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Show THE BALFJR DOWNFALL. After tenaciously holding on to office despite a number of defeats In Parliament, Parlia-ment, it appears that the Balfour Ministry Min-istry in Great Britain Is about to dissolve. dis-solve. The Liberal party, which Is racked with dissension, may lose the election which Is Imminent, because of ' this failure to agree upon a definite 1 and distinct policy. While tho Boer ! war was on, all was plain sailing; and In spite of a criminal want of preparation prepara-tion for that war. and the atrocious blunders and mismanagement which characterized the British operations In the first stages of the campaigns, there was but one thing for the British public pub-lic to do, and that was to support the Ministry. But on the close of that war. the shocking revelations of Incompetence, waste, and corruption shook the Liberal Lib-eral party to Us foundation It weathered weath-ered that storm, however, still retain ing Its great majority In Parliament, it being urGed and conceded that under the systems In vogue, probably the opposition op-position could have done no better had it been in power. Then came the great Chamberlain disruption, and the cry of that statesman's states-man's supporters for "fair trade" (meaning reciprocity, retaliation, and protection) Instead of "free trade." This difficulty was bridged by the expedient ex-pedient of refusing to make the Chamberlain Cham-berlain idea a party Issue. Then came the school question, which the Ministry triumphed In, making the public schools in many Instances sectarian sec-tarian schools. But this triumph was dearly bought, the Ministry escaping defeat only by catering to the otes of those who are in fact enemies of the public schools, but who voted for th.-Ministry's th.-Ministry's bill because It gave opportunity oppor-tunity to use the public schools, supported sup-ported from the public revenues, as sectarian or parochial schools. The Irish land bill was apparently the reward for the votes which carried the educational perversion, and that opened the Irish question anew. The land bill passed. an! operating well, the Inevitable question of home rule came up. and thle Is what seems now to be tearing the Liberal party to pieces It Is the question which ruins every party sooner or later, so that It has come to be a question in British politics, how long the inevitable can be postponed, And yet, to the American mind, the general fvdutlon of the question does not seem to be difficult The Federation Federa-tion Idea would solve It. and would sacrifice nothing. In fact. It would be a distinct gain m prestige and dignity dig-nity for the whole country to adopt It. By that adoption, the dlnerent entitles of the home kingdom would be given local rule on the same principle and approximately on similar lines to the jurisdiction exercised by the several States of. this Union. The lines of separation, which may he convenient ly referred to as State llnep. could be drawn as desired, recognizing as the newly formed State entitles, the provinces pro-vinces or such local subdivisions as have related Interests. The Parliament Parlia-ment would surrender local Jurisdiction Jurisdic-tion accordingly, retaining the control of Imperial affairs, on lines approver), following perhaps the general separation separa-tion that our own country makes; with representation based on the voting population. We believe that such a reorganization reorganiza-tion of the British Empire would Im-measureably Im-measureably strengthen it; and it would at the- same time offnr an opportunity for the colonies to be represented In the Parliament, by Delegates as our Territories an- repressed in Congress, or otherwise, as wisdom might approve It Is certain that something will have to be done about Ireland, which Is a continual thorn in the side of the British Brit-ish Government; and it is clear that nothing will serve but 6ome form of home rule. And while Parliament Is about It, the other entities of the King dom should be given the same right., to avoid similar eruptions, and the Empire Em-pire made an empire In fact, and be put upon Its ultimate and strongest foundation, |