The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-01-30 00:00:00

MR. BRIGHT ON THE CHURCH
QUESTION.

In acknowledging the receipt of a volume on " Dis-
establishment," in the "Imperial Parliament Series"
(Swan Sonnenschein and Co.), Mr. Bright has written
as follows to Mr. Richard, M.P. :--" I thank you for
sending me the little book on the great Church ques-
tion written by yourself and Mr. Carvell Williams.
It is a remarkable book—so small in compass and so
readable, and yet dealing with the whole of the great
question on which it treats. If it were read exten-
sively, as I hope it will be, it will give strength to the
demand for freedom for the now Established Church
from State control, and at the same time it will lessen;
the alarm which many good men feel at the prospect
of that freedom being granted. Your little book is
admirable alike in regard to facts and argument. I
have read nothing on the Church question so complete
and so calculated to influence public opinion in the
right direction."

A drummer who has been in South Florida for the
past week says that the beef in thatlsection is so tough
as to render it almost impossible to even stick a fork
in the gravy.

THE GOVERNMENT DEFEAT.

In the division on Tuesday night Lord Hartington,
Mr. Goschen, and Mr. Courtney voted with the Go-
vernment, as did several other Liberal members,
including Mr. Albert Grey, Sir John Lubbock, Mr.
A. Elliot, Lord Ehrington, Mr. Barnes, and Mr.
Davies (Montgomeryshire). Seventglthree Irish
members voted in the majority. Mr. Giadstone, it is
stated, will form a Government with a Radical policy
and programme. Lord Harting ton is unwilling to
form a member of any GovernmetA which proposes to
deal with the Irish Question on Home Rule princi-
ples, and neither he nor several of Mr. Gladstone's
former colleagues will belong to the next Liberal
Government. On the other hand, it is stated that Mr.
Chamberlain, Mr. John Morley, and Mr. H. H. Fowler
will hold high positions in any Government which Mr.
Gladstone may form. There is no doubt, says the
Standard, that if Mr. Gladstone accedes to power
there will be a considerable Whig secession. The
strength of the secessionists is variously estimated,
but the Radicals state that they will not number more
than forty. In that case their loss would be more
than balanced by the adhesion of the Irish vote. The
abstentions on Tuesday night on the Liberal side were
very- numerous, notwithstanding the strongest efforts
on the part of the promoters of the amendment to
whip up all availabla support. Ninety-one votes
remain to be accounted for, including nine Irish votes.
Four Irish seats are vacant in consequence of double
returns; and two or three Irish members were present
last night who'were unable to vote in consequence of
their not having been sworn in. There were not
more than ten or twelve Conservative absentees, while
the abstentions on the Liberal side numbered nearly
seventy.
OPINIONS OF WEDNESDAY'S IRISH PRESS.
The Dublin Freeman's Journal says: "The
country will not fail to note that the majority repre-
sents almost exactly the strength of the Irish vote,
which was given solid against the Ministry. For the
Irish party it is a signal triumph. Early in the even-
ing the leader of the House of Commons officially
announced that to-morrow the Government would
introduce a coercive measure for the suppression of
the National League. In a couple of hours the new
coercionists were out, chiefly by the votes of the men
who are the leaders of the same National League. It
was in the power of the Irish party to keep the Govern-
ment in, to permit them to propose their coercive
measures in detail. But had they waited the effect of
the defeat would have been materially lessened.
Coming as it did last night upon Mr. Collings's amend-
ment, and upon the mere intimation of coercion, it
particularly emphasises the new force which the new
Parliament has now to consider. It indicates how far
we have travelled since that good old day when Par-
liament had coercion as its ultima ratio for all Irish
appeals. That the Government must accept the defeat
as a vote of want of confidence we cannot doubt. The
fatal motion involved a question of only less interest
than a direct challenge upon the Irish question. It
involved the principle of peasant proprie.ary and the
compulsory expropriation of landlords, and it should
be regarded as marking a distinct stage in the develop-
ment of the great economic probleaa Mr. Gladstone
advanced so far upon any doctrine which he had pre-
viously accepted as to declare that the principle of
compulsion in buying up the land, when coupled with
justice and equity, was deserving of examination by
, Parliament. Should Mr. Gladstone take office, he
will of course be held by that opinion, and in view of
the relations which a settlement of the Irish land
question bears to any Home Rule scheme, we regard
the declaration as of great value. We do not Inow
that any Adm nistration has ever fallen with less
honour. Full of lip sympathy with the labourers,
when they were met with the alternative of either
denying the reality of their friendship or putting, it
into practiell shape, they trim, halt, squabble, and
finally blurt out what a sham and hollow thing their
interest in the labouring population really represents.
That power has been wrenched from such a party is
a victory which the vast bulk of the people of the
three countries will hail."

Respecting Irish legislation, announced by the
Government, the Freeman's Joltrnal says: " Under
other circumstances the schemes announced last
night would provoke a feeling of the fiercest indigna-
tion in this country, and would fill Irishmen with a
firm resolve, neither by weakness nor violence, to
move a hair's breadth from the path that they have
followed through fair and foul weather, until they
have come within sight of the goal of all their
strivings. But even assuming that members will
cling to office for the sae of carrying out their pro-
gramme of coercion, the Irish public can at present
afford to regard the threats of the Government Nv ith
absolute equanimity. The Ministry have played a
desperate game. They could not introduce Home
Rule proposals, because the defection of the Ulster
Orangemen—even if their English followers re-
mained true—would place them at the mercy of the
Opposition. Now that they have lost the support of
the Irish party they are in a possible minority of
160."

-The Irish Times, attributing the defeat in some
measure to the "clumsy and injudicious" speech of
Mr. Chaplin, says the amendment was not one to
have made such a serious business of, but (as
carried) it sanctions the compulsory allotment
scheme of, and puts the Liberal party in the light of
being special friends of the labourers. That the task
of forming a Government at present would be a very
difficult one for Mr. Gladstone is apparent. He
would not have the co-operation of Lord Harting-
ton unless upon a pledge which would transfer the
Irish vote to the then Opposition, and the situation
is so peculiar for both parties that there is more
than the probability of another dissolution
and general election, which would turn in-
fallibly upon the Irish proposals respectively of Mr.
Gladstone and Lord Salisbury. The only two ways
out of the trouble are either that the Liberal chief
should offer to refmin from party opposition, or that
the solution of the deadlock be at once remitted to
the constituencies. What remains undiscovered is
whether on the Liberal side and amc ug the Liberal
leaders there is any consequent drawing towards
friendly relations with the Irish party, It is assumed
that Mr. Gladstone has a wish for such; some go so
far as to say that he has already come to something
like an understanding with them. It is certain that
they once more rely upon him, and on him alone.
They believe that he will make them an offer.
The Daily Express says the weak point in the posi-
tion of the Government was plainly the fact that for
several months they ignored the illegality of the
National League. Unless a Government has fallen
so low as to be willing to capitulate and surrender
its powers, it will jealously oppose the encroachment
of any rival authority, and especially any rival
authority emanating from the populace. The present
Government, being compelled to relinquish office, the
same difficulties will ren.ain for their successors, and
will have to be dealt with in the same way; and
we must do the Liberals the justice to say that on
the whole through this century, with very few ex-
ceptions, they have so far accepted the responsi-
bility. If they have unjustly altered the laws, they
have yet maintained strongly the authority of the
existing law.
Referring to Mr. Collings' amendment, the Daily
Express says such a measure is already in full opera-
tion for Ireland, and certainly has so far not been
attended with very beneficial results.