Sir William Harcourt was as entertaining,—and let us add, as
light-minded,—as usual in his speech at Chelmsford on Wed- nesday. Referring to Lord Randolph Churchill's imprudent sneer at Lord Hartington as the " crutch " of the Conservative Party, Sir William said that a Tory turns pale if you only whisper the word "dissolution" in his ear, and you hear "nothing except pitiable cries of the reconstruction of a victorious Govern- ment, while, with faltering steps, the poor cripple is complaining of his crutch." Again, "I read in one of the Tory papers this evening that the Tory Government had been treated with apparent brutality by the Liberal Unionists. Apparent brutality! Why, you might think you were reading a police report about the domestic relations of a husband and wife in which the weaker vessel administered to the superior sex a black eye !" And Sir William Harcourt was evidently eager to treat the weaker vessel as the weaker vessel had, in his view, treated the superior sex ; for he went on to recount the history of the Round Table with the view of giving a black eye to Mr. Chamberlain, though with little success. We will never believe that Mr. Gladstone declined to make any effort to reunite his party, only because Mr. Chamberlain wrote a certain letter to the Baptist newspaper which was not couched in terms of cordiality towards his former leader.
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