Mr. Gladstone addressed a meeting of Nonconformists on Wednesday, in
the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, on the subject of the Irish Question, without, as we think, having very much that is fresh to say on the subject. What he did say was imbued with great bitterness against the Government, and especially against Mr. Balfour. Mr. Gladstone made it a very serious charge against the Liberal Unionists that they back up the Government on matters like the moot questions of the Budget, the bottled-wine duties, the relative weight of the Succession and the Probate duties, and the publicans' claim to compensation under the Local Government Bill, rather than risk the accession to power of a Home-rule Government. On most of these matters we believe that the Liberal Unionists, on the whole, regard the Government as very nearly right, and do not, therefore, go out of their way to prevent its defeat. But even if it were otherwise, is it not a perfectly legitimate policy to sustain a Government in power in which you feel general confidence, even though you think it injudicious on points of detail? Would any one think of taking a ship out of the command of a pilot who was steering it safely past sunken reefs, only because he declined to lay to in order to take on board a supply of fresh milk and vegetables ? We do not remember that Mr. Gladstone, when he was at the head of the Government, was ever offended by receiving the votes of Liberals who, while they found his Egyptian policy confused and wavering, still objected to transfer the Administration to the hands of Tories.
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