Sir E. J. Reed has got a large majority of
his Cardiff con- stituents to endorse his letter to the Chairman of the Liberal Association there, and he evidently holds that he has secured the gratitude of the moderate English Home-rulers by striking a blow against the Parnellites and the attitude assumed by Mr. John Redmond. The awkwardness of the position, how- ever, for the Moderates, and also for the Government if, as seems to be supposed, they are contemplating a Bill with which the " gas-and-water " men will be content, is this : that Mr. Justin MacCarthy and Mr. T. P. O'Connor have, in the most formal manner, identified their own position with that of the Parnellites,—Mr. Justin MacCarthy within even the last few days. If there be any prospect of a proposal which would amount at most to a glorified County Council in Ireland, the Government could only hope to carry it through the House of Commons by the aid of converted Conservative or Liberal Unionist votes, for even the Anti-Parnellites are much too deeply pledged against such a measure, to give it their sup- port ; and besides, it would be altogether too absurd to force upon Ireland an extension of liberties which both the Parnellite and Anti-Parnellite leaders agreed in repudiating. At the meeting of Cardiff Liberals on Tuesday night, Sir Edward Reed's triumph was complete, while his Irish oppo- nents appeared to have no substantial influence in the constituency. Even in Wales, there is evidently a certain irritation against the Irish pretensions. It is Mr. Gladstone alone who has made the Irish demands formidable.
