24 JANUARY 1891, Page 1

Lord Salisbury made a very effective speech at Cambridge on

Wednesday, to a meeting of more than three thousand Unionists. He did not agree in the least with Mr. Morley's assertion that on the eve of the Eccles election, the Hotac- rule cause was virtually won. Neither did he agree in the least with the triumphant boast that the split in the Parnellite Party, and the conduct of Parnellites and Anti-Parnellites alike, had extinguished the danger of Home-rule. He believed that the chances of Home-rule arc due to two very clever men, Mr. Parnell and Mr. Gladstone, and that so long as these two clever men go on struggling for it, the reason for fearing its possible triumph will not be over. Still, the Unionists had gained much by the practical evidence that Parnellites and Anti-Parnellites alike compete with each other in repudiating the idea of conciliating England, and also by the practical evidence that the Irish priests are so powerful that they can at very short notice throw over their most popular leader and put another in his place. This will really alarm every sagacious man for the rights and liberty of Irish Protestants, and secure finally the Protestant rortio4 of UlsteragailiSt

Home-rule. And if we can succeed in showing Ireland how much she gains by sharing the advantages of English wealth, we shall have taken a great step in advance.