There was a great beating of drums at the National
Liberal Club on Wednesday, when Lord Rosebery addressed a crowded audience downstairs and Sir William Harcourt upstairs ; and then Sir William Harcourt descended to make a speech below stairs, while Lord Rosebery ascended to make a speech up above. There was a good deal of cry and very little wool. Lord Rosebery was in great spirits, as his horse had won the race for the Two Thousand Guineas at New- market, and Sir William Harcourt, if not in great spirits, was at least equal to feigning them. But the greater the froth and effervescence, the less was there of refreshing drink. What Lord Rosebery said was that if they got a majority of 10, or even of 2, he would stick to his enterprise, and fight the policy of the Government fairly out. And Sir William Harcourt said that he thought political crises capital things, and that he had never been the worse for a crisis in his life. That was the sort of note to which the speechifying was attuned, and the speeches came to very little more than loud crowing to keep the party's spirits up. And no doubt it succeeded. The party's spirits rose to a very respectable temporary level,—at which it is not very likely to endure, even though the mag- nificent majority of 14 on Thursday night was more than had been hoped for.
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