New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-27

HoUSE OF CoMMoNS-MR GLADSToNEs
REVIEW OF MRS. WARDS NOVEL
MORE TESTIMONY AS TO MR.
BLAINEs HEALTH
fBY cABLK TO THE TRIBUSEi
copyrsoat; 1883; BY The Nes. York Tribune.
LONDON, April 2e--Lord Randolph Churchill's
attack on the Government is something more than
sensation. 1t modifies very considerably the
,olitical situation. The Tories treat it as If per-
.onal motives were at the bottom Of it. They
ara believe, quite wrong. No doubt Lord Ran
dolph has his grievances nor is he the man to for
Get them 1t is quite possible that he resents
Lord Salisbury's obstinate omission to ask him to
return to the Ministry, which he ought never to
have Quilted. What Lord Randolph really cares
for. however is not Office but power He is con-
tent so long as he sees the Government adopting
and acting on his ideas and giving effect to his
wishes. That they have done, most of all In that
long stride toward democracy taken when they re-
solved to give the English counties the right Oh
electing their own rulers They fell of in the
other direction when they refused to Ireland what
they offered to England This refusal Lord Ran
dolph regards as a political mistake, and he
warned his ex-colleagues of it in terms OF eX-
ceeding plainness.
Seldom has there been a more exciting twenty
minutes in the House Of Commons. Lord Kan
dolph spoke with all his usual ability and with
far more than his usual seriousness. His speech
was masterpiece of condensed, lucid ana I'M
pressive statement. So bent was he on pnnlng
the whole Ministry to their former pledges tnat
he went to the very verge of indiscretion in his
disclosure of Cabinet proceedings. lie hau' ne
reminded the House, himself on the accession oil
the Salisbury Government in 1885, as a member
of that Governments declared in favor of the ex-
tension of local government in Ireland. lie now
afirms that this declaration had been first put IN
writing and been approved by the Prime Minister
and by the Irish Secretary. Both the Torres ana
the Liberal Unionsts assented to it when uttered
The promise to treat England and Ireland anKe
In local matters the foundation of the Union
ist alliance 1t was so understood by the country,
land l." said Lord Randolph, VIII not be re-
sponsible if that pledge is to be broken" lie
calls for specific performance of it, not for some
general and vague intimation that something will
be done when, in the opinion of the Executive
Ireland is fit to receive such boon.
The meaning of all this is that Lord Randolph
Is convinced that the Conservatives cannot go to
the country when the time comes for an appeal TO
the country on any other basis. On that polhU
his authority is higher than that OF anybody else
in the party. He, and he alone, as l have often
said, has the ear of the Tory Democracy. lie
knows what they will stand and what they Will
not stand And when he tells this Tory Ministry
that the Tory Democracy will not stand failure
n
time for the Tory Ministry to be setting their
bouse in order. Mr.. Chamberlain came to their
help at once with the suggestion that Mr.. Bal
four who had spoken just before Lord Randolph,
meant nothing like indefinite postponement OF the
nromised reforms; postponement was only for the
moment and that Mr.. Chamberlain approved
SO for the moment the difficulty was tlded over
and the Ministerial majority rose to It's normal
figure, 81 But Lord Randolphs speech has
none the less made it imperative on the Ministry
to reconsider their position, certainly with refer
or.a IN one important Irish question, possibly
with reference also to Lord Randelphs position
as an outsider.
This incident has entirely eclipsed the incident
of the day before, itself Of doubtful omen for
the Ministry They then embarrassed Dy
having to defend the increase OF sentences ny
County Court judges on appeal under the Orihes
Act This increase is admittedly legal and ad-
mittedly also an act of bundering zeal on the part
of one or two judges. Debate, however, took such
turn that the Government came comfortably OUT
Of it. Almost every speaker lost Lis temper OF
at least his compOsure and there was such
cracking of epithets as the House has not often
heard Mr. Gladstone himself was at white
heat. and the hammer of the Attorney General
fell heavily on him in that maleable condition
Mr.. Gladstones review Of Mrs. Humphry Wards
novel Robert Elsmere has been written is IN
type and will appear in the May Nlneteehth
Century" :" A most remarkable article says Mr
Knowles. who is Judge of such things So the
reconciliation between Mr.. Gladstone and Mr
Knowles is complete. Notice from such quarter
is. of course, an excellent advertisement for Mrs.
Wards novel. There are always jealous people,
and an attempt is made to persuade the public
that Mr. Gladstone reviews Mrs. Wards book
because Mr. Ward is on The Times staff. Moth
Ing is too absurd for belief. Mr. Gladstones most
persistent opponent is this same leading journal,
which he is now foolshly supposed to court in the
person Of the wife Of one Of its editors
It is announced to-day from various quarters
that Mr. Chamberlain is shortly to be married to
Miss Endicott. The statement is made as If on
authority One paper adds that Mr. Endlcott VIII
succeed Mr. Phelps as American Minister, and is
expected to arrive here in few weeks. If this
be So they seem to know more Of Mr.. Cleveland's
mind in Birmingham than in Washington
A London paper prints story that Chief-Justice
Waite left his family in poverty, and contrasts
the salaries paid to judges in America and in Eng
land where the Lord Chancellor gets Just five |
times the pay of the American Chief Justice for !
less work and for less responsibility. Yet nobody
here thinks the English judges overpaid. The
word applied to the American treatment Of the
bench is beggarly"
As the Mugwumps seem resolved to convince !
themselves that Mr.. Blaine's health is not good |
I may mention the testimony of an English lady
who knew him last season In London, and who
met him a, week ago in Rome. " l never" said
this lady, I" saw o man so much changed for good
lie looked younger stronger and in better spirits
than last summer. In fact, l never saw man
Of Mr.. Blaines age look better e. w. S.
THE NICARAGUA CANAL SURVEY.
ENGINEERS ENTHUSIASTIC OVER THE RESULTS OF
THEIR WORK.