Speaking in Aberdeen on Tuesday, at a meeting held under
the auspices of the Scottish Liberal Association, Sir George Trevelyan attacked the representation of the Universities, on the ground that Oxford had not elected Mr. Bryce, and had ultimately rejected Mr. Gladstone,—an argument which would equally well disfranchise Lancashire. A great part of the speech was taken up with what it is impossible to describe except as a plaintive wail that the " great Liberal Party " is not treated with more civility. "During the last three years," said Sir George Trevelyan, "there has been a deliberate attempt to boycott and crush the Liberal Party, and to treat it as a party outside the pale of courtesy." " Of course," he went on, " every one must be sorry that a great number of the upper and better classes should have left us,—but whose fault was it P" Clearly that of Lord Hartington and his followers. In this extraordinary falsetto strain, the speaker proceeded to wring his hands in a kind of helpless irritation over the iniqui- ties of his former friends, and specially of those " very few rich Liberal Unionist noblemen " for whose sake the Govern- ment " insisted upon maintaining the enormous injustice " of not taxing ground-rents. Those who have a personal feeling .of respect for Sir George Trevelyan, and who admire his delightful gifts as a man of letters, will find the whole speech very trying,—one that it is best to pass by without further comment.
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