Mr. Chamberlain made a most successful speech at Birmingham on
Wednesday, in which his first point was that he found the prominence of the Irish Question dis- tinctly declining. Mr. Morley and his leader were both putting forward other suggestions, some of them good ones, and he could see no reason for not getting to other work, amidst wb ich he indieatedfree education, and w project of his- own for extending the principle of the Ashbourne Aet to Great Britain. Mr. Chamberlain dwelt on this idea with a certain enthusiasm, expressing the belief that such a proposal would be received with delight ; but it may be questioned- if he has thought it fully out. The price to be charged here would be very different from the Irish price, and tenants are much less eager to root themselves to the soil. They want their sons to get on, not to stop on the farms, and would look askance at an agreement binding them for forty-eight years. If there is a demand to purchase and a desire to sell, why will not a law making land easily saleable meet both aspirations ? Mr. Chamberlain expected also a Local Government Bill for Scotland, and was entirely in favour of a considerable extension of our means of defence. He continued by ex- pressing his belief that the state of Ireland had improved, and could be improved further by a multiplication of free- holds, and aid to be afforded by the State, as on the Con- tinent, to great public works ; and finished by a most eloquent appeal to the Imperialist sentiment of the country on the duty of preserving the Empire and the beneficial influence of the Kingdom in the world. We have said enough of this elsewhere, and have given the peroration textually ; but we may add here that this part of the speech silenced opposition, and was received with rapturous cheering.
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