The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-25

| against whose private virtue. whatever may be
his political faults, the tongue of his worst enc
! my can utter 10 word Of reproach.
PROBABILITY OF A NEW ELECTION
Referring again to the Queens speech, thai
document I find, promises The introduction dur.
ing the present session Of nine different meas
ures and pledges the best efforts of the govern
ment to their passage. One Of these is bill
extending the Parliamentary franchise to the
! counties on the same conditions as the boroughs
enjoy it; that is, to all househoders who pay
rates. This bill will embrace Ireland, and upon
Its passage or rejection hangs the fate Of the
party in power. Should it either fail in the
House or be thrown out by the upper chamber
Gladstone will call Il halt, and the sense Of the
country be tested by general election; and the
latter contingency is highly probable for the
! peers though they treat the sovereign with
| respect, never miss an opportunity of snubbing
| the representatives of the people. Consequently,
| we may look upon the struggles that have just
| begun in the House of Commons as its death
throes, and we may expect them, on that
count; to be unusually severe and exciting
But not all the fighting will be done on
thlS franchise question There will be
| hard contest over the bill which proposes
TO bring the whole Of London under
municipal government and another and even
hercer fight over the bill for the reform of the
| lINecuJ government OF the counties. vi IHe
latter local option will be a feature. The House
has already Endorsed the principle OF local OPP
| tl0n Now 1t Will be asked to give its sanction
to measure for carrying out that principle.
Let 1t not be thought for a moment, however,
tlat the scheme to he brought forward Will pro
VIDE Tor the submission of the question OF per
uniting or prohibiting the sale of intOXcants to
direct vote of the people. All that is cOntem-
plated Is to take the licensing power out OF the
hands OF the magistrates and give it to a board
elected for general purposes by the ratepayers.
Inns board, within its jurisdiction, may license
few public houses, or may not, as it thinks
BEST but for all 1t does, or fails to do, it will, OF
course, have to answer to the voters who con
stltuted it. This is Mr.. Gladstones idea of
proper local-option measure-hardly what would
SUIT the temperance people of our country. and
1t Is certain moreover that it will not give sat
lsIactlon here, The liquor interest VIII be sure
to oppose it, because they want here, else
where, to be let alone, and the other side, though
they may think it an improvement on the pres
ent state OF things, will still feel that it Is far
| from meeting the necessities of the case, and
far from being ultimatum. OF the nine
measures promised it can be safely predicted
that not more than three or four will pass, and
that some will not even be introduced. Be
tween the expectations raised by ministers at
the beginning of a session and their fulfllment
in actual legislation there if always very wide
discrepancy-ow however not to any lack of
good intentions on the part of the government,
but simply for want of time--or, in other words.
because Parliament is blessed, or cursed,
with so many lOng-winded takers Latterly,
too, systematic obstruction has come into vogue,
veritabe dog i'll the manager patent, by which
a small minority, who cannot have their own
way, resort to all sorts of mean devices to pre-
vent others from having theirs, so that between
the two fires Of ''muchee talkee" and downright
mulishness, the government stand with their
hands tied and the work of practical legislation,
for which the House of Commons is supposed to
! assemble, becomes the one thing above all
others which it cannot do. | have before me,
in addition to the one read on Tuesday the four
| other speeches of the Queen to the present Par
lament. In the first, out of six measures re
| ferred to, three We're passed In the second
two only were passed out of ten. In the third
the proportion was three out of nine, while in
the fourth thirteen promised and five
enacted into law.
AFFAIRS IN EGYPT.
No one was sorry this year that, in conformity
with old custom. the beefeaters were brought
| from the Tower prior to the assembling of Par
lament to search the cellars and under ground
rooms of the two houses with the object of pre-
venting the consummation of any modern gun
powder plot Ordinarily this is looked upon as
a foolish formality, but it was thought quite in
place this time. Ireland, however. is not the
only country that causes trouble over here.
Dark clouds hang now over England's Egyptian
| interests. Just as the address to the Throne
was about to be moved the news reached us of
the slaughter of Baker Pasha's force This I'M
fortunate general is great favorite with the
English people. Your readers will not have for
gotten the disgraceful circumstances under
which he was deprived of his commission in the
English army 1t was for an indecent assault
upon young lady III a railway carriage But
that was some years ago. and his brilliant ser
vices since, under the Turkish and Egyptian GOV
ernments, coupled with the distinguished posi-
ton he occupied prior to his fall
as the best cavalry officer in the Brit
entirely obliterate that stain, that he is now
where he was before in popular esteem, it, in
deed, the rebound of feeling in his favor has not
placed him in higher niche No one doubts
his courage, or his great skill in command. His
crushing defeat was obviously due TO the cow
ardice of the wretched herd, disgracing the name
of soldiers, whom he led into the field. But it
has a greater significance than the defeat of
Hicks Pasha. for it is felt that if Baker can do
nothing with the Egyptian army the case is quite
hopeless. The ministry feel the blow very much
No wonder Gladstone was pale and subdued
when he stood at the table of the House and read
the dispatch relating to this event The Egypt
ian complication BODIED good to the govern
ment, matters stood previously, and
many think this last development has sounded
| its death-linell. All eyes turn now toward Col
Gordon. Should he. too, be oYertaken by disas-
ter the country would be wild. Gordon, by the
way is an intensely religious man. Before de
parting on this mission he wrote to friend: II
go alone, with an infinite, almighty God to direct
and guide me, and am glad to so trust Him as to
fear nothing and indeed, to feel sure of success
To undertake single-handed the subiugation of
a lot of bloodthirsty wretches who have but re
Gently cut two large armies to pieces is hazard
Gus enterprise In the spirit in which Col Cor
don has entered upon it, it looks to very much
| like an unnecessary tempting of Providence
Nevertheless the old adage, Nothing venture
nothing win" is very true, and if the one who
makes the large venture in the present instance
should be so fortunate as TO win not only will
he be exalted to the position of a worlds hero,
but he will stand good chance of being canon