TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE FIRST DANGER AHEAD.
THE Session has hitherto been Irish, and a great many people, with the Times for their mouthpiece, believe it will continue Irish still. We trust it will not, even if the Government have to apply the Closure resolutely, or to introduce it in its French form, under which the leader of the majority proposes it on his own responsibility, as he would any other measure ; and we wish to explain why, for our reason is very different from that of the Times. We do not think the Irish Extremists "impudent," in forcing Irish ques- tions to the front. They think Irish questions all-important, and may fairly say just now that they are all-important, not only to Irishmen, but to all inhabitants of the United King- dom. Lord Hartington said precisely the same thing three weeks ago, in even stronger language, affirming that the question of Ireland was more pressing than all other questions put together, and there is not an Englishman or a Scotcbman competent to form an opinion who does not know that he was right. We may, indeed, believe that further Parliamentary discussion is not the way to settle Ireland, but we can hardly in reason expect an Irish Parliamentary party to admit the accuracy of that view. Or we may believe that the Parnellites are not sincere, and are pressing their one topic not in the hope of benefiting Ireland, but in the expectation of wearying England into separation; but then that is a policy which they have always more or less clearly avowed, and though it may be treasonable, it is not impudent. As a matter of fact, we imagine they do hope to weary us, and also hope to obtain certain concessions ; and the condition of Ireland being what it is, that is not "impudent," by any means. If Scotland were in semi-rebellion, we should hear of nothing but Scotland ; and though " sectional questions," as the Americans call them, are infrequent in this country, we have repeatedly given Session after Session to discussion's, such as those on the Free-trade laws, which were really continuous arguments about the appli- cation of a single principle. Nor are we so clear as some of our own friends are that the Tories are so wicked in creating Irish debates. A majority of Tories sincerely believe that while the Government, and especially Mr. Gladstone, may be well-intentioned, they are in Ireland acting on principles which can lead to nothing but disaster, possibly even to the separa- tion of the Islands. They think, in fact, what Sir J. Hay openly said on Tuesday, that the only way to govern Ireland is by force, steadily applied as in a Crown Colony ; and that every remedial measure, and especially every remedial measure increasing freedom, tends to encourage sedition. They regard " Kilmainham Compacts," which, in some sort of fashion, they believe to exist, not, indeed, as " covenants with Hell," after the style of excited Orangemen, but as concessions which, instead of pacifying rebels, only inspire them with fresh courage. So believing, they want to discourage conciliation and strengthen repression, and, as they fancy, with their usual ignorance of all but Society, that this policy is popular, they press it, in season and out of season. They are doing grave mischief, but we doubt if they see it; and if they do not, they are not stepping outside the usual lines of party warfare.
The true reason for objecting to so much Irish discussion, and indeed for repressing it by something like force, is the danger lest the people of Great Britain, who number twenty- nine millions to the Irish five, should lose confidence in the House of Commons as an instrument of government. The notion, so incessantly repeated, and, indeed, acted on by many newspapers, that the public interest in the House is" waning," is, as we believe, substantially unsound,—as unsound as a kindred belief that the interest in theology is waxing faint. The attention paid to special debates or to certain kinds of sermons may be dying away, but the work of legislation, like the problem of the Whence and Whither, will remain for ever a subject of close and warm human interest ; and just as we see that vivid argument on theology instantly brings repute, so we shall see that sincere debating in the House of Commons on subjects of vital interest is as attractive as ever. But it is undeniable that the British people are weary of infructuous Irish debates, and angry with the failure of the House to do what they consider its proper work. They are not angry at serious attention to Ireland. They recognise, just as fully as Lord Hartington, that Ireland is the grand difficulty ; and if any serious politician has anything fresh to say, they will listen, not only with attention, but with eagerness. But they have been trained for generations to regard' the House as an irresistible machine for securing the political and social improvements they desire ; and finding that it is unable for Session after Session to continue this work, they are growing first perplexed and then irritated. The perplexity can go no deeper, but the irritation can ; and if the hope created by the Closure is finally disappointed, it will, until it becomes dangerous. What form the danger will assume we do not pretend to know, though we have a suspicion ; but of this we are certain, that the British people in anger is seldom wise, and that in anger it always wisely or foolishly insists on action. The Tories fancy that action will take the old and customary form of turning out the Government, in the hop3 that the next one will be more successful in doing work ; but their hopes, quite natural in men who do not even yet. recognise how unlike the Householder Demos is to the Ten- pounder Demos, deceive them. They forget that the Electors are not only irritated by not getting any out-turn at all, but
by not getting the out-turn which they want, and which they the Tories will not give them. Men like Lard Cranbrook- think the electors will be indignant because Liberal promises are not kept, and that, therefore, the Tory promise of other things will delight them ; but that is not so. The millions want certain things, instinct tells them that the Tories will not give them, and being, as compared with the old electors, a multi- tude, their instinct will be stronger and more operative with them than any argument. They will desire to change not the Government, but the machine through which it works, and by which it is foiled ; and they may try to do this in one of at least three ways, any one of which we would entreat sensible Irishmen and sensible Tories to think over well, for they are- all more or less directly dangerous to them. The electors. may insist on a Closure so sweeping and stringent that it would virtually amount to a suspension of the right of dis- cussion, in favour practically of legislation by the Cabinet. That plan does even now exist in a rude form in France, whenever the Government is supported by a majority, and results in incessant Cabinet overthrows, or "crises," as they are called ; and it would be in England, whatever its other merits or demerits, the most sweeping of revolutions. We should be governed virtually by plebiscites given from outside, pressed upon the Cabinet by majorities, and passed without deliberation, and those plebiscites would not be to the advantage either of Con- servatism, or of the constructive Radicalism the Spectator tries. to represent. There is positive danger of an impulse in this- direction, which would not be unwelcome to those Radicals who. are really Reds, and those who, like a vestryman the writer once heard, are inclined on all occasions to cry out " Damn talking,—lets 'ave a show of 'ands !" Or the electors may insist on silencing without expelling the Irish Extremists, and so at last giving Ireland a genuine grievance, without at the same time creating for her a new government. No one who listens to the talk on omnibus knife-boards will venture to say that this danger is impossible. Or, finally, the electors may do as they did on the last occasion when their machine would not work,—they may demand its " reform " in a spirit which, new force and not new wisdom being exclusively sought, could end only in undiluted democracy, democracy determined first of all' to " waste as little time " as possible in either reflection or argument. Do reasonable Conservatives, or, for that matter, unreasonable Conservatives, wish for that? because we sincerely believe, if the anticipations of the Times are fulfilled, and this
is wasted like the last, and the Closure is evaded or impeded till it will not act, this is the most probable result.. The English people are very apt to move on accustomed lines,. and they are accustomed to think a Reform Bill the true remedy for any paralysis of Parliament. If they raise the cry, they will do it seriously, there is no resisting force anywhere, and instead of a wise Reform Bill, such as is required, we shall have a sweeping measure, which will restore force to the House of Commons at a price which Conservatives, at all events, will be most unwilling to pay. Things may go much better than the Times fears, for Mr. Gladstone has returned, and the Closure, once applied, may work well ; but if they do not, if the Parties will not let the House of Commons work, if aimless talk about past history is to absorb all the nights not devoted to actual. Supply, the result will not be the super- session of the House of Commons, but a change of some kind within it which most certainly will not be approved either by Conservatives, or by Irishmen, or by those Radicals who still believe deliberation by Representatives essential to wise government. The gainers will be the Democrats, pure and simple.
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