Sir Richard Cross delivered an attack on the Government, at
Southport, last Wednesday, which was neither more nor less- remarkable than the average of such speeches. He was very fair and moderate, and rather conventional in tone. He made a good deal of the Duke of Argyll's, Mr. Forster's, and Mr. Bright's resignations,—a good deal of the defeat inflicted on the Government on the Bradlaugh question,—a good deal of what he called the vacillation in regard to Egypt,—and a good deal of the tyranny of the Rules of Procedure adopted for the Commons. Sir Richard Cross then went on to demand that the Reform scheme of the Government should be presented as a whole, before the House should be asked to agree to the new County Franchise; and concluded by saying that the Conservative leaders had been hampered by the war in Egypt and the anarchy in Ireland, because it would not do to weaken the Government too much in the face of these difficulties, but that now, at least, they would be able to speak out. With Sir Stafford Northcote fairly " unmuzzled," the Liberal Administration will be almost as panic-struck as was the ball, when the lamb declared that he was becoming " quite fierce."
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