Mr. Goschen entirely repudiated the idea that by spending money
in Ireland the Government can satisfy the national feeling in Ireland, but none the less he thought that by developing Irish resources some grievances would be removed, and that by mitigating physical suffering they might damp the fuel intended for the political conflagration. Physical prosperity would not render Ireland loyal, but misery is certainly in some respects "a Separatist lever." Mr. Goschen, however, evidently feared that there would be vehement oppo- sition to all schemes likely to stimulate the trade and commerce of Ireland, mainly because a policy of that kind would render it easier for tenants to pay their rents, and harder for them to pose as the victims of landlord oppression. Mr. Goschen was satisfied that, for the present at least, the Government are succeeding, and that instead of the wave of popular opinion which was to have swept them all away, there is now substituted "the ripple of women's talk at the Grosvenor Gallery," and "the soprano of women's cheers" greeting the hand-shake between Mr. Parnell and Mr. Gladstone. That is true, as well as gracefully said ; but it is not quite clear that because the women are taking up the strain of invective, the wrath of the men is dying away.
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