Mr. Labouchere made a speech to his constituents at Northampton
on Tuesday which should not be taken as a very exact or trustworthy account of what took place in the last Session of Parliament. He described the Agricultural Rating Act as an Act that enabled the landlords "to hunt, shoot, and entertain their friends," and the Cattle Importa- tion Act as an Act giving the landlords better prices for their cattle, and the Education Bill as having for its object "to throw the whole control of education in the rural districts into the hands of the Church of England, and to prevent any kind of popular control." As the description of a Bill which passed over control into the hands of the County Councils and the Councils of Municipal Boroughs, that description was tolerably audacious. He exulted in Lord Rosebery's resigna- tion of the Liberal leadership, asserted that Sir William Har- court was obviously pointed out as his proper successor, and declared that if anything should remove Sir William Harcourt, Mr. John Morley was, in his (Mr. Labouchere's) opinion, the man to succeed him. Referring to Lord Cromer's recent assertion that one of the objects,—Mr. Labonchere spoke of it as the object,—of the expedition to Dongola was to avenge General Gordon's death, Mr. Labouchere perpetrated an English "bull." He believed, he said, that "if Gordon were living at the present moment, he would be the last person to wish himself avenged in so bloody a fashion ; " but he did not tell us how, if General Gordon were living at the present moment, he could desire to avenge his own murder.
Previous page
