Mr. Forster made a powerful speech to his Bradford constitu-
ents on Monday, in St. George's Hall, chiefly on the foreign and constitutional policy of the Government, but partly also on the attempt of the Liberal Three Hundred to make him accept his seat as their nominee. This, he said, he would never con- sent to do. He could not abdicate his responsibility for the Bradford constituency as a whole, and especially for the whole Liberal party in that constituency, and the Three Hundred must remember that however far they went in affecting to act for the whole Liberal party there, they could not take away the influence or the votes of those Liberals who had not concerned themselves in electing the Three Hundred, and who none the less took a lively interest in the politics of the borough. If, on consulting the influential men of both branches of the party,—the organised branch and the unorganised branch, —he came to believe that his retirement would tend to secure the election .of two hearty antagonists of Lord Beaconsfield's policy, he would, though with great regret, retire ; but he did not at present think that such a course would really serve the Liberal cause, but decidedly injure it. Nevertheless, he desired so earnestly to see Bradford throwing its whole influence against Lord Beaconsfield—which now it does not do—that he would retire, if ever he should be convinced that his retirement would serve that purpose. Nor could he have said anything that would do more than this did to render it certain that the Liberals would vote for him as one man,—including, we almost venture to hope, Mr. Illingworth and the rest of the Three Hundred themselves.
