Last week we praised . Mr. Clarke, Q.C., the Member for
Ply- mouth, for his sobriety and moderation, but almost at the time we were writing, yesterday week, he was making a very violent speech at the Chichester Conservative Association, in which he threw upon Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright the whole responsi- bility of the chaos in Ireland, for they, lie said, had deliberately " fanned and nourished the discontent there." He declared that the Irish Conservatives had supported the land measure of last Session, only from fear of civil war if they opposed it. If that were their motive, it was certainly not the motive of Sir Samuel Wilson in canvassing Londonderry, for the Act was then passed, and he might have denounced it as he pleased without fear of any evil consequences. In fact, he found fault with it, mainly for not going far enough. Mr. E. Clarke is blinded by party spirit, as also is Mr. Gorst, who professed his belief at the same meeting that the object of the intended reform of pro- cedure in the House of Commons was, "to prevent Members from saying that Ireland had been misgoverned and brought to the verge of destruction by the present Cabinet." We are per- fectly sure that neither the cloture nor any other alteration of procedure will prevent Mr. Gorst and his colleagues from repeating that ad nauseant, as they have already done, without inspiring much belief. But it might be desirable to economise time by accepting, say, the first twenty statements of that foolish opinion, in lien of the hundreds or thousands of reiterations of it which Mr. Gorst and his friends seem to think essential to liberty of speech.
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