Parliament adjourned for its Whitsuntide holiday on Tuesday, the Commons
having first passed the Irish Land Bill. Mr. Hardy made a final speech against the Bill, in which he hinted that the Lords must make alterations in principle in it, and especially abrogate the penalty on eviction. This called up Mr. Gladstone, who in his gentlest manner intimated that amendments might be possible, but that the Government could not surrender any of the principles of the Bill, and in a short but eloquent speech pointed to the attitude of the Irish landlords of both sides as the justifica- tion of the Bill. They preferred it to further agitation. For himself, he believed that while Government might "have erred in its attempt to realize a just moderation of view," it "had not erred from want of upright intention or steady labour," and that the Bill "if passed would redound to the honour of Parliament and the security of the Empire." We believe, as we have stated elsewhere, that the danger of the Bill in the Lords will be much less than is supposed. The Lords understand better than the public the points at which a " lock" in the constitutional machine would produce a crash.
