Lord Hartington, at Newcastle on Wednesday, made one of those
speeches which mark rather the sagacious and resolute statesman than the eloquent orator,—which register force and purpose, not persuasiveness or passion. He was not sorry, he said, to be away from the House of Commons while the un- meaning talk on the Address went on. It was talk which raised no issue, and would lead to no consequences. He did not think that the Irish struggle was over. Very likely it was only beginning. But those who had counted the cost when they entered upon it, were not going to collapse because the prospect of the fight was so anxious and so laborious. A junction of forces between the Unionist Liberals and the Conservatives had become inevitable, but the real problem was how to make it in the highest degree effective. He would have joined the Govern- ment if that had promised the best results, but he believed that to guard jealously the independent position of the Liberal Party promised the best results. There were many Unionist Liberals who might have been alienated by his merging his party in the Conservative Party even for this one purpose. Mr. Goschen, however, was in a different position. True as was bis Liberalism, he had lost influence with many Liberals by former differences with the party, and it was entirely with his own approval that Mr. Goschen had lent the Conservative Party the great help of his large financial knowledge and his great ability. Lord Randolph Churchill was quite at liberty to sneer at the Unionist Liberals as a mere crutch of the Conservative Party ; to that they were quite indifferent ; but they would support Lord Randolph heartily if he could persuade the Con- servatives to adopt his advice to pursue a progressive policy, and prove to the country that there was nothing reactionary about their intentions.
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