Sir Wilfrid Lawson made a very amusing speech at Carlisle
on Tuesday in relation to the Government and the war. "In the Session before the last we had turned the Queen into an Empress, and Mr. Disraeli came down to the House of Commons and ex- plained that it was done for the purpose of frightening the Czar and keeping him in order ; but now we are stronger than ever, because between forty and fifty excellent old ladies had had a new India Order conferred on them, so that we had not only an Empress to keep the Czar away, but forty deputy Empresses, and how Lord Beaconsfield or any other man in the country could be afraid after that, he could not comprehend." And again, " he could not understand how the Premier used language so different from that of Lord Carnarvon, but a Presbyterian clergyman had furnished him with a reason ;—Lord Beacons- field's conduct was a fulfilment of a prophecy in Scripture, Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf.'" Certainly, however, the- conclusion of the prophecy, "In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil," will not be ful- filled. In the morning of life Mr. Disraeli had no prey to devour, and at night, we imagine, his spoil will be all scattered, and not in his power to divide.
Previous page
