St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-18
The Second Reading Of Gladstonss Ellis
Secured by q Wizardlike
Ability.
His Measures Pulled Through the Par
iamentary Mill Only by Superb
Craftsmanship,
A Great Reduction TO be Made In
Telegraph Tolls From the Other
side of the Water.
Matters of Moment Caught In the
Capitals OF thssOld
World.
The Week i'm Parliament.

Special Cable TO the Globe.
LONDON, April IA review of the
parliamentary week brings TO view with
great cleRrness the wizard-like faculty
possessed by Mr. Gladstone of swaying
as he pleases even such a body as the
present house of commons. in which he has
but shadOwy majority. He has secured
during the week the passage 10 their second
reading of three of the most
difficult bills he ever advocated without
even a division on any one of them.
These are the Irish home-rule bill, the
budget and the land-purchase bill. The first
OF these provoked at the outset fierce and
bitter opposition. To Judge from the eX-
pressions heard on all sides the days after
its Introduction, one would suppose that il
stood no chance OF passage. unless indeed
by the narrOweSt majority in otly-fOught
division. But Gladstone relied upon the
superb organization OF the Liberal party
and bided his time. The Tories and the
malcontent Liberals privately stood up 10 be
counted and the result was the announce
ment that they would postpone until the
second reading of the bill their demand for
a division" This obviously meant that
they had canvassed the house and found
themselves in hopeless minority. The
day had been deemed SO impraeticable, so
revolutionary and so generally obnoxious
passed its initial stage on Tuesday without
division and amid a perfect tumult of
cheers. On Tuesday night the budget was
introduced. In formulating this measure in
face of the
GREAT AND GROWING DEFICIT.
Mr.. Gladstone had choice of three evils.
viz: To ignore the iicit, leaving it to
grow until cared for in some future years
which would be most slipshod statesman.
ship; to add penny pound to the income
tax, which would be universally employed.
or to dip into the sinking fund which would
affect no one personally. He accepted the
| latter alternative. cautioned Sir
William Vernon-HarcOurt, whose place
/ it was to introduce the budget, to avoid
debate and the measure was adopted on the
very night of its introduction, without
division. and almost without a hostile
word. The third achievement of the week
was the passage last night of the land pur-
chase bill. This measure had provoked
more bitter hostility in certain quarters
than even the home-rule bill. 1t had
caused two secessiOns from the cabinet Ii
had been denounced in advance in Liberal
clubs and at coalition mass meetings. and
most people believed that unless it proved
to be much milder than had been sup
posed the bill was doomed 10
certain and immediate defeat.
/ When it was preached the bill was found 10
be an uncompromising, wholesale appro-
priation measure, containing all the features
which had been complained of. and event
ually increasing the national debt by almost
the maximum amount which had been
stated with horror by its enemies. Bun
there were few passes of Gladstone's
magic wand, harmless growl from Cham
berlain and a nOn-committal speech by Par
nell. and presto, this bill also was passed
TO its second reading without more ado.