Mr. Stopford Blair, of Wigtown Stewart, a magistrate, recently told
a public meeting that he wished a shoulder of mutton satu- rated with strychnine which was sent to a land agent in the south had been sent to,Mr. Gladstone, and that he had eatenit. This absurd denunciation was much commented. on in Scotland, and an explanation was asked of the orator from the Home Office. Mr. Blair, as Sir W. Harcourt on Thursday night told the Commons,
thereupon replied that he had been misreported; that he had only 'wished Mr. Gladstone a bit of the mutton, to give him a "pain in the stomach," and that it was only a "careorary. joke." The Lord Chancellor, therefore, did not propose to remove Mr. Blair from the Bench. It is never well, perhaps, to make too much of any indiscretion ; but the Lord Chancellor might remember that innocent Liberals may be brought before Mr. Blair, and would to him seem the guiltiest of men. However, as he will be known as " Ciirsorary Blair " as long as he lives, and be offered lessons in spelling for the next two or three years, he has perhaps been punished enough. A Scotch ultra-Tory is beaten so very much and so very often, and must altogether feel so depressed, that he may be for- given a little swearing, if it is only grammatical. He should, however, wish his wishes about Mr. Gladstone's future state, and not his mortal life.
Previous page
