Mr. Goschen made an admirable speech at Cardiff yester- day
week, in which he pointed out how the spirit of Home- rule had tainted all the political ideas and electoral cries of the time. For instance, it is not enough to say that Welsh taxpayers have been relieved as English taxpayers have been relieved, and that Welsh rates have been lightened just as English rates have been lightened, by the handing over of the proceeds of a tax to the ratepayers ; but it is further asked, as children sometimes ask,—What is it that Wales has got for her "very own," in which no other part of the country is to have a share P Well, says the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Welsh would reap the advantages of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act for their "very own," and they would reap a large share of the advantages of the Coal-Mines Regulation Act. But, in truth, the question is one which ought not to be put. Wales shares with the met of the country the advan- tages derived from a stronger Navy and a dwindling Debt, and these are not only none the less real, but ought to be all the more real, because they are shared by Wales with the rest of the country. In criticising the Gladstonian policy, Nr, Gosehen further said that Mr. Gladstone, even if returned, would not
determine it, since Mr. Gladstone would be controlled by Mr. Parnell. So, too, Mr. John Morley would not give his own unbiassed vote, but would be controlled by Mr. Burns and the Socialists ; Mr. Arnold Morley (the Liberal Whip) would be controlled by Mr. Jacoby (the Radical Whip) ; and Lord Herschell, the distinguished ex-Chancellor, would be con- trolled by Mr. Healy, the Nationalist lawyer. Lord Rosebery would, in like manner, be controlled by Mr. Labouchere ; and the Gladstonian Secretary of State for War, whoever he might be, would be controlled by Sir Wilfrid Lawson, who says that if he saw a gun pointed. at him, he should run away.
