The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-01-08 00:00:00

THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

MR. GOSCHEN ACCEPTS OFFICE.

Mr. Goschen has agreed to accept office under
Lord Salisbury and to assume 'the leadership of the
party in the House of Commons. "Events," says the
Morning Post," will show whether the solution arrived
at proves beneficial to the Conservative Party and to
the country at large. Meanwhile, we consider it our
duty, both in justification of Lord Randolph
Churchill's action and of the policy advocated in
these columns during the late crisis, to impress
upon the country the importance of the motives
which led to the resignation of the late Chancellor
of the Exchequer. Rightly or wrongly, Lord
Randolph Churchill, ever since his acceptance of
office, has had rather in view the future prospects
of the Conservative Party, especially in the event of
a fresh appeal to the country, than the existence of
a Tory Cabinet at the present moment. ;There is
no disguising the fact tbat the principle of Repeal
proclaimed by Mr. Gladstone has made some progress
in the country. Mr. Gladstone and his party have
Ireland, Scotland, and part of England on their side.
The Conservative party holds power by the support of
a section of the Liberal party. Democracy, which
now reigns supreme in the constituencies, may easily
be led at future elections to give expression to all the
prejudices kept alive in the country against Tory
foreign policy and Tory administration. It was Lord
Randolph Churchill's constant anxiety that the
present Parliament should be marked by two distinct
features—the:cr,rrying-out of the programme designed
to maintain the Unionist coalition for the preservation
of the integrity of the Empire, and to pursue, with re-
gard to foreign affairs, as well as to financial and ad-
ministrative reforms, a prudent and progressive policy,
to endear the masses to the party resolved to face and
conquer the partisans of disunicn. The late Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer was so thoroughly convinced
that unless the Government were prepared to sLape
their policy on these lines the future elections would
prove far more disastrous to the Conservative party
than those of 1880, that he finally declined to act
with colleagues who persisted in regarding only the
position of the hour, and refused to consider the
future prospects of Conservatism. Lord Randolph
Churchill certainly fully perceived the gravity of the
step ha was taking in resigning office at so critical a
juncture. Since it appeared clear that his views met
with no hearty support from the Cabinet. he preferred
resignation at a moment in shich Lord Saliabury bad
ample time for taking the required steps to fill his
important post, to plunging the country into a state
of confusion by resigning duriug the parliamentary
session,
"Mr. Goscben's accession to the Cabinet will un-
mistakably fortify the Government so far as the
allegiance of the Unionists is concerned, but we fail
to see how it can tend to strengthen the prestige of
the Conservative party in the country. As far as
Lord Randolph Churchill is concerned, his future
conduct in the House will be inspired by the same
feelings of devotion to the cause for which he has con-
stantly and valiantly fought. The Unionist cause
will have in him as staunch a supporter as ever,
and it may be taken for granted that not a word
will escape his lips of a nature to strengthen
the position of his political opponents. His
sole aim in the Cabinet was to maintain
the unity of the. Empire, and to popularise Conserva-
tism in the country by fair, honest, and necessary
means, to render the Tory party great and powerful,
and to encounter with success in future elections the
partisans of repeal. What is now most pressing is to
ensure the coalition of Conservatives and Unionists to
maintain the integrity of the Empire. We sincerely
trust that events may not speedily prove that the
dangers which threaten the future prospects of the
Conservative party are as great and as serious as Lord
Randolph Churchill may have foreseen in advocating
the policy which led to his resignation.'

As a condition imposed by Mr. Goschen in accept-
ing office as Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was
authoritatively asserted, says the Morning Post, on
Monday evening, that Lord Iddesleigh and Lord
Cross would retiro to make way for Lord Northbrook
and Lord Morley. It was expected that Lord Salis-
bury would become Foreign Minister and Mr. W. H.
Smith First Lord of the Treasury, pith the leader-
ship of the House of Commons, while Lord North.
brook would preside at the India Office and Lord
Morley at the War Office.
MR. W. H. SIIITH LEADER OF THE HOUSE.

No definite progress, the Times of Wednesday said,
has been made with the reconstruction of the Cabinet,
because ap to that time no decisive answer had been
received from the Liberal Unionist peers to whom
Lord Salistury had made overtures. It had, how-
ever, been settled definitely that Mr. W. H. Smith
should lead the House of Commons, and there was
reason to believe that he will hold the office of First
Lord of the Treasury. In that case Lord Salisbury
would himself, as in his previous Administration,
assume the Foreign Secretaryship. It was
understood that Lord Iddesleigh and Lord Cross
were ready to retire in order to facilitate
Lord Salisbury's reconstruction of his Cabinet, if
these arrangements were carried out, there would be
two Secretaryships of State to offer to Liberal Unionist
peers, the India Office and the War Office. We under-
stand (continued the 71. mes) that the peers to whom
overtures have already been made are Lord North-
brook and Lord Lansdowne.
THE GLIDSTONIANS AND THE LIBERAL
UNIONISTS.

The bases of the conference between the Glad-
stonian and Radical Unionist leaders have, we believe,
been finally settled. Two more names have been
added, so that the conference wi:l consist of five men
—Sir William Harcourt, Mr. John Morley, Lord
Herschell, Mr. Chamberlain, and Sir George Tre-
velyan. The subjects which they are to discuss are
the Irish land question, Irish local government, and
Home Rule. They will meet about the 12th or 13th
inst.

The following letter has been forwarded by Mr.
Gladstone to Sir William Harcourt :

"My Dear Harcourt,—As I wrote to you some
days ago, I consider the recent speech of Mr. Cham-
berlain, at Birmingham, to be an important fact of
which due account ought to be taken. I think that
if handled on all sides in a proper spirit it ought to
lead to what I may term modys tivendi in the
Liberal party. I should be very glad if any means
could be found for bringing about a free discussion of
the points of difference with a view of arriving at
some understanding for such common action as may
be consistent with our respective principles, or at least
of reducing to a minimum the diveigences of opinion
upon the Irish question in its several parts and
branches.

"Having, as you may remember, spoken in this
sense when you were hero some weeks ago, I shall
not excite your surprise by retaining the opinion now
that some encouragement has been given to it by an
occurrence such as the recent speech of Mr. Cham-
berlain, and I think that if such a consultation is to
take place, it is desirable that there should be no con-
cealment about it, because rumour in these cases
ea=ily springs up and travels fast to untrue or prema-
ture conclusions.
"You are therefore at liberty to make such use of
this letter as you may think proper.—Believe me,
yours sincerey (Signed) W. E. GLAnsroNE."