NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Queen opens Parliament in person on the 21st inst., and all political business halts until the Speech has been read. Every kind of rumour prevails as to the intentions of Government and of the Opposition ; but the reports change so rapidly that they are not worth recording. The truth is, we fancy, that neither the Cabinet nor the Opposition leaders have definitively made up their minds, while the rank and file on both sides are waiting for their decisions and their action. Opinion is crystallising, we believe, into the form of a refusal of Home- rule ; but as to the method of refusal, or the method of proposal, it is still chaotic. Nobody knows anything for certain except his own mind ; and a good many people do not know that. Observe, however, that Liberal journals which were at first decidedly for Home-rule are awakening rapidly to a con- viction that, wise as that course might be, the country will not take it. Until Lord Salisbury and Mr. Gladstone have spoken, however, there is only one solid datum for thought, and that is that Mr. Parnell must either demand Home-rule or lose his leadership.
