The Aberystwith Observer

THE POLITICAL CRISIS. ELECTIONEERING, NEWS. Mr. Chamberlain has written the following letter for publication: "Birmingham, June 26. "Sir,—I have earnestly desired to avoid anything in the nature of a personal controversy with the Prime Minister, but there is one statement in, his speech yesterday a.t Manchester which calls for imme- diate notice. I refer to his allusion to a plan of Irish land purchase, which he says that I requested him to cause to be printed for the consideration of the Government. Mr. Herbert Gladstone, who on more than one occasion appears to have been charged with the duty of revealing confidential matters, has given an incomplete and misleading description of the plan in a public speech delivered at Barnstaple, with regard to which I may point out that any knowledge he may possess of a document sub- mitted to the Cabinet can only have been acquired by the betrayal of confidence on th J part of one of its members. The facts are as follows:—Siiortly after I joined the Government Mr. Gladstone asked me if I had any ideas on the subject of land pur- chase, and requested me to submit them to him in writing. I told him that I had only general notions, and that without access to official in-I formation I could not test their value, but that I would readily place them before him for his own in- formation. I did so, and heard no more of the matter until the second week in March, when Mr. Gladstone, by a letter which I have preserved, asked my permission to circulate my suggestions to the members of the Cabinet. I replied that if it was his wish I had no objection, and the papsr. was accordingly circulated not at my request, but at Mr. Gladstones special desire. Mr. Gladstone did not adopt my suggestions. I didn't think it worth while to press them, and they were never discussed by the Cabinet. The Prime Minister now invites me to make them public. I hope at some future time, and when I am in a position to develop them in the light of official information, that I may be able to submit them for general criticism. In the meanwhile, however, I am not disposed to divert attention from the issues raised by the Government bill to alternative proposals which were only formulated in the first instance as sug- gestions for Mr. Gladstone's private consideration. All I will permit myself to say is that they differ in every essential particular from the Government plan, and, above all, in this—that they do not contemplate the establishment of a separate and practically inde. pendent legislative body in Dublin; but, on the con- trary, preserve the maintenance of the unquestioned authority of the Imperial Parliament.-—I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. Chamberlain, writing to a Walsall Congrege- tional minister, says It is a great pleasure to ma to have the support of Nonconformists at a time lise the present when the hasty and ill-considered pro- posals of tbe Government have endangered the supremacy of Parliament, which in this country is a guarantee of our civil and religious liberties. I trust thai, the electors will give a decisive vote at the polls in favour of the maintenance of the Union. In this case we shall afterwards be free to enter upon the consideration of some large measure of self-govern- ment applicable to Ireland as well as to other parts of the United Kingdom." The Marquis of Hartington, speaking on Saturday night at a Liberal Unionist demonstration in the Town Hall, Paisley, addressed his remarks to the considera- tion of the case of Ulster. Mr. Gladstone had pre- viously admitted that the case of Ulster was one that ought to be seriously considered, and that he was pre- pared to entertain suggestions which had been made for meeting the difficulty when put in practical shape. pared to entertain suggestions which had been made for meeting the difficulty when put in practical shape. His reasons now, however, for not meeting the demand of the Ulster Protestants was that he (the Marquis of Hartington) had given him no assistance, that Major Saunderson had declared in the name of the Orangemen that nothing would induce them to consent to the separation of Ireland from England, and that he bad been convinced by the powerful argu- ments of Mr. Parnell that the whole experiment in- dicated by the Irish policy of the Government was one fraught with danger, and possibly disaster. Mr. Morley had admitted it would not be safe in some districts in Ireland to give local authorities control over the police, and yet by this measure similar power would be given to an executive exercising control over the whole country. The Government policy was one of despair, and should it fail, then, on their own confession, the only alternative would be separation. On Saturday night Lord Randolph Churchill, speaking at a meeting of his constituents, expressed regret at being so soon called on to solicit re-election, nnd said the fact was attributable to the policy of Mr. Gladstone, who desired to destroy the union that had so long existed between England and Ireland. He admitted that the Irish question was a difficulty, but he said England had faced difficulties before, and he argued that since the legislative union Ireland, as the facts if properly examined would show had ad- vanced in national prosperity to a greater extent than England and Scotland. Mr. Gladstone's policy on the Irish question was really that which he bad adopted in regard to Afghanistan, South Africa, and the Soudan-namely, the policy of scuttle. The Con- servatives, however, coull not accept that policy, and would not agree to hand over the government of Ire- land to the National League. The reason why Mr. Gladstone had brought forward his present remedy for Ireland's ills was that he needed the support of the eighty-five Irish members in order that his Govern- ment might be retained in Downing-street. Mr. Goschen, in pursuance of his candidature for the Western Division of Edinburgh, addressed a meeting, mostly of working men, on Saturday, and met with a very cordial reception. He proceeded to answer two suggestions which were frequently made -first, that those who were opposed to the Govern- ment bills must be reactionary or Tory in their ten- dencies and, secondly, that this was a matter of class. In disproof of the first he quoted the names of Bright aDd Chamberlain, Trevelyan and Hartington and, in respect to the second suggestion, be quoted opinions of working men in Ulster, the gist of which wa51 that they feared the consequences to trade a leI personal liberty if power were handed over in any way contemplated to the Nationalist?. One of two or three individuals who were in the meeting who were hostile to Mr. Goschen asked him to give the names of the writers. Upon that Mr. Goschen replied that in Donegal it was not safe to name the authors. One man rejoined that they were in Edinburgh, and not in Donegal; and Mr. Goschen made answer that while it was perfectly safe for him it would not be safe for the writers in Donegal. In dealing further with the same subject, Mr. Goschen was again interrupted by his Irish friend, who said that the minority were pro- tected in the bill. Mr. Gladstone, he remarked, said so. To this Mr. Goschen replied that until he saw how they were to be protected, he should continue his opposition to the bill. Mr. Parnell, he contended, bad never repudiated or regretted the enunciations of and the approval he gave to boycotting in his Ennis speech, while United Ireland—which was edited by Irish M.P.'s—writing last April, said that an Irish Parliament in College-green would be no revolution- ary novelty," as it would be only regularising the system of government—that of the National League -which was already obeyed from Donegal to Cork. With Mr. Bright, he hesitated in handing over to such men the industry, the property, and the rights of 5,000,000 of the Queen's subjects in Ireland. Cheers were given to Mr. Goschen as he drove away. Sir Michael Hicks Beach at Bristol on Saturday night said, with reference to the importance of main- taining and strengthening the connection between England and her colonies, that in all their great self- governing colonies they could not find any person of English or Scotch descent in favour of Mr. Glad- stone's Irish policy. On the other hand, they would find many persons of Irish descent who were opposed to it. Moreover, no statesman's name was received with greater dislike—he might also say execration- in those colonies than that of Mr. Gladstone, whose policy they knew tended to the disintegration of the empire. If the scheme before the country were passed it would be the first step in that direction, and therefore the electors of Great Britain, as valuing their Constitution and the Crown, as wishing to maintain the safety of the country and equal laws and justice to England and Ireland, should resist the policy of Mr. Gladstone and show the disapproval of the rapid changes of opinion made by Mr. Gladstone and his satellites since last November. The electors should give their votes according to their reason and consciences, and not be led blindly by any feeling for the great abilities of Mr. Gladstone, who, to his (the speaker's) mind, was the most dangerous statesman that ever was Prime Minister. The Duke of Norfolk on Saturday night addressed an enthusiastic meeting at Salisbury in support of the candidature of Mr. Halse. He said that the measures which Mr. Gladstone proposed, instead of bringing peace and happiness into Ireland, would hand over that country to Mr. Parnell and his followers, a party whom Mr. Gladstone had condemned, and whose leader he had thrust into prison. Mr. Parnell said he would accept the bill as a final settlement of Ire- land's grievances but would the Irish people accept them as such ? Would they heal the wound from which Ireland suffered ? Would they make the people of that country love England ? They would not, but they would place in the hands of those who were fight- ingwith tbisone object of separating Ireland from Great Britain such a weapon best suited to their ends. The real danger lay in the apathy of Englishmen, from which they must be aroused. What they wanted was a policy which would secure capital and remove the state of dread under which Ireland was labouring. He admitted freely that Ireland had been treated badly in the past, and the treatment which must be awarded her in the future must be just, without any senti- mental fear. In order to carry this out they must all act as Englishmen, without respect to creed or party. All differences of opinion must be sunk; all must fight to preserve the Empire in its entirety—a course which he believed would be adopted throughout the country, and one which would be a complete answer to Mr. Gladstone and Sir William Harcourt. A demonstration in favour of Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule project, organised by Mr. Joseph Arch, M.P., and Mr. Leicester, M.P., was announced for Saturday afternoon in Hyde-park, but at the eleventh hour the idea was abandoned. However, while it was still sup- posed that the two authors of the recent Labour manifesto held the courage of their opinions, steps had been taken to call a counter gathering of citizens opposed to Home Rule, and, notwithstanding the collapse of the Leicester-Arch meeting, the Unionist demonstration was proceeded with, and attracted an audience of several thousand persons. A procession, headed by a brass band, playing patriotic tunes entered the park, by way of the Marble-arch, shortly before four o'clock, and marched to a platform which had been erected on the grass in the central space. Many of the processionists carried Union Jacks, and the hoisting of the red-white-and-blue on a temporary flagstaff near the platform was a signal for the proceedings to begin. Captain R. II. Armit, bon. secretary of the National and Patriotic League, was called upon to preside. The chairman said the work- ing men of London had been accustomed from their childhood to march under the banner inscribed Unity is strength," but they were now asked to reverse their opinions, and to march under the bannre of disunion. (Cheers.) Were they, he asked, going to allow their flag—the Union Jack—to be torn down ? (Loud cries of Never.") Amid loud groans, mingled with some cheering, two Socialists, Messrs. Burns and Champion, mounted the platform, and announced their intention of proposing an amendment. Mr. Lemon moved the first resolution "That this meet- ing emphatically condemns the Irish policy of Mr. Gladstone." Mr. Leader, of the Royal Irish Patriotic Union, seconded the motion. Mr. Burns, on attempting to move his amendment,, was greeted with a storm of hisses and groans. The chairman, with difficulty, secured a semblance of order, and Mr. Burns commenced his speech by expressing regret that Mr. Arch and Mr. Lecicester, those Liberal Party hacks," had not sufficient courage to defend their principles in the park. The disorder was now renewed with in- creased vehemence voices shouted Socialist," and We do not want you," and some of the crowd near the platform waved their flagstaffs in a threatening manner. At length, after several minutes' confusion, Mr. Burns moved the following amendment in dumb show :—" That this meeting declares that the manage- ment of purely Irish affairs should be in the hands of Irishmen." Finding, however, that he was unable to obtain a hearing, he announced his intention of hold- ing a meeting of Socialists and Home Rulers in another part of the park, and jumped from the plat- form followed by his companion, Mr. Champion. The resolution was then put and carried amidst much enthusiam, as were others declaring that the Union between Great Britain and Ireland must at all costs be maintained, and also condemning the injustice of unfair foreign competition. At the close of the meeting the National Anthem was sung, and the con- course dispersed. Mr. Parnell, addressing a meeting at Plymouth on Saturday night, said Your chairman has truly re- minded you that this is a struggle of the democracies of the two countries of England and Ireland, and it is the fitst time that the two democracies have ever come together—(cheers)—and from the very nature of the case it is the very first time that it was possible for them to come together. (Applause.) They have lost no time about it" and it is to the credit of the people of England and Ireland that within a few months after they were enfranchised they have taken and shaken each other by the hand. (Loud and pro- longed cheering.) I ask you what in the name of common sense prevents the English people from doing this small justice to Ireland ? (Loud cheers.) You, a great and rich people, over 30,000,000 strong, with your colonies attached to you and ready to help you at the signal, cannot surely be afraid of little miserable Ireland, with her 5,000,000 of people. (Loud cheers.) You cannot really fear that such a concession to Ireland can possibly endanger your Empire. (No, no.) This battle is being waged against Ireland by a class of landlords whose loyalty that they boast of is loyalty to their own pockets. (Loud cheers.) Have they not repeatedly threatened that if the Queen, Lcrds, and Commons of England pass a certain act they will rebel against the Imperial authority ? Is that loyalty ? (No, no.) Much fight there is in them. (Laughter and cheers.) I know these gentry well. (Laughter.) They talk about the Protestants of Ireland—of whom I am proud to be one. (Cheers.) The Protestants of Ireland despise this miserable gang who trade upon the name of religion; they despise them, and appraise them at their full worth. They threatened to rebel when the Irish Church was disestablished. They threatened to rebel when the first Land Act of 1870 was passed, and now they threaten to rebel again. (Laughter.) All that I can say is that a thou- sand men of the Royal Irish Constabulary will be amply sufficient to cope with all the rebels that the Orangemen of the North of Ireland can produce- (hisses)—they would be just taken like corner boys and street rowdies, and they would be locked up in I the police barracks. This is another of the alarms that are raised, that the Protestant minority of Ire- land will be injured. Well, now, I wish to point out to you that this cry is not really raised by the Protes- tants of Ireland at all. It is raised by the few fana- tical Orangemen in the North of Ireland. The Pro- testants of Ireland are not a bit afraid of either the Pope or the Papists. The great majority of them, and I know them well, are pretty much indifferent upon this question. Of the two things, they would probably rather have matters left as they are, but they have not any very strong feeling one way or the other. Re- ferring to what is now known as the Carnarvon inci- dent, Mr. Parnell said it is a very favourable device with politicians, when they are accused of one thing, to say, not that they did not do the thing, but that they did not do something else-(hear, hear)--and when. I stated that I bad reason to believe that the Tories, if they had a majority at the polls, would have given us a statutory Legislature, with a power of protecting Irish industries against the products of British factories, Sir Michael Hicks Beach contradicted me by saying that the Cabinet had not agreed to do that. (Laughter.) Well, I never said that the Cabinet had agreed to it. From the very nature of the case the Cabinet could not have agreed to it, because the matter was not ripe for final judgment, and could not have become ripe until the result of the general election was known. But what I say is this, that the leading man who was responsible in the Cabinet for the government of Ireland, a man in the high position of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(hear, hear)—asked me to meet him in London for the purpose of consulting with me and learning my views, and giving me his own with regard to a Constitution for Ireland. (Cheers.) Now, a Constitution for Ireland can only have meant a Parliamentary Constitution, and it has not been denied, and cannot be denied. Secondly, I say that during that inter- view I found that Lord Carnarvon—(groans)—don't his's or hcot him, he was the only gentleman in the late Cabinet—agrees with me in the main lines on which a constitution for Ireland will be granted by the giving of a statutory Legislature. (Hear, hear.) Well, now, Lord Carnarvon does not deny that, but what he denies is this. He says—"I don't agree with Mr. Gladstone's bill." Well, I never said that I Lord Carnarvon agreed with Mr. Gladstone's bill, but I said that he agreed with me at the beginning of last August regarding the lines upon which the Irish National Question should be settled. (Applause.) Lord Carnarvon has not denied my assertion that he urged these views on the Cabinet for six months, and that although the time for the Cabinet to take final decision did not become ripe until after the result of the general election was known, yet notwithstand- ing during the whole of those six months Lord Car- narvon was not opposed in the Cabinet to any extent. And I make another assertion now, which Lord Carnarvon will not deny either. If his views had been opposed in the Cabinet during these six montbs so as to make him believe that be could not have carried them, he would have resigned his office -(loud cheers) —and he never did resign his office until the result of the general election, and our failure to give the Tories a majority swung tho IVoinat, roused into opposition, into those views. (Cheers,) With respect to Lord Randolph Churchill—(groan- ing)-he is a bird of another feather. Lord Carnar- von is a sensible man, and resigned his position when he found he could not carry out the expectations which he had held out to us. But Lord Randolph Churchill, although he was up to the hilt in that thing too, did not resign his office, he only turned right about face —(laughter)—and he became a de- nouncer of the very policy for the relief of Ireland that he had a month before determined to carry out. Writing to a correspondent at Bristol, Mr. Samuel Morley expressed approval of Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy. Mr. C. R. M. Talbot, the father of the House of Commons, and M.P. for Mid-Glamorgan, has an- nounced to his constituents that, although ho voted against the Home Rule Bill, he now believes that Mr. Gladstone has shadowed forth in his Scotch speeches such a policy of Irish legislation in the next Parlia- ment as will enable him this time to support him. The Earl of Northbrook spoke as Portsmouth on Saturday night in favour of the candidature of Sir Samuel Wilson, Conservative, and Sir William Crossman, Liberal Unionist. He said that since tbo Union Ireland had gained Catholic Emancipation, the removal of the grievance of tithes, the disestablish- meut of the Irish Church, and lastly laws which, if the people had been left alone by agitators, woald have settled the question between the landlords and the tenants. In Ireland there were conflicts of interests, and it required a firm hand of Government to keep them from collision, and if that were withdrawn, there would be no peace, o der, or tranquillity for her Majesty's subjects. With regard to coercion, nothing could be more unfair than the statement that Lord Salisbury had recommended 20 years' coercion. What he said was that they wanted 20 years of reso- ) lute government. Did they want 20 years of irreso- lute government? There was no doubt what the in- tention of the Conservative Government was with regard to Ireland, for that was plainly indicated in the Speech from the Throne when Lord Salisbury wa3 in office, while the maintenance of the Union was necessary to England, to Irish Protestants, an to I! Irish Catholics. Mr. Gladstone, addressing a great meeting in Henjrler's Circus, at Liverpool, on Monday afternoon, repudiated the statement that the Government wished to deny to Ulster the privilege they desired to give to other parts of Ireland. He also denied that the Land Purchase Scheme involved the expenditure of millions of the money of the British taxpayers, because investing in Consols was not expenditure. The whole of that question, he said, must necessarily be considered afresh by the Liberal Government if returned to power. He enumerated ten subjects which had constituted the political life of the last sixty years, and on every one of them he submitted I that the masses had been right and the classes wrong. He appealed to the prudence, courage, and sense of ¡ honour of Englishmen, with a view to the solution of the Irish problem as provided in his scheme. The Act of Union he characterised as an artful combina- tion of fraud and force, applied in the basest manner ¡ to attain an end which all Ireland detested. He entreated the people of England to displace discord by the ushering in of the reign of peace in Ireland. Lord Hartington, addressing a great meeting at. Sheffield on Monday night, regretted his inability to continue to act in harmony with some Liberals with whom he had formerly co-operated, but urged that the Irish question was one of hard and practical reality. It was requisite to consider not only what 1 the majority of the Irish people might happen to want, but what in our hearts and consciences we be- j lieved would be for their interest, and he maintained that the policy of Mr. Gladstone would not tend in that direction. -.Tl-le Duke of Norfolk speaking on Monday night at I Preston in support of the candidature of -Viscount Cranborne, severely condemned Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy, maintaining that it would be injurious to Great Britain and to Ireland herself. Lord G. Hamilton at Spalding on Monday night gave an emphatic denial to Mr. Parnell's statement as to the late Cabinet and his interview with Lord Carnarvon, and asserted that Lord Carnarvon had no authority whatever from the Government to enter into any negotiations with Mr. Parnell. In prosecution of his candidature for the Border Burghs, Sir George Trevelyan on Monday night ad- dressed a meeting of his constituents at Galashiels. He said he should tell them a plain story without any varnishing, without any invective against other poli- ticians. In the course he had adopted over this great Irish question, he had done nothing in contradiction to the pledges he had given to Liberal principles or to the interests of the country. Had the same system been pursued in regard to Ireland as when he was in office that country would have been as quiet as Scot- land now was. It was the only policy that bad ever succeeded or that would succeed. This was not the first time he had differed from Mr. Gladstone; but ha desired to remind the audience that the Prime Minister had spoken and voted against his proposal of the equalisation of theborough and county franchise. What he desired was to be sent to Parliament to prevent the Liberal party from doing what Mr. Gladstone had done. Mr. Gladstone had said at the station at Nor- manton, "The question before us is whether you will let the Irish manage their own affairs. Yon have done it in Canada, in Australia, in the Cape of Good Hope, and in your colonies generally, and it has been at- tended with enormous advantages." (Cheers.) Were the cases parallel ? They were independent; they owed nothing to Great Britain but loyalty. Would that be the case with Ireland ? (Cries of Yes "and "No, no.") The Irish revenue would be £ 8,350,000 a year, and the cosi of collection would reduce it to £7,400,000; but, on the other hand, Ireland would have to pay over to the British treasury £ 4,600,000 a year. Sir Joseph M'lvennasaid, "from an unfortu- nate country like Ireland, which was consuming less and less every year, £2,300,000 a year was taken away and brought into the bottomless pit of the English exchequer-(Jaughter)-but now, instead of the £2,500,000, S4,500,000 were to be brought, into the bottomless pit, into an exchequer which would be more entirely British than ever. They were told to look back on Grattan's Parliament, but when it was- proposed in that Parliament that Ireland should pay £ 300,000 for the British navy, Grattan and his followers repudiated that. No Government that would be able to hold its own in the Irish Par- liament unless it protested against the English tribute. Mr. Trevelyan proceeded to criticise the Land Bill and the estimates on which it was based. He was desirous to give Ireland very large local liberties. Before he bad been a year in office he came to the conclusion that they ought to abolish the grand. jury system and substitute for it bodies absolutely elected by the ratepayers, and to such bodies he would have entrusted everything relating to local ad- ministration. He would have given to elective Irish boards the entire charge of poor relief, and every- thing relating to the raising and dispensing of the local rates. Again, he would have entrusted to them the matter of education, lower and intermediate, and. as an elementary condition, he would have given the power of developing the resources of Ireland out of the revenue of the country. He would, too, have given them full powers over the laying down and construction of their own rail- ways, tramways, and canals; everything, in short, ex- cept the control of law and order—(cheers and slight hisses)—and that he would have kept in the hands of a powerful Home Secretary, responsible to the Par- liament at Westminster. A vote of confidence was afterwards proposed in Sir Geo. Trevelyan, but an amendment was at once moved to the effect that he was not a fit and proper person to represent the I Border Burghs.. On the amendment being put it undoubtedly supported by the greater proportion of those in the body of the ball, but the chairman, look- ing round to those on the platform, who were unani- mously holding up their hands in favour of Sir George, declared the amendmenttohave been lost and the original motion carried. He, however, admitted that the show of hands in the hall, leaving out of consideration the platform, had apparently been against Sir George. The meeting then broke up, amidst mingled cheers and hissing. Mr. Henry Broadhurst (L), has issued his address to the electors of the Western Division of Nottingham. In it he says they have now placed before them a plain aiad straightforward question as to whether Ireland should be ruled by despotism involving the constant suspension of the personal liberty of her people or whether a great measure of self-government, subject to the supremacy of the British Parliament, should be granted to her. Such a measure, subject to certain essential conditions, Mr. Gladstone now asked them to enable him to propose. These essential conditions were as follows 1. That it must be consistent with Imperial unity. 2. That it must be founded upon the political equality of the three nations. 3. That there must be an equitable distribution of Imperial burdens. 4. That there should be safeguards for the minority. 5. That it should be in the nature of a settlement I and not of a mere provocation for the revival of fresh e r,) a demands. Opposed to this policy, Lord Salisbury, aided by some Whigs and seceding Radicals, was appealing to the nation to permit, him to govern Ire- land on the principle of coercion and repression which' had so lamentably failed in the past. M r. Broadhurst therefore asks the constituency to decide between freedom and force, between pence and continued national agitation, and to vote for one who would sup- port Mr. Gladstone in his great contest on behalf of justice, freedom, and peace. The Marquis of Salisbury, speahiog on Tuesday evelliug in SE. Jai-tic,' Loudon, at the meeting of the Constitutional Uiiiou, referred at length to the statements of Mr. Parneii, for which he clearly denied that any foundation existed. Lord Carnarvon had communicated to him (Lord Salisbury) what, bad passed between him and Mr. Parnell two or three days after the interview had taken placp, and the account he had afterwards given in the House of Lords agreed with the account given to his leader,. who bad previously clearly assured Lord Carnarvon that be would never agree to such demands as those made by Mr. Parnell. As to Mr. Gladstone, it was evident from the way in which he brought in his scheme that be bad been considering it for 15 years, He told his hearers not to be led away by historical allusions from the main points of the issue before the country, which were those of the separation of Ireland from England, and the investment of £ 150.000,000 of the money of the British taxpayers to buy out the Irish landlords. Lord Randolph Churchill, speaking in support of Mr. Lionel Cohen on Tuesday night, alluded to Mr. Gladstone's remarks that the Home Rule movement was opposed by classes, and to his quotation from his (Lord Randolph's) speech, to the effect that the people could not go wrong, and said he had meant the whole people, including all classes. Mr. Gladstone- went about pleading in forma pauperis, but his sup- porters were sustained by American contributions, and he had, moreover, the Secret Service money, which be was employing to procure the return of Home Rule caudidates. Mr. Parnell, addressing a meeting at Cheshire in support of the Gladstonian candidate, instanced the existence in the United States of America of 39 inde- pendent legislators under the supreme congress as a strong, practical argument in favour of the estab- lishment of a Parliament in Ireland to deal with Irish affairs. Lord Derby, speaking at a meeting in Liverpool on Tuesday evening, said it was preposterous to suppose that Mr, Gladstone s scheme would stop agitation in Ireland. The scheme went too far for one party in Ireland and not far enough for another. Mr. A. J. Balfour, replying to a correspondent, states that in December last he received a letter from Mr. Gladstone expressing a desire that the then Con- servative Government should deal with the Irish ques- tion, but giving no indication of the kind of scheme he was prepared to support. In conclusion, Mr. Bal- four asks why, if Mr. Gladstone had made up his mind for Horne Rule, he did not boldly raise" that issue on the Queen's Speech, instead of snatching a division on a subordinate question. Continuing the electoral campaign on Wednesday, Lord Hartington spoke at Cardiff Sir G. Trevelyan at Selkirk; Mr. Stansfeld, at Norwich; Sir Henry James, at Burnley Mr. Pa.rnell, at Manchester ;_and Mr. Mundella, at Sheffield. Writing to a correspondent, Lord Salisbury said that if Disestablishment were dealt with by the next Parliament, tho House of Lords would not allow any decision on it injurious to ihe Church to be taken before the constituencies had been again consulted. Sir M. Hicks-Beach addressed a meeting on Wed- nesday at Lillie-bridge Hall, in support of the candi- dature of Mr. W. H. Fisher for Eulham. He said that he was willing to concede a large measure of local government to Ireland as soon ss political free- dom in that country was established. Lord Randolph Churchill visited Manchester 011 Wednesday, and addressed a meeting at Huline in support of the candidature of Lord Frederick- Hamilton. The game the Irish members has been playing was, be said, that of trying to undo the Union by making legislation impoj-ible. Mr. Butt had described this as a policy of exasperation, and had prophesied that it would never succeed. Parliament had verified this prediction, and it remained now with tb {constituencies to decide the issue. Mr. Gladstone has sent the following letter to Mr. Sydney Buxton, the Liberal candidate lor Poplar: "Hawarden Castle, June 29, 1886. Dear Mr. Sydney Buxton,—I regret that after the labours through which I have been passing, among my late constituents and elsewhere, I cannot appear personally before the electors of any of the numerous Divisions of London, in whose welfare I feel a cordial interest, and on whose wise or unwise use of the present opportunity so much depends. Through the channel of a letter to you I venture to offer them a few words intended to sum up the question that is b.efora them. A great cause now lies for decision between Eng- land and Ireland. A hundred years ago we gave to Ireland a free Parliament of her own, with which she was satisfied. Its constitution was faulty* but it made many and great, improvements, aad was beginning to make more and greater, when, in 1795, the Tory Govern- ment of England stopped the work by recalling Lord Fitzwiliiain to the horror of every Liberal states- man of the day and of the whole Irish people. This tyranny begat discontent; di-content was met,by arbitrary government. Then came resistance in 179S, and frightful bloodshed. These mischiefs, of which the Tory Government i as the author, were made a pretext for the Union. Against the sense of Ireland and her Parliament every engine of forcex fraud, bribery, intimidation within doors, arbitrary Government and reckless promises in the country at large were profusely employ ed, and by these shameful means, and no others, Ireland was partly entrapped and partly coerced into the Union. The promises made were disgracefully broken. The sufferings of the people, declared by the Devon Commission to surpass those of any other Christian country, were shamefully neglected, but laws were passed to coerce them, and" Laws were passed to increase the power of their landlords over them and to enhance, for the advantage of those landlords, the prices of their food. An alien State Church was maintained among them, and men professing the religion of that country were forbidden 0 fit in Parliament until they became too strong to be resisted, and emancipation waS granted by the Duke of Wellington only to avoid civil war. Meanwhile, when in 182U the county of Dublin wished to make a peaceful remonstrance at a meeting, regularly called, soldiers were sent to break it up. This is a revolting record; but it is only a simple part of the truth. Can you wonder that a cry long and loud was heard from Ireland against this Union so foully brought about ? But, like many bad laws, it was a great law, difficult to change, and it had one good thing in i* namely, that it established supremacy of Parliament. What does Ireland now say ? Bv the mouth of 85 out of 101 of her popular representatives, the declares herself content with this supremacy. She leaves you what is good in the Union, and asks to be rid of what is bad. She asks t you to do for her what you did with such advantage for Frenchmen in Canada, for Dutchmen at the Cape, for the children of convicts in Tasmania-to give her the management, not of English, or of Scotch, or Imperial, but of simply Irish affairs. There is a long record of disgraceful deeds against- us, and the question is about wiping it away. They were done mostly before the first Reform Act. Since that time matters have improved. Good has been done (almost wholly in defiance of the Torios), but evx1 has also been done, and good that should have been done has largely been left uudone. The long course or evil belongs to the time before the nation was enfraQ" cbised; the partial good to the time since. Now, for the first time, the question is put whole and clear to an enfranchised nation, and the people of England and of Scotland have either to purge out tha old shame ot their country by listening to reason, or by refusing to listen to make that shame their own, with all the wretched consequences which it wilt necessarily entail. I tell the people of London this is the question they have to dealt with, and for his own share of dealing with it by his vote each one of them will sponsible. I need hardly tell you, my dear Buxton, what faith I have from former experience in the strong sympathies and upright sense of tfl people, or'how fervently I desire the success of ev6^, one of those who are labouring together with you consolidate the real, the hearty u.tion of the countries and the real, and, I trust, immortal strength of t Empire. Hoping that my wife, who often visits East for other purposes, may very shortly app there, I remain, mv dear Mr. Buxton, sincerely yo^ W. E. GLADSTONE.

OPPOSITION TO LORD HARTINGTON. A statement reaches us (the Times of -^lur-Sfl.^iag as we are going to press that Mr. Michael Davi consented to stand for the ^ossendple Divisi Lancashire,in opposition to theMarqui' otHar l

firatom Comssontimi. j rwe deem, it right to state that I- do not at all t'T.?? •iSentify our Correspondent's opinions. Wa are now once more in the midst of a general election, and it requires the oldest of us to remember a parallel instance in which a i ar- liament only six months old was dissolved. For another reasbn this recent dissolution will be Ion0, remembered in political history, and that is because it has furnished the first occasion upon which two general elections have been taken on the same register of voters. It will ba remem- bered that last year, in order to enable the newly enfranchised electors to cast their votes in November—that being considered the most convenient month for the dissolution-an Act was passed bringing the register into force in that month instead oF. as usual, on New Year's Dav. All those, therefore, who were qualified to record a vote last Isovember are qualified to record a vote now, whether they have moved since the register was compiled from one house to another in the same constituency or even out of the constituency altogether. The mere xact of being on the register, whether tuo qualifica- tion which enabled a place to be secured on it hat; been lost ov not, is sufheient to entitle a ma-c. to give his vote. There are only two Questions which the poll clerk can legally ask. The first is, (i Are you the John Thompson named on the register r" which is intended to prevent personation, and the second is, IIavø vou voted before at this election which is designed to make difficult the old practice of voting early and voting often." And, as in these days, the exercise of the suffrage is regarded as one of the most valued rights of citizenship, it is desirable that all should know how far that right extends, and to what degree it may have been affected by the changes which have come with time. Mention of the fact that the present dissolu- tion enables the first instance to be furnisher of two general elections being fought upon the same register, is a reminder that the register itself is°a very modern institution. For close upon five centuries and a half after the assembling of the first English Parliament, resembling in all essentials that which continues to be called together, no such thing as a register of voters ex- isted. The qualifications for exercising the suffrage in the boroughs were as mysterious as they were minv, and they had to be proved, if necessary, by each individual voter at every individual contest. In the counties the qualification was that rf being a freeholder, but, simple as this sounds when compared with the borough qualifi- cation derived from burgage tenure^ scot and lot, or the taking up of the freedom, it entailed immense difficulties and enormous expense. When folks in these days read that, at the beginning of this century, a contest for^ the county of York cost the combatants something like a quarter of a million of money, they wonder in whatever manner such an amount of wealth could have been spent, and think they have accounted for it by the theory that it was all disposed of in bribery and treating. But this is to do an injustice to the memory of the doughty politicians of both parties who fought that Yorkshire battle and rendered it historical. A very large proportion of the amount was dis- bursed in the lodging and keep of the thousands of claimants to a vote who had to wait, many of them for weeks, in the city of York in order, as the saying then ran, to "prove their freehold." It may be imagined what a harvest this furnished to the hotel-keepers, and even more to the lawyers, who quibbled over every deed and cross-examined every freeholder. But the Reform Act of 1832 dispensed with the necessity for all this waste of time, energy, and money; and a register of voters was provided, which answered the purpose far more effectively. It is as difficult to avoid referring to the general election at such a time as this as it was to Mr. Dick" in Dickens's David Copper- field" to keep from mentioning King Charles's head in his A dissolution has its effect not only upon politicians of every kind and in every part of the country, but it seriously touches that mysterious entity known as Society." Tho London season, which was in full swing when the division was taken that tolled the knell of the late Parliament, was practically put an end to by the dissolution. Heads of families had other work to do than the giving or balls or the providing of dinners and, greatly to the grief of the younger portion of society population, they ceased entertaining their personal friends in order that they might enlighten their political neighbours. Men of influence in their re- spective districts in the country hastened from London to their homes in order that they might secure the support of their friends to the party they deemed the best; and the consequence was a somewhat abrupt closing of many well-known houses, which entailed a severe disappointment upon those who, caring nothing about politics, are fond of being entertained. The West-end tradesmen, to whom a flourishing and prolonged season is a very distinct advantage, have suffered in pocket from the present dissolution, owing to their best customers having left town so soon and altogether it may safely be asserted that a general election in Ju'y finds few friends among that vast population which has Hyde-park as at once its centre and its recreation ground. When the ordinary reader, who is never likely to attend a Royal Drawing-room or levee, sees in hii newspaper that the Court is going into mourning for a certain period because some relative of our Royal Family has passed away, he is not apt to realise all that this means to those who in various fashions have to attend upon the Court. It is not often, however, that those who are accustomed to the etiquette which prevails in palaces forget the obligations imposed by Court mourning as completely as did a great number of officers who attended the last levee of the season, held a few afternoons since at St. James's Palace by the Prince of Wales. The suicide of King Louis of Bavaria had necessitated the English Court assuming mourning, and the period during which it was to be worn had not expired when the levee was held. This had been forgotten by about a hundred officers who had presented themselves at the palace in order to pass before the Prince, and it was only when some official, deeply concerned at the omission, pointed out that it could not be tolerated, that the unwritten offenders saw the error of their ways. A rush was at once made to the nearest drapery establishment, where all available hands were set hurriedly to work to make up crape bands for the arms of those who had thus for- gotten that some sign of mourning was neces- sary. By this means the difficulty was over- come, and the officers proceeded to the palace in peace. No one can pass through Piccadilly in the summer, either morning or evening, without seeing some evidences of the fashionable liking for coaching. For this thoroughfare is the head- quarters of the coaches which ply between London and certain places at no very great distance from us; and the teams may be seen morning or evening, going or coming, bearing their merry freight, joyous with the expectation of an agree- able day or pleased with the fact of having spent one. As a commercial speculation, coaching in these times is very decidedly a failure, but it is not as a commercial speculation that it is pursued. There are some men of fortune to whom the handling of a four-horse team is one of the sweetest of delights, and such persons do not object to paying heavily for their amuse- ment. To the general public, however, the question is not as to what amount of money it costs the driver, but as to what amount of pleasure it brings them; and anyone who has taken a coach ride from Piccadilly to some of the destinations around London, of which choice can be made, will be able to avouch that the pleasure is very great, A drive along country roads and leafy lanes, amid some of the sweetest fieenery the home counties can show, is as pleasant a mode of spending a lazy day as can well be suggested; and fashion may for once be thanked that in this instance it has provided a pastime which not only pleases those who originally contrive it, but every outsider who cares to participate. A very large stream of visitors is setting in just now for the Continent, the cholera scare, which has had such an effect during the past two years, having disappeared. There is, of course, no say- ing at'what moment it maybe revived, forchoiera lingers for a long while in districts it has once made its own, and cases may occur at any time in the towns which, during the past two years, have been so sorely inflicted with its ravages. Should this turn out to be the case, the present stream of visitors to the Continent would ba very largely diminished, for there is something so terrible in the very name of cholera that the bravest may be excused for not volun- tarily going to those places where it is known to exist. But, strangely as things in this world act and re-act one upon the other, the fact of such a scare prevailing would mean the placing of a considerable sum of money in the pockets of British hotel-keepers, lodging-letters, and railway companies. If people are prevented by any cause, whether arising out cf war or pes- tilence, from having their holidays abroad, it simply means that they will have them at home, and"instead of spending their money in foreign hotels and at Continental shops, they will spend it in England. The Briton whose business is likely to be increased by such a process is apt to wish that scares of one sort or another would annually prevail, but he is not so hard-hearted as to wish that there should be any real ground for them. As long as people could be kept to their own country, and be practically compelled to'spend their surplus money within the borders of their own shores, he would not wish a painful reason for the process. Mountain climbing is one of the relaxations which a good many Englishmen allow them- selves in the autumn, but it is a relaxation which to many persons appears to be distinct hard work, and to every one must present itself as possessing more than a spice of danger. Yet this very adventurous spirit which often leads men into hazardous enterprizes is one of the proudest possessions of Englishmen as a body. It is certainly needed by those who would take Switzerland as their holiday resort, and who would wish to "do" that country thoroughly. The true beauty of the mountains cannot be seen by those who, to use Mark Twain's phrase, only climb them through a telescope." Old Alpine climbers will laugh at the idea of danger from attempting to reach the comparatively modest heights which the ordinary tourist aims at; but there is a very real danger nevertheless for those who do not possess pluck, nerve, and above all, presence of mind. Crevasses abound and glaciers furnish many an awkward position, and though to those who are perfectly cool of head, the danger may be practically non-existent. It is a different case with those who, if the bull may be pardoned, find their presence of mind absent when it is most required. Cool people, who are strong in body and untroubled with nerves, can secure very much to delight them in a trip to Switzerland; but those, who like Raleigh, would say, Fain would I climb, But that I fear to fall, had best act upon the traditional reply of Queen Elizabeth, If thy heart fail thee, Do not climb at all. A. F. R.

Professor We cannot taste in the dark. Nature intends us to see our food." Student: How about a blind man's dinner P" Professor: Nature has pro- vided him with eye-teeth, sir."