It is announced that Mr. Gladstone will return on Sunday,
and take part in the debate on Mr. Parnell's Bill. He is greatly required. Sir W. Harcourt leads as if he secretly sympathised with obstruction ; and Mr. J. Morley, who does not, cannot put it down. Mr. Gladstone can. He has only to announce that he will not have Parliament degraded, and that if the Parnellites continue their course he will wash his hands of them, and business will go on as tranquilly as if Ireland did not exist. Some strong step of this kind he must take, or the electors will accuse the Liberals of a secret alliance with obstruction, a suspicion already telling heavily in the country. Mr. Parnell cannot venture even to annoy Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Parnell can, by an order of two words, reduce his followers to decency and discipline. It was understood when time was granted him for his Bill, all other Bills being refused a hearing, that he would do this ; but we suppose he pleads that his "young barbarians" are only "at play," and that the rules pf the House are observed. Certainly they are, and would be if six hundred Members spoke for an hour each upon the Fahy case. Par- liamentary government would nevertheless be at an end. We confess we agree with Lord Hartington, and utterly fail to see the moral distinction between obstruction and any other kind of treason.
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