule, which I had done, and he now begged me to repeat to him his declaration of war.’
[49] Life of Gladstone, vol. iii. p. 270.
[50] Lost. The passage ultimately adopted reads as follows:—
‘The social no less than the material condition of that country engages my anxious attention. Although there has been during the last year no marked increase of serious crime, there is in many places a concerted resistance to the enforcement of legal obligations, and I regret that the practice of organised intimidation continues to exist. I have caused every exertion to be used for the detection and punishment of these crimes, and no effort will be spared on the part of my Government to protect my Irish subjects in the exercise of their legal rights and the enjoyment of individual liberty. If, as my information leads me to apprehend, the existing provisions of the law should prove to be inadequate to cope with these growing evils, I look with confidence to your willingness to invest my Government with all necessary powers.’
[51] This was accompanied by the promise of a Bill dealing with the Land Question, pursuing in a more extensive sense the policy indicated by the Land Purchase Act in 1885.