Lord Randolph Churchill issued his address to the - electors of Birmingham
on Saturday. It is marked throughout by a curious sense of being at the top and speaking from above, of which no extract would give sufficient illustration. He calls on the people of Birmingham to reject Mr. Bright as a supporter of a Government which was judged by the people against their own will on July 9th, 1885; and which, if restored to power for six years, would transgress the wide limits of experiment and even caprice which her position allows to the United Kingdom ; and to elect himself as member of a Government which will "regain that friendship of the European Powers which pre- judice, presumption, and poltroonery had almost forfeited ;" which will tighten the bonds between the Empire and its Colonies ; which will secure India and inquire into its condition ; which will give the rural population the advan- tages of self-government ; which will multiply freeholders as far as political economy will permit ; which will utilise the powers of the House of Commons to secure economy ; which will "alter the methods of transacting the business of Parliament and its hours of labour "—is he going to sit in the daytime, and so expel all but the rich ?—and, in a word, "will govern the British Empire by the light of common-sense "— the light of conscience being left out. Lord Randolph then denounces Mr. Chamberlain and all his works, and tells the electors that if they re-elect Liberals he shall submit, but shall "wonder long" at their insanity. It is conceited, all that ; but there is method in the conceit, and a most astute effort to be as much of a Moderate in all but anathema as he can. Birmingham will, we fancy, like better to take its moderation . from Mr. Bright.
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