We have dwelt sufficiently in another column on Mr. Chamberlain's
exposition of his reasons for believing that even the Gladstonians will not permit Mr. Gladstone to keep his revised Home-rule scheme secret till after the General Election ; and that if he publishes it, he must alienate either the British Home-rulers who insist on asserting the final authority of the Imperial Parliament as a sine qua non, or the Irish Home-rulers who insist on the political independence of Ireland in all Irish affairs, as a sine quci non of their co- operation,—the result of either course being that Mr. Gladstone would not be in a majority, but in a minority, after the constituencies had grasped the situation. Dealing with the Ulster difficulty, Mr. Chamberlain laughed at the effect which would be produced by Mr. Morley "walking' demurely between Archbishop Croke and a leading Noncon- formist ;" and he elaborated the argument from the sacerdotal tyranny to which Ireland would be subjected, if British control were withdrawn, and the priesthood were allowed to dictate, as they are well disposed to dictate, to Irish con- stituencies whom they might and whom they might not elect to represent them without peril to their salvation.
Previous page
