28 NOVEMBER 1896, Page 3

The Lord Chancellor was entertained at dinner on Wednesday by

the members of the St. Stephen's Club. His speech in reply deserves notice for his reference to a point which has lately been too much overlooked. He could not, he said, admit that Home-rule could be considered dead as long as the Irish representation at Westminster remained as large as at present. We entirely agree with Lord Halsbury, and heartily congratulate him on his wisdom and statesmanship in bringing this matter to the front. As long as we allow Ireland, and especially the South of Ireland, to be so grossly over.represented as it is at present, so long the Union is in danger. Who would deny that a trading company was in danger if it allowed the members of a particular group of shareholders, and that group one known to be anxious to see the company go into liquidation, to possess double the voting power of other members of the company? Yet in effect this is what we allow when Ireland is given some twenty more Members than she has a right to have. If the Unionists allow another General Election to take place on the present unfair and undemocratic basis they will be committing a capital error.