Oxford had a gala-day on Wednesday to institute a new
Liberal Club, called the Palmerston Club, and occasion was taken of it to present Mr. Gladstone previously with an address at the- Corn Exchange, and get a speech out of him. The speech, of course, was on the question of the day,—the vote of six millions. Mr. Gladstone admitted that he had, during his political life, as a rule, been excessively reluctant to enter on politica) discussions, whether when receiving addresses or other- wise, but during the last eighteen months he had thought it his duty to abandon his previous rule, and do all in his power to counter-work the policy of the Prime- Minister on the Eastern Question, by rousing the national mind on the subject. Lord Beaconsfield had said that he thought it the chief happiness of life neither to make speeches nor to write letters. But then it was also. his chief happiness to have things his own way, and it was easier for him , with a Cabinet, Government Departments, and embassies at his disposal, to get things his own way without making speeches and writing letters than it would be with them. Nevertheless, the. Cabinet, said Mr. Gladstone, seems to have resembled verymuch, the bag in which /Bolus tied up for Ulysses all the adverae winds, and certainly if it was any mischief to harass the country, as Lord Beaconsfield accused the last Government of doing, no Government had ever harassed the country as this Government had been doing daring the last eighteen months. The vote of credit would better- be described as a vote of discredit, and if it were only -a way of affirming confidence in the Government, such a vote was not only not justified; but was very-dear at-the money.
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