THE PARTY OF DISORDER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16558, 23 May 1914, Page 10

THE PARTY OF DISORDER.

No doubt Mr Bonar Law and tlie other Conservative leaders will be ready to explain that the scene of disorder in the House of Commons on the third reading of the Homo Rule Bill was simply a protest against the tactics of the Liberal Government. But the suspension of a sitting owing to organised uproar on tho Opposition benches will bo regarded by very many people as another'significant indication of the partial breakdown of the parliamentary machine in the Mother Country. A magnificent tradition of dignity and authority has upheld the House of Commons through many trials and enabled it to retain its unchallenged position at the head of the world’s parliamentary institutions. But that tradition has rested upon tlie national habit of accepting loyallv the conditions of democratic rule and this foundation issbattered directly the party which happens to be in a minority refuses to abide by the rules of the political game. The extraordinary thing about Thursday's humiliating, spectacle is that it was tho party which has always claimed to be tho special guardian of orderly and constitutional procedure, the custodian, Indeed, of tho country’s manners and tho people’s rights, that was guilty of defying every tenet of the creed it has preached. The Conservatives have drifted into their present deplorable position by easy stages and many of them do not realise even now the full significance of their alliance with the Ulster extremists and their open disregard of law and order within Parliament. They may believe seriously that when tho get back into offico they will bo able to resume the attitude that belongs to Conservatism and blot out all memory of their excursions into fields of violence and lawlessness. But time will prove to them that the ill which is done cannot be undone. The conditions of political life are being altered radically, and tho outcome is not easy to foresee. The struggle over the Home Rule Bill is not likely to continue much longer. Tho extent of the mutual concessions still requiring to lie made is very small and a resort to arms now that tho parties have arrived so close together is unthinkable. But when a peaceful settlement in Ireland lias been assured, the Conservative Party will have still to adjust itself to the precedents which it has created and prepare to explain to other groups of “rebels” just how far a political party may mingle brute force with reasoned argument. The next Conservative Government will have to face some delicate and extremely difficult situations.