Sir George Trevelyan spoke several times in the course of
the Liakeard meetings, once in favour of submitting the financial estimates of the Government to the revision of Select Com- mittees—a plan in support of which he had much to say that was extremely relevant, as showing how thoroughly incompetent the House of Commons is, in Committee of the whole House, for this kind of work. For instance, he stated that once in proposing the Irish estimates for the law expenses of the year in Committee, he had explained carefully to the Committee what were the economies the Government proposed to make, and what were the new sources of expenditure it was necessary to incur. He was immediately charged with making a very irrelevant speech,—though in a debate lasting many hours, he was, so far as he could judge, the only speaker who kept to the subject-matter of the vote at all. Sir George also approved heartily of limiting the sittings of the House by fixing midnight as their termination, and so compelling the House to accommodate its discussions snore strictly to the time it had at its disposal. At the evening meeting, Sir George found fault with this journal for its strictures on his own advice to the Liberals to reunite on terms honourable to all concerned. But, of course, it was because we did not think such terms could really be found, that we passed that stricture. We hold very strongly that the party led by Mr. Gladstone cannot possibly concede terms which would leave the administrative centre of Irish law and order at Westminster, instead of in Dublin, and that if it could, Mr. Parnell and his friends would not accept them. The very object of the Parnellites is to take a long step towards disintegration.
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