On Monday Sir Henry Fowler addressed his constituents at Wolverhampton.
After alluding to the vacancy in the leader- ship of the Liberal party, but without suggesting how it was to be filled, Sir Henry Fowler spoke in high praise of the conduct of the Soudan Campaign, and noted that wherever England went she always set the door open. Next followed a reference to the Irish Local Government Bill, and the significant declaration, which we have quoted elsewhere, that the Act must be "fully, fairly, and completely tried" before the nation would reconsider "the question of any further change in the government of Ireland." It is almost inconceivable that Sir Henry Fowler could thus have formally abandoned, for the time at any rate, the policy of establishing an Irish Parliament without consultation with his colleagues. That his action was deliberately agreed on also seems certain, from the fact that neither in the Liberal Press nor by his colleagues has it been repudiated. The Irish, however, are not unnaturally indignant, and declare that they have been betrayed,—as in a sense they have. It was noticeable that Sir Henry Fowler made no attempt to sketch the policy or state the broad principles of the Liberal policy. His criticism was purely negative.
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