NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE week closes as it began, with the fate of the Govern- ment still hanging in the balance. We have described the situation at length elsewhere, and will only say here that if Mr. Redmond sticks to his determination to lead his followers against the Budget unless the Government not only disclose a saheme for dealing with the veto of the House of Lords of which he approves, but also give him assurances that they can and will beat down the opposition of the Lords, we can see no means by which the Government can save the Budget. It is possible, however, that Mr. Redmond may retrekt from the position he has taken up. If this happens, as many supporters of the Government declare it will—they 'tell us that Mr. Redmond may speak strongly, but that he will act quite tamely and in the end do what the Liberal Whips• tell him he must do—we can only wonder at the extraordinary foolishness of his first speech on the Address. If after - speaking as he did, he is about to act as it is now said he ' will, he is preparing humiliation for himself and his party. That, however, is Mr. Redmond's affair and not ours, and perhaps it is only our Saxon stupidity which prevents us from seeing the wisdom of his tactics.
