Lord Randolph Churchill, it is mysteriously hinted, will be called
upon to apologise in Parliament for the calculated insults to Mr. Gladstone contained in his address to the electors of South Paddington. Nothing, however, is further from Lord Randolph's imagination than any intention of apologising. In asking for his re-election, he says :—" All the stirring events which have resulted in the fall of Mr. Gladstone's Government are without doubt well before you, and my opinions on the momentous questions raised by the inception and rejection of the policy of Repeal were very recently set forth to you with whatever of lucidity and plainness of speech I was able to bring to bear." That is not an apologetic tone. A Liberal might fairly say that "whatever of lucidity and plainness of speech" Lord Randolph could command, he did not so much "bring to bear," as bring to be borne—by others. And very ill, on the whole, they were borne. Lord Randolph's style is nearly as bad as his matter. More slovenly English was never written.
