The struggle ended on Thursday in a collapse of the
Opposi- tion, the Bill passing its second reading without a division. The night was remarkable for two speeches, one by Lord Ran- dolph Churchill, and the other by Mr. Goschen. Lord Randolph resisted the Liberal amendment, but would expand the Bill until practically all judicial rents could be revised Rader its pro- visions. He wished the bankruptcy clauses withdrawn, lest they should be taken too much advantage of, and lest the Govern- ment should find, when the Purchase Bill came in, that it was "trying to build up national credit upon the foundation of a national insolvency." His speech was long, and full of brilliant hits ; but that was its essence, with this addition. Lord Randolph would scale down mortgages and other rent-charges in some proportion to the reductions of rent,— a tremendous proposal, which should be considered anxiously by all Insurance Companies. Mr. Goschen, in an elaborate reply, said that the Government would consider amendments to the bankruptcy clauses, would suspend the right of the landlord to recover rent as debt, provided the right of all other creditors were also suspended, but would rejeot any amendment which would interfere with their power of introducing a Purchase Bill large enough to extinguish dual ownership. This remark brought Mr. Parnell to his feet. He advised his followers to resist the second reading no farther, but intimated his belief that the object of the Government was to introduce a Purchase Bill at an exorbitant rate. He knows he cannot resist the offer of freehold tenure, but dreads it as fatal to the political agita- tion.
Previous page
