Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-14
TROUBLE FOR TORIES
In the Singular Prolonged Silence of
Lord Randolph Churchill.
MISCHIEF TO THE GOVERNMENT
Feared From His BrOoding So Long and
leep Over His Wrongs.
GLADsTONE'S ABSENCE is BADLY FELT
rBr CABLE TO THE DISPATCH. I,

absence of Mr.. Gladstone has deprive
the opening day of the Parliamer
tary session of March of its attrac
tlons for the general public but the
have been full Of interest to politicians
The Duke of Dsvonshire took his seat an
made mis- maiden speech in the House o
Lords Tuesday. He looked very unhapp,
and his speech was failure-not because
was duller than the average OF his oratorica
efforts, but because it was delivered IL
House of Commons style.
In the Lower House the reporters gal
lery is placed immediately over the Speak
er, and the orator naturally talks right a
the chair, but in the House of Lords tn,
reporters are placed opposite the Lore
Chancellor, who is the presiding officer, ant
the noble orators are accustomed to turn
their backs to "the Woolsack." The Duk,
of Devonshire quite disconnected the LorG
Chancellor bv talking straight out at him
and irritated his brother peers by compel
ling them to crane their necks and make
ear trumpets of their hards The steno
graphers were nearly driven mad in theil
efforts to follow the Dukes far-away voice,
and most of the published reports commence
''The Duke of Devonshire, who was indis.
tinctly heard, said" etc.
Lord Salisbury Coaches the Duke.
At the conclusion of the debate Lord Sal
isbury took the Duke aside and gave him
some advice on the subject, SO that the
novice will probably do better next time.
Mr.. Balfour's first appearance as leader
OF the House of Commons was also
to some extent failure. His tribute
TO the memory of the late Duke of Clarence
lacked eloquence and dignity, and he was
admittedly beaten in his first argumenta-
tive duel with Sir William Harcourt
But Tories and Mugwumps alike were
more than compensated for these disap-
pointments by Joseph Chamberlain's brill
liant debut Thursday, as leader of the Lib
eral- Unionists in the Lower House. Cham
berlain has never made better speech, and
its pungency was strengthened by the fact
that the bitter gibes and flouts and sneers at
his former colleagues with which it was
thickly studded were delivered from the
front opposition bench, upon which the
Liberal leaders were sitting.
Mxny Surprised and Amused.
The reference to Mr. Goschen's e1 note
scheme in the Queens speech, and Balfour's
promise that the bill will be introduced on
the subject has caused general surprise and
much amusement. As it will be impossible
to carry such measure this session. there
is ground for suspicion that the Government
regards this currency hobby as a sort of
alternative animal upon which to ride for
fall. Balfour is evidently in no hurry with
the Irish local government bill. That
measure which was to crown the structure
of Unionist legislation for ireland, sis to
play second fiddle TO a paltry English
L. Il.
pect of its reaching even the second
reading stage this side of Easter Early
next month the Government will probably
ask for a vote, on account of the financial
wear, which commences the 1st of April,
and the Liberal leaders will demand a
statement of the Government views as to
the dissolution Of Parliament before grant,
ing the money. The Government reply
will doubtless be unsatisfactory, and it may
be considered of a character to Justify the
Liberals in obstructing further legislation
by moribund Parliament, but in any event
it will furnish Mr.. Gladstone with a subject
Tor a great constitutional speech.
Tories Getting Very Uneasy.
The Tories are becoming uneasy at the
prolonged silence of Lord Randolph Church
i'll, fearing that he is brooding over his
wrongs and means mischief TO the Govern
L
ton, sharing this uneasiness and distrust,
wrote TO him the other day, asking whether
he proposed to seek reelection, and
whether, in that event, he will support the
Conservative policy. Lord Randolph
adroitlv replied that he intended to seek
reelection, and that he would give the
same support TO the party which he had
given since he entered Parliament in 1874
The Paddington Tories are pondering over
these words, and have not yet made up
their minds whether the promise embodied
in them is a proper answer to their ques-
tion.
Lord Randolph.s support to the Conserva
tive leaders since 1874 has often assumed
strange shapes. He has repeatedly been in
open rebellion, and has been the leader of
nearly every intrigue in the Tory camp
He has defed Lord Salisbury over and over
again, and he grossly and publicly insulted
the late Lord Idlesleigh and w. II. Smith
He drove the former kindly Statesman,
then known as Sir Stafford Northcote, from
the House of Commons to the House of
Lords and, as many still firmly believe,
worried him into an untimely grave. He
tried to do the same thing with Mr. Smith,
Mr.. Stanhope and Lord George Hamilton,
but failed His last achievement before
starting to "cow' lions in Africa was to
bring the Liberal Unionists and the Tories
into sharp antagOnism and thereby to
jmperil the alliance which alone has kept
Mr. Gladstone from power.
Churchill as a Tory Hoodoo.
In short, Churchill has done the Tory
party an immense amount of harm, and
would have done more if a man less firm
than Lord Salisbury had been Prime Min
lister. But he is such brilliant parlia-
mentary debater and so effective a platform
orator that the Tories have always feared TO
break win him entirely, and he will doubt |
less have seat in the new Parliament, but 4
whether as member for South Paddington
Is for the moment doubtful
Joseph Chamberlain has failed to obtain, |
in the ordinary course of balloting day !
for the discussion of his old age pension |
scheme, and the consequent delay has an
noyed him very much, because it /
has enabled rivals to enter the field |
which he had hoped to occupy alone. |
Sir Walter Foster, Nh. Labouchere, Mr.. |
Broadhurst and other good Liberals have |
collectively iathered bill, the simplicity !
of which is calculated TO bring ridicule |
upon the cumbrous machinery of Chamber |
lain's measure. BY this little bill the poor
law guardians, whose function it is to grant |
relief ordinarily, are not rivals to be inter- |
fered with, but if a person 65 years old or |
more requires a chance he must apply to
standing committee specially appointed by
the County Council, which will be en-
powered to make grant out of the rates up
TO 3 shillings per week SO long as the ne
cessity exists.
Two More Important Tory Bills.
Two othes bills are actually Forthcoming |
FROM the Tory side of the House, one to