New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-05-24


don't argue the point. but whoever
reads day by day the proceedings in the
House cannot well help seeing that not
only the Constitution of this ancient
Realm has disappeared, but that the
House itself is in a revolutionary mood
and temper There have been. within
living memory. great crises. No one
OF them so profoundly affected the
House as the present. Various causes
have contributed The Coalition by
which the Irish hold the balance and
can turn out the Government when
they like is one. The Eruption of the
Labor members is another, IL only be-
cause for the traditions Of the House
they have little respect. But the over
ruling cause of all is the Revolution;
: and that dispute about Home Rule to
determine which in the Irish Nation
alist sense this Revolution has been
brought about and is in full force to-
day. Passions have never been so
fierce. Language has never been so
violent. There has never been such
tumult.
1t is true of both sides and OF all
parties. And never before has the
authority Of the Speaker been so often
challenged. If these flashes of dis
obedience grew into flame, no man can
say what might not happen. But Mr.
Lowthers even handed and memorable
Justice cannot be long resisted. In the
most critical moments he turns the
feeling of the House, and often its
laughter. against the offender. His
sense of humor is the salvation OF or
der. 1t is an easy matter TO reduce a
Labor member and ex-navvy like Mr.
John Ward to order; or Sir Kinloch
Cooke or Lord Helmsley among the re-
calcitrant Tories. But when Tories
and Radicals, the whole body Of each
on either side of the House, are roar
ing at each other and insults are flung
across the floor, even the Speakers
voice is silenced, and anything might
happen.
There is even peril in the latest
rulings of the Speaker The Radical
Back Benches have singled out Sir Ed
ward Carson as proper object of dis
courtesy. "He is on the make" cried
one Of them to the man who has sacri-
feed 100000 year TO his sense OF
patriotic duty. king Carson is a
common nickname for him, and the
other day when he came in they shout
ed. Hats off for the King" which pres
emily they followed by Behave like a
King" He made a sharp retort, and
his tormentors cried WITHDRAW" Said
the Speaker: II shall not ask him TO
withdraw. You brought it on your
selves" From which it would seem
that if one side offends the other may.
But that is a logical inference, and the
House does not care two pence Tor
logic. It cares much more for fair
play. Mr.. Churchill described Mr..
Amery's suggestion that he sought to
provoke bloodshed in Ulster as a hell
ish insinuation.' The Speaker COM
Balfour this week called the same Mr..
Churchill an agent provocateur," and
though there was protest from the
victim the phrase stood. Mr.. Churchill
had branded the Ulstermen and Union
lists as members of the criminal classes,
and one phrase balanced the other.
The First Lord sat pallid with rage.
Mr.. Balfour is perhaps the one man lie
breads.
In spite Of all this the debate on
Tuesday and Wednesday of this week
showed the House at It's best. Not
often for a generation, or for two gen.
erations, has it risen to higher level.
Three men lifted it to that old emf
hence. The Prime Minister was one.
Sir Edward Carson was another. Both
spoke with dignity and power. The
third was Mr.. Balfour. Between them
they might almost persuade you that.
at least I'm respect of debating power,
the House is still where it was during
much of the last half century. Mr..
ASQulln SdlQJ III the HlBn lldflneT WHICH
comes TO him in his best moments, that
the debate would be memorable for the
speeches of his two opponents. They
might be landmarks in the history Of
this controversy" 1t was impossible,
he added, to listen to the concluding
passages of Mr.. Balfour's speech with
out the liveliest emotion.
Il certainly never heard in this
House a more remarkable or in some
ways a more touching and appealing
avowal."
1t was dream. as Mr.. Balfour him
self called it, of future in which there
might grow up between these two ISL
ands Of England and Ireland "a COM
mon hope. a common loyalty, conf
dence in common heritage, and that
all this might be accomplished under
one Parliament"
For that he had striven; for that and
not for a triumph over his political
enemies. If he should fail
"It is the failure of a life's work; il
is the admission that the causes FOR
which l have most striven and most
earnestly sought TO accomplish are
fated to break down; and that the long
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