On the Irish part of Mr. Morley's speech, for which,
of course, we feel neither sympathy nor admiration, we have said some- thing elsewhere. But we must add that his hesitating and rather weak apology for the doctrine of the right of the State to impound the unearned increment of the value of land, was not effective. No doubt he had the authority of Mr. John Stuart Mill for the abstract doctrine ; but the authority of Mr. John Stuart Mill on a question of that kind is not very high. Mr. Mill never went fully into the logic of his prin- ciple, never considered how essential it would be, if it were ever adopted, for the State to accept the burden also of the decrement of value due to times of depression; and worse still, that the State could not annex the unearned increment without destroying the root of all sagacious investment, and taking away the motive for individual foresight and prudent anticipa- tion. We cannot think that Mr. Morley in his own mind is in the least confident that Mr. Mill's principle was sound.
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