Sir William Harcourt, speaking at the Hertford Corn Exchange on
Wednesday, outdid himself in boisterous irre- sponsibility and irrelevance. The people of East Hertfordshire were in a state of blissful and rural ignorance. They were under the delusion that the Liberal party was extremely alive. -" Well, I am sorry to inform you," went on Sir William Harcourt, " that, according to the best authorities, you are .entirely mistaken. If you go to the lobbies, if you go to the slabs, to the Drawing Rooms, to the able editors, and the London correspondents, and the Bishops,—all the inspired and well-informed people will tell you that the Liberal party is in a deplorable condition. They will tell you that the Liberal party is distracted, that it is full of envy, malice, and uncharitableness." But in reality these wiseacres were always mistaken. There was nothing so indestructible as a great party. You might as well destroy the distinction of the sexes. Sir William went on to describe the Liberal party as it really was. Had it ever shrunk from challenging the foe ? " Have we ever failed to find good men and true to carry on the Liberal flag to the front P" So Sir William Harcourt rattled on, without a word as to the principles or measures he advocates, and strange to say, without any allu- sion to Home-rule ; but there were, of course, a good number of gibes at the Unionists. "A pretentious foreign policy has proved to be nothing but an impotent diplomacy. Their open .doors are mostly closed ; they are hardly ajar, and if you could squeeze in you would find that the front parlour was already occupied by a foreign family." Sir William Harcourt has perfected the art of making a political speech without a word of politics, except abuse of his opponents.
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