The times., 1901-03-10
LONDON NEWS AND GOSSIP.
The Irrepressible Irish Question
Again to the Fore.

Again to the Fore.
LONDON. March 9-The favorite ditty
OF the London music halls for months
past has run. What do you think OF
the Irish now?' This weeks momentou'
happenings have made the question most
difficult to answer. Lords Wolseley ana
Iansdowne are both Irish by birth ana
association and. together they have TINS
week mana ged to send tumblnG over the
abyss their own regulations ana the great
army system for which they we're Jointly
Responsible. and watching their taIi' that
he may profit in building up a new army
system. sat another Irishman. LarI
Roberts.
Across the Iobbies in the House o Com
mons twelve Irishmcn have once ag1in
proved how absolutely the whole British
Parliamentary system is at the mercy o.
a handful of determined men whom Eng
lish atesmanship has failed to TeCoac L.
with English rule. 1t has in truth lcen
an Irish week. Ii is impossible to say
that the British public has been very
much perturbcd by the irish row in the
House of Commons. Parliament has lost
that halo of sanctity which great person
alities like those OF Pitt. Palme rston, csl,
Disraeli. and Gladstone used to give II
it. and has become in the public mini
little more than a talking shop, too We
bose and unwieldy for practical work.
The spt ctacle. therefore. of policemen On
tering The peoples chamber and hauling
out representatives, of the people. m 'ch
as they would drunkards out Of a tavern,
hardly seems TO have shocked the Eng
lish public. Generally the simile of
nurse carrying a naughty little boy out
Of the drawug-room occurs to them. and
perhaps they even share the satisfaction
which the Spectator expresses today
when it says that it is rot sorry to see
the Irish members in simulated tantrums,
because they are never dang rous when
noisy.
To Minister of the Crown. whose views
have been aired the whole affair appealed
as a mere Irish trick to replenish the de-
pleted party treasury by subscriptions
from the sympathetic Irish servant girl in
America The deeper meaning of it all
hardly finds expression in the press,
namely. the fact that after these hun
dred years of English rule, two-thirds Of
Ireland's representatives seize every op-
portunity to block the English governing
machine, and harass and degrade Eng
lish public life. and win widespread ap-
plause in Ireland for their pains
AS to the rights and wrongs of the case,
Mr. BaIfour undoubtedly is far too fond
of cloture. and can use his power in the
most exasperating way. Moreover, Par
lament becomes a farce when vote OF
sS5 900 600 can be forced through the House
after five hours discussion on one only
of half a dozen burning English, Irish,
and Scotch subjects affected by the vote.
on the other hand, the Irish members
who have managed to squeeze eighty-four
speeches into two and a half weeks Sit
tings can hardly claim to be gagged; but,
after ali the practical point is that II the
Irish Nationalists choose they can oy con
certed extremist measures bring the
British Parliament to its knees, as well
now as in Parneus day. If Tory Par
lament had to yield to one Bradlaugh'
who had one constituency only at ms
back. how can it resist eighty Bradiaughs
and eighty constituencies?
England is trying this morning to mas
ter the details of the new army scheme OF
Mr. Brodrfck and Earl Roberts, which IS
to take the place of the system to which
Lords LansdoWne and Nolseley gave tle
final kick In the House of Lords TINS week
On paper it looks admirable; l2b3'g ne"
troOpS are to be provided, a cost OF less
tban SO coo coo or SO per man. making a
home army of 6SO.0O men. But every }one
asks Where are the men to come from
There is 20 he no increase in pay; no new
sources Of supply are tapped, not 4 single
additional man Is to be passed through
full course Of military training. The
scheme. in fact, falls back upon the OLD
soldiers militiamen and volunteers. ana
promises modest reform in drih and train
ing and some clearing away of the war
Office chaff, but nothing sweeping, nothing
sensational.
The truth. Of course, IS that the Chancei-
lor of the Exchequer. with mis- war bill
the demands Of the King 5 new civil list.
and the paramount needs OF the navy, had
little left and Mr.. BrodriCk not daring TO
provide money by wholesale retrench-
ments in the present Administration. IS
driven 20 make this bold attempt TO create
an army sufficiently big for the latter-day
Imperialism, without paying for il. Over
II all he throws the shadow Of Conscrip-
ton Il do not doubt" he said, that man
for man. a voluntary army is better than
a conscript one. Ny adhesion to the vol
untary system Is strictly limited TO our be-
ing able to obtain under II a force with
which the military authorities can satisfy
the Government that they have sutfi-
cient force to resist invasion, and can
train il TO their satisfaction" But ii
would take many Mr BrUdricks to induce
England to go that length I'm militarism.
As though the enormous decrease in
Bradford's trade with America were not
depressing enough. the Bradford textile
employers are Ike the Liverpool cotton
masters, face to face with a determined
demand for lessening the hours of labor.
They are unitedly opposing the demand
and have decided 10 ask all British textile
manufacturers 10 join a special association
for the purpose Of resisting trades unions
demands.