In Wednesday's speech Mr. Hardy was not so amusing. He
described, indeed, his unexpected and unsanctioned proposal and rejection for the Lord Rectorship of St. Andrew's as the freak of boys, who were fond of having what they called a " °oddly " at any object that had attracted their notice ; he replied to the charge that the Conservative Government had been occupied in gratifying particular class interests, by asserting that all reforms of grievances are concessions to the aggrieved classes,—that, for example, the Liberal Reform Bill of 1866 was a concession to the special class of £7 householders and under ;—and ho said that Mr. Fronde, writing in 1871, must have had in his mind a sort of un- conscious anticipation of the great " wood cutter " photograph of Mr. Gladstone, recently published, when he wrote that the liberty of a thousand years can be cut down by a quack in a single Session, but can no more be restored by him than the fallen oak can be restored by the woodman. But as the only liberty which, as far as we know, Mr. Gladstone has ever dangerously interfered with, either in the last or any other Session, was the liberty taken by a few rivals of Mr. Hardy's with Mr. Gladstone's own name, the sarcasm fell rather flat ; and the oratory of the work- ing men's speech depended for its effect on the " high- falutin" part of the speech,—the threats that " the flag of England, which floats in every breeze and every clime," was to be waved defiantly in the face of a military monarch of " vast resources" who threatens our communications with our
dependencies. Mr. Hardy is a true oratorical colour-sergeant. He makes a most effective use of the flag.
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