Mr. Goschen delivered a most powerful speech on Thursday at
the Pimlico Rooms, Warwick Street, against the general policy of the Government. He ridiculed the majority for having denounced 'Conservative extravagance while they had increased the Army Estimates by £150,000 and the Civil Estimates by £500,000, and reduced the Naval Estimates by only £100,000 out of 214,000,000. He described their action in bringing in so many "popular Bills" as one for " advertisingprogrammes ; " they wasted days in discussing measures which not one of them believes there is a chance of passing. The. Welsh Suspensory Bill was a mere sop, for the saving would be infinitesimal; while the Veto Bill is so bad that Tories have only to allow it to pass to win two-thirds of the English Elections. As to the Home-rule Bill, it was regarded in Ireland as much worse than the Bill of 1886; and while landlords, merchants, and industrials were all alarmed, Mr. Gladstone refused even to see the deputation which represented them. Under the Bill, the Customs duties of Ireland were to go to the Empire, and Irish internal finance was to be based on whisky, income, and stamps. The new Government would be unable to raise the taxes on land because the farmers would resist, and on income because capital would fly, and would be compelled to rely on whisky, the sale of which the Government in Great Britain was trying to prohibit. The contributions due from Ireland would, he hoped, under those circumstances be paid; but if they were not paid, there was no agency in the Bill by which Government could collect them. In fact, the financial part of the Bill is "radically unsound."
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