Omaha daily bee., 1885-08-01


pllments showered upon him, The task
Of restoring the supremacy of crown law
In Ireland was as diff cult and dangerous
as 1t was thankless. He took the crimes
act for which both English parties had
made themselves r%etponslble and en-.
forced it with vigor and tact. If he
made some mistakes this was inevitable
but In the main he acted prudently and
succeeded In the end in securing the
punishment Of criminals. The Irish
people naturally hated him because his
success was a triumph for English admin.
istration. He paclfed the Island and re.
stored the supremacy If law by means
which the Irish unite In denounclng.
The frat coercion act had failed, wherea.
the crimes act had accomplished Its pur.
pose; but In the estimation OF Mr.. Par.
nell's followers the measures were equally
detestable.
III Lord Salisbury takes o serious view
Of the perdicsment In which the lois OF
his Irish allies has placed him, the two
warlike generals from the Soudan and
from Afghsnistsn will be kept in sus-
pense. SirPeter Lumsden hurried home
from the scene of hostllities in Asia,
breathing all sorts of defiance at the
Gladstone ministry. and had the pleasure
on his arrival In London of finding the
tories In power. His happiness was
made complete by tho extraordinary
honor of an invitation to dine with the
queen, with Salisbury as the only other
guest. General Wol,eley came up from
the Soudsn at the rame time, IN high
wrath With the Gladstone ministry at
the failure of the Soudan campaign.
Wolseley had not kept his appoint
ment to dine In Khsrtoum at q GER
tain date, and he wanted to chow the
world that the Gladstone ministry was
the party at fault. Both Sir Peter Lums
den and General Wolseley had a personal
ambition to crafty by war. One wanted
war In the Soudsn, the other In Afghan
isssn The check Salisbury has received,
even If he does not take tho hint and go,
will place these generals on the anxious
seat. A ministry that is likely to be
voted down any day on a trlrisl matter il
not q safe mlnlstry to tie to. There is a
vast difference between an invitation to
dine with the queen and the premier and
one to dine with the queen and an ordi-
nary noble Of her court. 1t Is quite poa-
sible that the people will be wlee enough
to keep these two self. seeking generals
waiting a long time.
The new tory administration in Eng
land has given q quasi assent to the prop
onitlon of the Parnellitea to investigate
the late criminal administration of Earl
Spencer at Dublin. The tories are
divided on this subject, Huch journals q
the st. James Gazette and the Saturday
Review taking strong grounds against any
review of the action of Spencer imprison.
ing certain parties In consequence of the
Maamtrasna, Castle Island and other
murder cases. The Parnellites insist
that the parties ere wrongfully impris-
oned, and they seem likely to
have the matter reviewed. 1t seems
strange that the tories, or the official por-
ton of them, should be takin a pro-Irlsh
position; and yet the Irish question has
developed to the point where the posi-
ton of a political party on the subject is
almost decisive Of its continuance or fail
ure in power, Lord Churchill has wrought
the change in his party's position and the
recent debates show that a very inf1uen-
tisl tory element Is In favor of attempt
ing to govern Ireland more In accordance
with the wishes of the Irish people.
Hence the tory support of the land
rrrnhoua Kill orl nfhar o~o1;p~o4fua
measures whose inception was In the lib.
eral party. Lord Carnavon has fallen In
with the tendency OF his party, and, al
though the movement Is probably an
electioneering trick, the Irish leaders do
not care. They will take all the fish that
come into their net from whatever source.
Michael DAvltt and q few other malcon-
tents still clamor in the old style, blu:
Mr.. Parnell's scheme of reform by legit.
innate parliamentary action is the winning
game.
Sir Stafford Northcote, now known as
Lord Iddesle'gh, gave expressions re-
Gently, at a farmers' meeting, to ideas
that would have scared his earlier tory as
s~ociates out Of their wite. If there aver
was a thing that could scare any tory 1t
was any proposition to NEEDLE with the
cfust' grown systems of land transfers
that had 250 years of prescription and
stupidity behind them. Less than half
a century ago it cost as much In labor
and expense to change the proprietor
ship of a little plot Of ground In
England as would have rufficed
to conquer an Indian province. Con
s~equently land transfers were exceed
inly rare and none but the most wealthy
could stford to buy. This Ia one of the
reasons that led to the gradual accrstions
of vast landed Estates in q few hands, and
this, In a certain sense, Was tho sub.
structure upon which the tory party
reared and maintained it's power.
"Touoh the land and you touch the
country" used to be a familiar tory cry. |
1t is, therefore, the more surprising to
hear a man like the E .rl of Iddlesl Sigh
speaking avowedly as q landowner, and
declaring that 1t is the truo interest of
English landowners that ''iand
should be as available for
transfer as any other prop
eriy." II this kind of thing goes on
much longer 1t will be difficult for
ordinary people to understand what lie
the precise distinction between tories and
radicals. AT present the only difference
that can clearly be seen Ia that mi party
Is out and the other in, and that the
''outs" wish the conditions to be changed.