The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-25

body, however, can tell what their pro gram is When liberal speakers take the platform their speeches are confined to criticism of the unionist government, and afford little or no indication of what line the liberals would follow were they again supported by a major ity in the House of Commons. It Is the same with the addresses by liberal can didaets at the by-elections. Usually in these addresses nowadays there IS no mention of home rule, and they are full of platitudes to which either a tory or a liberal could subscribe.
 The question just now to the front IS the licensing of the liquor trade. The evidence taken before the royal com mission shows that some reform is ab- solutely necessary and cannot long be delayed. Yet the liberal candidates in their addresses and speeches fight shy of this question, and are as non-com- initial as their opponents It Is not too much to say that the liberal party is now without a satisfactory leader, and practically without program, al- though there have now been four ses- sions of the House of Commons elected
 
 cannot be more than three years dis tant. Among the moderate liberals in- action and listlessness are the obvious ly prevailing characteristics, and the liberal party as a whole, presents a spectacle, the like of which has never been seen since modern liberalism fo- cussed itself around the question of parliamentary reform in the last quar- ter of the 18th century.
 To the radical wing of the liberal party, the position is irksome to weari- ness, and the radical leaders and jour- nalists are on the hunt for items for the program for the next general alec- ton. The recent reyerses which have attended great trade unions in their struggles with capital seem likely to afford the most promising field. In the meantime, and outside the field, vari- ous suggestions are being made, are discussed for awhile and then allowed to drop. ne day, the abolition of the veto power of the House of Lords is suggested. The next, the naturaliza- tion of the railways is put forward as a good cry for a general election. Again, old-age pensions are suggested as a likely cry for the liberal party and still again, it is insisted that the liberal party, if it desires to win back its pop ularity, must tackle the land question. And so the discussion goes on, but with no result so far as the immediate fu- ture of liberalism Is concerned. The fact is that constitutional reform has gone sof ar in England, that the liberal party is nearing the end of the great mission that the liberals of the early decades of the 18th century set for themselves and to-day, and until new issues, not of constitutional charac- ter are brought forward, and parties di- vide on them, there is very little to separate the tories from the liberals. For the liberals, the situation is dis heartening. It is hard for them to real ize the feeling of the country, that the era of constitutional reform is nearly at an end and especially hard in view of the fact that unless something turns up, they will be without a program when the general election comes round in 1901.
 There are two or three constitutional reforms which the radicals still think ought to be made, but it is not possi- ble to awaken much enthusiasm on such questions as the payment of mem- 1 bers of Parliament and the reform of l the system of registering parliament l tary voters. These are. details which 1 neither touch nor interest the over- whelming majority of the electors. The l present tory government has taken some retrogade steps in the interests I of the chruch and of the landowners. 1 But these again do not touch the great l bulk of the electorate, and against these retrogade movements in domestic
 politics, there has to be set the fact 1 that since 1895, England has been romp- 1 ingly prosperous. The tide in industrial
 affairs changed soon after the unionist
 government came into power. The
 unionist government has nothing to dc with the change. No responsible states man claims that it has. But when the
 next general election occurs people will
 remember that the god times dated from about 1885, and the unionist gov
 ernment will get the credit.-Londor
 Letter by Edward Porritt in New York l Observer.
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