ear in mind was that of
the formidable difficulties which would inevitably arise
from the action of the great body of Irish Americans. If
this Bill granted to Ireland a free and independent
Parliamentary Assembly with full powers over the Executive,
as proposed by the Prime Minister, there would inevitably
come a time when either the payment of the interest due, or
some other cause, would bring the Irish Parliament into
antagonism with the English. If they were to endeavour to
demand what was necessary, whether payment of interest or
what not, and to threaten to use force, could any one
suppose that the great body of Irish Americans would stand
by silently and see that done? He believed that the United
States would say to them: "You have acknowledged your
incompetence to govern Ireland; you have given her practical
independence, now you must take your hands off her; we will
not stand by and see her crushed." He believed that there
was no government in the United States which could withstand
such pressure as that which would be brought to bear on it
by the Irish Americans, especially if a Presidential
election were near.'

But is this allegation of failure actually true? For our part we are
inclined to agree with Lord Hartington, that the argument founded on the
paralysis of government in Ireland in recent years is allowed more
weight in this question than it should have. In the first place, it is
difficult to see how any government conducted as ours has been during
the last few years, could be other than disastrous, Mr. Gladstone, at
the commencement of his career as leader of the Liberal party, pledged
himself to the policy of Irish ideas, ignorant, if not reckless, of what
the term meant. Year by year he has been getting a closer view of the
creed he had unconsciously adopted, and, after a struggle, he accepts
one dogma, then another. The great dogma of all in the Home Ruler's
creed, that Englishmen should be sent bag and baggage out of Ireland,
has not yet been adopted; and naturally the Home Ruler keeps his
resources ready for that ringing of the chapel bell to which Mr.
Gladstone alluded in speaking of the Clerkenwell explosion and its
effect on the question of the Irish Establishment. The 'dynamite and the
dagger,' to which Mr. Morley recently appealed as conclusive reasons for
passing the Cabinet scheme, retain t