NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE oratorical burden has this week been borne by Mr. Goschen, who has delivered a series of speeches in Aberdeen, that stronghold of the Gladatonian Party. The first of them, spoken on Tuesday, is one of the weightiest he ever delivered, —a masterly defence of the Union from the point of view of the statesman who has to rule, and who can foresee the time when the rapid and decisive action of a Central Executive, obeyed throughout the whole Kingdom, may be essential to its existence, to the maintenance of the Empire, and d to the pro- sperity of a commerce which can only exist on condition of security. We have perhaps said enough of this speech else- where, but it should be read in connection with the speech of the following day, in which its leading thought, that surrender to Ireland is a ruinous policy of despair, is still further worked out. We may add here, too, that in these speeches Mr. Goschen dwelt strongly on the fact too often forgotten, that the Irish demand, and are to have a separate Executive, responsible only to the Irish Parliament. Even, therefore, if Irish Members are to be returned to Westminster, and the Imperial Parliament is to retain its full theoretical authority, the unity of the Execu- tive, which is the true unity of the Empire, will be broken. It would be possible, for example, for the Irish Executive, on news of a coming French invasion, to stop all British telegrams, seize all Irish supplies for the British Fleet, and shut all Irish ports to British cruisers. The consequences of this division of authority, especially to Scotland, should be much more dwelt on by the next Unionist speakers.
