Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-21
IRELAND In THE WAY.
GladstoneS Famous Declaration
Again Hits the Nail on the Head.
TORY DEM0RALIZATI0N BEGUN,
And the Session of Parliament Not Much
More Than a Week Old.
CIRN0T AFTER A GOOD CABINLT-MAKER
)RY DEMORALIzATION BEGUN,
CARN0T AFTER A GOOD CABINLT-NAKER
rBY CABLE TO THE prsPATcH.l

LtNAON,
Gladstone's famous declaration, '1reland
blocks the way" has been strikingly justi-
fed by events in the House of Commons
this week. The time of the House has been
moropolized by Irish business, and orators,
from Cabinet Ministers TO new members,
have talked of nothing but Ireland On
Tuesday night the Government narrowly
escaped defeat upon an Irish amendment to
the address In reply to the Queens speech,
and on the following day they averted
actual disaster only by resorting to the
shabby device of putting up a long-winded
Tory to "talk OUT bill designed to facili-
tate the requirement of small holdings by
agricultural laborers in ireland.
The Tory decentralization which THE DIS
PATCH predicted would be witnessed this
session has already set in, and has attained
dangerous proportions within a week OF the
opening of Parliament The gravity of the
situation from a ministerial point of view
was demonstrated to those who know what
is going on behind the scenes by Mr.. Bal
four's anxiety to have his speech at the
Constitutional Club on "Wednesday evening
fully reported. The occasion was a banquet
organized in Balfour's honor, and it had
been repeatedly announced upon authority
that the proceedings would be strictly pri-
vate.
Reporters Called Into Rcquistion.
The Central News and the Press Associa-
ton, the two agencies upon which the entire
British press rely for reports of big political
speeches, were informed as late as Wednes-
dav forenoon that the original arrangements
would be maintained, owing to Bslfour's
strong desire for privacy, but two hours
later special messengers were despatched IN
hot haste with invitations to dinner and a
request from Balfour himself that reporters
attend. and that full notes of his speech
might be sent to every newspaper In the
United Kingdom.
This speech proved TO have the double
purpose of forcing the hands of the Liberal
leaders and of reminding lazy or unwilling
Tories of the absolute necessity for the |
strictest attention to party duties. The text |
for the first part of the discourse was fur |
nished BY an extremely able but mischiev- |
Gus speech delivered in the Commons on |
Monday night bv John Redmond, in the |
course of which he called upon Mr.. Glad |
stone to publish the details of his home
rule scheme forthwith. The Tories have
been making the same demand for years
past, so that they naturally cheered Mr.
Redmond with great gusto, and Balfour
Wednesday evening gave it his hearty in
feared TO take the country into his conf
dence because he intended to cheat either
lhe British Liberals or the Irish National
lists
Gladstone's Theory as Usual
Gladstone's contention has always been
that it is no part of the duty of the leader
of the opposition to propose important
legislation because he has no power to carry
it through Parliament, that it would be a
violation of the rules of Parliamentary
strategy to table bill which he would be
powerless to pass and that it will be time
enough TO show his hand to his opponents
when they shall have summoned up courage
to appeal to the constituencies.
1t is fact we'll understood that when
Parliament has been dissolved, Mr.. Glad
stone will place the issue before the country
in the form Of manifesto in which will be
embodied the leading features of his home
rule scheme. The British Liberals and the
majority Of the Irish Nationalists are quite
willing to wait until then. 1t is only Mr.
Redmond. Mr.. Balfour, Mr.. Chamberlain |
and their friends who are in a desperate
hurry to know what the Grand Old Man
has up his sleeve.
Mr. Balfour's appeal to his followers to
give reader and more cheerful attention to |
the crack of the party whips was pitched in
dispondent key, and is not likely to have
any permanent effect. The Tories are too
far gone in melancholy even to assume
cheerfulness, and too assured of coming de-
feat to pretend confidence. But exuberant
gaiety prevails in the Liberal ranks, and
their uproarious merriment Thursday even
ing, when Balfour introduced his so-called
Government bill for ireland, quite uiscon-
certed that ordinarily self-possessed philoso-
pher.
Laughter He Couldn't Suppress
They really could not help laughing, and
the wonder is that the Tories managed to
keep their faces straight Some of them,
TO their credit, failed to do so, and one loud
gutaw which startled the House at a
critical moment is said to have been
emitted by the Minister for Agriculture,
but as Mr.. Chaplin's face remained impas-
sive, and as he is not credited with anv
sense of humor, the statement is probably
incorrect. The scoffer might have been
Lord Randolph Churchill, who occupied
back seat not far from Chaplin, and re-
manned there all evening, resolutely deaf to
frequent ironical appeals addressed to him I
from the Liberal benches to say what he 1
thought of the bill Lord Randolph had 7
come down prepared to speak, for he was
dressed with great care and wore a carna-
tion in his buttonhole, but he was so
staggered by Baltour's safeguards" that he
decided to wait until the bill has been &
printed before criticising its provisions.
If he be the honest man that he is gencr-
ally supposed to be Churchill will have
nothing TO do with the monstrous measure 4
offered in apparent mockery to Ireland.
He has over and over again declared that
system of self-government should be sub
stantially similar TO that given to England Il
and Scotland, but Balfour's shameful bill is
q veritable travesty thereof 1t is founded
upon distrust of the people, and based upon
the assumption that the vast majority of
Catholic Nationalist Irishmen are tools and
rogues.
Safeguards That NuIlify.
AT every point the evil power of Dublin
Castle is obtruded, and wherever there is a
semblance of popular franchise it is forth
with nullifed by some kind of Safeguard"
The Unionist daily Chronicle truly saws:
Like the hero Of Ibsen's Gengangere' this
bill is worm eaten, even at birth. % 1t is
too much even for the lickspittle daily Tele- q
graph, which for five years has s-=sll..oyed I
every Tory pill and professea to like ii each
time. Either Ireland is ft,' saws the
Telegraph, ''or she is unfit to possess and
exercise local self government as we under
stand it in England. II she is fit she ought to
have it in reality and substance If she is
unfit she ought not to be Knocked with the
shadow of it.
The Telegraph is supposed to represent
that section of the Unionist party led by
Lord Harrington, now Duke of Devonshire,
and the Chronicle is practically Chamber
ain organ. But the Duke and his satel- I
ites have already expressed 4 modified ap-