Mr. Chamberlain congratulated the Conservative banqueters on their beefeaters, their
trumpeters, and, above all, on their peacocks,—and generally on " the mediaeval mummeries which formed the fitting reception for a statesman who was two- hundred years behind his time." He illustrated Lord Rosebery's remark on the waspish character of Lord Salisbury's policy by enumerating the wars of which Lord Salisbury had been an advocate,—the Afghan war, the proposed raid against Russia in Asia, the African wars, and finally, the Irish civil war, which hevirtually favours. " May we not say, with Shakespeare," said Mr. Chamberlain, "`See what a desperate homicide this Salisbury is ?' I say that Lord Salisbury constitutes himself the spokes- man of a class ; of the class to which he himself belongs, who toil not, neither do they spin ; whose fortunes, as in his case, have- originated in grants, made in times long gone by, for the ser- vices which courtiers rendered kings, and have since grown and increased by levying an unearned share on all that other men have done by toil and labour to add to the general wealth and prosperity of the country of which they form a part." He rather- unkindly spoke of Mr. Gibson as the Sancho Panza to Lord Salisbury's Don Quixote ; and taking up Mr. Gibson's challenge,. said that the Tory Party had been labouring for a policy of Obstruction, and had thrown their whole influence in favour of that terrible waste of time before Easter which resulted in the. Government's having but one out of twenty-five days of session at its own disposal,—the one in which the Bankruptcy Bill was read a second time. Mr. Chamberlain appealed very emphatically to the country to support the Government, in in- sisting on passing the few important measures which they have this year introduced. We believe that that appeal will receive- something more than a cordial,—a thoroughly enthusiastic answer.
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