Mr. Chamberlain attended on Wednesday a banquet given by the
Swansea Liberal Association in honour of Mr. Dillwyn, M.P., and delivered a very amusing speech, in which, claiming for himself the name of Radical, he did full honour to the influence exerted by Mr. Dillwyn and his party over public affairs. " According to some pessimist writers and speakers," he said Mr. Dillwyn belongs to a class which is fast dying out among us. He is the typical independent Member, a man who is to be gagged and to be enslaved by a caucus. In spite of these ter- rible inventions, I do not doubt that Mr. Dillwyn will be able to hold his own, although he has never thought it necessary to advertise his independence by abusing his friends and flattering his opponents, nor to assert his superior virtue by ascribing the meanest motives to every other member of his party. Yet I do not think that any one will be found to say he has ever been false to his convictions or untrue to his principles. The fact is, it is a mistake to suppose that independence can only be asserted in isolation. A man may hold very advanced opinions himself, and yet may be perfectly able to co-operate heartily with those who do not go so far as he does upon matters in which they are willing to pursue objects in common. If I dwell upon this at all to-night, it is because it seems to be a characteristic of English Radicalism which has had very important results in our past history. An English Radical may be occasionally unreasonable, but he is never irreconcileable. The Anarchists of France and Nihilists of Russia and the Fenians of Ireland have very few sympathisers in this country, and we Radicals— for I am proud to be one of them—do not think it to be our business to upset the coach, every time the pace does not come up to our expectations." The debt of the Government to the Radical party for bearing with the long delay in the introduction of the measures which Radicals most desire is, in Mr. Chamber- lain's belief, a very heavy one.
