A threefold dispute has taken place this week between Lord
Salisbury, Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. A. J. Balfour as to the nature of Mr. Gladstone's offer to give the recent Tory Government cordial support if they would propound a Home-rule scheme. Lord Salisbury denies that any explicit pledge was given, point- ing out that Mr. Gladstone's words were perfectly vague, and might as well have applied to a policy of coercion as to a policy of Home-rule. To this Mr. Gladstone replies with some effect by quoting Lord Randolph Churchill's admission, made in the House of Commons, that the Tory Government were aware that if they adopted a Home-rale policy, they might look to him for help. And we suspect that Lord Randolph expressed the mind of the Tory Government, though Mr. Gladstone's offer may have been conveyed in terms rather too ostentatiously guarded.
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