Preface.

The following lecture is published in deference to the expressed desire of some of those who heard it to possess the full text in printed form; and because of a hope entertained by the Lecturer that its circulation might contribute in some degree towards a just public estimate of the Irish Question.

Some alteration has been made in the forms of expression used in delivery; a sentence has been added here and there in expansion of the argument or in supply of an omission; and, rarely, a modification has been made of terms that seemed too strong for the occasion; but the substance in all cases remains unchanged.

Those who desire a full view of Home Rule and the Irish Question are respectfully referred to the collected speeches of the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., issued by The National Radical Union, Birmingham,—speeches not more remarkable for their convincing and exhaustive reasoning than for their nervous and attractive eloquence.