19 MARCH 1904, Page 3

Lord Lansdowne, speaking for the Government, could not agree to

either form of Royal Commission ; and Lord Spencer, who wound up the debate, also deprecated an inquiry. For our- &Nivea, we agree with Lord Goschen that a strictly limited in- quiry might have been useful if all sides would have agreed to it; but we do not wonder that the Government refused. To have appointed another Commission while Mr. Chamberlain's Commission was actually sitting would have been impossible without casting a slight on that body,—a course which, after the events of March 9th, they could hardly be expected to take. We must not for the future expect the Government to do anything which will be disliked by the Chamberlainites, or rather which is not endorsed by them.