THE KING AND THE MINISTRY.
[To THY EDITOR Or THE " SPHOTATOB..1
Sin,—The rumour reaches us here that the extreme policy of your Ministry in England has been modified by the influence of the King. Supposing the rumour to be true, it does not, as it seems to me, give Liberals any cause for alarm. The character of Edward VII. is a sufficient assurance that the motive is patriotic and that there is no disregard of the Con- stitution. The extreme measures in question had never been before the people. Nor were they the embodiments of the principles held by anything that could properly be called a party in the House of Commons. What is styled a party is made up of five discordant elements :—Liberals, Radicals, Labour men, Socialists, and Irish Home-rulers. The Irish Home-rulers are where they are, not for the purpose of assisting, but for that of distracting, the national councils, in order to force the nation into practical dismemberment. As Irishmen, they may be patriots; to the United Kingdom they are political enemies. Measures framed by the leaders of such a party may be the offspring of unprincipled compromise. The King may surely in such a case without any departure from the Constitution use his influence in favour of modification or of time for a verdict of the national opinion.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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