Sir Stafford Northeote on Tuesday made a speech to the
Con- servatives of Exeter, in which he declared formal war against the Ministry. After an exordium in praise of "my friend and our leader, Mr. Disraeli," which appears intended to dispel certain rumours of Mr. Disra.eli's dethronement, he declared that the Government had lost in numbers, in influence, and in character ; that the Tories,
N7ing chiefly, it would appear, to Mr. Disraeli, had gained in all
three; that in Whig hands "the bubble of the moral influence of Great Britain had burst;" that "the name of England had become a byword and a reproach ;" that the time for calling the Govern- ment to account would certainly come next year, and probably this year; and that he trusted the general election would place the Conservative party in a position which it had not occupied for the past eighteen years." He did not put forward any definite charge against the Government except its conduct in the matter of Church- rates, but he declared that there were questions affecting the con- nection of Church and State, and questions of foreign policy, which pressed for decision, and could not be decided because of funda- mental differences of opinion within the Government itself. All this points to a lively session, bitter debates, narrow votes, and perhaps a-general election in the autumn. The political truce is over, an announcement for which editors as well as the country will be heartily grateful.
Previous page
