Mr. Labouchere cannot be satisfied without revenging him- self on
the Queen for Mr. Gladstone's decision not to offer him a place in the Government. He publishes in Truth of this week a letter of Mr. Gladstone's, taking upon himself the whole responsibility of the decision ; and replies to it by giving Mr. Gladstone credit for his chivalry in shielding the Queen. He hints in his letter, and asserts boldly in Truth, that it was the Queen's prepossession against him which turned the scales against him in Mr. Gladstone's mind, though he declines to give the evidence for his assertion. But the fact is that Mr. Gladstone never recommended his name to the Queen, and that to Mr. Gladstone alone belongs the full responsibility of the omission. And in all probability Mr. Gladstone's judg- ment, even if he were aware of the prepossession of which Mr. Labouchere makes so much, was not solely determined by that prepossession, but by independent considerations tending in the same direction. Nothing can show Mr. Labouchere's un- fitness for office more than his determination to go behind Mr. Gladstone's responsibility, and attribute, in defiance of all con- stitutional usage, the blame of his decision to the Queen's per- sonal prejudice. But Mr. Gladstone's second letter is wanting in plainness of speech, and does not rebuke Mr. Labouchere's unconstitutional obstinacy as it ought to have done. It fades away in a haze of complimentary remark on Mr. Labouchere's career, for which we do not see the political justification.
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