Mr. Labouchere moved the adjournment of the House on Thursday,
to call for explanations on our Egyptian policy, and thereby wasted a good deal of the time of the House, without even gaining the support of his own leacters,—Mr. Bryce very wisely administering a mild snub to Mr. Labonchere, and post- poning his remarks on the Egyptian policy of the Government till the vote for the Diplomatic and Consular Services should come on. Mr. Labonchere's chief object, indeed, was to dis- credit Mr. Goschen, and with that view he went back to the loan negotiated by Mr. Goschen's former firm, and did his very best to impute to Mr. Goschen self-interested conduct of a damaging kind. He even suggested that Mr. Goschen's old firm had pocketed a commission of 11 per cent, on the loan, while Mr. Goschen in his speech positively denied that it had been even so much as l per cent.; and when Mr. Goschen stated that he could not remember on what terms the loan was underwritten, Mr. Labouchere interjected an " Ah !" in a tone that suggested imputations of the most serious kind ; and this Mr. Goachen characterised as "au almost insolent interruption." Hereupon, of course, Mr. Labouchere rose to order, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had to withdraw the term, which, as he justly said, he used "under considerable provocation." Mr. Goschen's explanations were, indeed, as full and satisfactory as possible, probably even to Mr. Labouchere himself,—only that to him satisfactory explanations are probably by no means a satisfaction.
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