New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-07


similar expedition. in which case the new Par
! lament may he ready to meet in February
next. In the mean time, the composition and
/ arrangement of the Liberal Cabinet will give
! distinct clew to the general policy to be
| followed by that party in case 1t secures at
| the polls majority. or at least a plurality,
of the House. as it is widely expected to
do. That composition and arrangement is not
yet disclosed. but probably will be in few
days. The chief curiosity of observers will be
to see whether or not Lord Rosebery is Included.
For some days there have been confident pre-
diCtiOns that he will not be. Lord Rosebery Is
a man Of great ability, who should be a peculiar
~ valuable member of Cabinet Moreover, he
has hitherto been Prime Minister, and thus is
entitled to much consideration. On the other
hand, there are many men of ability in the
party, enough to fill all offices acceptably with
out Lord Rosebery. The significance of his In
clusion or exclusion will not, therefore, relate to
governmental efficiency. but rather to the att
tude of the new Ministry toward the single
question OF Irish Home Rule. That is the one
question on which Lord Rosebery irrecOncilabIy
differs from some other Liberal leaders. If he
is included in the new Ministry we may as
sumo that Home Rule has been abandoned by
the Liberals, at any rate has been placed in
allegiance. If he is not included, it will be
fair presumption that the Liberals will seek to
make and maintain an Irish alliance by means
of some measure of Home Rule acceptable to
the Nationalist leaders
The new Prime Minister is reported to have
explained his attitude on Home Rule to his anti
Home Rule colleagues. and to have devised
policy that will satisfy the Nationalsts with
out causing new schism in his party. If so
he has done an uncommOnly shrewd thing, such
as none of his predecessors in the Liberal lead
ership We're able to do. 1t will be recalled that
in his Stirling speech of November % he said
that in his opinion the only way of settling the
Irish question was to let the Irish people man
age their own domestic affairs. That speech was
interpreted as committing him to the policy of
giving Ireland a Parliament Of her own. 1t
created decided sensation and gave Lord
Rosebery, as he said the next night at Truro,
some misgivings as to the unity of the Liberal
party. On the other hand, Lord Rosebery, in
that Truro speech, positively declined to commit
himself upon single item OF policy, because, as
he explained, of the imminence of the general
election 1t was, he said, desirable that no
voice should conflict with the united voice Of
the Liberal party, and that. whether by speech
or by abstinence from speech. they should do
all in their power to secure the largest Liberal
majority possible That is to say, all contro-
versial questions should be held in reserve until
after election. The country should be asked TO
sign q blank check, to be filled out by the Lib
erals after election. That, beyond doubt would
be ShTewd policy But the exclusion of its pro-
poser from the new Cabinet might be construed
as an indication that it not to be followed
1t will not escape notice that it may be pos
sible for the Conseryat tive UnfoniSt party to put
all differences in allegiance and present united
front at the polls. just as Lord Rosebery says
the Liberals and Radicals should do. The ques-
ton of tariff reform might thus be dealt with as
readily as that of Home RuIe-perhaps even
more easily Mr.. Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain
are supposed by some to be far apart on that
subject, vet Mr.. Chamberlain himsesf has not
more plainly than Mr. Bafour committed him
self against CObdenism and IGisSez fare and in |
favor of retaliatOry tariffs against the hostile 1
tariffs of other lands. At the present time it
seems probable that the coming elections will be
contested, with no sure victory for
either side until the votes are counted We must
that in 1892 the Liberals won only
27O seats. against the 26S of the Conservatives |
and 81 of the Liberal Unionists and so were |
enabled 10 control the House only through ALI
anCe with the 81 Irish members In 1895 the I
Liberals got only III, so that even with the So I
Irish votes they were unable to overcome the
$40 Conservatives and Il Liberal UniOnsts
Finally, in 1900 the Liberals and Labor party
together got only 1856 seats, and with the 50
Irish votes were in hopeless minority before
the 334 Conservatives and IS Liberal Unionists
These figures indicate how great a change must /
secure a majority, and how overwhelming must t
be the revolution if the Liberals are to win
clear majority over all