Sir William Harcourt asked on Thursday for all the remaining
time of the House, and declared that he intended to pass all the principal Bills which the Government had brought forward, but that he did not wish to pass them without reasonable debate. He was, therefore, unwilling to apply the Closure in compartments, or any " violent " instru- ment of that kind. If, therefore, the debating was short, the Session would be short ; if long, the Session would be long. Mr. Balfour acquiesced in the demand of the Government in the mildest of mild speeches, as also did Mr. Chamberlain, though neither of the Opposition leaders admitted that there would be time to pass in this Session the great array of first• rate measures now before the House with reasonable debate. We conclude that the real intention of the Government is to pass two or three important Bills through the House of Commons—one at least of which (the Irish Bill) may have some chance of passing the Lords also, while another, the Welsh Disestablishment Bill, will certainly be rejected in that House—and then to bring forward a Bill, the Veto Bill, on which the Government " rides for a fall," and when it falls, to dissolve or prorogue with a view to speedy Dissolution. We have no belief at all that either side of the House has the smallest intention of fagging on through an autumn Session. Though all understanding between the two Front Benches is eagerly denied, we feel little doubt that there is some such understanding, and that the exclusion of the Closure by compartments is the price paid for the very dove- like cooing of the Opposition leaders.
