The morning call., 1893-02-19
HAS WARNED THEM
Gladstone Will Abolish the
Lords.
MUST ACCEPT HOME RULE.
If the Hereditary Legislature Sets
Itself Above the Country 1t VIII
Cease to Exist.
MUST ACCEPT HOME RULE.
Special to THE MORNING CALL

the Tribune from London: 1t Is pretty gen.
orally conceded that the second reading OF
the home-rule bin will be carried in the
House Of Commons. The Irish members
can by themselves either carry II or defeat
il. and they have elected wisely TO vote for
the bill. The McCarthyi;es gave 1t cor
dial welco me. The Parnelltes, by the voice
Of thelr leader, Redm ond, were more re-
served. but Red N ond's speech on Tuesday
was regarded on both sides as an adhesion
in substance to the principle, which will be
affirmed by the second reading.
That fact that the principle Of home rale
will be affirmed by the second reading Of
this bill is the governing fact Of the stua-
iion, and that is why the Irish NationalSts
show their political good sense in accepting
the bill, and would be equally we'll advised
IN accepting a surrender far less complete
than this. When once the House OF Com
mons shall have affirmed the principle of
home rule the whole question of the rela-
tiOns between Great Britain and Ireland is
profoundly altered.
The general election is one thing. a ma
joTity for Gladstone might mean anything.
II certainly did n0tmean that the electorate
of the Z United Kingdom approved his bill.
for they did not know what 1t was. 1t did
not exist. Gladstone himself did not know.
Nor is it quite accurate TO say that they
voted for home rule in principle. What
they did was to give him a mandate to
frame home-rule measure. They returned
majority to support him, but not TO sup
port him for all purposes or for any conceiv-
able bill. 1t is conceivable that he should
have produced q bill which his majority
would have declined TO vote for. There is
DO sign that any section of them will decline
to vote for the present measure, and if they
do not the home-rule controversy will have
entered upon a new stage. When the men,
bers are read out alter the division at the
second reading then. and then only. will
the election have done its work. for then at
last the majority of the House of Commons
viii have recorded its opinion in favor of a
separate Parliament for Ireland.
Balfour said, on Tuesday, rather incau-
tiously, that the only so0nd way Of esti-
mating public opinion in this country is to
count the votes In the House of Commons,
without too curiOusly inquifing whence they
come. Cautiously or incautiously said, 1t is
q declaration binding upon the party he
leads Unless and until il is disayowed by
view, the effect Of it Is to commit Balfour
and the Unionist party. though with limta-
tons which l will presently state. to the
admission that when the votes of the House
of Commons have been counted in favor of
the second reading of Gladstone's bill. the
public opinion OF the country has been
aseertained. 1t will then for the first time
have been pronounced, definitely and
RutheBtieally pronounced, in favor OF home
rule. Il IS a step which, once taken, can
never be Tetracted.
II does not follow, far from il, that this
bill will ever become law, or that statu-
tory Parliament will ever be set up in Dub
lin, but none the less is there an advantage
sccTuing 10 its authors and supporters from
the second reading very considerable and
wholly beyond dispute.
We may be quite sure that nobody is more
alive TO that advantage than the old Parlia-
mentary hand to whom. in the main, this
measure owes its being. He has sacrificed
much and impeIiled more in order 10 make
sure of carrying it through this critical
stage. he knows what further perls await
it aud him in committee. He knows what
awaits it and him in the House of Lords
should the bill ever get there. / imagine
that his version Of what will happen in the
House of Lords and Of what will ensue
upon the inevitable overwhelming rejection
OF his bill by the Lords is much clearer than
his forecast or The probable course Of events
in the committee. In the House of Com
mons itself he stands in the presence of
great constitutional convulsion which be
has himself preeipitated. He has con-
yinced himself that 1t is zeal for the public
good and concern for the common welfare of
Ireland and of Great Britain which are the
maiusprings Of his action. That his zeal is
sincere and his concern genuine may be ad-
mitted. but the origin Of both In their pres
ent form dates from his discovery in 1885
that the Irish votes were necessary to his
return to power.
He Will presently make another discovery.
He has announced it already in no vague
terms To regain power is nothing unless
be can retain and use it TO his own ends.
Between him and his ambition stands the
House Of Lords. and there can be little doubt
that he is ready to destroy the House Of
Lords unless it yields to his imperlous sum-
mons. Having entered upon the path of
constitutional change he is prepared to fol-
low it to the end. What he really cares for
Is home rule, but if. in order to accomplish
the overthrow Of the existing union, it be
necessary to lay violent hands on another
great institution he will do that. He counts
on that. He has satisfied himself that the
House of Lords, in its capacity as legisla-
tive body. is unpopular. He reekons that il
will be easier TO carry home rule and the
abolition of the Lords than to carry home
rule alone. He looks, therefore, to opposi-
ton from the upper chamber as an ultimate
help. not hindrance, and that is one of the
main sources of the serene confidence which
his enemies are disposed 70 call self-conf-
dence. This latter he has In high degree.
but his faith In the passage of his bill is
probably matter of political calculation,
based on such considerations as it briefly
indicates
Nevertheless the limitation upon Balfour's
doctrine, to which l referred above, Is also
a Limitation upon Gladstone's policy, and il
Is this: Neither Balfour nor Gladstone
would deny that the House of Lords is
within its clear constitutional right in the
exercise Of suspensory vote upon any
measure OF constitutional change adopted
By the House of Commons. The phrase
''suspensory vote" is not strictly accurate.
but custom sanctions 1t and II is convenient.
1t means that the House of Lords has the
constitutional right to reject such measure
and to refer the question to the people.
The Ministry responsible for the measure
may then dissolve Parliament and appeal
to the country, and not till that has been
done can the deliberate and inal opinion of
the country be sscertained.
Gladstone pTopounds a new theory and
has threatened to adopt new practice He
denies the right of the House of Lords to
fix, as he says, the date for dissolution or
TO determine at its own will the existence Of
an elected House Of Commons. He pro-
poses, therefore, TO 60 on in Parliament
after the rejection Of his bill by the House
OF Lords as If nothing had happened, but
TO start an agitation in the country over the
House of Lords. Such an agitation might