Later on it appeared that the Government did not mean
to extort any pledge from the Opposition leaders as to passing the Franchise Bill in the Lords, until the Oppo- sition leaders had satisfied themselves that the Redistribution Bill was drawn on lines that they could approve ; and hereupon a great hubbub arose among the Radicals, who held that the Government had humiliated themselves in coming to terms as to Redistribution with the Tories before exacting the pledge as to the Franchise Bill. This is a thoroughly
unreasonable view. What the Government have always declined to do,—namely, lay a Redistribution Bill on the table which would give the Conservatives an excuse for rejecting the Fran- chise Bill,—they refuse to do still. The Opposition gain abso- lutely nothing by what has been done, except an opportunity for withdrawing from their false position without discredit to themselves ; and if the Franchise Bill gains by that, the Tories are heartily welcome to their little back-door of escape from an impracticable position. So far as we can judge, it would have been better to say at once that the pledge to pass the Franchise Bill in the Lords was only to be given in case an agreement could be come to concerning the Redistribution Bill, and that otherwise matters would remain precisely in Stahl, quo, the Government not producing their Redistribution Bill, and the Opposition remaining at liberty to shelve the Franchise Bill in the House of Lords, and take the consequences. That was, we take it, what was meant all along. There is no surrender of anything in that understanding. And the appearance of a surrender by the Government was only produced by its too strong statement of the terms on which the offer was made. What the Radicals have to ask themselves is,—What have we lost, as compared with our position of last week ? We reply, —Nothing ; but, on the contrary, gained a great deal, both for the Franchise Bill and for the Redistribution Bill.
