The lower and the higher elements in the population are fused
by the enthusiasm of men who find themselves marching in full body on a
road, under a flag, at the heels of a trusted leader; and they will no
longer be fed with sops. Petty concessions are signs of weakness to the
unsatisfied; they prick an appetite, they do not close breaches. If our
object is, as we hear it said, to appease the Irish, we shall have to
give them the Parliament their leader demands. It might once have been
much less; it may be worried into a raving, perhaps a desperate
wrestling, for still more. Nations pay Sibylline prices for want of
forethought. Mr. Parnell's terms are embodied in Mr. Gladstone's Bill, to
which he and his band have subscribed. The one point for him is the
statutory Parliament, so that Ireland may civilly govern herself; and
standing before the world as representative of his country, he addresses
an applausive audience when he cites the total failure of England to do
that business of government, as at least a logical reason for the claim.
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