Mr. Labouchere responded to the toast of "Our Radical Representatives,"
at a banquet given by the Eleusis Club, at Chelsea, on Monday. He raged against the House of Lords, indicated his distrust of the House of Commons and his still deeper distrust of the Government ; denounced a House of Commons full of rich men as necessarily incapable of alleviating the condition of the poor, and praised Mr. Tom Mann,—though Mr. Labouchere was unable to support him by endorsing the views which that gentleman has laid before the Labour Commission. He would not answer, he said, for Mr. Tom Mann's proposals, but a House of Commons full of Tom Manna "would certainly hit upon some good, practicable plan" by which they would be able to raise the standard of living among the poor. We should have never described Mr. Labouchere as specially credulous, even on the subject of democracy ; but if he believes that, he is credulous to the last degree. A House of Commons full of Labour candidates would probably hit on a scheme for the benefit of the working classes wilder and more ruinous than any com- pound of the McKinley Tariff and the Panama Canal. But Mr. Labouchere is only serious in wishing to show his scorn for English political institutions as they exist. If he came to devising others, he would be serious no longer. His levity would show itself in its full dimensions.
