New-York tribune., 1906-01-21
THE NEW PARLIAMENT.
HOME RULE PREDICTED.
Labor Likely to Play Leading
Part in Legislation.

,ao To, on-U-ithin the last eight days
the political map of the United klngooIli mas
been completely changed by the tide OF Lloelal-
ism which now is higher than the most san
guine radical dared to predict or nope iho
new Parliament will be Overwhelmingly Liberal
In to this time the total number of members
elected is 4s0 of whom 247 are Liberals ll4
TTnionists 40 Ilaborites 7S Nationalists and
Socialist This leaves 1870 seats still vacant
The Liberals thus far have gained no fewer
than III seats counting Labor gains as Lib
eral and if the same proportion is kept up
for the remaining 1910 seats, the Liberals VIII
have 4OT votes in the next Parliament, TO which
may be added those of AZ Laborites soclahsl
and So Nationalists which would give the
Prime Minister. Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-
man. 533 votes against 1871 for the CohserVa-
tives While this estimate is entirely specuia-
tive it is not by any means tmpoSslole OIL rear
ization nor could it be more extraordinary VI
startling than the results of the last few days
ireland remains practically unchanged Ihe
Nationalists have plucked one seat from the
solid northeast corner The Liberals have
broken into the Tory stronghold of Scotland
with prospects of other remarkable successes
while as already noted, the great fortresses Oh
the Unionsts during the last ten years nave peeh
RACED before storm of undreamed-of LhoeFdi
sentiment or of opposition to the Unionist pol
icy.
With the exception of Birmingham, which Is
completely controlled by Joseph Chamberlain
all the great centres have shown determlila-
ton to change from the old order Mr. Balfour
will probably remain an outsider until he re-
ceives a chance in a bye-election, though pos
sibIy some safe Unionist seat may be relln-
ouished in his favor before the end of next
week 1t is understood that several efforts in
this direction have been made, but without sue
| cess Such reports as these. it is believed. are
| materially weakening the prestige of the ac-
| credited leader of the Unionist party. In the
absence of Mr.. Balfour, Joseph Chamberlain
| probably will take command in the next Par
| lament; at any rate he is now acknowledged to
| be the strong man and will have the greatest
support of any man on the opposition benches.
The most remarkable feature of the elections
thus far is the Labor members elected. The
| last Parliament had only seven Laborite mem
| bers, while UP to the present no fewer than
| forty of them have won seats, and it is not at
| all improbable that labor will have a represen-
tation of fifty members in the new Parliament
| This undoubtedly would have a tremendous ef-
| feet future legislation in England, as the
| Laborites are almost certain to get the support
| of the Home Rulers on any reasonable measure
| introduced by them.
One of the most prominent politicians in Eng
It is useless to minimize the present revolution
| and might as we'll begin to take a new view
| OF the situation. In my opinion a Parliament
| sitting at Dublin may be looked for within the
| next two years. Assuredly, John Redmond
leader of the Nationalist party, and the Prime
| Minister have reached a working agreement
| and it is inconceivabe that Mr.. Redmond would
| be content with anything less than an Irish
Parliament. I have no idea that such Par
| lament would mean separation and have good
| reasons to believe that a plan is now under con-
In1 he ltcrin
| be eliminated from the deliberations of such a.
| Parliament. which would act under the I'm
perial Parliament, and the experiment of ad-
| minstering Irish affairs can be tried, at least
| under conditions which have changed in the last
| century
| The elections will be over before the end of
| next week, the last contest being set for Janu-
| ary 26. But as far as the Liberal government
| is concerned. its life may be measured not
as predicted prior to the elections by
| months a few years, but by the limitations
| Of the Septennal act.
Out of forty-one returns this morning the Lib
| erals took twenty-one seats. of which twelve
were captured from the Unionists, including
| Woodstock where the Marlborough influence did
not suffice to stem the anti-Conservatfve flood
| Among the Unfonists who lost their seats is Sir
| William Hart-Dyke. Conservative. former men,
ber for the Dartford Division of Kent, who was
| President of the Council from 1887 to 1892.
| Lieutenant Colonel Arthur H Lee, Conserva-
tive former Civil Lord of the Admiralty, who
was British military attache at Washington and
later attache with the American army in the
Spanish-Amerfcan War. was reelected for the
South, or Fareham Division of Hampshire. by a
greatly reduced majority.
The former Secretary of State for the Home
Department, Aretas Akers-Douglas, G'onserva-
tive. was reelected for the East or st. Angus
tines Division of Kent
Four additional returns, two Nationalists,
JTnionist and a Liberal. made this after
noon The Nationalists seat at North
Tyrone by the election OF w. H. Dodd, K. c..
against the Unionst candidate, Denis Henry.
K c. The seat formerly was held by a Liberal.
the former Solicitor General for Ireland, Charles
Hare Hemphill who was elevated to the peerage.