3fr. Chaplin, in his speech opening the debate of Thursday,
had two little wrangles with Mr. Gladstone, and in both of these got the better of the Prime Minister. On Mr. Glad- stone in the course of an interruption declaring that he had only said that "foreign authors" denounced our manage- ment of Ireland, Mr. Chaplin quoted on the other side Cavour, Geffcken, and a Belgian author, M. de Molinari. He might have added two greater names, Mazzini--afterwarda quoted by Mr, Courtney—and Heine, who, Radical and hater of England as he was, denounced the Repeal of the Union with marked vigour. Mr. Chaplin also remarked that Mr. Gladstone had said that the Land question and Home-rule were inseparable. "In 1886," interjected Mr. Gladstone. "Questions of honour and questions of principle do not vary, and do not change, from 1886 to 1893," was the inevitable retort. It was followed by an observation still more un- pleasant for Mr. Gladstone to hear,—namely, that Lord Spencer would probably not admit that what was a matter of honour and principle in 1886, had ceased to be so in 1893. The incident was a disagreeable one for those who, like ourselves, are jealous for Mr. Gladstone's political honour.
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