Mr. Gladstone's announcement of his new policy was civilly received
by the Unionist leaders, and was not denounced • at once by any party except the Parnellites ; but we can- not but think that it will be disastrous to the Govern- ment. In the first place, it lessens the belief in Mr. Gladstone as a financier. He has shirked the difficulty instead of overcoming it, and has hung up the problem till a time when he will no longer be Prime Minister. In the second place, it is hard to believe that Ireland will like an arrangement obviously dictated by such profound dis- trust. And in the third place, the secret feeling of the House on both sides will be exasperated by an arrangement which may involve an Irish debate once a week. Lastly, the crux of the whole discussion, the representation of Ireland in Westminster, in settled in favour of the retention of one hundred and three Members for all purposes, which is unbearable to England, and will strike the Scotch—who are wiped out as regards their own affairs by a heavier Catholic vote—as even humiliating. The struggle over the arrangement will be bitter, and can end only in the fresh appeal to the people of which there are already so many rumours.
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