New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-09

more nTmoraoie stlii as the session during which
! Mr. Gladstone renounced Mr.. Parnelrs leadership
and, having five years before split his own party
| in two, now performed the sane feat with his
Irish allies Still 1t has not been entirely an
| Irish session The Irish Themselves were too
much occupied with their intestine feuds TO
harass the brutal Saxon as much as usual There
| has been less obstruction and nearly all of it
has come from English Radicals who look to
/ Mr. Labouchere as their political Moses The
! Tithe Rent Charge bill, in which You cannot be
| expected TO take much interest reused passions
not less fierce, and provoked opposition not less
stubborn than any Irish measure of this Para-
ment, coercion not excepted: but it passed
| So did the Factories bill, another hotly
debated bill. These the four chief measures
of this session, and almost any one of them you'll
have been thought to siGnalizc any session o.
earlier, less troublous times. The Liberals have
had TO look on while the Tories, as they alege
stole their thunder and passed into law two great
schemes which in Liberal hands never got beyond
talk. Mr.. Gladstone, partly from illness, partly
| from his known repugnance TO lead pOwerless
minority in the House of Commons has kept his
tent during a great part of the SESSION. The
leadership of the Opposition has been in commits
sion, but Sir William Harco irt has pushed his way
TO the front and kept there, and has made good
cessor is wanted in tie leadership of the Glad
stonan party In the House of Commons The
session has brought forward no new of marked
superiority hut IL has wrought some silent changes
in political ranks Mr.. Smiths ability. tact, good
temper and businesSlil<c conduct of business are
universally recognized, but his health is zach that
! it Is doubtful whether he will resume the reins
next year. Mr. GOschen. though nobody disputes
his ability as financier or debatcr, is not popular
with the Tories and has lost ground. NoDody has
gained much except Mr. BalfoIr whose conduct of
the Land bill showed mastery, both of the prir-
ciples and the details of one of the most COM
| plnted bills ever introduced in the House.
! dealing with a subject which Mr.. Gladstone
! himself pronounced the most abstruse and diff
! ficult that he had ever attempted. Mr.. BafOur
was never at fault and he secured in the end what
was practically the unanimous support of the
! House for q measure, the proposal Of which had
revived the fierce controversy which ragged about
/ Mr.. GladstOne's proposal on the same subject
five years ago, and forced that Old Parliamentary
! Hand to abandon his bill. nseparoble though he
had declared it to be with his equally unlucky
| Home Rule bill. Mr. Balfour in a word has
proved himself not less capable as a legislator
| than as a debater and as ruler of Ireland. He
stands next TO Lord Salisbury in the confidence Of
| the party and of the country, and say
who is third.
The closing days of Parliament were remark
able chiefly for the performances Of Mr.. RailHes
and Mr. Atkinson Mr. Raikes took up his usual
parable fer the Postofice announcing some
grudging concessions to public convenience. de
| Tending abuses in his most arbitrary tone, and
! libeng his opponents. Mr.. Atkinson returned
! after a weeks suspension quieter than before.
| He made speech upon speech filed motion on
motion, grieved his friends and would have de-
lighted his enemies if he had any. He is pitied'
| not dsliked.
The dynamite debate came to nothing Neither
side wants Mr. DAILY HIS amiable colleagues re-
leased Even Irish sympathy with these scoun-
drels seems but half-hearted. They are in prison
and there they viii stay.
On the matter of Home Rule, though there are
those who say you tired of the subject in
America, I will quote two pieces Of testimony,
both from friends Of Home Rule. The first is
from the correspondent of a leading Continental
paper, so stanch pupil of the priests that he
calls Mr.. Parnel the true plague of Ireland He
declares mournfully that il is very doubtful how
far the bishops viii press Home Rule or how much
the mass Of their followers really for it. The
second is from one of the Radical Home Rule
| Members of Parliament. Our only fear is,
saws this honest gentleman lest the Tory Local
! Government bill Of the next session may not be
thorough enough to settle Home Rule once for all
and take il off hands" This remark would
surprise nobody here who has inside views of
politics If 10 the Home Rule enthusiast IN
America who dislikes being confronted with the
facts it seems a hard saying. one other fact may
make it easier Ny Radical Home Rule friend
is Nonconformst and there are signs that the
Nonconformist conscience is becoming restless
under it's present enforced alliance with the Irish
| priests Whether there will be another eX-
plosion like that ever-mcmOrable one of last
| November nobody viii vet venture to predict
The adultery of Mr. Parnell reused them to
rebelliOn-for such it was-against two leaders,
both of whom they loved and had followed blindly
They compelled one Of the two sorely against his
will, TO sacrifice the other The alliance Of the
survivor with the priests is just as close now as
it was then with Mr. parnell. The priests are
the backbone of his Irish policy. They will re-
turn at the next general election that substantial
majority of Anti-Parneltes which is to justify
Mr.. Gladstones new attempt 10 frame Home
Rule bill which shall please the Irish and not
displease the English. The priests in Ireland are
just as necessary to him as the Nonconformists in
England are. He would be helpless II dther of
them desert him. The of tue political stua-
tion lies therefore in this question: VIII the
! NOncOnformsts of England and Scotland consent
1 TO work in harness with the Roman Catholic
bishops and priests of Ireland? The bishops and
priests are at this moment the political masters
of Ireland They will select and elect her repre-
sentativcS in Parliament. They will dictate her
policy. They will define Home Rule if they
desire Home Rule or drop it if they deem dropping
it more useful to the Church. 1t is with them
and not with their puppets, Mr.. Dillon, Mr.
OBrien and the rest that Mr.. Gladstone must
make terms, rather it is they who will dictate
terms to him. They as wise as the serpents
whom Saint Patrick turned out of Ireland. They
| understand something of English politics They
| have heard of the Nonconfornists. They may
think it for the interest Of the Church TO impose
only such conditions as Mr. Gladstone can accept,
and to WELD their clerical control in such way
as not to rouse the Nonconformist conscience or
10 provoke another mutiny in the Liberal party.