The San Francisco call., 1896-07-26

even their p arty friends in London. The
English Tories blame them, Justly, for
having ruined Ireland by their greed and
stupidity. and have long resented in pri-
vate their disposition to ruin the Tory
party. too. unless it humbly did their bid
ding; hence, when Mr.. Balfour, his pa
tience exhausted in efforts TO placate them,
finally turned on them in the person of
Mr.. Curzon, and in the name of the Gov
ernment denounced their unpatriotic
meanness, their venom and their dlsloy-
atty, it sent magnetic thrill through his
whole party. He is quite restored to au-
thority again by that one happy outburst
of manly wrath.
Until yesterday it was taken for granted
that, even if the Commons passed this
bill, the Lords would throw it out or loRd
it with impossible amendments, but now
it is said that Lord Salisbury will back his
nephew stoutIy, and threaten the Lords,
if necessary, with Cabinet crisis unless
they abandon their Irish colleagues and
vote straight. AT this rate the Tory party
will be talking of home rule as not so bad
thing, after all, in another year or two.
ALI through the spring and early sum-
mer everybody looked forward to the
Jameson trial as the crowning sensation
turned out to be a stupid bore, and during
the latter part of the week people did not
care enough about it even to fill the tiny
courtroom in which it was held. Why the
original idea of the defense to raise the
single technical point of jurisdiction, and
if that failed, to plead guilty, was not pur-
sued has not been disclosed, but the alter
alton can have benefited nobody except
the lawyers. The jury is absolutely GER
tain to convict, and the only remaining
interest in the affair is languid curiosity
about the sentence. Incidentally the trial
has had striking effect on Lord Russelps s
popular reputation. He cut sharply
through the whole fabric OF objections to
the wording of the indictment by the re-
mark that the precedents on which they
were based dated from the time when it
was the habit of the courts to sacrifice JUS
tice to the science OF artificial statement,
and when Sir Edward Clarke piled up a
fresh mass of verbiage at another point
in the road Lord Russell kicked it aside
with the query, DO you contend, then,
that common-sense has nothing to do
His whole management of the trial,
which was alert, powerful and vigorously
hostile to nonsense, has been revelation
to the bar and has created profound i'm
preston on the public 1t is foreseen that
be is going to RANK among the very great
est Judges of English history, and it is
hoped that he will soon acquire personal
weight enough to establish a new stand
ard OF courage and Independence on the
English bench at large, where, heaven
knows, it is badly enough needed. Ora
matically it is great pity that American:
can not see him in wig and gown durne
his coming visit to the United States. Not
only is he vastly more effective to look al
when thus arrayed, but oddly enough, Il
Is only then that he speaks at his bess.
Premier Reid of New South Wales, it i:
felt, has driven the last needed nail into
the coffin of Chamberlain's scheme for al
Imperial Zollverein." Not only does he
declare it impossible from an interna
point of view, but he says that it would
destroy England by uniting the rest of the
world in hostile. com bination, armed
with new and substantial motive for re
venge. This is franker talk than most
colonial politicians have yentured, but il