Some of the Tory leaders, in their despair, are inclined
to see if they cannot resuscitate Protection. Sir Stafford Northcote "will not commit himself" so far as to promise a Commission of Inquiry, but thinks the subject ought to be carefully con- sidered ; and Lord Randolph Churchill on Thursday told the members of a new Conservative Club at Birmingham that if the masses of workmen in this country came to the conclusion that the system of 1848 had been pushed too far, then there was nothing in the Conservative Party which should induce them to refuse their aid. "We are not tied down, as the Liberal party are tied down, by a narrow and pedantic dogma. I do not myself believe that on these questions of trade any exact standard of truth has been arrived at." In another speech, a. few hours before, Lord Randolph had defended the purchase of secret documents from State employ& as an enterprising achievement. In fact, he is willing, if only he may so charm the people, to vote down not only the Ten Commandments, bat the multiplication-table. He is the one
real demagogue in England ; and if he knew any facts, or could talk without making charges, would be a dangerous one. For- tunately, the people in their stolidity like a little consistency, and prefer that their rulers should be rather more moral than themselves. They only like unscrupulousness in lawyers, and then the quantity must be strictly limited.
