There was no question of ending an alliance, because there
never had been an alliance with the Liberal Party. It was clearly to the interest of Ireland to hasten the Dissolution of Parliament, and it would be the utmost folly for them to assist the Government in remaining in office for the next three or four years after the attitude they had taken up on Home-rule. Alluding to the by-election in Manchester, he did not know what the decision of the Irish Party would be ; but, speaking for himself, he did not see how they could ask the Irishmen of Manchester to vote for Mr. Churchill. Mr. Dillon, who followed, observed that if they declared war on the Government, let them mean what they said. He added, however, that such a policy might involve the immediate sacrifice of the University and Housing Bills, and a policy of active opposition to the Licensing Bill; and if they succeeded in throwing out the Government now, they might get in a Government which was pledged to coercion. Mr. Redmond's speech, which is interpreted in some quarters as a bid for Tory support, strikes us as a most remarkable example of the forcible-feeble in politics.
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