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New Zealand Mail, Issue 423, 20 March 1880, Page 23

An event announced in the Times of Thursday has long been expected •with absorbing anxiety in Britain, with a lesser concern by her dependencies, and with some degree of interest by the world at large. Within a fortnight the Imperial Parliament will be dissolved, and an appeal made to the country for its verdict upon the six years' administration of the Beaconsfiem) Government. Though regarded for many months as an event possible at any moment, for which the great political parties have been unceasing in their preparations, the announcement will have caused surprise. The Government has been repeatedly taunted by its opponents with delaying the dissolution through fear of its sequel. Mr. Gladstone had given an array of precedents to prove that dissolution after the sixth session of a Parliament —a year before it would naturally cease to exist —had become an unwritten constitutional law : that the Ministry in breaking the rule were guilty of unconstitutional conduct. But Lord Beaconsfield seemed unmoved by the reiterated taunts and challenges, and a month ago summoned Parliament to the last meeting it could legally hold. There were indications, therefore, that the session would pursue its usual course, to be ended in August, and followed by a dissolution in the winter. This belief was supported by the Queen's opening Speech, promising a number of measures of the last importance, to pass the half of which a full, carefully-economised session would be needed. Then came intelligence of the adoption of an unprecedented Parliamentary course—-the forcible stopping of the obstruction of the ultra-Home Rulers, which seemed to imply a recognition by the House of the value of time for the work before it. The sudden announcement of a dissolution in the middle of the session will, therefore, cause a momentary surprise. That feeling will be followed by a perception that it is a characteristically Disraelian act, and people will then wonder at themselves for having anticipated anything differ-

ent. The coup being recognised as what onlv might have been expected from its author, all parties will steadily settle to improve it for the furtherance of their respective interests. The Premier appears to have announced the dissolution by a patrioticpolitical appeal to the people of Ireland through their Viceroy, which would indicate that the Conservatives are bidding for Irish votes by promised Irish legislation. Assuming the message to have been telegraphed correctly, the manner of making the announcement must have caused a surprise second only to that evoked by its purport, as being wholly without precedent. But Lord Bjea.conseield's adherents profess to admire, andhisoppenents to revile, him because his every action is without precedent. When Mr. Gladstone dissolved the last Parliament, he apprised the nation through an address to his Greenwich constituents —a perfectly legitimate mode. But to announce a dissolution and make a political appeal through the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, is a course as startling in its novelty as are most of Lord Beaconsfield's acts of statesmanship. Though an office whose occupant changes with the Government, the Irish Yiceroyship has been hitherto regarded as too lofty for use as a vehicle to publish political manifestos of the head of the ruling party. The course taken now will escape much hostile criticism, only because the great topic will exclude lesser matters from notice. The publication of the text of the appeal will possess interest to those versed in Lord Beaconseiedd's literary and rhetorical style. The Premier being now unable to take an active part in the great political fight, would write much that he formerly must have addressed to the nation orally. The document, therefore, will certainly contain an accumulation of those wondrously constructed sophistical phrases in whose manufacture Lord Beaconsfield has no living rival, which his followers seem never to have enough of, aud that his opponents laugh at as the Gospel of "Jingoism." Of the thousands of political addresses to be made within the next few weeks, not one will approach it as an example of the diplomatic axiom that the use of language is to conceal thought. Distance of space gives to Australasian colonists, in regarding the contentions of English political parties, the same advantage which distance of time gives the historian. The most bitter political animosities do not, after dilution with 12,000 miles of ozone, retain but the faintest trace of their original pungency. Colonial readers will, therefore, be able to watch the great contest and estimate the chances of the combatants with the serene impartiality which an indirect interest in the event will not affect. The Liberals, we know, base their claims on the constituencies in part upon what they contend to be the failure in all but expense of the Government's foreign policy, but take as their chief fulcrum the financial administration of the Ministry. Mr. Gladstone has demonstrated that the yearly expenditure of the Government is greater by eight millions than that of its predecessor. The Conservatives hold, on the other hand, that the Beaconsfield foreign policy is the only one possible for the conservance of England's interests and ■prestige, and the pursuit of what they term her " Imperial Mission." This is a question, however, that can be fairly judged only by final effects, which will not show themselves till the authors of the cause and their opponents have long had their contentions silenced by the grave. The supporters of the Government, too, and its Chancellor of the Exchequer, have explained and vindicated the increased national expenditure, but have not nearly refuted the arguments of their principal critic -—a critic by common consent the ablest financier in Europe. The Opposition will regard it as opportune that the dissolution comes at what is evi dently the beginning of the end of the long universal depression, when their financial strictures will have greater w r eight with the taxpayer. They will also appreciate the fact that the contest occurs before the effects of Mr. Gladstone's marvellous oratorical tour in Scotland have passed away. Alto-

gether, it must be admitted that the prospects of a transfer of power to the Liberals are favorable. Several recent casual elections have ended in their favor. Taught by their opponents, they have improved their electoral discipline and organisation. They will have the support of that great proportion of all human aggregates which loves change for its own sake. They possess the three most, powerful speakers in the country, while their strongest rhetorical adversary is removed from that foremost place in the lists he so long occupied. The eight millions of increased taxation, and the ridicule of what they style the " Gunpowder and Glory" system, will form catching election cries. But the Government will have the favor of that large Gallic-minded party of recent growth, best known as the " Jingoes." Probably, too, the singular alliance of interests which placed them in power in 1874 will be revived in their favor. Mr. Gladstone had overthrown the Irish Church, and was consequently suspected of a design against the English Establishment. His Government had also attempted to revise the licensing laws. The great bodies of the publicans and clergy therefore coalesced, and used their whole influence against him, the result of the so called " Bible and Beer alliance" being the success of his opponents. The power of this alliance may be felt in a modified form during the coming election. Besides the two principal subjects, contestants in the fight will have two lesser issues—the Irish question and that of land law reform. There will be, after the contest, a deep latent feeling of regret among all moderate politicians that the dissolution should come at the present juncture, and in this regret reflective 'colonial minds will share. The present session began a month since, and the next will end early in August —six months. Of this period a third will be the fag end of an old Parliament, another third the more or less inchoate beginning of a new one, the remainder being occupied by the elections. The practical legislative outcome of the Parliamentary year will therefore be almost nil. This, when there are so many reforms urgent, and "burning" questions awaiting settlement, which will have to be postponed another year, is an evil to be deplored. It is not, however, an unmixed evil. The deferring of the amendment of the land laws, for example, will affect the colonies beneficially, by increasing the immigration of a class most welcome to Australasia ; and this, at the risk of a charge of selfishness, we can almost rejoice at. England's loss will be her colonies' gain in that respect. With other questions delay will mean loss to many and benefit to none. From the roses of constitutional government, however, we cannot separate the thorns, and this must be accounted one of them.