Mr. Childers on Thursday addressed his constituents at Pon- tefract,
in a speech which he began by admitting that things were very dull. No great interest was taken in any political subject, and Parliament was in a flabby state of mind. As to the Ministry, their policy seemed to be to offend nobody and offer the country sickly narcotics instead of medicine. They brought in little Bills with a faint flavour of Communism in them, or what used to be called Communism when Liberals were in power, but there was always a gentle proviso that you need not take the mixture unless you liked it. Out of power, the Tories wanted a noble taxation and a noble expenditure, but in power they spent scarcely any more money. As to the Church, Govern- ment promised nothing except one more Bishop ; and as to local tax- ation, gave the ratepayers a few pounds out of the general taxes. In Army affairs, they had ventured on a little bit of going-back ; and in Education, on a little bit of going-forward ; but it was, generally speaking, a mild Ministry, with a majority of from 90 to 100 at its back. The only thing as yet for Liberals to do was to keep steady, to wait on, and to resist reaction. The prospect, as Mr. Childers sees it, is not very hopeful, but passengers in a becalmed ship seldom do like the prospect. The water is apt to look as if nothing could ever raise it again.
