Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-06-28

to cover the deficit i'm army supplies
After spirited debate the division was
taken, resulting in the governments defeat
by vote of 1872 to 12j. The outcome was
two meetings of the cabinet and Lord
Roseberry's resignation.
The New York Tribune reviews the sit
uation at length, as follows:
Due allowance in reckoning the short
comings of the fallen ministry must be
made for the circumstances amid which it
assumed power. 1t came in as the inheritor
of policy and program formulated by the
greatest British statesman of his generation,
and of the alliances he had formed and of
furtherance thereof. That policy and pro-
gram were the most momentous, those alli-
ances the most heterogeneous and unstable,
and those antagonisms the most resolute,
within the memory of living men. There
would have been small cause for wonder
had Lord Rosebery, and indeed all other
readers of his party, faltered and declined
to undertake the task which Mr. Gladstone
had begun. There is no dishonor in not
attempting to bend the bow of Ulysses.
But Lord Roesbery and his colleagues did
not falter nor decline the task. They en-
tered upon it with jaunty, self-confidence,
and their followers in the House of Com
mons and in the country cheered them on
with high satisfaction.
For one reason or another the ministry
has not done the work expected of it,
Above all else it was pledged to give Ire
land relief from her burdens and home
rule. 1t has not done so. 1t has shelved
home rule, and it leaves the land bill not
enacted. 1t has. bestowed not one practical
benefit of importance upon the people to
whose support it owed its origin and its
maintenance and to whom its solemn faith
was pledged True, it could not, for the
House of Lords stood in the way. There
are many who will regret that it did not
make a more resolute endeavor, and then,
if balked irremediably by the House of
Lords, stake all on an heroic appeal to the
country to remove the obstacle. Such
action would have commanded respect
whether it won success or not. But the
ministry did not take such action.
In'other directions the conduct of the
government was scarcely more effective.
The crofter and other Scotch questions were
neglected until members were driven to
open revolt and to resignation of their
seats. The Welsh church question is left
in shape which pleases nobody. The
Socialists and Labor party were pleased a
little by the adoption of a discriminating
income tax, yet in other matters even they
were alienated more than ever. In foreign
affairs-the very department in which
Lord Rosebery was expected most to excel
the record is perhaps the least satisfac-
tory of all. In Siam, in the Soudan, on
the Niger, on the Nile, in Madagascar, in
the Pamirs, on the Yellow sea, Great Brit
ain has been overreached or ignored. If
she has made gains in,South Africa, it was
in spite of herself, and because Mr.. Rhodes
defed the home government. If she has
annexed Uganda, it is only because minis
ters have done what five years ago they de-
cared they would never do. 1t would be
unjust to lay the blame of these things at
Lord Roseberys door. Impaired health
has forced him to intrust nearly all affairs
of state to others, and there is no doubt
that he himself is glad to be rid of the
odium which divided party councils inn
posed upon him.
Seldom has a ministry taken office with
more ambitious promises, Seldom, in
deed, has one left office with so meagre an
array of performances. The party must
now meet the electorate with scarcely a
single issue worthy of consideration in a
national campaign, and probably doomed
to defeat. What the result of such dlsci-
pline will be is problematical. 1t may be
chastening and reformatory, or it may be
disintegrating. Certainly the forces of
disruption are strong. Mr. Labouchere and
his Radical followers have long been openly
hostile to Lord Rosebery and only half toll
Grant of Sir William HarcouIt. They are
not likely to be reJttached to those leaders
by this catastrophe. Nor are the Irish
likely to be enthusiastic in renewing and
maintaining their alliance with those who
have again failed to secure for them the
justice for which they have so long plead
ed. Under other circumstances and with
more loyal colleagues Lord Rosebery may
one day regain the premiership and vindi-
cate the lofty expectations of his admirers.
Certainly he deserves a better fate than
that which hats just befallen him. In this
country, at any rate, toward which his at
titude has ever been most friendly, he will
not lack sympathy and good wishes for the
future.
Lord Salisbury, who has been summon
ed to form a new ministry, is Conserva-
tive who is specially devoted to the estab-
lished church and to church institutions.
He served as secretary of state for India
under Lord Derby and Mr.. Disraeli, was
one of the representatives of Great Brit
ain at the Berlin Congress, and became the
acknowledged head of the Conservative
party on the death of Lord Beaconsfield
in 1881. Since then he has been twice
premier for brief terms, during which he
de veloped a strong foreign policy.