One hundred years ago
Lord Salisbury has made his speech, and has nailed his colours to the mast. He will not surrender whatever hap- pens. He assumed throughout his speech, which was marked by an un- usual amount of acrimony, that Mr Gladstone, whom he characterised as 'an arrogant dictator', was utterly dis- honest and capable of so manipulating Redistribution, that his appeal to the new electors would really be an appeal to a new country. The Premier is 'anxious to disgrace and humiliate the Second Chamber', and conscious of failure in Egypt and cowardice in South Africa, seeks to raise a cloud in which the facts of his Administration may be concealed. Mr Gladstone has learnt much from Russian diplomacy, and attacks institutions as Russia attacks small Powers. 'He is always the good man, the excellent Conservative driven against his will by the obstinacy of the House of Lords to undertake a crusade for their destruction.' In short, Mr Gladstone is a politcal rogue, who will gerrymander the constituencies for his own advantage, give solemn pledges not meaning to keep them, and consciously attack the Constitution under cover of defending it. Lord Salisbury degener- ates as a swordsman. Formerly he was 'a master of flouts and jeers'; now he condescends to mere abuse. He should, . purely as a matter of art, leave gross charges of this kind to Sir R. A. Cross,: and that kind of man.
Spectator, 4 October 1884
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