The only other speeches of moment were the Chancellor of
the Exchequer's and Mr. Balfour's. Sir William Harcourt gave himself up to devising a string of brilliant jokes, of which the first quizzed the authors of Mr. Jeffreys's motion for having spread the net of their amendment so wide as to catch "as many fish, as many loose fish," as possible ; and perhaps the most successful, judging by the laughter it provoked, consisted in a comparison between Mr. Goschen's apparent expectation that he should soon succeed to Sir William Harcourt's office, and the conduct of the Heir-Apparent to the crown of Henry IV. who, according to Shakespeare, stole his father's crown, and was found trying it on before his father's eyes were closed in death. But by some abso- lutely unaccountable confusion, Sir William Harcourt con- founded Prince Henry with "Harry Hotspur," whom Sir William repeatedly mentioned as the impatient heir. Shake- speare would, indeed, have been astonished if he had fore- seen the day when Harry Hotspur should be identified by Histor tens, of all people in the world, with the wild Prince of his play. Mr. Balfour replied in a short but striking speech, insisting on the increasing pressure of the burdens on land and the rapidly dwindling profits of Lancashire factory owners, and warning the Government that the country would not feel the more cordially for them for this attempt to ignore its real anxieties while they paraded their long list of political reforms never destined to be carried. The amend- ment was negatived by the narrow majority of 12 in a House ;including Speaker and tellers) of 539 Members-273 against 261.
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