Jupaixe from articles in newspapers and from speeches of Gladstonisn members of parusment we should say that about the end of May politicians at home had begun to give up hope of the reunion of the Liberal party. The Spectator has an article on the *Depth of the Cleavage" between the two sections, which it argues had not been properly realised, and in which it shows that eminent men among the Separatists have made light of the differences between them and the Unionists, The contrast between the views and feelings of the two parties is thus drawn Mr. Morley is so persuaded that Ireland noells nothing hut freedom to do as she pleases for herself, that he will not even count the cost of what he advocates. Supposing that his policy were followed, and that the scenes of 1880 und 1881 returned in 1887 and 1883, it is clear that even so he would not regret the experiment, He thinks nothing of the private persons who would suffer by it. He \ks still less of the injury to the relations between England and Ireland, whi they are now, might very' worse, and in our belief, under any plan like Mr. Gladstone's would soon become muck worse. Inv. Morley, however, i istled that nothing can be Worse than the past, that quite reckless as to the future.
ell, that is not the Unionist feeling. 'The Unionist feeling is that it is disgraceful to pretend to he responsible for " country in Which we cannot even protect the loyal' and innocent from being treated as lepers, when they are not physically injured; that Ireland has very little more right to a separate Parliament and Government at all hazards, than Scotland or Wales, to neither of which should we dream of conceding any institutions which would gravely endanger the unity of the Kingdom; that, though we owe every reparation Wwe can make to Ireland for an atrociously bad government lasting through many centuries, a part of the responsibility for that bad government must rest with those who never knew how to avail themselves wisely and moderately of the rights they had, and that, at all events, we are not now required to rush into an utterly untried federalism of the most dangerous and delicate kind, only because the eight-tive Nationalist representatives refuse utterly to concert with English and Scotch representatives the reform of their own institutions; and, finally, that it would be better a thousand times' to leave Ireland utterly to herself, and with the full responsibility of isolation, than to entangle ourselves in relations of the utmost complexity and difficulty with a country whose Topresenatives have shown us before-hand that whatever shrewdness and judgment they, have, they prefer to devote ruther to making ce-operation intolerable to usy than making it beneficial to themselves." And this cleavage between the views of the Glad-stenions and the Liberal Unionists seems to 4s far too formidable for any successful brid-
Tu an article on the " Irish and British Vote in the United States" the same paper argues that if the British vote was organiz-not to foster British or any other foreign section or interests, but to counteract the Irish party, it would soon draw support from the best native opinion.
Tt goes on to say The complete collapse of Mr. O'Brien's tour in Canada is an instance of how a population almost as democratic in its sympathies as that of the States regards the attempt to burden the New World with the quarrels of the Old. The people of the Dominion look upon their form of government as a good one, and like and. respect. their present Governor-General. If they regarded Lord Lansdowne as an oppressor and a loathsome tyrant unfit to have anything to do with the goverament or his fellow-men, they would not, we imagine, have much hastation in telling him so, But, as it happens, they do not regard him in this' way. They have, therefore, not the slightest intention of allowing an Irish agitator who boasted that he was going to drive the Governor-General out of Canada, to dictate to them or to interfere in their internal politics.
There is we fear little probability of such an organization of the British vote in the United States, but what a change it would make in American political life, if politicians ofall partis lusted of laying themselves out to catch the support of the com-non Irish tried to win the confidence of the educated, law abiding Britons Scotsmen will find an article in the Spectator on the "Old Scotch Judge" interesting reading. According to the writer the old race of literary Judges is coming to an end when the present Lord President and Lord Justice Clerk retire, but the identification of the former with letters is something of a novelty.
The Setrday opens with a good article on the Egyptian Convention in which the position of England is stated from the Tory point of view. The Suturday is for England's retaining Egypt, but acknowledges that Mr, Gladstone's blunders have made it diflicule to do so, The paper on the ' Ordnance Enquiry Report" is an excellent one, and explains the weakness of the administration of the departments in the War Office, and the pressure of the Treasury in order to check expenditure. It says A department with a congenital disease of the heart is inevitably feeble in its limbs. In order that the Secretary of State may have an unchecked power to humour the Treasury, to fill up one hole by making another, to sacrifice stores to. guns or guns to men, and rub along like a tradesman in embarrassed circumstances who makes one debt to pay another, he is kept carefully free from professional control. The only permanent Committee he has to deal with is the Ordnance Committee. The others are fluctuating, informal, and unpaid. Members sit as little as they please, come in and go out, and talk for years, Meanwhile the Secretary decides without them, or the Ministry changes, and everything is' upset. There can be tinuity of administration when every few years brings a different spirit into the War ice, and a new man comes new to the work, with new fads, new friendships, and new preferences. There is an abundance of minor vices in the adm stration, and some of them only tobe accounted for by its natural but corrupt love of incompetence. How else can we account for the monstrous bungling over the 35-ton guns? The Commissioners have discovered that Sir Willian Armstrong & Ca., protested against the pattern of guns they were asked to make, but the Government considered themselves committed to the construction of guns on that pattern, and they were proceeded with, finished, and issued for service accordingly." It was in defiance of Captain Noble's opinion that these guns were sent to sea, and because at that time (the middle of the Russian scare to wit) it was thought that any gun was better than no The War Office, in fact, not only does work itself, but'is the cause of bad work in others. There is much, very much, in the Report which is deserving of further notice but we do not include in this the proposed remedies for War Office mi ent They are very well as far as they go; but, after all, they amount toa mere tinkering and rearranging, a mere shuffling of the cards.
Derby Prophets" is amusing, and so isthe Toad of Adversity" of which Mr. W. D. Howells is again the subject.
The St. Jumes's is a yood Budget and the Pall Malt commonplace one this week, but the engravings of pictures, which are continued, are interesting. The Atheneum reviews a volume of selections from Mr. Swinbumne's poems, a Study of Chrysostom and other works of less interest. "And in the Literary Gossip we find these notes Mr. David Scott announces that he will publish on the 15th inst. a new volume of poems by the Earl of Lytton, entitled After Paradise; or, Legends of Exile." Our readers will learn with great regret that Mr. Archibald Forbes, the veteran war correspondent, is suffering from a painfal and exhausting malady, Though his recovery may be protracted, it is confidently. anticipated by his medical attendant.—Mr. R. S. Salmon, a colonial administrator of long experience, is writing for the Cobden Club a brochure on the Straits Settlements. -—The death is announced of M. Francisque Michel, the veteran French antiquary, well known for his researches into Norman history, French chansons, ete. His book 'Lea Ecossais en France et les Frangais en Ecosse' made him a persona grate north of the Tweed, @utports.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.