Of course the result of Mr. Forster's letter was that
the meeting on Wednesday at the Reform Club came off without discussion, and simply ratified the foregone conclusion to select the Marquis of Ilartington. It was not a very numerous meeting, and included only about 150 members of the party. Mr. Whitbread proposed and Mr. Fawcett seconded a vote of very warm thanks to Mr. Gladstone for his past Services, Mr. Fawcett dwelling on the qualities which distinguished him above all his political contemporaries, "his great earnestness, his great devotion to principle, his administrative knowledge, his financial skill, and his unsparing industry,"—qualities not., we fear, very likely to be soon again at tU service of the Liberal party. Then Mr. Charles Villiers moved, and Mr. S. Morley, who admitted that he had desired to have Mr. Forster for his leader, seconded, the offer of the leadership to the Marquis of Hartington, and Mr. Bright having put it to the meeting, it was carried unanimously. Acknowledgments on his brother's behalf were made by Lord Frederick Cavendish, and the business of the meeting was done.
