Mr. Parnell is, apparently, serious in his idea of calling
an Irish " Convention " or informal Parliament, but does not quite know how to set about it. At a meeting of the Home-rule League, hold on Thursday in Dublin, he carried a proposal that 300 re- presentatives should meet in Dublin before the next Session of Parliament, but actually added that "every Irishman residing in Ireland who contributes towards the expenses of the Con- vention shall be entitled to nominate ten persons for election,. and be entitled to vote for 300 persons of the total number nominated." The Convention, then, is not to be a representative body of Irishmen, but a packed meeting of persons selected by those who are friendly enough to Home-rule to subscribe to it. The single use of such a Convention would be to ascertain, by free debate, what the majority of Irishmen do wish; but under this scheme, that would not be ascertained. We might as well have-a Convention of the English Church to which none but Ritualists were admitted. The whole scheme is moat dangerous, as passion may rise to a great height, but to make it of the least value, household suffrage and tolerably equal electoral districts ought to be the basis of selection.
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