IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Evening Star, Issue 12166, 9 April 1904, Page 1

IMPERIAL POLITICS.

That Mr Balfour's Government have not the complete confidence of the House ofj Commons and the country, even after mat- j ing a reasonable allowance for those mean- j bers and electors who are " agin the Go- I vernment" on principle, or what does duty I as such, is as trite as it is obvious. Tha*, however, the people are prepared to ptit into power a Ministry with Sir Henry Campbell- j Bannerman as Premier is not so certain, i Mr John Redmond, Leader of the National- j ists, is reported to have said, amid the j enthusiastic cheers of a St. Patrick's Day j gathering, that he preferred the downright "No" of the Conservative-Unionist party to the indefinite shuffling of the Liberals and Radicals. Now, without the support | of the Irish solid vote Sir Henry has small chance of a working majority, and we can j find no desire on the part "of the English electors to hand the people of Ulster and the loyal minority in other parts of Ireland into the hands of those gentlemen. What the Grand Old Man could not do is hardly likely to be accomplished by the leaders of the Liberal party of to-day. True, there has been a'great change since 1886 in the attitude of English statesmen of all parties towards Irish questions, and a sincere desire, as far as the necessities of the Union will permit, to legislate in harmony with the wishes of the majority of the people. But there will have to be a complete turn about in the sentiments of those politicians who claim to speak for the Irish people before any of the great English parties will venture to accede to their demands. Home Rule—not, of course, the Home Rule advocated in New York and Chicago—would have been granted years ago had other men or other views been presented to the people of England, Scotland, and the North of Ireland. Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman in his final fling at the Government prior •to tho Easter adjournment held that Mr Balfour should have resigned, and, it may be safely presumed, in. that contingency to have appealed to the country, because the recent byeelections had been adverse to the Govern- | ment. Mr Balfour, however, characterised I such a demand as ■unconstitutional and un~ ■ workable. Bye-elections may or may net | represent a change of feeling m the co;m- ---! try. Lord Beaconsfield believed that they ! indicated that the electors were stDl with ; bim, but the General Election, of 1533 e'epelkd his illusion, and drove him froro : -nines. We are not disposed to think that ! the mzss of the constituencies arc enrioss j itv shoot Prmce Arthur in order to r&iko j * C.8." King. The electors, in truth, are in a dilemma. The majority do not approro iof the Government's Education Act, r.cr | of their failure to submit the Chinese lahai : Ordinance to a referendum of tho p«rpie | of South Africa, nor of their sLiily-shallyirij; ;on Preferential Trade; but they have a • fair idea that with all the- Conservatives' faults there is infinitely greater probability j of the Army beir.g put on a workable b;u*d?, j of tho Navy being maintained at the highest possible efficiency, and of the nation's honor abroad being more jealously guarded and its ! interests more keenly watched thr.n thoy I would be under any combination of Radij cals, Liberals, and Unionists dependent upon the Irish vote for their existence.

Sir Henry's onslaught on Lord Milner, though characteristic, merely proclaimed that the scorn in which the High Commissioner of South Africa had referred to bi3 Home critics had struck home. To Lord Milner and Mr Chamberlain the Empire owes tho retention of South Africa. Under the policy of Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman the probabilities are that to-day there would have been no British Flag, and not even tho shadow of a nominal allegiance in the Transvaal and Orangia, .whilst Natal and the Cape would have been talking separation. In fact, they are talking it now. The wild and whirling charges in the House of Commons are resented by many of the hitherto most loyal of the Natal colonists, and a Liberal majority, plus the recall of Lord Milner. who personally does not care two straws for office, is only wanting lo fan colonial indignation into a protest that may bring many at home and abroad to their senses. Let it not be forgotten that had the Opposition in the House of Commons worked with the Government in the 1899 session of Parliament there would have been no South African War, no expenditure of £150,000,000, and no tens of thousands of human beings swept into eternity. Sir Henry Campbell-Banncrmau, with a fatuity bordering upon mental wellness, proudly declared, during the debute en the Address-in-Reply, that Mr Chambei'eiii had come to him and hud asked him to co-operate with the Government in presenting a united front to Mr Kruger. "I inclined," said the Liberal Leader, "because "the responsibility in such an emergency " ought to and should rest with the Min:;:- " try "'; and then he added something about " bluff." Yet it is to a statesman who thus avows that he declined to sink Party before Patriotism, that he was indifferent whether Mr Kruger believed that were the Liberals in power the Uitlanders' protest would nob be backed up by force, and that he would not unite with the Government of the day to prevent the shedding of blood—it is to

such a one that the people of Eugkr.>;.\ through the domestic muddling of Mr.Bsifour's Administration, may offer a kars of power. Small wonder if the Empire's enemies at home and abroad arc looking eagerly forward to that day.