At the meeting of Conservatives at the Carlton Club on
Tuesday, Lord Salisbury stated that he had, with the Queen's permission, pressed Lord Hartington to form a Ministry for himself, and had promised either to lend him the most loyal Conservative aid, or to give him cordial external support, if he preferred to form a Government consisting of Unionist Liberals alone. These offers had, however, been steadily declined by Lord Hartington, who was persuaded that it was his true part to stand aloof and tender to the Conservatives his hearty support for any Government they might form, so long as it adhered to the policy on which the two parties were agreed. Lord Salisbury added that he thought the most con- venient proceeding would be to sit through August to vote the Supplies. In that case, he hoped that it might not be necessary to call Parliament together again till the early part of next year, when the Government would be prepared to state its complete Irish policy. This suggests that Lord Salisbury is not prepared to state that policy as yet, even in outline, which would surely be highly disappointing, considering that the country has pro- nounced itself with some decision against Home-rule, either implicit or explicit, and, as we should suppose, even more against implicit,—i.e., unlawful Home-rule,—than against ex- plicit, or statutory Home-rule.
