The Parnellite managers are not very good tacticians. They see
their own little party, and nobody else. They published on Wednesday a solemn manifesto, telling all Home-rulers that the Closure was directed against them, that a vote for it was equivalent to a vote for the renewal of Coercion, and that con- sequently every Irish Member ought to vote against it. They then add an elaborate calculation to prove that if only one-half of the Ministerial Home-rulers oppose the Government, they can turn it out. They say 600 Members will vote, of whom only 303 are Liberals, that being the highest Liberal vote recorded. The Conservatives will bring up 240 men, 10 Liberals will join them, making 250; the Parnellites are 35, making 285; and if only half the 20 Ministerial Home-rulers go over, the Govern- ment will have only 293, and the Opposition 295. The calcula- tion assumes that all Tories will vote, and that there are 35 Parnellites, instead of 15; but imagine the effect on Ulster and Ireland generally of a demonstration that unless the Closure is carried, Lord Salisbury will come in, and the Land Act will be lost. The Parnellites think everybody subordinates everything, even interest, to spite.
