The bovernment are, we believe, quite startled by the vehement
antagonism created by their Direct Veto Bill. It has not only irritated all brewers, distillers, publicans, and Mr. Beaufoy—a total abstainer who makes orange-wine, per- haps under the impression that nobody could drink enough of it to hurt him—but a vast number of independent electors besides. They are quite willing to vote for restriction, but to be deprived by their neighbours of the power of buying beer is more than they can stand. Other classes are irritated by the absence of compensation, which they think robbery, and by the fact that, under the Bill, an o/d stock of liquor accumulated for years might be suddenly made unsaleable. Liberal Members are therefore drowned in remonstrances, and it is believed, though Sir W. Harcourt denies it, that the Bill will be suffered to drop. We shall, however, know more accurately when the conference between Mr. Gladstone and his Members, which comes off at the Foreign Office on Monday, has been held. The Premier will doubtless then explain his policy, and will ascertain from the Radicals whether they will bear to have everything shelved that the Home-rule Bill may be driven forward. That is what he must do if the Bill is to reach the Lords, and even then the House may sit well into September.
