On Saturday last a great Unionist demonstration was held at
Blenheim, at which Mr. Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain were the chief speakers. We have alluded elsewhere to the chief incident of the gathering,—i.e., the declarations of the two leaders in regard to the over-representation of Ireland. Mr. Balfour only hinted at the intentions of the Government, but Mr. Chamberlain may be said to have openly declared them when he spoke of the Irish Members as "men who by our liberality come to us in numbers altogether dispropor- tionate to the wealth, to the intelligence, and to the popula- tion which they represent," and went on to talk of " this great question, which has now become urgent." Mr. 'Winston Churchill put the matter even more clearly when he declared that no one who had had experience of the past Session "could possibly fail to regard altogether in a new light the question of the reduction of the over-representation of Ireland, to bring it into conformity- with England and Scotland." A young and ambitious politician, singled out to speak in the presence of his leaders, would not have used language of that sort unless he knew that the Government had decided to take np fhe question in earnest. Needless to say, we are greatly delighted and relieved that the Cabinet has committed itself to taking action in this matter, but we regret that the mis. behaviour of the Nationalists should be made the ground for doing so. The true ground is not the misuse of their over- representation by the Irish, but the gross injustice done to England by its silence. If the Irish Members were as well behaved as the Scotch we should be just as persistent in our demand that the under-representation of England should cease. We are glad t6 note, as we were sure would be the case, that the announcement was extremely well received, not only by the Unionist delegates, but by practically the whole of the Unionist Press.
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