In regard to the politics of the day, Mr. Chamberlain
dis- couraged any attempt to throw out the Government prema- turely, though he did not conceal a perhaps excessive distrust of the present Government, especially in relation to their administration " of the great Departments and of the public patronage," which he regarded as bestowed in the interest of the Tory cause. On the Irish Question he expressed full agree- ment with Mr. Gladstone's principles ; bat he added that " all the sections of the Liberal Party are determined that the integrity of the Empire shall be a reality, and not an empty name." They would allow, he said, " no temptation and no threat to check their resolution to maintain unimpaired the effective union of the three Kingdoms that owe allegiance to the present Sovereign." Mr. Chamberlain concluded by expressing his hope that when the present Government gives way to a. Liberal Government, it may be one " which will not shrink from the fullest application of the general principles of religious equality and of political freedom, of which it ought to be the representative."
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