Sir William Harcourt made an amusing speech yesterday week at
Holloway, the first part of which was devoted to quizzing Mr. Goschen for his political change of front in joining a Conservative Government. Mr. Goschen, however, has not changed his principles at all, while Sir William Har- court in relation to Irish Home-rule has changed his for their very opposites. Sir William seemed to assume that Home-rule was really dead, because he explained the frequent reference to it on the Unionist side by urging that "the ghost of the corpse haunted the consciences of the murderers, and he could not help thinking that a Banquo was present as an uninvited guest the other day at the banquet at the Criterion." Well, that is the frankest admission that Home-rule has been really killed by the Unionist Party, which we have yet extracted from the Gladstonians. But we fear that Mr. Gladstone will not agree with Sir William Harcourt that Home-rule is reduced to the condition of a ghost. If it were, Unionists would not whisper, like Macbeth, " Thou cant not say I did it ;" they would be only too happy to
claim the responsibility. Sir William also quizzed Lord Hartington on his boast of feeling profound satisfaction in incomplete measures, and said he might- almost as well say of a horse with three legs, that he was very glad it was incom- plete and had not got four. Sir William Harcourt is always amusing, but he can seldom persuade his audience that he attaches much real weight to political professions of any kind. He loves to be trivial, and to trivialise the whole character of political life.
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