the constituencies. The constituencies of Great Britain
are the source of the power, at all events, of this branch
of Parliament, and I maintain that in the presence of an
emergency which could not have been foreseen, the House of
Commons has no moral right to initiate legislation,
especially upon its first meeting, of which the
constituencies were not informed, and of which the
constituencies might have been informed, and as to which, if
they had been so informed, there is, at all events, the very
greatest doubt what their decision might be.'

Over and over again in the Parliament of 1874 and of 1880 have we heard
Mr. Gladstone appealing to this principle, that schemes of crucial
importance ought to be discussed before the constituencies; yet the most
important proposal made in Parliament for some generations is presented
after a general election, in which the constituencies were invited by
the Prime Minister and his colleagues to believe, that this particular
question was outside the region of practical politics.

No sooner had it become apparent that the country had refused that
renewal of power which Mr. Gladstone had asked for, than his resolution
not to accept defeat was promptly manifested. Public men remembered his
use of the Royal prerogative in 1872, to carry into execution a scheme
for which he had sought and failed to obtain the consent of Parliament.
He had not been a week at Hawarden after his journey from Scotland, when
people became conscious that the return to office, which he had told the
country would be their security against Mr. Parnell, he was now ready to
seek with the aid of that leader.

It was on the 8th of December, just after the main results of the
elections were settled, that Mr. Herbert Gladstone wrote from Hawarden
to a casual correspondent, 'If five-sixths of the Irish people wish to
have a Parliament in Dublin, for the management of their own local
affairs, I say in the name of justice and wisdom, let them have it.' A
few days afterwards the Press announced that the Liberal chief had, in
consultation with some former colleagues, matured a scheme which
embodied the points desired by Mr. Parnell. The announcement was
immediately followed by a telegram from Hawarden, denying the accuracy
of the scheme as sketched in the Press. On the main point, whether he
was prepared to co-operate with the Home Rule Party, whether he had
recovered from the