PARLIAMENT takes in hand to-day the work of the third and last part of the Session. Roumor continues to busy itself with the cleavage in the Cabinet,. Theories, some plausible, some absurd, are circulating on the subject.. The irresponsible -chatter of the hour has it that the rseent visit of Sir Charles Dilke to Dublin, as Chairman of the Royal Commission and the subsequent apparition of Lord Hartington to the same city on his way to fulfil a political engagement at Belfast, were each intended to serve a hidden aim. Lord Spencer is reputed to lead the section of the Ministry who think it would be impolitic to repeal the Crimes Act. Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain are associated by the gossip of the hour in the leadership of the dissentients, who resist the renewal of the Act unless at least it is accompanied by such a measure of Home Rule as will make it less "hot i' the mouth" of these four score Irish members whose votes form so serious an element in the outlook of ambitious politicians, for whom the probable retirement of the Prime Minister opens up a vista of splendid possibilities. It is alleged that the President of the Local Government Board and the War Secretary have had a mission to convert the Viceroy, whose stubborn attitude places the Government in an awkward dilemma. We have yet to see how far the mutiny in the Ministerial ranks has succeeded. Meanwhile we are hardly wrong in believing that the Government have in preparation, if they have not ready, an elaborate scheme for the extension of local government in Ireland. This scheme, asit has been outlined on information said to be supplied from official sources, will include the abolition of the Vice-royalty, and is meant to silence for all time the Nationalist demand for Home Bole. Mr. Henry Jephson, a writer who should be an autherity on the subject, warns us, it is true, that there can be no compromise in this matter, and that if Home Rula be granted in any form we might as well yield at once to the Irish agitators their demand for national independence. No considerations of this kind are, however, likely to weigh with Statesmen who talk as Mr. Trevelyan talked at Selkirk. It was natural enough that a prominent member of his party should repeat the old comparison between Short and Codlik, for the special benefit of the two millions of capable citizens who will one of these days exercise for the first time a political choice between Liberal and Conservative. When, however,the Chancellor of the Duchy touches the Irish question, he shows us how hard it is for a Minister to preserve his reputation where the interests of Iris party are concerned. The Parnellite vote is in the market. It is open to the highest bidder. If there be no bidding Mr. Parnell will use his vote pretty much as Brennus used his sword to sway the balance of parties to his aide. Mr. Trevelyan turns this probability to account in a very ingenious manner. He invites the constituencies to choose between a Conservative Government which will be at the mercy of the Irish faction and a Liberal Administration which will be strong, and, therefore, able to satisfy the demands of Ireland. This is an appeal shaped to serve a double purpose: for while it asks the country to adopt a Liberal Ministry ou the ground that a Liberal Ministry will be too powerful to be squeezed by the Irish Separatists, he plainly hints to the Irish Separatists that the Liberal policy is to concede what they require. This sort of equivocation may be very clever from a political standpoint, but it deserves no higher praise.
Morning Advertiser, June 4, 1885.
Railway Accidents
The Meeting of Parliament
Table of Contents
Miracles of healing - Christian Miracles or Healing
History of Russia: Christian Versus Barbarian
History of Japan: Early Christian Martyrs
The Jesus of History
The Assyrian Origin of Devil Worshippers
The Christ Of Dogma
The early history of Constantinople
