Mr. Chamberlain made a very able and very statesmanlike speech
to the Liberal Unionists on Tuesday, at Willis's Rooms. The general drift of it was that the Liberal Unionists were carrying their point, that Mr. Gladstone's party were in great
discouragement, and felt the supreme difficulty of now apolo- gising for the resistance to the law, the boycotting, and the obstruction which they had formerly so persistently condemned. Consequently, they had deserted the Irish Party in the great struggle of Friday. The Gladstonians were weary of being dragged through the lobby at the heels of Dr. Tanner and Mr. Labouchere. At the same time, there was no immediate prospect of reconciliation, and it had become the duty of the Liberal Unionists to examine the programme of the Government, and give them as much support as they could for the only policy which could safely uphold the Union under the present critical circumstances. That programme had appeared to them not unsatisfactory ; and Mr. Chamberlain and his friends would be ready to give their support to all, whether they called them- selves Conservatives, or Liberals, or Radicals, who are prepared to accept the great object of upholding that unity of the nation which is the only guarantee for the lives and liberties of the subjects of the Queen. Mr. Chamberlain's speech was, indeed, the clearest announcement he has yet made, that he would rather postpone his aspirations as a Radical, than yield any- thing which he thinks likely to endanger the unity and solidity of our national life.
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