Speech of Mr. Gathorne Hardy on the Irish Church Question, in the House of Commons, 31st March, 1868. From the "Standard" of 1st April, 1868.

15pp., 8vo. Stitched and unbound. In good condition, lightly aged, with central vertical fold. In small print. In the conclusion of the speech - 'greeted with repeated rounds of applause' - he states that he 'cannot be a party to severing that Church and State under which it is the glory and the privilege of the state to uphold the light of the Reformation in the midst of Ireland'. Scarce: only two copies on OCLC WorldCat, at the British Library and Illinois, and no copy at the National Library of Ireland. According to Cranbrooke's entry in the ODNB, he began 'as a reformer but adopting Conservative colours from 1835 mainly from anxiety at challenges to the position of the established church in Ireland and England. He was of evangelical tendencies, and was friendly with William Wilberforce.'