Mr. John Morley made an elaborate speech at Sale, in
Cheshire, on Wednesday, which was intended to aid in recovering from the Conservatives some of the many seats which they hold for that county, of which only two are now held by Gladstonians. Mr. Morley did not think that the would be postponed beyond September, and he thought it might come at any moment, so he was anxious to be fully prepared. He spoke of the Unionist programme as a blank. They had not, he said, got a single shot in their locker, though they would try and rig up some sort of a policy for the future for Mr. Coningsby Disraeli to swear by. Even the fabric of English Local Government had still to be built up by the Liberals, for "County Councils without Village Councils will never bring Lona] Government home to the minds of the people who live in the villages." But if, as Mr. Gladstoneadmits, Village Councils cannot be entrusted with finance, but must go to the County Councils for all their resources, what will Village Councils really mean ? They will be mere baby Councils in swaddling-clothes. The greatbulk of Mr. Morley's speech was, however, devoted to proving that Parlia- ment must be disencumbered of Irish business, by telling his hearers how large a proportion of Parliamentary time Irish business still absorbs. Unluckily, he never even attempted to show that Mr. Gladstone's proposals will disencumber Parlia- mentof Irish discussions at all. We believe that they will exorcise the evil spirit of Irish claims on the time of Parliament, only SS the man in the parable was exorcised of his evil spirit, which, wandering through the desert places, and finding no rest, determined to go back to its old abode with seven other spirits worse than itself, so that the last state of that man was worse than the first.
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