Lord Stanley referred, with characteristic disgust, on Monday at the
Liverpool banquet to the amount of party speaking and writing with which the country is now deluged,—whereupon Mr. Gladstone, gracefully and playfully fitting on the cap, in spite of Lord Stanley's polite protest that it was not intended for his head, remarked that he would return good for evil, and assure the noble lord, that no one who, like himself, had read his address to the electors of King's Lynn—Lord Stanley merely requested their continued support, and said he would take occasion shortly to ex- plain his views in person,—would, as yet, apply any portion of the censure Lord Stanley had hinted, great or small, to him. No ; and that is one reason that Lord Stanley, with all his ability, is scarcely ever likely to attain Mr. Gladstone's popularity. It is no pleasure to him to take the people into confidence and open his mind to them. He likes curt, clear, reasoned judgments on pub- lic affairs, not full exposition, not expatiation, not sentiment, not the play of thought and character round political subjects. He is a political condenser, not a political rarifier. He will be respected and trusted, but scarcely admired and loved.
