The Government have shown firmness in deciding to ask for
more money for extending the operations of Lord Ash- bourne's Irish Land Act,—the Act enabling tenants to pur- chase their holdings at an easy rate. Mr. Balfour is to move the first reading of the Bill giving another £5,000,000 for the same purposes for which £5,000,000 have already been ex- pended, on Monday, and Mr. Gladstone has given notice of an amendment that any further dealing with Irish land at present ought to take the form of remission of arrears. The Bill will be a Bill of only one clause, but the Opposition evidently mean to throw their whole strength into their resistance to any further reduction of the agitators' leverage in Ireland. If the Government had insisted on dealing with arrears, as they offered to do,—only including other arrears as well as rent arrears,—the Opposition would have probably determined to substitute some scheme of purchase. But what they really are determined upon is this,—that the Govern- ment shall not have the credit of doing anything by which the discontent in Ireland shall be seriously diminished. We had hoped more from Mr. Gladstone's magnanimity than his notice of motion seems to imply.
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