22 FEBRUARY 1890, Page 3

One of our readers having misunderstood a paragraph in our

last week's issue, in which we spoke with sympathy of Mr. Bryce's speech on Portugal, and expressed our belief that his constituents would heartily share his view, as if we had in- tended to attribute his manly approval of the course of the Government to the pressure of his constituents, we must dis- claim any such innuendo as wholly inconsistent with our pro. found respect for Mr. Bryce, in whom we have never seen a trace of the disposition to alter his convictions to please his constituents. We have thought him lately much more of a partisan than he used to be; but there are few members of the Liberal Party for whose intellect and uprightness we entertain a deeper respect.