The same evening, Mr. Chaplin made a spirited attack on
Lord Randolph Churchill, showing that it was not, even on Lord Randolph's own showing, the Dartford speech which initiated for the Conservative Party the policy of progressive legislation, but Lord Salisbury's Newport speech. Lord Randolph bad spent a quarter of an hour in his speech at Bradford in demonstrating that Lord Salisbury had himself taken this line ; and yet now that he had left the Government, he appeared to be claiming it as his own policy, and one disapproved by Lord Salisbury. Mr. Chaplin was also very wroth with Lord Ran- dolph for proposing to reduce suddenly naval expenditure which could not with any success be replaced when a time of trial came. He called Lord Randolph's speech very foolish, and suggested that " clap-trap " would be the more exact name for it, were it equally Parliamentary.
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