The much-talked-of " Conference" between Mr. Chamberlain, Sir George Trevelyan,
Mr. Morley, Sir W. Harcourt, and Lord Hersohell began on Thursday, the first sitting lasting three hours. After to-day it will be adjourned for some days, and it is under- stood that the discussion will be protracted, from which it would appear that Mr. Chamberlain's proposal to decide the agrarian question first has been adopted. As Mr. Chamberlain has pledged himself to oppose any scheme for using British credit to benefit a country not under the rale of the British Parlia- ment, while Mr. Gladstone has pledged himself that the rule of the British Parliament in Ireland shall end, the task of seeking- a point of junction on that subject seems likely to be long. Meanwhile, evidences are daily cropping up which show that the fissure between the parties is growing wider than ever. The Unionists agree with Mr. Goschen, that a divided Parliament is impossible ; while Mr. Gladstone at one end of the Liberals, and Mr. Labouchere at the other, maintain that it is indis- pensable. Mr. Labouchere on Tuesday, speaking in Dublin, thus defined the irreducible minimum of his demand :—" A domestic Legislature for Ireland paramount in all local matters, its Acts not dependent upon the assent or refusal of the Imperial Parliament, and an Irish Executive dependent alone upon this local body."
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