Mr. Fawcett made a long and very able speech to
his consti- tuents on Tuesday. After referring with just pride to the improvements in his Department, and telling his hearers that he would not give them the Parcel Post till his organisation was ready, and that they must wait till some months after Christmas, he turned to Egypt, and declared that the object of the Government there would be to secure to the people the best administration and the largest amount of liberty practic- able, without re-establishing the abuses of the late Con- trol. He maintained that we had acted rightly in Ireland, and in regard to peasant-proprietorship had gone to the verge, or over the verge, of a wise liberality. He deprecated, in a, passage which rose to unusual eloquence, the habit of perpetu- ally granting State money, and giving to the poor from the means of men no richer than themselves. He took a hopeful view of the future, and intimated that the reform of the county franchise, of county government, and of the government of London would all be brought forward next Session. He was most cordially received, and, indeed, it is strange to see how specially good a working admiuistrator the "Professor" has made. Brains do not, as was supposed, disqualify for depart- mental work.
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