628 



The Review of Reviews. 



made a great outcry about the suppres- 

 sion of debate on the Home Rule Bill by 

 resolute use of the guillotine. From the 

 air of injured innocence that they 

 assume, one might suppose that no one 

 had ever heard of Home Rule until this 

 session. They appear to forget that the 

 whole question has been thrashed out 

 at interminable length in public meeting 

 and Press and Parliament, until the 

 country is tired of talking, and wants 

 to see something done. The trouble 

 with the Opposition has been shrewdly 

 pointed out by one of the Labour 

 Members, that they and their class 

 consider that they have some sort of 

 right, divine or other, to rule, and if 

 they are not allowed, to rule, no matter 

 what the majority be against them, they 

 are driven to something approaching 

 frenzy. The passing of ascendancy is 

 always a painful process for those that 

 have been in the ascendant. That is 

 the difficulty in Ulster. That is also 

 the difficulty with the old ruling caste 



Westminster Gazetted] 



Twins after All. 



The Ulsterman (Sir E. Carson): "My dear Redmond, 

 we Irish " 



The Nationalist (Mr. John Redmond) : " My dear 

 Carson, I'm delighted to hear you say ' We Irish ' ! I always 

 thought that, according to you, we belonged to different 

 nations. I do believe we're twins after all ! " 



["The Colonies were represented in that House by a 

 Secretary of State, and surely a whole nation like the Irish 

 had a right to a similar representative."— Sir Edward 

 Carson, in the House of Commons, October 24, 1912.] 



since the Parliament Act was passed. 

 The " classes " have shown an in- 

 ability to adapt themselves to the new 

 democratic environment — an inability 

 which, if the lessons of biology count for 

 anything, is ominous for their future. 



The irritation of the 



The Unionist leaders has not 



By-Eiections. j^gg^ allayed by last 



month's by-elections. 

 They fought them principally on the 

 Insurance Act, not on the main issues 

 of party conflict. Taunton has again 

 returned a Unionist, but with a very 

 slightly increased majority. At the 

 first National Conference of the now 

 united Unionist Party Lord Lans- 

 downe calmly repudiated the promise 

 made by the Unionist leaders before 

 the last General Election, and con- 

 firmed by him personally after the last 

 General Election, not to introduce a 

 measure of Tariff Reform without pre- 

 viously consulting the country by means 

 of a Referendum. In the same speech 

 he nailed the Tariff Reform colours to 

 the mast. Lancashire, which is irre- 

 vocably devoted to Free Trade, replied 

 by returning a Liberal Free Trader in 

 the Bolton election with a four-figure 

 majority — to the great dismay and 

 disgust of Unionists, who expected at 

 the worst a three-figure majority for the 

 Liberal, and at the best the return of 

 the Unionist. 



Mr. Asquith's address 

 Reforming the to the National Liberal 

 House of Lords. Associatiou, at Notting- 

 ham, is notable, not so 

 much for his patient and good-natured 

 refutation of the charges of bad faith 

 and treason with which the Unionist 

 organs so plentifully bespatter him, as 

 for his declaration that the Government 



