Mr. W. H. Smith and Sir Richard Cross had an
opportuni4 on Wednesday of attacking the Government in addressing *na members of the Henley-on-Thames Conservative Associatie-,, an opportunity which they used with a good deal of ardow • "If there is one thing," said Mr. Smith," more prominent ir connec- tion with the present Parliament than another, it is tha4, failure is
written upon everything that it has undertaken." That depends on a verdict much more weighty and much more important than Mr. Smith's,—the verdict of history. For our own parts, we believe that in the history of this century. as it will be estimated generations hence, no measure is so likely to redound to the credit of this country as the Irish Land Act which this Parlia- ment passed, and which Mr. Smith and his party did all in their power to resist. Nor will this Session itself prove unfruitful, as we hope, it passes an Agricultural Holdings Bill, a Cor- rupt Practices Bill, a National Debt Bill, a Bankruptcy Bill, and a Patents Bill. However, it is of the utmost importance to Mr. Smith and his party to find failure everywhere in the doings of this Administration ; and the speck which they carry in their eye, they not unnaturally project on to their field of view.
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