Lord John Manners on Wednesday made a characteristic speech to
the Conservative workmen of Edinburgh. He believed that " Europe was sick " of the foreign policy of Mr. Gladstone, and declared that the Vaccination Bill was an " indulgence," sold at 2d. a head, for the spread of small-pox, and the same kind of thing as the indulgences which moved Luther's indig- nation before the Reformation. He believed it to be quite possible that next Session, under the guise of land laws, "mea-
sures might be brought forward to undermine the independ- ence of the House of Lords, and subordinate it entirely to the House of Commons." The tendency of the day was to fill the House of Commons with extremely rich men, and he did not think workmen would like to entrust them with unlimited power. He saw nothing in the Treaty of Berlin to justify the coercion of Turkey, and could not see how the Fleet was to be got out of the Adriatic. One Session had turned London, London Society, and the London Clubs against Mr. Gladstone. It is impossible to answer sillinesses such as these, and we only record them to show the kind of thing which passes in some circles for argument. Lord John Manners is even a good, because he is a cultivated and good-tempered, specimen of the men who in " society " detest Mr. Gladstone, because they think he influences a body of opinion differing from theirs and stronger than they. They are charmed with speeches like this, and think that allusion to " indulgences " showed great learning. They do not want argument, but good, hearty asser- tion, and a few quotations from papers which they believe to. be German because they are published in Buda-Pesth.
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