Mr. Labouchere stated that Mr. Gladstone, before resign- ing, had
offered to go to the country on the question of the House of Lords, but had been outvoted by his colleagues, and Mr. Labouchere regretted this decision of the Gladstonian Cabinet on the ground that he was sure that Mr. Gladstone's appeal to the country against the House of Lords would have been successful. But Mr. Labouchere seems to be as little in touch with the country as was Sir William Harcourt when he went to the country on the Local Option Bill. So far as we can judge, Mr. Gladstone's proposal would have hardly bad any better chance than Sir William Harcourt's. When Lord Rose- bery attempted a sensational appeal to the people against the House of Lords, not a leaf in the forest stirred. And though Mr. Gladstone is not as Lord Rosebery, we are con- vinced that the Country had fully made up its mind to support the Liberal Unionists and the House of Lords in their policy of positively refusing Irish Home-rule.
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