Mr. Balfour was very amusing, also, in his criticism on
Mr. Gladstone's Newcastle speech :—" It reminded me more than anything else of what I believe is called in theatrical, or perhaps I ought to say, music-hall phraseology, a programme of varieties. I can easily conceive it being put upon the stage symbolically. There was a little tumbling, a few card- tricks, a good deal of walking on the tight-rope; there was a ballet of happy persons ; and there was, as a fitting con. elusion to the performance, the great scenic effect of Sir William Harcourt, dressed, I presume, in the full panoply of a Norman Baron, bearing the cap of liberty aloft, and heading a mob attacking the House of Lords, which finally may be sup- posed to descend into the abyss, amid fireworks, Bengal lights, and a general conflagration." Mr. Balfour commented very humorously on the "vague and illusive phrases " with which Mr. Gladstone patronised the secondary revolutions which his programme included, some of them being spoken of at one time as remote, and again, in the same speech, as very near at hand ; and others, again, simply as reforms which "must not be forgotten ;" while as to the precedence of Scotch or of Welsh Disestablishment, Mr. Gladstone had indicated that the Welsh and Scotch Members must fight it out between themselves. The real issue was between the reckless promises of the Gladstonians and the sober performances of the Government.
