Mr. Forster's action in so sharply criticising the Government in
his speech on the Vote of Censure, and in what is con- sidered in Bradford as the personal attack on Mr. Gladstone, has brought down upon him a censure from the Four Hundred of Bradford, to which he has replied by an elaborate letter pub- lished on Thursday, denying the personal attack on Mr. Glad- stone, and justifying his criticisms on the Egyptian policy of the Government. He also expresses his surprise that Bradford should complain of outspokenness in the expression of serious convictions. Perhaps Mr. Forster hardly apprehends his own language and tone as others apprehend them. If his criticisms on the Government had been given in the manner in which Mr. Goschen's criticisms were given, no one would have assailed him. But undoubtedly he does contrive to put his candour in a much more disagreeable form than Mr. Goschen's, even when it says the same thing and is followed by the same action. It contains much more in it of the flavour of hostility.
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