The French Pattie publishes a report by M. Henri Deloncle,
brother of the Deputy, of an interview with Mr. Gladstone at Biarritz. He says Mr. Gladstone declined to talk, but two hours after "asked one of his confidants" to hand him a " declaration." In this extraordinary document, translated in the Standard of Friday (page 5), Mr. Gladstone declares that he is in "the best condition of physical vigour and intellectual health ; " that "he is determined to carry to an end the struggle into which he has entered with the House of Lords in favour of Home-rule ; " that "he will never enter- tain the idea of exchanging his seat in the Commons for one in an Assembly whose privileges his policy no longer admits;" that "he will unflinchingly proceed with the reforms which the democracy of England and Scotland regards as the fitting ransom to be paid for its support of the liberation of Ireland;" and that though not a Socialist, "he seeks to curb the resistance of the strong in power in favour of the humble, the lowly, and the weak." It is probable that the authenticity of this report will be denied to-day. M. H. Deloncle is a respectable man, but it is impossible that Mr. Gladstone can have sanctioned a statement so directly at variance with Sir Algernon West's telegram, or have accepted words so entirely devoid of reservation and obscurities. The whole thing is too French.
