Mr. Chamberlain made an able speech at Birmingham on Tuesday
against Home-rule, which, however, contained one very unjust statement. He thought it probable that Mr. Gladstone would accept Mr. Parnell's new demands, for "is there any price which Mr. Gladstone would not pay for eighty- six Irish votes P" That kind of implication is natural enough in the mouths of meaner men, but Mr. Chamberlain ought to remember that Mr. Gladstone's Bill on which he resigned, and which he would pass to-morrow if he could, killed the Irish vote by expelling the Irish Members. Even the new plan attributed to him reduces the Irish vote— which would not be unanimous—to thirty-four. It is be- cause Mr. Gladstone is not seeking Irish votes, or English votes either, by his proposal, but following a dream of his own—a dream based on abstract belief in the moral necessity of obeying a local majority—that his action in the Home-rule matter is so dangerous. It is not the crafty Mr. Gladstone, but the Mr. Gladstone carried away by a Highlander's enthusiasm for his convictions, who touches the voters' hearts, and makes them indifferent to evidence such as has been afforded by the events of the past two months. Charges of this kind have no effect whatever, except to deepen the conviction of Mr. Gladstone's worshippers that their idol, besides being wickedly calumniated, is stupidly misunderstood.
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