A complete analysis, by a writer in the Times of
Wednesday last, of the vote of last week on the Royal Titles Bill, shows that 555 members (including tellers) either voted or paired ; that of (say) 225 English and Scotch Liberals, 197 either voted or paired in favour of Lord Hartington'a motion, while 7 English and Scotch Liberals voted against it, leaving some 21 who absented themselves without pairing,—generally, it is said, from ill-health or domestic troubles,—and that 28 English and Scotch Conservatives were absent without pairing. On the other band, of the 104 Irish Members, there were no less than 44 absentees, of whom 35 were either Liberals or Home-rulers. Of the 60 Irish Members who voted or paired, 25 Conservatives and 7 Home-rulers, or 32 in all, voted or paired in favour of the Titles Bill, while 28 Irish Liberals and Home-rulers voted or paired against it. It is evi- dent, therefore, that the great excess of the Government majority over its ordinary figure was chiefly due to the defection of the Irish Liberals, of whom a much larger number were absent with- out pairing than of Irish Conservatives. Home-rulers perhaps want something between a local Republic and a Federal empire. They ask for Ireland for the Irish, but would not object to a Brummagem Emperor as the link between Ireland and the rest of the British dominions.
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