Mr. Fonder made an admirable speech at Appleby on Thurs-
day, applying to the Tory Government the old sense of the word " Tory,"—the sense in which, as Mr. Forster showed, by the language of an old Westmoreland woman, it is still used by the Westmoreland peasantry,—the sense of a "worrier." This Government, he said, had been a worrier of the nation in every way, and the nation wanted rest from it, just as Westmoreland itself wanted rest from the Lowthers, who had been " worriers " of all great causes, from the passing of the first great Reform Act until now. On the Irish question, Mr. Forster was very outspoken, and yet very wisely reserved. He could not, he said, blame the Government for taking proceedings against the land agitators, as he did not know on what grounds they had proceeded, and he quite admitted the necessity of making the law respected. He would give to rural and urban municipalities in England, Scotland, and Ireland alike, and also to certain combina- tions of rural with urban municipalities, a good deal of local power,—such local power as London and Dublin now have, but no more,—no power whatever independent of Parliament, no power which could not be overruled by Parliament, as he was not going to admit a division of rights between one province and another of the United Kingdom, such as would require a Supreme Court of Justice like that which determines the legal relations between the individual States in the Federation of the United States,—to settle what a local body may do, and what the Imperial body alone could do. Mr. Forster's attack will dismay the Lowthers, and make them tremble for their dominion in Westmoreland.
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