Mr. Morley addressed his constituents at Newcastle-on- Tyne, on Monday,
in a speech that was so bright and lively that it produced a very distinct effect on the spirits of his party, not only in Newcastle, but throughout England, and some of his audience felt themselves warranted in pre- dicting for him the future position of Prime Minister. How- ever that may be, and we agree with the Daily Chronicle that Mr. Morley's platform speeches are decidedly more effective than his House of Commons speeches,--chiefly, we imagine, because his temperament makes him painfully sensitive to the presence of hostile listeners who do not agree with him,— he certainly spoke at Newcastle with a more animated air of conviction than any other of his colleagues can manage to assume. He was enthusiastic about the as yet untried Parish Councils Act; was sarcastic on the "Chamber called Upper," which alone, he said, enabled the minority in the House of Commons "to give themselves all the airs and graces of a majority,"—there are not, by the way, many airs and graces to be imitated in the actual majority with its dispirited leaders ; stuck to it that it is nearly impossible to " mend " the House of Lords, but proposed in no sanguine spirit to limit its power to a single veto ; pointed out how easy it is to debate adequately the principles of even a great measure in three hours, but forgot to mention that in the cases he referred to, everybody knew that there was no serious intention of passing the Bills so debated, or fifty other Members at least would have desired to speak ; and compared the so- called disfranchisement of plural voters in the Registration Bill to the laws against bigamy and polygamy; ridiculed the cry for Redistribution, which he seemed to think insincere; pane- gyrised the Budget; and expressed his willingness even to
retire from Newcastle in favour of a Labour candidate if a fitting candidate could be found. But that was rather a mere facon de parler, as in another part of his speech Mr. Morley spoke of having represented Newcastle for eleven years, and of hoping to represent it for eleven years longer.
