The Irish standard., 1912-02-03
Separate Parliament for England,
Ireland, Scotland and Wales
Will be Final Result.
Balfour's Timidity and Irresolution
the Reason Home Rule Was not
Settled in Conference.
Gigantic Achievements of Liberals
Since 1906 a Severe Strain on
the Party Leaders.

In his Special London cable of Jam
uary 27 in the Chicago Tribune Mr.. L.
p. O'Connor, NJ. T., states it as his
stop i'm Ireland but that as IL matter
of fact the ultimate result will be To-
cal chambers in Ireland, England,
Scotland and Wales. He writes:
Immediately after the defeat of the
liberal candidate in Ayrshire an anon
ymous liberal member wrote to the
Times newspaper attributing the de.
feat among other things to the fever
and fret OF the last few years since
the liberal government came into Of
flee. He pointed to the gigantic things
was, first, the big budget of 1903, then
there was the revolutionary parlia-
mcnt bill, and now on top OF this
comes the national insurance bill. All
these measures have put terrific
strain on the energies and health Of
tho members of the ministry and on
the members of the House of COM
mons generally. The budget, for in
stance, was not passed in the session
of 1906 without several sittinsS which
went on until & u. IN. The parliament
bill was fought dosgedly step bf step.
and the Insurance. bill has taken three
months OF parliamentary time, every
second of which almost absorbed by
tho details of that very intricate and
very moncntous measure
II you consider the policy OF the
tory party today also, it is as differ
cllt from the policy of the old tory
party as though it were called radical
instead of tory. The main bodies of
the tories of today arc-cXcept on the
great question of FREQ trade and pro-
Over and over again the young men
OF the tory party, even some OF them
heirs to pccrngcs, declared during the
debate on the parliament bill that they
are anxious to see purely elective
second chamber substituted for the
hereditary chamber which now exists.
Again the last of the great Cecils
made vain and futile attempt to keep
the tory party to it's old moorings.
again and again Mr.. Balfour was
pleased that some remnant at least of
the old hereditary principle should be
maintained, but everybody remarked
that his observations we're received in
stony silence by his own supporters.
Hearts Not in Work.
Take even the question Of Home
Rule. j have no doubt that tho ques-
ton will be fought out with the great
est tenacity and bitterness, for it is a
party issue now and the tories have
been much encouraged by their sue
ccsses in the bye-elections But all
the same, does anybody who is ac-
quaintcd with the inner life of the
House of Commons fail to realize that
the hearts Of a great many Of the tor
les, especially among the younger
members, are not in the work, l be-
Iievc that at least one-third of the
younger members are in favor Of some
form of revolution, probably they
would describe themselves as federal
Home Rulers.
As a matter Of fact we are all fed
eral Home Rulers, for nobody imag-
ines that Home Rule is going to stor
in ireland; we must have local cham
bers in the four countries and, above
all, we must have an imperial parlia-
ment free to deal with imperial affairs
and with them alone. If the tory par
ty be not united on that question to-
day, it is due not to the bulk of the
tory party. still less to the younger
section. 1t is due to two causes. first
to the besotted gang of Orangemen
whom the unionist constituencies in
Ulster still send to the imperial par
Lament and who really belong to the
sixteenth and not to the twentieth
century.
This little gang is backed up by
Lord Lansdowne and some of the 9TH
er great Irish landlords, but it Is hated
and despised more in tory ranks than
even In the liberal 1ts higoHy. its