The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-18
HEALYs. GREAT SPEECH.
Defiance Hurled at the Big
Majority in Opposition to
:.> s. Home Rule.
OLD WAR CLOUDS REAPPEAR.
EngIand's: Press and Public Show
Great Tolerance of the Clamor
= of France.
fcopyright 1895 by y.the New York Times.l


. LONDON, ENG, Aug. l7.-It is an Irish
session, .afterall. I suppose I, must have
: heard this<remark. in some form or other
fall from: fifty: Sassenachs' mouths inside
= the precincts of Westminster the last two
davs. Most often it-is rumored ia tones of
me IahchoIy detection, though some were
angry and here and there one grinned as
Bespoke The discovery which it points
to is curious, but, after all, intelligible.
Everybody. thought that Ireland was well
under foott6r the rest of the century ). mil
lions of the electorate had voted humoris-
tic ON the express understanding and
pledge that they were to: hear no more
about that. standing nuisance. Ireland for
q long time to come, and the entire eoali-
ZIONIST press, when the results of the polls
. were announced, congratulated the courl-
: try on this delightful outcome.
. =: Now, TO their vast surprise, this Parlia-
ment,. which was hardly to mention the
name.of IRELAND, meets and straig ightway
plunges head over heels into. compli-
Gated Irish racket which is not only bound
to occur. again next week and haunt what
remains of the session, but is obviously to
.monopolize the bulk of the long sitting be-
ginning in February. This Is very painful
and bewildering as well to the British
mind. -
The explanation lies, however, quite on
the surface. The total opposition in the
new Commons amounts to only 259 mem
bers, of whom the Irish Nationalist (83)
are by far the most potential third. They
represent, indeed, the only considerable
faction of the opposition which knows
what it wants or feels like taking the trou-
bic to make its wants known. The British
Liberals temporarily have had the fight
4 knocked out of them, large nun Der of
%their leaders have disappeared and those
who are left are anxious to lie low, and will
says as little as possible ilr year or so.
On the other hand, the Irish have returned
with increased members all cock-a-whoop
for combat. Their spirit was portrayed
last night in Healy's remarkable speech
when he said: 1--WE look across at your
great majority without awe. 1t represents
merely the fuctuating spasms of English
politics, while we stand for the permanent
forces of Irish nationality"
Hence it is not strange that in the new
House the Irish from the outset should
fighting. The argument that nothing can
be. gained by fighting, which appeals so
strongly to the scattered and disheartened
English, Scotch and Welsh groups of Lib
erals: has no meaning to the Irish, who
have grown up accustomed to struggle
against overwhelming odds. 1t should be
said, too, that the rank and file of the
Irish: party are much happier in their
minds about internal matters than they
had expected to be. They took the bit in
: their own teeth yesterday and forced their
committee to abandon its suicidal preten-
:sions to dictatorship inside the party. Not
:. only were Healy, Arthur O'Connor and
Knox elected on the body, but others were
given plainly to understand that any ,ft-
:. ture nonsense of iockeying constituencies
or OF Using the party purse as a factional
corruption fund would be sharply pun
ished by the majority of the party.
+: This gives ground for hope that the con-
spiracy of inferior men to shut Healv out
OF public life has received its death blow.
. His speech. of last night, which is treated
by the whole press to-day as the event of
:. the session, was backed by the cheers of
his united party as the authoritative delv-
erance of leader.
:. It was clearly the effect of this speech
which dictated the result in the committee
room after it, when a party secret ballot
for committee placed Healy at the head oi
the poll with thirty-one votes, abreast oi
Dillon and Blake, and above all others;
Two of Healy's oldest supporters refused
10 vote ct all, on the theory that it was ot
no. use. If they had voted he would have
had the majority of the committee. The
remaining vacancies in Ireland are ex
pected to be filed by his friends, which
will give. him practically. a half of the
party. and as he has no dream of punish
ing or ostracizing anybody, there is g
chance at last of some Decent semblance ot
union in the party.
Next week we will. doubtless be i'm
mersed in anxious discussions about the
Mekong, as was foreshadowed in these
dispatches. England has lodged protest
against the. Franco Chinese treaty, and on
Tuesday the official statement is expected
in Parliament on the present state of this
very genuine complication. France has
repudiated entirely an agreement to estab-
lish a buffer state between Burmah and
her sSiamese acquisitions, and has per-
suaded or compelled China to cede to her
territory which is really British. and is now
occupied by British garrisons. The Eng
lish are also intrenched at Mong Sin, on
the east bank of the Mennong, which the
French say they must quit. All attempts
to compromise matters on the ground had
been abandoned before the Chinese treaty
added fresh complications, and no one now
sees how either country may withdraw
without grave loss of prestige. Almost
equally depressing is the dispute with the
French on the Niger, of which the Times
q says it is impossible that England should
accept any compromise.
There also hangs in the offing a consider
able number of other Anglo-French quar-
frels, of. which that in. Egypt is always
Nkeady to be thrust forward into awkward
prominence.
The avowed French, policy for years