Mr. Stansfeld made one of his pleasing speeches at Halifax
on Tuesday, but avoided saying much in which also he has a great tact. He enumerated the really great achievements of Mr. Gladstone's Administration, pointed out how much party advantage the Opposition always gains from simply having to find fault continuously without proposing any policy of its own, eulogised the Ballot and depreciated the supposed evil of a dimi- nished vote, declared that with School Boards and compulsion the religious difficulty of the Education question would soon settle itself, congratulated the country on the Geneva Arbitration, and paid a warm tribute to the Conservative party for the generous support be had received from them in carrying the recent Sanitary Act, of which he hopes great things : and that was all. But it was all thrown into that polished and graceful language of which Mr. Stansfeld is so great a master, and which produces on the ear a distinct sense of pleasure apart from the drift of the meaning which that language conveys.
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