Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman made a sensible speech yesterday week to
his constituents at Stirling, in which he pointed out that an Opposition does not need a recog- nised leader of the whole party, but only a recognised leader of the Opposition ranks in the House of Commons. When Mr. Gladstone retired from the leadership in 1874 it was necessary to pat some one in his place in the House of Commons, and Lord Hartingtonwas chosen for that purpose ; but it was not necessary to 'find a leader for the whole party, and in fact none was chosen, the general leadership remaining vacant for six years till Mr. Gladstone came back to power in 1880. Sir Henry also regarded England's unpopularity in Europe as due to the want of straightforwardness of Lord Beaconsfield's policy in buying t he Suez Canal shares and taking Cyprus from the Turks,—which perhaps might have been an explanation but that it was not till long after both those little adventures that the great unpopularity of England became evident. For our own part we attribute it much more to England's comparative safety in a time of general distrust and danger, than to any little diplomatic intrigues of Lord Beaconsfield's. Looking at Prince Bismarck's recent revelations we think we may regard even the gain of Cyprus as a comparatively very harmless and innocent proceeding.
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