Yesterday week, Mr. Gosehen made an impressive speech at Newton
Abbot, in Devonshire. He reminded the people of Mr. Parnell's cynical advice to the Opposition to give the Government sufficient rope for domestic legislation, pre- dicting that that would be the beginning of the break-up.. Rope had accordingly been given, but instead of using it to- hang themselves, they had made of it a band to knot more closely together all the members of the Unionist Party. Never did a Government invite the verdict of the people in better heart. The Government do not agree with Mr. Glad- stone that the Irish Question covers and envelops all others. The Unionists hold that in Mr. Gladstone's sense it smothers and throttles all other issues,—but the Unionists refuse to let it smother and throttle all others, and have proved by their legislation in the present Parliament, that they can get the Irish block out of the way without granting the Irish de- mands, and they maintain that to grant them would indeed alter the character of the Irish block, but would leave it as- formidable as ever. Sir William Harcourt says that what, the Unionists have done has been the result of blossoms which have grown on Liberal branches. But, said Mr. Goschen, there is this peculiarity about these blossoms, that they never come to maturity. Sir William Harcourt declares that the Liberals will not "wear their hearts on their sleeves for dew& to peek at ; " but a witty Scotch candidate had retorted that he did not want to know what Sir William Harcourt had got on his sleeve ; he wanted to know what he had got "up his sleeve." Perhaps, like that "heathen Chinee," he has "twenty- four packs."
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