TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE LATE PARLIAMENT.
THE Parliament which was prorogued yesterday, and which will be dissolved in November, has had a very chequered fate. But the most remarkable feature about it will, in the end, we think, prove to be this,—that it has been a Parlia- ment of transition from one of partial to complete Democracy, and, consequently, a Parliament of drawn battles and post- poned issues. Except on the one great question of Reform, on which the Liberals have won an immense victory,—even the greatest of all victories, the victory of compelling the Tories to affect to desire what they utterly detested,—almost every great issue has been either settled in some purely pro- visional manner, or avowedly postponed for our new electors to decide as they will. Doubtless the fixity of tenure conferred on Ireland was a very great step towards a final solution of the Irish land question, and there, if anywhere, the Liberal Leader and his followers may have been said to forestall the future. But if we take Irish policy as a whole, unquestionably the attitude of Great Britain to Ireland has been allowed to stand over for future settlement when the two democracies shall be face to face. If we take the religious question raised in so unfortunate a manner by Mr. Bradlaugh's candidature for Northampton, the Liberal attempt to settle that question in the only adequate manner has been defeated, and the issue postponed. If we take the great questions raised on Foreign Affairs, it is just the same. The Egyptian policy of the nation, after passing through many difficult and dangerous phases, has at last been simply deferred for the results of the General Election, and for the consideration of the Government which will be the consequence of that General Election. So with the contest with Russia. The result has been a truce, or a drawn battle, with judgment deferred till it shall be seen what the people of the United Kingdom as a whole desire. Excepting only on one great question,—to whom the final appeal shall be made,—this has been the general result in every great political field. On that question the Tories found that their only chance of continued existence as a party was to range themselves amongst the friends of democracy. And when they began to raise the cry, " We appeal to the people," the question was settled. That the Liberals forced them to raise that cry, and that the House of Lords would soon have disappeared had the Tories resisted it and fortified themselves within the House of Lords, there can be no manner of doubt in any human breast, even though Lord Randolph Churchill thinks it a good popular joke to affect before the multitude that the desire of the Tories for Reform really compelled the Liberals to do what they were otherwise unwilling to do. The only two great achievements of the late Parliament, then, were first, the step taken towards fixity of tenure in Ireland, and next, the great victory of compelling an appeal to the whole people, and not merely to the Democracy of selected towns and the privileged classes of the remainder of the country. On all other matters either the issue has been deliberately postponed, or progress has been blocked by those who hoped that the outcome of the great appeal might be more favourable to their wishes,— and who thought that it could hardly be less favourable,—than the actual drift of opinion generally supposed to be popular.
Of course this suspensive condition of men's minds has done a good deal to diminish the authority of the late Parliament, and to give provisional importance to the men who were sup- posed to represent the Democracy to come. It was this feeling in great measure which exaggerated so much the import- ance attaching to the Pamellites, and weakened the action of the House in putting down their obstructive tactics. It was not known exactly what the Irish voters even in English and Scotch constituencies might or might not effect. It was not known what Ireland herself might effect if the real majority of the Irish people were to be adequately represented. Mr. Parnell wielded not merely the power of a small united party, but the still greater power attaching to the fear of the un- known influence which he might exert in some future Parlia- ment. He represented something incalculable, as well as something calculable, and the mysterious incalculable influence is always the more impressive of the two. We believe that a very great part of the power of obstruction which Mr. Parnell wielded in he late Parliament was due to the fact that no one clearly appreciated the strength of his reserve force, and that every one feared the result of learning exactly what it 'eight be ; so that he was looked upon not simply as an enemy to be accounted for, but as a more or less unknown power for whom it was impossible to account fully. Whatever Mr. Parnell's influence may be in the next Parliament, it will lose this element of incalculability. We shall be able to measure exactly what he can do and what he cannot do. And the next Parliament will know that unless it comes to a clear understanding with the Irish Party as to how far it shall go, it will lose its own authority altogether. There is no further popular appeal possible. If Mr. Parnell's party is not brought to reason, Parliamentary Government in the United Kingdom will be ruined. Hence we sincerely hope that in many respects the most sinister figure in the last Parlia- ment may lose in significance, even though gaining con- siderably in actual strength, by the final establishment of Democracy throughout the kingdom.
But Mr. Parnell has not been the only figure in the late- Parliament to whom the suspensive character of affairs has given a quite artificial importance. Perhaps no figures have been brought out into more prominence by that suspensive character of affairs, than those of Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Randolph Churchill. In both cases the influence wielded has been influence gained far less by what has been done in Parlia- ment, than by what has been done outside the walls of Parliament,—by the power which they were expected or sup- posed likely to derive from the coming appeal to the people. Mr. Chamberlain's various declarations that property ought to pay a " ransom," that local councils ought to have the power of providing the localities represented with moderate pleasures and cheap necessaries, and last of all though too late to affect the present Parliament, that " fair rents " should be imposed on British as well as on Irish landlords, have influenced his position far more because Parliament did not know what effect these offers might have on the minds of the new electors, than because they were regarded as very formidable with the existing electors. Mr. Chamberlain has been looked upon as the one Liberal who was making great bids for popular favour, and conse- quently he has had more influence with the Radical section than he deserved. It was thought that he might be about to dilate into a very formidable figure indeed,—into the chosen democratic leader of the future. And while, of course, the fear of this transformation procured him many enemies, the hope of it procured him many friends, and gave him an in- fluence in the Cabinet itself which it is very doubtful whether he would otherwise have wielded. It is precisely the same with Lord Randolph Churchill and the Conservatives. From the day of his conversion to democracy—about a year and a half ago—he has wielded over his party the influence rather of a confederate with the Democracy, who knew what was coming, than of a statesman who rests on recognised forces. Conservatives looked at him with terror, rather as an avenging fury in league with infernal potentates who may wield the power to scourge timid Conservatives for resisting his will, than as a mere representative of definite currents of opinion in existing constituencies. Coming events have been regarded as casting their shadow before them in the ominous shape of Lord Randolph Churchill. And therefore,—and therefore only, as we believe,— ever since his conversion to democracy, he has played with his party almost as a cat plays with a mouse.
Certainly there is one satisfaction in the close of this suspen- sive period, that these personages will no longer wield the power which an ambiguous position confers. In the next Parliament we shall soon know what the strength of the various leaders is, and how far they can or cannot count on popular support. We shall have definite, instead of indefinite, prospects. And some of the powers which have hitherto loomed large in the uncertain light will shrink within limits comparatively moderate and safe. We believe then that in the next Parliament we shall have far more distinctive and more manageable issues. There will be much less disposition to postpone, much more disposition to fight out the greater issues. And above all we shall, we hope, have no statesmen who draw half their influence, not from the number of adherents they can count in Parliament, but from a tremulous discounting of the popular effect of the next democratic stride.
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