The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9. 1886. BRITISH POLITICS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1465, 9 February 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9. 1886. BRITISH POLITICS.

Mr Gladstone, so far, does not appear to have intimated his intention with regard to Home Rule for Ireland. As usual his utterances are general, vague, and uncertain ; he has said nothing which has any substance in it, but at the same time he has done much that is calculated to inspire a hope that he intends to face the Irish difficulty m a more friendly manner than ever he has done before. J’he appointment of Mr John Morley to the Chief Secretaryship of Ireland indicates this. No Englishman could be got in whom the Irish would have greater confidence. As editor of the Pall Mall Gazette he rendered signal service to the Irish cause, and it was because of the views he held on the Irish question that he had to relinquish his position on that paper. He has therefore already made a sacrifice to the cause of Ireland, and doubtless his appointment will be hailed with joy in that country. He has always declared in favor of granting Home Rule to Ireland. Mr Charles Russell, the new AttorneyGeneral, is an Irish lawyer of great eminence, and a Horae Kuier of the Isaac Butt school. He has been very popular in Ireland, and sat for the city

of Limerick until last election, when lie was returned for an English constituency. Although Mr Russell is not a Parnellite ho is certainly ft Homs Ruler, and « thorough Irishman. A couple ot years ?go he with some others formed n chili iu London for the purpose of refuting the calumnies and slanders which were circulated about Ireland. There is nothing against him in Ireland only that he will not follow Mr Purnell, Mr Jesse Ceilings, on whose amendment the Salisbury Ministry were ejected from office, has also been given a ministerial position. Throughout the fierce struggles in the late Parliament Mr Ceilings consistently aided the Parnellites, on all occasions, and was one of their greatest friends. He voted against coercion, against the cloture, and against everything that aimed at oppressing Ireland, and there is no doubt but that his presence in the Ministry will go a long way to conciliate the Parnelites. So far Mr Gladstone has shown himself favorable to the adoption of a conciliating policy, but whether he will go any farther is another question. One thing is certain; he knows that these appointments, popular as they may be, will not satisfy the National aspirations of Ireland ; he khows also that without Mr Parnell's support he cannot hold office. He knows that the Parnellities hurled him from office before, and would do so again without the slightest hesitation unless their own claims are satisfied, and it is possible that this knowledge may influence his decision in favor of Home Rule. Mr Parnell has done exactly what he often said be would do—that is, render Government impossible in England if Ireland is not allowed to govern herself. Last election he threw the weight of his influence with the Conservatives, not because of any great love for them, but because he knew that by doing so parties would be more evenly balanced, and that as a consequence he would have a better chance of getting what h« wanted, There are 3,000,000 of Irish people in England, and the extension of the franchise has given votes to a large number of these. So strong were they in Liverpool that at the last election they returned Mr O'Connor—a Parnellite. In many constituencies they are able to turn the scales, and put in either Conservative or Liberal as they they think fit. Last election they voted in favoi of Conservatives, and only for this Mr Gladstone would hare gone in with an overwhelming majority. Several Conservative paper? and speakers boasted that a Conservative reaction had set it, but it was created by Mr Parnell, In Ireland, the same, way, there are many electorates where Liberals and Conservatives are pretty evenly balanced, and in these the Nationalists can turn the scales. There are about 19 constituences in Ireland where Parnellite candidates cannot get elected, and the result of Mr Parnell backing up the Conservatives in the last election was that Conservatives were elected for all these with the exception of Londonderry North, for which Mr S. Walker, Q.C., wai returned. Mr Gladstone has therefore only one Irish member in the House of Common* on whom he can depend as a follower. He narrowly escaped finding himself in an awkward fix. The Attorney-Generalship of Ireland is always given to an Irish member, and only for Mr Walker having accidentally been elected, Mr Gladstone would bare had no Irish follower on whom he conld confer the appointment. Neither a Parnellite nor a Conservative would accept office under him, because it would necessitate seeking re-election, and th« result would be that they would lose their seats as well as the respect and confidence of the electors. The position of Solicitor-General is also a political one, but Mr Gladstone has no follower on whom he can bestow it, so be will have to give it to some Irish lawyer who is not in the House at all. To render matters still more critical, some of the leaders of the Liberal party hare deserted from the Qiadstoninn ranks and gone over to the enemies’ camp, and it is not at all improbable that others will follow them. Still we b-liove that the grand old man will succeed in steering the ship of state through the shoals and whirlwinds in which he has found her, but not without the assistance of Mr Parnell. Some say that if Mr Gladstone pronounced emphatically against Home Rule and the Irish claims and appealed to the country, he would roiurn with an overwhelming majority that could fling defiance at the Parnellites and Conservative* combined. This is all nonsense. It was tried last election, and the world knows what a failure it proved, Mr Chamberlain, the Marquis of Hartinglon, and others made extremely violent attacks on the Parnellites during last elections, and urged upon the electors the absolute necessity of putting in a party that would be independent of Mr Panel). It was no use ; Conservatives would not alter their opinions to suit Mr Chamberlain, and only for the “ three-acres-and-a-cow ” policy the Liberals would not have been even as strong as they are. Parties are too well defined in England ; Conservatives and Liberals have been born so ; centuries have widened the gulf which divides them, find it would be just as reasonable to hope that the lion and the lamb would sleep peacably side by side as that Conservatives and Liberals would shake hands and forget their feuds and differences. The result of another election would not alter matters very much, for if the Liberals were to pronounce against Home Rule and appeal to the country there is not the slightest doubt but that Mr Parnell would throw

his weight in with Iho ConfiiTVfttives again. 3f, »n the other hand, Mr Gladstone should be defeated, and he appealed to the country with Mr Parnell ut his hack, there is very little doubt but that he would return victorious. On these grounds, we have come to the conclusion that it is more than probable tint the Government will at on early date bring forward a measure dealing with the question of Homo Rule, but it appears to us that there is very little chance of it being passed by this Parliament. The House of Lords will have the excuse that it was never submitted to the electors, and would reject it at once. The position is critical, and Mr Gladstone will have enough to do to steer his way through it.