At the evening meeting, Mr. Morley spoke again. He rather
feared a period of cantankerous personalities, in which the poli- tical air would be poisoned by cabals, intrigues, and quarrels about men. As proof of this, he gave the statements so freely made, that the Liberal Unionists would unite with the Tories not for any principle, but solely to prevent the return of Mr. Gladstone to office. But on what authority are these state- ments made ? If Mr. Gladstone holds to Home-rule. as of course be will, the combination is against Home-rule, not against him. If he gives it up, which he will not, Mr. Morley would himself head the resistance to him. For our parts, we never saw less trace of merely personal intrigue than there is in the Liberal Unionist camp. Mr. Morley, descanting on the evolu- tions of Lord Randolph Churchill, said with some spirit that if that was to be the method of politics, he would rather be a isighwayman than a politician ; for a highwayman has more exercise, more open air, keeps better hours, and his profession is not less respectable than the politician's. He did not expect that a great affluence of water could be got into the Tory pump, by the simple expedient of fitting it with a Radical pomp-handle. He especially commented on Lord Randolph's remark that the Government would be in no hurry to give local government to Ireland, and insisted that if an improvement in the condition of Irish counties was to be used as the excuse for not giving Ireland even the same local liber- ties as England, the Irish would very quickly draw the inference that the Parliament at Westminster is perfectly unserviceable for the purpose of removing Irish grievances.
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