The Osceola times., 1886-01-30
FOREIGN GOSSIP.
Reveiw of the Situation in the En-
glish Political Field.
The Irish Question Pushing Everything
Else Asiie--Lord salisbury Likely to
Resign and Gladstone to be
Again at the Helm.

LONDON, Jan. 24.-Lord Salisbury is
tired of his attempt to govern the Brit
ish Empire with the Tory party, and
wishes to resign. 1t can be said on next
to the highest authority that the Premier
expects to relinquish Office within the
next three weeks. Your correspondents
informant says: Salisbury would like to
settle the Irish question on a broad, lib
eral basis, but he can not do 1t with such
n party as he has. His colleagues wish
him to crush the Irish. He can't bring
himself to do anything of the kind, and
for this reason he will bring about
the defeat of the Government In order to
obtain justification for retiring from
power"
The minister who gave this startling
piece of intelligence, was asked IL he
knew what were the prime minister's
personal views on the Irish situation,
and he said: Lord Salisbury entertains
none of the fears professed by the Con-
servatives, that, If Ireland had home rule,
he Irish would become practically hos
tile people. He admitted to me re-
Gently that he believed that the
only hostility ever entertained by
the people of Ireland toward
England could be entirely accounted for
BY the coercive nature of the relations be-
tween the two countries. He went fur
ther, and said he was of the opinion that
II Ireland were made free she would
voluntarily seek even closer relation
ship with England than the one now
maintained by force, and would become
a most valuable and powerful ally, in
stead of being, as now, u dissatisfied,
troublesome, rebellious and continuous
ly expensive province. Lord Salisbury
maintains that the very situation OF
Ireland would make her freedom inure
eventually to England's advantage. This
situation he points out, differs from that
of Belgium and Switzerland In this That
whereas Belgium and Switzerland are
surrounded by powers all equally coyet-
Gus of their territory, and therefore
equally interested in maintaining their in
dependence, Ireand's contiguity is con-
fined to great Britain, and the interna-
tional interests of the two countries
would bt identical If they were neighbors
and not landlord and tenant"
"bLt,n went on the minister. sit must
he admitted that British parties, as re-
6ected in Parliament, represent the COM
mercial and land interests rather than
those of the peasantry, although the en-
larged franchise will undoubtedly change
this eventually. The land interest Of
England thoroughly sympathzes with
that of Ireland, partly from affinity and
also because the majority of the Irish
landlords are Englishmen, resident in
Great Britain. But the land interest OF
Great Britain, the greatest after its COM
mercial interest, has nothing like cor
rect idea of how Insignificant a minority
the landowners of Ireland are of its
whole population, nor of the really for
eign nature Of their proprietary. They
have become convinced that Nationalism
In Ireland Is i,lcutical with what COM
munism would be in England, and Of
course they are easily aroused to fight 1t
down.
"The Irish Tories understand how to
keep this English hostility alive, and they
manage to make nearly all the ordinary
violations of the law in Ireland appear to
Englishmen as crimes against property.
As 1t happens that, while the number OF
arrests in Ireland, where the police are
numerous and alert, averages much great
cr than in Englan, where the officers OF
the law are not so plentiful nor so enter
prising, it appears to the Engllshman
that the Irish people spend most Of their
time attacking the vested rights, and he
| is thus kept perpetually disposed to rule
them with an iron hand"
When asked If there were no statesmen
in the Conservative party who knew bet
ter the minister replied: "Yes, Lord
Salisbury is Just as well informed on this
whole business rs Mr.. Gladstone is, and,
in my opinion, Just as well disposed"
"Well, then, why don't he settle iti"
"Because he can't. His party COM
prises the bulk of the British land inter-
est. In this case that means the bulk Of
the ignorance and prejudice which stand
against fair settlement Of the question,
and as the ignorant and prejudiced con-
stitute the majority of the English aris-
tocracy, the most enlightened and liberal
aristocracy in the world, and the potent
element of the Conservatory party, Lord
Salisbury, in an attempt to pass liberal
measure, would simply be left without
party.
.Mr. Gladstone, however, does not
represent the aristocracv, but the husi-
he wishes 10 attempt a settlement of the
Irish question, in my opinion he can do
1t, and will attempt 1t when the govern
ment abandons the work"
Every phase of the situation bears ont
the prospect suggested by the above in.
formant. Lord Salisbury wrote the
Queens speech. 1t did not oppose home
rule, but opposed separation. The Irish
tl,a latt
even intimated that they ever would ask
for 1t. OF course, the majority of the
Tories believe that home rule and separa-
ton are identical, hence that paragraph
was simply political play upon their
prejudices. Mr.. Gladstone's address
during the evening of the Queens
speech was studiedly vague on
most things, but II was very
direct in reply to the Queens plea for the
maintenance of the integrity of the En-
pire, and this integrity had been Just as
great during the six hundred. years which
preceded the legislative union as 1t has
been the eighiy-hve years which have
elapsed since. The Panellites quickly
saw the subtle meaning in the sentence.
They accepted 1t as a proffer on the part
OF the grand old man to espouse the
home rule cause In return for Irish sup
port during the progress of the debate on
the address in reply to the speech from
the throne.
The Tories, ever since Thursday, have
been discontented with Salisbury. They
accuse him of everything bad politl-
cally, but principally of Want of
courage in delaying to offer coercion
proposals TIE upshot Of the develop
ments resulting from the Queens speech
win probably be the proposal of measures
! caf.inin tn Inlnnf of N o..