Reiieir of Rrvieits, IjlilOlj. 



history of the Month. 



whence he can fill the ears of millions with denun- 

 ciations of plutocratic tyranny, the infamy of trusts 

 and the corruption of legislatures. He is young, 

 wealthy, ambitious and able. He aspires to play 

 the part of the Gracchi in American Politics. He 

 and Mr. W. J. Bryan, whose manifesto in favour 

 of the nationalisation of railroads has rather cooled 

 off those of his supporters who were disposed to 

 hail him as a Conservative, may be compared to 

 Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, whose heroic agita- 

 tion and tragic death form so interesting a page in 

 the histoTN- of the Roman Republic. President 

 Roosevelt's chances of re-election are held to be im- 

 proving. He swore, it is true, that he would never 

 consent to be nominated as a candidate for a third 

 term of office. But already glib sophists are prov- 

 ing triumphantlv — with the aid of Macchiavelli — 

 that his pledge is no just and lawful impediment 

 which ought to hinder his adoption as the Republi- 

 can candidate. .Mr. Roosevelt made just the same 

 pledge about the Vice- Presidency. But political 

 pledges are as piecrust, made to be broken, and 

 Mr. Roosevelt will probably follow the example of 

 the lady who, swearing she would ne'er consent, 

 consented. [Mr. Hearst has been defeated in the 

 New York election. — Ed.] 



It is generally believed that Minis- 

 ters contemplate devoting next ses- 

 sion to a frontal attack on Intem- 

 perance and a flank attack on the 

 Union. Of the details of either measure nothing 

 is as yet known. Whatever measure of piecemeal 

 Home Rule mav be brought forward will command 

 the support of' the Nationalists— for the Nation- 

 alists are politicians, and the Alliance men are the 

 reverse. Mr. John Redmond, who made almost the 

 only political sjieech of last month; at Grange, in 

 Limerick, on September 23rd. indicated with his 

 customary frankness and good sense the line which 

 his party will adopt when Mr. Bryce's Irish Re- 

 form Bill comes to be debated. Starting from, his 

 constantly-reiterated declaration that " no scheme 

 short of trusting the people fully can ever even- 

 tually succeed," he said that the touchstone he will 

 apply to the Government proposal is this: "Is it 

 a scheme which we can take for what it is worth 

 as an instalment without the danger of its breaking 

 up the National Party?" There is no reason to 

 fear that C.-B., with Mr. Bryce and Mr. Morley 

 at his back, could possibly submit any scheme to 

 Parliament which did not actually and avowedly 

 tend to pave the way to the complete realisation of 

 that Home Rule which they desire almost as pas- 

 sionately as Mr. Redmond himself. But it is to be 

 hoped that before their Bill is produced it will be 

 discussed in princijile and in detail with Mr. Red- 

 mond, without whose imprimalur it ought never to 

 see the light. 



Honie Rule 



by 

 Instalments. 





Tribune.'] 

 JOH.N BULL: 



[London. 



there's 



Sir 



Antony 



MacDonnell. 



stopping Places. 

 Hadn't we better stop here?" 

 JarveY REDMOND: " Arrah. no, yer honour; 

 much hette'r inn away beyant there." 



[Speaking at Grange, co. Limerick. Mr. John Redmond said, 

 •• There was a ' Haltway Houfe.' . . . His advice would 

 be to reject it."] 



A prodigious amount of pother has 

 been kept up all through the 

 month over the so-called MacDon- 

 nell letters. It is not quite clear 

 why Mr. Long should keep harping upon the neces- 

 sity for producing the letters which passed on the 

 appointment of Sir Antony MacDonnell to the 

 Under-Secretaryship of Ireland. What everybody 

 believes is that these letters will prove that the Go- 

 vernment as a whole was committed by Mr. Bal- 

 four, with the assent of Lord Lansdowne and :Mr. 

 Wvndham, to the adoption of a rational liberal 

 policy in Ireland, and that this policy was checked 

 by tlie revolt of the Orangemen and t^e Tory la\y- 

 \ers of Dublin, who had no wish to see their 

 chances of promotion diminished by the adoption 

 of a policy of retrenchment. For Liberals and 

 Home Rulers to insist upon the production of those 

 letters would be intelligible, but why Mr. Long and 

 the Unionists, who hate Home Rule, should clamour 

 for their production passes the wit of man to con- 

 ceive. Judging from the comments of certain Tory 

 papers, .some Unionists are ([uite prepared to head 

 a revolt" against Mr. Balfour if the letters convict 

 him of committing himself to a policy of devolution 

 and the Government of Ireland according to Irish 

 ideas. But one would have thought that the Union- 

 ist Party was weak enough already without submit- 

 ting it to the ordeal of another split. 



A Bishop 



in 

 Revolt. 



hegm 



again, 



It is very extraordinary how com- 

 plete has been the lull in politics 

 during the last few months. On 

 October 23rd the hurly-burly will 

 but for the time being every one has 



