We do not quite know why a special meeting of
the Con- servative Party was called for Monday. It was addressed by Lord Salisbury, but he said little of special interest. He congratulated his followers on the adhesion of Mr. Goschen, and praised Mr. Smith's management of the House, defended the new Rules of Procedure, and hoped that they would be supported in their entirety as being "of absolute feces- sity " to the business of the State. If every one pressed his own view, the patchwork might be valueless. The question of Ireland would be taken up as soon as the rules were passed. The Government had done all they could with the means at their command. "They had to act within the law of the United Kingdom, and that law was at present not an efficient instrument for dealing with the veiled rebellion that had arisen in Ireland." He hoped to introduce a Bill founded upon the Report of the Royal Commission ; but the first business was to strengthen the law. "The state of affairs in Ireland was serious and novel; there was rebellion carried out by systematised fraud, and recommended by the highest among the religious teachers of the people." He confidently appealed to the party for sympathy and support "in the most difficult task which ever fell to the lot of a Government to undertake."
