At the meeting of the Women's Liberal Federation held on
Wednesday at the Grosvenor Gallery, Mr. Parnell, who was received with great enthusiasm, made a speech in which he declared once more that the Irish people had accepted a scheme of Home-rule which could not endanger the Empire, and could only enable Ireland to manage those affairs of her own which England had so miserably mismanaged. We think it would be easy to show that England has at least greatly improved on any attempt previously made by Ireland to manage her own affairs, and that, on the whole, Ireland has never been governed one tenth-part as well as it has been in the last forty years. But the important point of Mr. Parnell's speech was its omissions. He threw out no sug- gestion at all as to the new form of Home-rule which is now proposed ; and he said nothing as to the power to be exercised by the Imperial Parliament over the Irish Parlia- ment ; on the contrary, his assertion was that he and his friends had no object except to enable Ireland to " develop her resources," to build herself up " as a nation," not as a nation hostile to our nation, but as a " sister-nation going hand-in- hand with you, connected as we are with you by indissoluble ties,—ties which we believe must exist and can exist without harm to us." That does not give out any note except one of virtual independence, that is, of purely voluntaryco-operation, —which, of course, means also the right to refuse this volun- tary co-operation.
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