As regards other matters, Mr. Gladstone objected to the separation
of the office of Prime Minister from that of First Lord of the Treasury, as fatal to the Prime Minister's control of finance ; objected to the union of the Prime Minister's office with that of Minister of Foreign Affairs, as diminishing the guarantee for a careful consideration of our foreign policy ; and criticised with much humour the description given by the mover of the Address, of the thirteen measures proposed to Parliament as a " modicum " of business. He insisted on the hardship of devoting so much time to Irish affairs ; intimated that the Bill for reforming criminal procedure in Ireland would affect some- thing more than mere procedure ; and refused to pass any cen- sure on the Irish "Plan of Campaign," which he attributed to the refusal of the Government in September to accept Mr. Parnell's Bill. Mr. W. H. Smith, in his reply, said little, except on the subject of finance, on which he had previously spoken ; but he condemned strongly the " Plan of Campaign," as putting violence on tenants both able and willing to pay their rent ; and he pointed out that if Mr. Parnell's Bill had been accepted by the Government and passed, it would not have affected in the least the Glenbeigh evictions where six years' rent is due. The debate ended, as usual, in Irish wind.
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