Mr. Champion sent a most remarkable letter to Wednesday's Times,
on "An Independent Labour Party," in which he ex- pressed quite frankly his distrust of the Irish Home-rulers, especially on the ground of the unwillingness of the Irish Party to let the Labour Party express its views freely at Newcastle, when they seemed to endanger the victory of the Irish party. This, he very justly says, is an object-lesson in the sort of free speech which would be allowed to the Irish minority, if once Ireland were thrown into the hands of the majority. And he openly says that any serious doubt of that kind would render the Labour Party hostile to Irish Home-rule. It is true that Mr. Champion diminishes the value of this avowal by showing that he feels a great deal more con- fidence in the nine Parnellites than in the seventy-two Anti- Parnellites, a piece of credulity which shows how superficial his appreciation of Irish political character is. But it is clear enough that the Labour party and the Home-rule party are already filing off into opposite camps.
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