tion, which, as leader of
the party, he had made two years before, by his strong condemnation of
the line adopted by the Chief Secretary in respect of a measure, to
which, as he said, "the Tories were pledged, and which formed the
foundation of the Unionist Party." In 1892 the Unionist Government
introduced, under the care of Mr. Arthur Balfour, a Bill purporting to
redeem these pledges. By one clause, which became known as the "put them
in the dock clause," on the petition of any twenty ratepayers a whole
Council might be charged with "misconduct," and, after trial by two
judges, was to be disbanded, the Lord Lieutenant being empowered to
nominate, without any form of election, a Council which would succeed
the members who were removed in this manner. The criticism which this
provision aroused was, as was natural, acute. The _Times_ at this
juncture declared that to attempt to legislate would be to court danger.
The Local Government Bill was abandoned, and in this connection a
sidelight is shed on the sincerity of the promises which had been made,
in a letter from Lord Randolph Churchill to Lord Justice FitzGibbon on
this question, dated January 13th, 1892, at the time when the Government
of 1886 was drawing to a close, and Mr. Balfour was about to introduce
the unworkable Bill which was clearly not intended to pass into law.

"My information," writes Lord Randolph, "is that a large, influential,
and to some extent independent, section of Tories kick awfully against
Irish Local Government, and do not mean to vote for it. This comes from
a very knowledgable member of the Government outside the Cabinet. If the
Government proceed with their project they will either split or
seriously dishearten the party, and to do either on the verge of a
general election would be suicidal. This is what they ought to do. They
ought to say that Irish Local Government is far too large a question to
be dealt with by a moribund Parliament; they ought to say that there is
not sufficient agreement among their supporters as to the nature and
extent of such a measure such as would favour the chances of successful
legislation, and that they have determined to reserve the matter for a
new Parliament when the mind of the country upon Irish administration
has been fully ascertained."[2]

The reflections suggested by this account of the evolution of a measure
of party policy cannot be edifying to an Englishman or calculated to
appeal as wise statesm