Under these circumstances, Mr. Chamberlain made an appeal to the
moderates, whom he supposes to be in dismay, to join the Unionists, before it is too late, in removing such Irish grievances as they would, three or four years ago, have willingly helped Mr. Gladstone to remove, had he, in 1885, pro- posed to remove them himself, and to consider whether that does not go a great way towards removing the difficulties concerning the grant of a Local Government Bill to Ireland, and under- mining the eagerness for Home-rule. Mr. Chamberlain holds that the settlement of the Education question in Ireland must follow, and not precede, the settlement of the Land question and of the Local Government question; but what he will not consent to do, is " to substitute for one Parliament and one Executive the confused and conflicting authority of several petty and competing Governments ; to risk a civil war in the dominions of the Queen, and to face the centralised nations of Europe with the loose machinery of an ill-compacted federa- . tion." " It is not worth while talking of reforms," said Mr. Chamberlain, " unless you have a kingdom worthy of reform." In other words, Liberalism must be engrafted on patriotism, if it is to be worth anything, a principle at once sound and momentous.
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