17 FEBRUARY 1872, Page 2

But the real attack began with Lord Salisbury, who was,

as usual, very telling and rather bitter, reflecting on the Lord Chan- cellor for decoying "a cautious old man into his private room," instead of defending himself openly in the House, and satirizing the Prime Minister as the only great man in the country to whom it could have occurred that " when Parliament said a certain officer was to be a judge, Parliament thereby meant that he was to be a barrister ; and that when Parliament said a certain clergyman was to be a member of the Convocation of the University of Oxford, it thereby meant that he was to be a member of the University of Cambridge." He warned the House of the danger tizai, must spring from any diminution of confidence between Parliament and the Executive Government as to the Administra- tion's honourable adherence to intentions visible in Acts of Parlia- ment, and the evil consequences which must flow from any suspicion of the Legislature that unless it stops up every legal flaw and gap, as a cautious lawyer would guard against the malversation of a trust by a trustee he distrusted, the Government would find means of defeating the intention of Parliament.