In relation to the alleged impossibility that the next Parlia-
ment, if it were Gladstonian, should pass any first-rate measure except Home-rule, SirW illiam Harcourt showed extreme irrita- tion, and swelled himself out in his usual blatant fashion ; but he did not even make a plausible attempt to show that there was a good chance of doing anything more. The party must take Home-rule first, and must either succeed or fail. If they suc- ceed, there will be even more necessity for a new dissolution than there was after passing the Reform Bill of 1832. If they fail, they must either dissolve or resign, as having failed in their main enterprise. There is no getting out of that dilemma, and the notion of their passing any other great measure in the first Session of a new Parliament, looking to the condition into which the House of Commons has now got, is altogether preposterous. Of course Sir William Harcourt lavished all the theatrical scorn he could command on Mr. Chamberlain, without doing him any damage.
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