New-York tribune., 1886-04-08
Mr.. GLADSTONE'S PLAN.
BUYING OUT THE LANDL ORDS AS A STEP
TO HOME RULE,

TO HOME RULE.
! FEoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT THr TnrBUNE.l
LONDON March "a.
The following Dialogue is reported as taking place
between q Cabinet Minister and an outsider:
Outsder-Well, see you still oxist.
Cabinet Mnster-Yes, we are good for about
three weeks.
This seems to have been said seriously. II it
were 1t can only mean one of two things. Either
tho dissensions In the Cabinet serious than
they are commonly supposed to be, or Mr.. Glad
stone means IL beaten in the House OF Commons to
resign and not to dissolve.
Perhaps both are true have heard within the
last day or two that one or two Ministers who may
be called opportunist are becoming alarmed at the
strength of the opposition inside the Liberal party
TO Mr. Gladstone's Land Purchase scheme. That
opposition is still very imperfectly developed No
man likes to commit himself against proposals the
full scope Of which he does not know against pro-
posals which may be very much modified before
they are finally avowed by their author.
| There are signs of modification. Points which Mr..
Gladstone at first fatly refused to yield are now
treated as open questions The interview on Satur-
day between the Prime Minister and Mr.. Bright is
said to have abated something of the nelastcity of
Mr.. Gadstone's purpose He and Mr.. Bright are
old friends. Mr.. Brghts attachment to his former
| chief Is of the most afectonate character his de-
votion survived the strain Of resignation and Of
divergng opinions on the grave,t subjects Both
are authorities on Ireland both have long been
among the best friends Of that unhappy country
both have been revied by the Irish patriots OF the
day. When the interview of Saturday came to
end, Ministerial emissares spread abroad the re-
port that Dir. Bright had been converted by Mr.
Gladstone Talked over. said the Tories or.
bluntly. squared To-day it is known that the
of IA mi
anybody was talked over it was not MIR. Bright.
Nor was Mr.. Gladstone nor was Mr.. Bright bent on
any m visionary errand. There was full exchange
of views aud 1t is probable that the Prime Minister
In consequence Is engaged in recasting his prOpos
ais There Is other evidence to the point, but
| abstain from repeating the thousand and one
rumors with which London is flooded. Never was
there n time when gossip more abundant;
never time when 1t was less trustworthy. Not
one story In a would survive passage across
the Atlantic. Not one in five lives four and twenty
hours even in London.
Few of the people who are about Mr. Gladstone
tell him unpleasant truths. He reads few newspa
pers. He may very we'll therefore have lived if not
in ignorance, yet in state of very imperfect
acquaintance with the hostile developments of pub
lie opinion with reference to his last schcme Mr.
Bright, doubt, told him the whole truth That
of itself would account for this sudden readiness
to reconsider his position. The Liberal leader is
the shrewdest of politicians. He has not the least
intention of wrecking his party or himself in this
Irish voyage if he can help it, And there signs
to-day that 1t may not be absolutely necessary for
the faithful Radical to regard Purchase as IA neces
sary article of faith The clearest of these signs is
to be read i'll the deliverance Of one of his chief sup
porters to-day.
For there is already, though the crisis is not ten
a.. 81 I dam that Mr.
Gladstone has resolved new departure. The
thing you hear most often is that the Grand Old
Man has got his back against the wall. But he is
being urged to abandon that position. Mr.. LabOu
chere leads off, the Liberal organ of which Mr. La
bouchere is q proprietor seconds the suggestion
though more tmidly. They say to him: You
have given the landlords their chance they have
refused it ; throw them over and propose Home
Rule pure and simple. There 49, however. de-
feet in this line of argument or appeal Tue state
ments on which it rests are not true; they false
Nothing has yet Seen offered to the landlords hv
consequence they have refused nothing. Mr. Glad
stone once and his friends often, have warned the
public including the landlords, not to believe the
current accounts of his intentions with reference to
Irish land The Gladstonian Liberal is daily crying
ont that there will be reaction In favor of the
Ministerial plan when the plan is disclosed. The
cost of the scheme has been exaggerated, they
il will not be f2OO. 900 900 it will be not much
more than half that sum. The security will be
good the guarantees ample the interest will be
met without charge to the British taxpayer, and so
on 1t is strong thing even Tor an organ to de-
clare one day that the published proposals are false,
and the next that because the landlords have not
accepted these false proposals they shall have moth
ing What Mr.. Gladstone is reconsidering. then. is
not the policy of purchase but the possibility of
oha,,a
as to get rid Of some of the Radical criticisms it.
The truth is very simple. Mr. Gladstones whole
scheme for Home Rule proceeds on the theory of
buying out the landlords. 1t is, in his view,
matter of justice-even of honOr-and of expe-
dency one as much the Otner. 10 leave the
landlords to the mercy of Irish Parliament Is to
leave them to be plundered. The Irish Parlia lament
will be in the hands of the men who for some years
past have been wont to describe the landlords as
land thieves. Let us take Mr. Michael Davltts tes-
timony When he was in London weeks
since, he discussed this point. Leave 1t to u.s."
said this very frank parsonage; there are no guar
antees You can ask for the security OF the landlord
we will not give you and not one of them Will be
worth the paper on which it is written" Mr.. Glad
stone is bound to the interests of the class to
which the faith of England Is pledged. The |
country will not hear of Home Rule when Home
Rule means confscaon of the property of the most
loyal section of the Irish people. do not believe |
anything will induce Mr.. Gladstone to sacrifice |
them or the country to acquesce in such sacrifice
So We come back to the Land Purchase scheme as
an integral part of Mr. Gladstones Home Ruie
policy. Most of those hO oppose 1t are it is true
opponents of Home Rule also of Home Rule. that
is in any shape broad enough to be palatable to
Mr. Parnell. They do not deny that means must
be found to protect the landlord If an Irish Parlla-
ment Is to be allowed to legslate III Dublin But
they say that scheme to which tins gigantic
financial operation is necessary condition prece
dent is condemned in advance. And they take
th cir stand on financial and economical objections.
People are aghast at being called upon to create
hundred H. lions sterling OF new debt. We may