Mr. Henry Fowler, however, in his speech at Wolverhampton on
Wednesday, takes Mr. Labouchere to task for this attack on Mr. Chamberlain. He maintained that Mr. Chamberlain's pro- posal "deserves the most anxious and friendly consideration of Mr. Gladstone and his late colleagues." But Mr. Fowler none the less hinted that, in his opinion, a simultaneous grant of autonomy for Ireland would be necessary to render any agrarian settlement satisfactory,—which is very like saying that Mr. Chamberlain's proposal will turn out to be inadmissible, though it might fairly be made the basis of discussion. Mr. Fowler, like a good many other excellent Gladstonians, who a fortnight ago could not adequately express their contempt for Lord Randolph Churchill, has suddenly discovered that he may be a very sagacious statesman after all. After suggesting all the noble political motives by which he may have been actuated, he concludes with saying " he did not want to pronounce too suddenly upon a statesman of great ability but of great im- petuosity, without knowing exactly why he had come to a con- clusion." We can all form a pretty good idea why Lord Randolph Churchill comes to any conclusion, seeing that he has veered round more abruptly than any weather-vane in a hurricane, on all subjects, from Mr. Gladstone's personal character, to the duty of national economy and the attitude to be assumed towards Russia. He always comes to the conclusion which he thinks likely to be most popular at the moment, with the blankest indifference to what he thought likely to be most popular a few weeks or months ago.
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