Lord Hartington has written a letter to Mr. Brooks, the
chairman of his election committee in the Rossendale division of North-East Lancashire, denying that any proposals for satisfying the demands of the Home-rule Party in Ireland have been submitted to him, and saying that he sees no reason "to depart in any degree from the declarations" which he had made or the opinions which he bad expressed in his election speeches on the subject. It is stated that Mr. Goschen had had an inter- view with Lord Hartington on the day he wrote this letter, and it is inferred that Mr. Goschen disclaims as much as Lord Harting- ton any change of view on the subject. Moreover, a telegram has been received from Hawarden by the Press Association re- pudiating entirely the anonymous and irresponsible declarations which have been made in Mr. Gladstone's name, and adding,— " Political friends are assured that he [Mr. Gladstone] remembers his obligations to them, and may safely understand that he is bound to none of the ideas announced in his name." We were, therefore, justified last week in treating the revelations of the Standard and the Pall Mall as quite unauthentic; and we think we may add now that the pilot-balloon, which has been sent up without authority from Mr. Gladstone, is betraying the existence
of strong currents of opinion in the Liberal Party, very un- favourable to the wishes of the Home-rulers.
