Sir William Harcourt chiefly devoted himself to showing that Lord
Randolph Churchill had abandoned all his principles without the smallest compunction,—which no reasonable man denies, though in that respect Sir William Harcourt himself might prove a very good second. Lord Randolph had boasted that he had more than once proved right in his estimate of poli- tical affairs. And no doubt, said Sir William, that was perfectly true, and true for the same reason for which it is true, that if a man calls both heads and tails in playing at pitch-and-toss, he is pretty sure to be right in one of his guesses. The Tories, without the Liberal Unionists, were like an empty sack,—they could not stand upright. He denounced with well-simulated indignation the bond between the Tories and the Unionists, which he described as being a bond that the Unionists would support the Tory Government whatever they do, and that the Tory Government are always to do what the Unionists bid. That seems to us very like saying that the Liberal Unionists are to give the lead, and if the Tories follow their lead, they are to vote with them. Why not ? There is no discredit in that.
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