Mr. Vernon Harcourt also- two very clever speeches at
Oxford this week,—the sortof speeches which talk a man into office,—telling speaches, which will increase his popularity; speeches disagreeable to the Government in tone, as though to show how dangerous he can be; and exceedingly moderate in counsel, as though to show how useful a colleague he could be. In the first speech,—which was also the best,—he attacked, as we have intimated elsewhere, the system of grandmotherly go- vernment, especially the Licensing Act, for putting men to bed before they wish to go; and Mr. Ayrton, for making it an
offence that men should use soap in the Serpentine. He also advised the Government against sensational policies, protested against Mr. Miall's blazing principles," and recommended a few humdrum reforms. Then he directed a very smart attack against the Marquis of Salisbury for saying that Tories up- hold the Constitution, Mr. Harcourt maintaining that it has been solely by the judicious reforms of the Liberals that the Throne, the Aristocracy, and the Church have been saved. The Tory party of the Stuart days "destroyed the Throne, rained the Aris- tocracy, overthrew the Church, and drove into rebellion the most loyal people on earth." And the Stuarts and Straffords of that time are the Salisburies of to-day. What happened then has been happening over and over again ever since, and still the Tory party, while adopting all the Liberal party have done to save them, cry out on their own account, "For Heaven's sake let us do no more !"
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