Mr. J. E. Redmond, leader of the Parnellites, publishes an
article in the Nineteenth Century for October, in which he states the irreducible minimum of Parnellite demands. His style is quite moderate, but he wants full control of the police, the judiciary, the Land Question, and, in fact, everything else ; for his first demand is for a clause in the Home-rule Act, "specifically providing an under- taking that, while the Irish Parliament continues in exist- ence, the powers of the Imperial Parliament to legislate for Ireland will never be used." If there were such in- terference, he continues, the Irish Parliament would be little better than " a debating society." The Royal Veto, moreover, must be exercised upon the advice of the Irish, and not of the Imperial. Ministry, else the entire scheme would be made a " useless and humiliating farce." That is, in fact, a demand for independence under Queen Victoria, and is note- worthy because the Nationalist majority has in all such demands to keep pace with the Parnellite minority. To reconcile Mr. Redmond and the " gas-and-water men " is a problem which Mr. Gladstone will, we conceive, find impos- sible; yet, unless he does it, what is he to do?
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