unexpected propositions on behalf of Ireland. This complaint is not a just one. The amendment of Mr. Jesse Collings was carried immediately after the declaration by the Tories, made in both Houses of Parliament, of their intention to renew a coercion policy in Ireland. Nearly every Conservative speaker in the House of Commons on January 26th urged that the division which was then about to take place was really on the issue raised as to Ireland. The amendment of Mr. Jesse Collings, vigorously opposed by Lord Hartington, Mr. Goschen and their friends, was only carried by the aid of the Irish vote. That vote was certainly given to drive the Tories from office because of their coercion declaration. Many of the Whigs and so-called Unionists who now vote against Home Rule then refused to vote for the agricultural laborer, and some of the Whigs, who now ask for the agricultural laborer's vote, voted directly against him on January 26th. If there has been neglect, Mr. Chamberlain must share the blame, for, when accepting the Presidency of the Local Government Board, he could have stipulated for pressing the measures, to which he regarded the Government as pledged, in the interval prior to April 8th when the Irish Bill was introduced.
If Mr. Gladstone's Irish Government Bill was novel it most certainly ought not to have been unexpected; Mr. Chamberlain when joining Mr. Gladstone's Government knew that some legislative proposal would without delay have to be made by the Prime Minister. The Tories had on January 26th declared the state of Ireland to be so serious that immediate repressive legislation was necessary. The Tory Government in Ireland had collapsed, and so thoroughly collapsed that Ireland for the first time in
