The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-16
BRITISH MINISTRY UPHELD
JOHN MORLEREAILS TO SECURE
 TOTE OF CENsURE.

rtscaA Eoitcy Oefehred In tne COmS
 mons by Vote of 3s7 to 2zs-GeneraI
 Election fin the FaiI-Astituds of
 Irish Members.
 London, Feb. 15.-By majority of fifty-one the House of Commons to- night defeated John Morley's amend ment to the address in reply to the speech from the throne censuring the governments fiscal policy, and which was moved by MT. Morley in behalf of the opposition. There were 276 votes in favor of the amendment and S27 against it.
 This result, as forecasted in these dispatches, was a foregone conclusion. The opposition did not entertain any idea that it would be possible to oust the conservatives. The division took the form of vote of want of confi- dence in the government. which in- pelled many unionists who totally dis agree with the idea of protection to vote to keep Premier Balfour in power. While MT. sBalfours absence was keen ly felt, it was perhaps a source or strength to his party. as, without any defined fiscal declaration from the pre- mier, many of his supporters felt jus tified in upholding the government. Joseph Chamberlain also was absent, and the division lacked that intense in- terest which otherwise would have att tached to it. A general election is now expected in the autumn.
 The action of the Irish party in vot- ing solidly against the government was tonight succinctly explained to the Associated Press by John Redmond, the Irish leader, as follows:
 Ireland has suffered in the past equally from the protectionist as from the free trade policy of England. We are determined to use the complications which have arisen in the English par ties solely for the purpose of forward ing the cause of home rule. We voted against the government tonight, not on the merits of MT. Morley's amend ment, but because we regarded it vote of want of confidence In the govern ment. We shall strike in the same way against every government, no matter what party it may be drawn from, so long as home rule is refused"
 Neither the speeches tonight nor the division can be taken as accurate indi- cation of the probable trend of British opinion on the fiscal question. In the Hobbies of the House of Commons it was frankly admitted that votes were given to the government which may be counted on the opposite side when a general election on the basis of free trade vs. protection occurs.
 Neither Mir. Aclers-Do Douglas, the home secretary, who led the house in the absence of the premier, nor Sir Henry Campbell Zimmerman, the lib- eral leader, who summed up the debate for the opposing side, made much of an impression upon his hearers.
 The most notable feature of the de- bate has been the hopeless division of opinion among cabinet officers, some favoring MT. Chamberlain's out and out protection, while others seconded MT. Balfour's half-way measure of power to retaliate. Scarcely a member of the house who voted with the government tonight did not frankly admit his ig- norance of the degree of fiscal reform to which the cabinet is really commit ted.
 A large crowd gathered to hear the debate and the house was full from top to bottom in the hopse of 8 sensational denouement.
 The text of the amendment to the ad- dress in reply to the speech from the throne, moved by MT. Morley, is as fol- lows:
 Tt is our duty however humbly, to present to your majesty that our effec- tive deliberation on financial services is impaired by conflicting declarations from your majesty's ministers. We re- spectfully submit the judgment of this house that the removal of protective duties has for more than half 8 cen tury conduced to the vast extension of trade and commerce of the realm and the welfare of the population, and this house believes that, while the needs for social improvement are still manifold and urgent, any return to protective duties, and more particularly when inn posed upon the food of the people, would be deeply injurious to the na- tional strength, contentment and we'll being.'