Mr. Goschen, speaking at Bath on Friday week, repudiated the
notion that the Government intended to delay introducing any Irish Land-purchase Bill, though they are firmly resolved not to let Ireland again absorb all the available time of the House of Commons. Referring to the Local Government Bill for Great Britain, he said it would involve real decentralisation, and that its whole object would be defeated if, after it had come^ into operation, the people expected the Central Government to interfere on every occasion to prevent local abuses in finance, as they expect the Local Government Board to interfere now. With regard to retrenchment, the Government had really made a beginning in refusing to fill up a good many sinecure offices which had fallen vacant ; but there could be no retrenchment unless local public spirit denied itself the satis- faction of constantly urging fresh expenditure on the Govern- ment as it now does. Sir George Trevelyan had attacked the- Government for giving so mach as 25,000 a year to the Irish Attorney-General ; but Mr. John Morley had left it on record, when he was Irish Secretary, that "the amount as fixed for the present holder of that office,—namely, £5,000 a year,—is reasonable and fair, and should be regarded as a permanent arrangement." Mr. Goschen produced a great effect by saying that in the recent trial of Mr. O'Brien, Captain Stokes received a telegram in official cipher saying that "the hearing of appeals must be postponed to January Sessions," which telegram in official cipher was forged by some one who had got access to- the cipher. And yet with allies who would condescend to such dishonest stratagems as this, the Liberal Party were closely associating themselves. Mr. Goschen maintained that the democracy is divided, and that half of it supports the Govern- ment, though all the demagogues may be on the other side. In our opinion, it is the criterion of a true democracy to be sober enough to distrust the demagogues.
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