The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-07-23 00:00:00

3tourbrib3e Oiserber

SATURDAY , JULY 23, 1887.

THE IRISH QUESTION AGAIN.
LIE Irish Crimes Bill has passed through its
Third Reading in the Lords and received tee
Royal Assent, bat the question of questions,
the ultimate agreement of the members of
her Majeaty's Government for the time be-
ing and the spokesnieu of the Irish people,
appears to make •ittle headway, so that it 111
greatly to be feared we are yet a long way
removed from the day when Ireland
will cease to block the way of political pro-
gress. No person of independent mint],
much less any-parisan of Ministers or Of -
position, has expc cted or dared to hope for
reconciliation bete een the followers of Mr.
Parnell and the supporters of her Majesty's
presert advisers. The gulf dividing the
demands of the Irish Nationalists and the
declared attitude of Lord Salisbury is s
wide as to be beyond, bridging. so deep and
dark as to defy all attempts at fording. Aire
supposieg the Ins were out, and t'le Outs
were in, it is difficult to imagine that the
situation wonld be thereby materially im-
proved; for though, at this present. an under.
standing appears to have been estal-eistied
whereby Mr. Gladstone and those who act
with him have the co-operation of the Hoene
Rale members , he would be sanguine indeeti
who had confidence that this Nationalist and
Liberal alliance could engender a rnetieure az
once acceptabie to confl.etino I is interests,"
and subtle and clever enough to commene
itself to a sufficiently preponderant maj)rity
elesewhere in the United Kingdom to ensure
its adoption. And no enduring politicai
peace eau poesibly be established and in,.in-
tained until Parliament has hit upon
plan of this sort, whether Conservatives or
Liberals be its introClucn-s. It would donbt-
less prove just as futile to force new laws
upon Ireland against. the will of the gr_at
bulk of the people as it would be suicidal
to concede, for the sake of political exigen-
cies, ay extravagant and unjust demands
made by a powerful body of m••mbers simply
because their influence happens just now to
be in the ascendant. The fact of th..
metier is that the whole perplexing question,
ere it is finally solved and moved out of the
way, will have to he approached resolutely
by the legislature altoeether apa-t from
electieneering and party considerations.
IriAa aff irs ought not to be made the
medium or Mr. Gladstone coming into office
or of the Marquis of Salisbury being rele-
gated to Opposition, or vice versa; but a
honest, united, statesmanly endeavour should
be put forth to settle the whole matter by
general agreement. "Can we attain or re-
tain power by making such and such pro-
posals ?" has been the first thought of the
principal party men on either side hitherto
in much too great a degree • and correspond-
ingly the policy of the "other side" has been
ruled, the chief requirement in the eyes of
the leaders being that strenuous efferts
should be made to defeat any scheme started
or favoured by political antagonists. Th 4
proeed ere has led up to a ve;..y seii.)us state
of things at St. Stephen's and the whole
country will certainly berore long be ti:ert
of the shameful waste of legislarive time, and
opportunity whieh the party system is responsible for, as so palpably exempLiee in
the bnsiness of Irish rule. At the present
time the relations between the Governineut
and the Nationalists are exceedialy streined,
because of the Tanner incident ; and there
is personal, ill-feeling imported iato the
political war over Irelatul's ills. Ne re-
specter.of decency would defend the lan-
guage imputed to Dr Tanner by Mr Long:
and the expressions and expletives accredite '
to some honeurablemembe a by the reportere

from time to time are certainly most unwar-
rantable and diAgraceful to sueh an assembly
as the British Howie of Commons, whether
the offensive remarks are made in the lolthies
or elsewhere. There is an opinion in the
country that a good deal of unnecessary heat.
is introduced into the wrangles between
members, and that at times considerable pro-
vocation is given to those of excitable tem-
perament to employ phrases more forciOte
than polite. Be this as it may, we contend
that Mr. Speaker • a init take too firm
stand to secure ad e.!.-:.oe, to gentlemanly
speech and demeanoar within the precincts
of Parliament, and we consider he on4ht to
have power to exi el any member who so far
for4ets himself as to disreTard the amenities
observed in cultivated society, altogether re-
gardless of what eJction of the Huse such
member may belong to. Conservatives who
are stanach in their allegiance to the Pr.:-
mier and strong in their approval of his
method of parts management will regret to
find, that by reason of his desire to keep
those who arc now known as Liberal Union-
ists by his side, as re ;Ards the handling of
Irish land, he has come, to the conclu:;ion •
that it will be well to forsake for a time an
old Tory tradition, and to s-,nctiou an inter-
ference with judicial rots and solemn con-
tracts. The regret will be all the reater
becanse the allegiance of many sturdy tilst:A.
Orangemen and British Cons itutionalists ot
the thorough-going sort is endangered by
the concession to the onions of Mr. Cham-
berlain and his friends. Such men as Mr.
Henry Chaplin, Lord it:ilmorey, and C;oloa !
Saunderson have expressed the opinion tat
too high a price is being pad by the Prime
Minister for the Liberal Unionist vote. Now
all this will please the Gladstonia,n party in
the country vastly, and the s;ght of elements
of dissension in the composite majority
whereby Ministers keep their grasp upon
office will be eagerly welcomed, in the hop,
that they may lead to a political crisis, en,l-
ing in an .ppe,al to the country which might
as they fondly hcpe, result in the reiT.st• te-
m4at of the m.-.1-a.C.,cr for lii(ll:ithian at the
boast again. Ball thaw of the great

public who put patriotism above party will
only see in such an outcome of the sitaation
an..ther impediment to tl-le final settlement
of the interminable Irish matter, which, 'we
firmly believe, will never be briught about
until tile question is divorced from cont-m-
-tious strife, and politicians of every shade of
thought address themselves in real earnest
to right what is wrong, and deal out even-
handed justice
,to all quite regardless of
party considerations. The battle for place
and power may continue over Irish ground
a little while longer, but " to this eomple.-t-
-ion we must come at last," and the sooner
party leaders recognise the inevi able, the
better it will be f,•be the whole -kingdom.