THE LIBERAL POLICY OF PROCRASTINATION.
TEE Liberals who follow Mr. Gladstone seem to us to be making a very serious mistake, which will injure them very greatly in the country, in supporting and even fostering that policy of obstruction to the Irish Crimes Bill in which the Parnellites indulge. On Thursday night, the fourth long discussion on the principle of that Bill was terminated by a majority of 101, and only yesterday was the House per- mitted to get to the details. Now, we quite appreciate the resolute hostility which Mr. Morley expressed to the policy of that Bill. We have no doubt that if we were as convinced as he is that Home-rule for Ireland is the true policy, we should be as averse as he is to trying once more to put down agrarian crime by the natural and plain means of finding out the criminals and punishing them. We should hold with him that if the root of the disease could be extir- pated, the first duty would be to extirpate it, and then leave the Irish Parliament to find out for itself how to deal with those who were still discontented with Irish law. We do not at all blame those who disapprove the Crimes Bill for resisting it at every stage, and for showing that they resist it at every stage. But we do blame English Liberals, and blame them severely, for not using their influence with their new allies to bring that resistance within those reasonable and moderate limits which would render it possible to get on with other business besides the Crimes Bill. Here we have had four great debates, all of them in effect second-reading debates,—one on "urgency," one on the first reading, one on the second reading, and one on going into Committee, —before arriving at the details of the Bill at all. Now, if the Irish Party were resisting, as formerly, a union of the Conservative and Liberal Parties against them, war of this internecine kind might be, from their point of view, excusable. They would then not unreasonably say that, with 85 pitted against 585, the only method of warfare that could be effective at all would be to make themselves intolerable to the majority. But that is not the situation now, and the fol- lowers of Mr. Gladstone are always taking credit to themselves for the immense change in the situation which their action has produced. They tell us that the reason why crime does not go to greater lengths in Ireland is, that the Irish people now have hope, that they look to Mr. Glad- stone and his followers with gratitude and respect, and are confident that in their association with the English Liberals their cause will gain so much, that the desperate warfare of former epochs is no longer needful. Well, if that be so, why do not the Liberals avail themselves of their new influence to moderate the parliamentary, as well as the popular passions roused by the situation ? Why do they not seek to win over English constituencies to their cause, by showing them that the Irish conflict has entered on an entirely new phase which does not alienate from it all English sympathies ? What was there to prevent the Liberals from impressing upon their Irish allies that it will no longer do to disgust the con- stituencies of Great Britain with the Irish Question as they were disgusted with it formerly,—that the true policy now ie, while giving a reasonable discussion to every legislative or administrative proposal for Ireland, and steadily resisting pro- posals which they think pernicious, still to leave time for the discussion of other measures, and not to ;sicken English constituencies with tactics which, though they may be suitable to guerilla warfare, are not suitable at all for the action of a formidable and constitutional Opposition? And especially Mr. Gladstone's lieutenants ought to see that a policy of delay and obstruction has this great danger about it, that it fatally uses up the time during which they can hope for the inestimable help of his leadership. For than, a policy of obstruction seems to us a policy of suicide.
And even from Mr. Gladstone's own point of view, we cannot imagine a better opportunity for winning defer- ence and respectful consideration for the Home-rule policy from the British constituencies than that which opened before him at the beginning of this Session. Why should he not have said, as he might well have said, to the Par- nellites :—'If you mean to have my help, you must follow my guidance. I am a British statesman first of all, and only a statesman with a policy for Ireland because I am a British statesman. I do not approve of the strangulating gripe which you fasten on the British Legislature ; and if you wish for my help, you must take off that gripe. I will aid you to the best of my ability, if you are reasonable. I will lead your resistance to the policy of Coercion. I will show the inefficiency of any policy of conciliation which does not begin with granting Home-rule to Ireland. But all this I will do only if you alter your strategy, and conform it to the strategy of a great party. I will not help you to disgust the British con- stituencies with the Irish Question, as they have been disgusted hitherto. And it is for your own good that I insist on your abandoning that policy. The British constituencies can never be won over to my view, if they cannot be taught to identify my view with a moderate Parliamentary strategy such as great parties in opposition have usually adopted.' ? We venture to say that if Mr. Gladstone had taken this line, he would have pro- duced a far more favourable effect on the constituencies than he will ever produce by his present attitude of unconditional alliance with the most unconstitutional and unreasonable party which the Parliament of Westminster ever contained. But if he had adopted this course, he would have limited the debate on "urgency "to a single night, the debate on the first reading to one, or two nights at most, the debate on the second reading to a week at most, and would have dieoouraged altogether that most superfluous and dreary debate which ended on Thursday night. In short, he would have striven to reduce debate to the limits of complete discussion, and not to postpone simply for the sake of postponing, the ultimate decision of the House.
It may be said that such a policy as this would have played into the hands of the Government by facilitating their pro- duction of their remedial measures for Ireland, and that if these remedial measures for Ireland had been good, there might have been serious danger that the irritation in Ireland would have subsided so as to render the revolutionary policy less and less popular. But then, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Morley, and their friends not only do not think so, but are never weary of telling us that it cannot be so ; that nothing can appease Ireland but a native Legislature, and that all remedial measures which are not based upon that will utterly fail to amend the situation. They should, then, surely have the courage of their opinions, and not attempt to paralyse the Government by postponing as long as possible its remedial legislation, and protracting as long as possible the struggle on the punishment of crime. Besides, look at the English and Scotch side of the account. Would it be nothing for the Opposition to open the prospect of one or two great British reforms, and to get credit with the constituencies for having enlarged the scope of these reforms by their criticisms and strictures ? Surely nothing can be less likely to eecure their influence with the constitu- encies than the credit they are gaining of backing up the Irish Members in that monopoly of the time of the Legislature which shuts out altogether the prospect of any British reform. What did Mr. Gladstone do when Mr. Disraeli produced a
Franchise Bill He accepted all of it that was good, and laid down the conditions under which the part that was bad was to be reformed. And did he not reap his reward when that Franchise Bill came into operation? If he were to act now in a similar spirit, he would have a fair chance of win- ning favour in the constituencies even for his Irish policy. But while he makes the British constituencies feel that though the Irish Party have gained enormous strength from his support, their mode of warfare has not improved at all in consequence, that British interests are as much as ever opposed to Irish interests, that the regular Opposition does nothing but throw its shield over the unscrupulous tactics of the irregular Opposition, he will only lose ground. We believe that there is no policy of which the constituencies are so utterly sick as the policy of Irish obstruction. We believe that Mr. Gladstone and his lieutenants are now in great degree identifying themselves in the minds of the constituencies with that policy, and that consequently, when next the appeal to the people is made, Mr. Gladstone will return with a greatly diminished minority, instead of with a majority, to the House of Commons. There is still, however, a door of repentance open. Will he not avail himself of it?
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