The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-12-31 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTAAY AND POLITICAL.

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The Parliamentary Session opened on January
27th by Royal Commission, extended over the long
period of 33 weeks, three only of which were taken up
with holidays. It closed on September 16th ,no less than
than 422 government divisions having taken place. Most
of the time of Parliament, in the Lower House, at any
rate, was occupied in the often heated discussions on
the Government Bills for the Prevention of Crime,
and the amendment of the Land Laws in Ireland.

There were several important Ministerial changes.
Lord Iddesleigh's retirement from the Foreign
Secretaryship just prior to his sadly sudden death,
and Lord Randolph Churchill's resignation of the
Chancellorship of the Exchequer, led to alterations in
the Cabinet before Parliament reassembled. Lord Salis-
bury took the portfolio of Foreign Affairs in addition
to the Premiership; Mr. W. H. Smith left the War
Office to become First Lord of the Treasury and
Leader of the Commons; Mr. Stanhope was appointed
War Minister; Sir Henry Holland Colonial Secretary,
and Mr. Goachen, one of the most prominent of the
seceders from Mr. Gladstone's lead, Chancellor of the
Exchequer. Later on, upon Sir Michael Hicks-Beach
giving up the onerous post of Chief Secretary to the
Lord Lieutenant on account of threatened blindness,
Mr. A. J. Balfour was transferred from the Scotch
Secretaryship to that appointment. The Marquis of
Lothian became Secretary for Scotland; and other
minor Ministerial changes consequent upon the re-
arrangement of offices just detailed were the appoint-
ment of Sir W. Hart Dyke to the Vice-Presidency of
the Council and of Col. King-Harman as Assistant
Irish Secretary, while the Earl of Onelow became
Under Secretary for the Colonies, rice Lord Dunraven,
resigned. A seat had to be found for Mr. Goschen, and
this was secured in the safe Conservative con-
stituency of St. George's, Hanover-square, after a
defeat at Liverpool. Among the other bye-elections
of the year the most notable was the return of Sir
George Trevelyan for the Bridgeton Division of
Glasgow, he having renounced hi 4 temporary op-
position to Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy.
The Address debate in the Commons was not con-
cluded until the 17th of February, all manner of issues
being raised and discussed ad interim. The chief
subject of delay was, however, Mr. Parnell's amend-
ment, condemning Coercion in Ireland, and recom-
mending reform in the laws and system of govern-
ment. On the final division on this point Ministers
had a majority of 106, the Address, which had mean-
while been adopted in the Lords, after a short debate,
being ultimately agreed to in the Lower House by
283 votes for to 70 against. Next came a wordy war
over the new Procedure Rule, introduced by Mr. W.
H. Smith, on the 21st February. This, carried, and
made a standing order on the 18th of March, enabled
any member, under certain conditions, to move the
closure and so expedite the business of the House.
The Government got this rule through by
a vote of 262 against 41. Three days after
this Ministerial victory, Mr. Balfour, the new
Irish Secretary, gave notice of his intention to bring
in the Crimea Bill, the leader of the House moving
precedence over all other business for the same. Next
day Mr. 3.ohn Morley, on behalf of the Opposition,
proposed an amendment to the contrary, and Mr. Glad-
stone supported him with a long and emphatic speech,
promising resistance to the Irish policy of Ministers at
every point. A four nights' discussion on Mr. Morley's
Amendment ended in its defeat by 349 to 260; and
the debate on the first reading of the bill, marked by
many impassioned speeches from the Irish benches,
lasted until the Ist of April, when all the Nationalist
members and the followers of Mr. Gladstone left the
House, and the measure passed its initial stage. The
Second Reading debate occupied from the sth of
April to the 18th, when an adverse amendment by
Sir B. Samuelson was negatived by a majority for
Government of 101 in a full House. Mr. Parnell
concluded the debate by a vehement address, during
which he repudiated as a villainous and bare-faced
forgery a letter attributed to him by the Times, and
published by the leading journal in fac-simile. This
letter, purporting to show the Irish parliamentary
chief in sympathy with the dynamitards and
murderers of Mr. Burke, created a tremendous sensa-
tion in the country. Mr. Goschen brought in what
proved a popular Budget on the 21st of April, its lead-
ing feature being the lowering of the income tax from
Bd. to 7d. in the pound. An attempt was made, on
the Irish Crimes Bill going into Committee, on the
26th of April, to shelve it until the relative Land Bill,
which had been introduced into the Upper House, was
before the Commons. Three sittings were occupied
on the discussion which ensued, when Ministers
again triumphed by 341 to 240. Then ensued a series
of stormy meetings of the House on a debate moving
that episodes in the continued attacks of the Times
upon the Irish party constituted a breach of privilege.
Mr. Gladstone took the Nationalist side, and some
very violent speeches were made from the Parnellite
benches. Subsequently it was declared by 297 to
218 votes, that there had been no breach of privilege.
On the Committee stage of the Crimes Bill there were
numerous lively "scenes," lengthy sittings, applica-
cations of closure, and even suspensions of recalci-
trant members. The first Clause was not carried
through until the 18th of May, the second being dis-
posed of six days later, just before the Whitsuntide
recess. On the House re-assembling on the 6th of
June, the First Lord of the Treasury named a day,
the 17th of the same month, for the final closure ol the
debate, and a resolution was arrived at adopting that
arrangement after strenuous opposition from Mr.
Pampa and his supporters. On the arrival of the
appointed time the clause under la.scussion was puts
the Irish members leaving the House. Government
gained a majority of 229, Mr. Gladstone and all the
rest of the Opposition retiring before the declaration
of the numbers. The remaining clauses were at once
passed, and the bill reported. Energetic resistance
was still offered to the measure, however, and it did
not pass its third reading in the Commons until the
Bth of July. On the 12th the leader of the House
moved for precedence for Government business
for the remainder of the Session. A week earlier
Ministers had experienced a numerical defeat over
their attitude with regard to what afterwards became
notorious as the Cass Case. The Lords disposed of
the Crimes Bill a week after its first reading in the
Upper House, and it obtained the Royal Assent on
the 19th of July, immediately after which steps were
taken for putting its provisions in force. The Irish
Land Bill, introduced into the House of Peers early
in the session, passed its third reading there on the 4th
July. On the sth of the following month it reached
a similar stage, after a stormy progress in the
Commons, and obtained the Royal Assent on the 23rd.
Meanwhile the National League had, on the 19th of
August, been proclaimed as a "dangerous association,"
putting it into the power of the executive to suppress
the branches of the League at any time. Mr. Glad-
stoise moved, on the 25th, a resolution condemning the
action of the Government ; and when on the 4th of
September a meeting at Ennis was proclaimed another
debate occurred in the House. on both occasions

Ainti.ters being cleeibively vte,oriuus in -the-,---di;isiot-:-;
lobbies. After the Crimes and Land Bills were done
with, Supply was got through in a tedious and
generally uninteresting way. The measured of any
note carried during the long session, closed in the third
week of September, apart from the two bills which
mainly absorbed the time of the Lower House, were
Mr. Ritchie's Allotments Bill, the Merchandise Marks
Bill, the Coal Mines Regulation Bill, and the Metro-
politan Police Bill.

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Mr. O'Brien's removal to l'ullamore Gaol led to
the Trafalgar square riots in London on Surday,
November 13th. Meetings of Socialists and "un-
employed "had been held there for some days pre-
viously and numerous disturbances had occurred. Sir
Charles Warren issued a police proclamation for-
bidding further meetings in the Square, and Mr.
William Saunders, ex M.P. for East Hull, as well as
Me. Bennet Burleigh, a well-known journalist, and
others were arrested for disregarding the new
regulation. The excitement consequent on these
events culminated in a great conflict between the
populace and the police and military who were as-
sisting them, in which many personal injuries were
inflicted, and large numbers of demonstrators
and spectators were taken into custody, chief amongst
them being Mr. Cuninghame Graham, M.P. and John
Burns, a prominent Socialist. Sentences varying from
a few days imprisonment to 12 months' hard labour
were passed on those found guilty of breaking the
peace; and at least one death occurred from in j uries sus-
tained during the disturbances. The police-court hear-
ing of the charges against those taking part in these
meetings, the swearing-in and calling cut of special
constables, and the firm front shown by Sir Charles
Warren and his coadjutors caused great and sus-
tained excitement in London, and Trafalgar-square
was garrisoned against the public by police for several
Sundays. As also appertaining to things political the
anti-tithe agitations and disturbances in North Wales
in May and June; the Crofter riots at Stornoway,
which required a war ship to quell them even as late
as December; and the unmasking of a diabolical
dynamite plot in England by the metropolitan police
in October should all be noted in this connection. As
the year progressed the divergence between the Glad-
stonian and Unionist Liberals became wider and more
pronounced, those following the lead of the ex-Premier
vigorously adv-cating his Home Rule policy • while
the adherents nf the views championed by Lord Har-
tington, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. John Bright, and Mr.
Goschen gave a strong support to the Conservatives.
An incessant. platform political campaign was kept
up by all parties throughout England, Scotland, Ire-
land and Wales from the time Parliament rose until
thii close of the year.

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