Of course Mr. Morley found it very easy to show
up Lord Randolph Churchill's inconsistency in first promising "simul- taneous" reforms in local government for England, Scotland, and Ireland, and then declaring that, as regards Ireland, the measure promised ought not to be hurried on, but ta be very carefully considered ; and for reproaching the House of Commons for wasting so much time over the Irish estimates for local works, on the ground that it was the firm determina- tion of the Government to place the control of those local works in the hands of the Irish people, and then allowing his chief to declare, on behalf of the Government, at the Guildhall, that what Ireland wants is not new legislation, but a firm administration of the existing law. That these inconsistencies are undeniable, and perhaps even flagrant, we all know. Bat whatever line they may take, British politicians have now no alternative, except between evils graver or less grave,—grave enough even if they choose with all the discrimination in their power,—and we fear that no choice can be so dangerous as to give in one's adherence to that passion fora disintegrating policy which, as Mr. Morley himself evidently sees with alarm, will be only too likely to extend beyond Ireland to every separate section of Great Britain.
