In the second speech, before a meeting of the Bradford
Con- servative Association, Lord Salisbury went into a general defence of the policy of the Government, which, though very unsubstantial, he made very amusing. He complimented Bradford on its Conserva- tive gathering, and said that for the first time he understood the Conservative vein in Mr. Forster, and why he was allowed to give rein to his Conservative tendencies ; declared that the Government had adhered to its own policy in keeping a strict neutrality in the war, and that it would always follow Liberal advice, whenever it agreed with the drift of that advice ; asserted that if we had wanted to act with Russia, we could not have persuaded any other Power in Europe to join us ; denied that a Government had any right to go to war, except for the plain " interests " of the country concerned ; attacked Lord Granville and the Liberals for their ambition "to connect their names" with some great act of legislation ; declared that the only fault proved against the Conservative Government was that its legislative proposals were not numerous enough and not violent enough to earn such a fame for the members of the Con- servative Cabinet ; and asserted that the Conservatives prefer " good, quiet, home-spun stuff," while their adversaries have "aft untameable passion for loud patterns." He concluded by drawing a lesson of sobriety and Conservatism from the troubles of France ;—and as regards sobriety he was right, but as regards Conservatism certainly not. Can anything be clearer than that France is suffering now from an excess of Toryism, from the "vio- lent measures" and "loud legislative patterns" not of Liberals, but of Church-and-State Tories.
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