CONSTITUTIONAL UNION. Policy of the Government. SPEECHES OF LORD GEORGE HAMILTON, M.P., AND MR. EDWARD CLARKE, Q.C., M.P., DELIVERED AT THE MEETING OF THE SOCIETY, On November 8th, 1882. PRINTED BY PARTRIDGE & COOPER, i & 2, CHANCERY LANE, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.G. /3 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL UNION. Speeches of Lord George Hamilton and Mr. Edward Clarke. The members of this Society dined together on Wednes- day evening, November 8, 1882, in the St. James's Kestaurant, Lord Greorge Hamilton, M.P., presided. Amongst those present were — Mr. Edward Clarke, Q.C., M.P., Mr. E. E. Webster, Q.C., Sir Henry Wilmot, M.P., Col. Malleson, C.S.L, Gren. Johnstone, C.B., Mr. J. E. Cooke, Col. Mackenzie, Mr. Coleridge Kennard,* Mr. J. B. Barrow, Mr. J. D. Mayne, Major Carson, CoL Barton, Mr. De Kicci, Mr. Gr. C. T. Bartley, Mr. Gains- ford Bruce, Mr. Patchett, Q.C., Mr. C. A. Whitmore, Mr. Gr. A. Fisher, Mr. W. Hayes Fisher, Mr. Trevor White, Mr. E. Gr. C. Mowbray, Mr. Wildey Wright, Mr. W. F. Harvey, Mr. F. Eadcliffe, Mr. C. W. Ead- clifFe Cooke, Mr. Cecil de Salis, Mr. F. Harold Kerans, Mr. Hamilton Cartwright, Mr. Hans Hamilton, Mr. M. D. Malleson, Mr. M. Battye, Mr. Gr. B. Eosher, Mr. E. Baggallay, Mr. L. J. Shirley, Mr. H. C. Leigh Bennett, Mr. H. A. de Colyar, Mr. John Cooper, Mr. F. Watson, Mr. A. Hill, Mr. Sydney Williams, Mr. Gerald Hardy, Mr. E. Dawson, Mr. J. D. Stuart Sim, &c. After the toast of the " Queen " had been received with the usual honours, the Chairman gave notice that the next dinner of the Society would take place in the St. James's Eestaurant on Tuesday, December 5th, at 7 p.m., when he hoped that there would be a large meeting to hear Mr. H. S. North cote's address on " Conservative and Liberal Finance," a difficult and interesting subject, which would be of great importance to the lecturers of the Society. The names of Members intending to be present, and those of their guests should be isent to the Honorary Secretary as soon as possible. Lord GtEORGE Hamilton then said : — I have now to discharge my next duty. We have met for practical business, and the subject we have to discuss is the policy of the present Grovernmeut. The few observa- tions I have to make I shall endeavour to render as practical as possible, with the view more of indicating what seems to me the weak points in that policy than of indulging in any fine rounded periods or set phrases. But before I touch upon the policy of the Grovernment, perhaps you will allow me to say a word or two as to the pleasure it affords me for the first time to meet so many friends of this excellent institution, the Constitu- tional Union. Very shortly after the last general election, I was talking with my friend Sir William Hart Dyke, and discussing the cause of our defeat. I may tell you in confidence I was one of the persons who always thought we should be defeated, looking to the forces against us, but I never thought the defeac would be so severe. He said the main cause was that there were ten men working on the Liberal side, where there was one working on the Conservative side. (Hear, hear.) fuiuct' If you compare the number polled in the election of 1874, with the number polled in the election of 1880, you will find that the Conservatives polled more in 1880 than in 1874 ; but the radicals polled a great many more. Most of the electoral statistics are utterly fallacious when added up in the aggregate, because our Liberal friends add up all the votes given, and reckon as if every vote given represented a voter. You will find in nearly all the figures published by them, that more Liberals voted than there are voters on the register. (Laughter.) It gives them an apparent majority which they do not possess. Take the borough of Hackney. The Conservative candidate there, Mr. Eartley, fought a gallant fight and polled 10,000 votes, all •' plumpers." His two antagonists polled about 16,000 or 18,000. If you add these together, even taking the lowest figure, they make 32,000, and give an apparent majority of 22,000, whereas the majority was only 6000. You must not, therefore, be discouraged at the apparent great majority they had at the last general electiqn, because it is arrived at by a very fictitious method of calculation. But, no doubt, they polled a great many more in 1880 than they did in 1874, and when I was travelling about the North, I made it a point occasion- ally to ascertain in the constituencies, where there had been a great increase in the voters between 1874 and 1880, whether the Conservatives had looked after them. I found that no attention had been paid to them. The result was we lost a number of County elections, both in Yorkshire and Lancashire, which could have been obviated if the surplus population of the towns spread- ing into the neighbouring county had been looked after. I am proud of the County of Middlesex, where though opposed by a strong candidate, Mr. Herbert Gladstone, we succeeded in holding our own. Shortly after the election of 1880, a gentleman you know well, the best election agent in England, Mr. Wollaston Pym, (whom we are glad to see here), (cheers) arrived with a list of all the various districts in the County of Middle- sex, and informed me that I must go and deliver an address in every one. He said the Liberals were sending lecturers in all directions. I am quite confident that meetings held by a political party, and attended by good speakers, unquestionably influence a consider- able number of persons, who would remain otherwise neutral. (Hear, hear.) I was anxious to do as much as I could in my constituency, but the task was utterly beyond my capacity to cope with. Fortunately, at this moment, this Union was started, and there are various gentlemen connected with it who have given most material assistance to the Conservative cause in the constituency I represent. They have done so also in many other constituencies, and I have heard in all directions that a great impression has been made by a number of the speakers. It is only by working that we can hold our own. We have got to fight a political party under very different political conditions from those that existed in the past. I was delighted to s6e the forma- tion of this association, for it showed two things. In the first place, it showed that there were a number of gentlemen — and I am glad to see so many young gentlemen present here to night — who had an abundance of energy, ability, and know- ledge, and who were gentlemen of position, were ready to volunteer to undertake the work of speaking and lecturing upon subjects they had specially mastered ; and, in the second place, I was glad to see in the formation of this union a recognition of the qualities by which alone, as a party, we can hold our own in coming contests. Depend upon it, it will not do for those of us who wish to be in Parliament merely to look upon the House of Commons as a club, and the two letters " M.P." as simply an ornamental appendage to our names. What is required is constant and perpetual attendance and attention. The duties are very onerous. There are many gentlemen who entered political life under changed conditions, who would be very glad, if good substitutes could be found, to retire and let younger men take their places. The work is very hard, and upon certain constitutions it has a very unpleasant effect. If I might venture to offer a single word of advice, though it is a little presumptuous in me to offer advice to many gentlemen who doubtless are in the habit of addressing audiences, I would say that what has impressed me as a Conservative is the enormous odds we have to contend against, as the great mass of the press is opposed to us, and the great ma- jority of those who have written the history of the country do not agree with us. It is quite extraordinary what fictions are palmed off as facts upon the public as regards the past. Take as an instance the representa- tions of the Manchester School, with Mr. Bright at their head. They never appear before an audience but they represent themselves as actuated by the highest motives that can influence man ; whereas all those who are opposed to them are moved by the most selfish and sordid ideas. But the other day a Life of Cobden was published by Mr. John Morley, and there it is seen that the motives of those who agitated for the repeal of the 8 Corn Laws were precisely the same as those of the men that opposed them. The movement was a class move- ment to promote certain class interests, and it was opposed on the same grounds. (Hear, hear.) Take another instance — it is a very favourite subject on which our Liberal friends like to speak. That is the great French war in which we were involved, and which ended in the Battle of Waterloo. They have for forty or fifty years been trading on the supposition that the first Emperor Napoleon, besides being a great hero, was the representative of reform and good government, and that Mr. Pitt, and those who were compelled to fight him, were influenced by the worst conceivable motives. Now, we know that the reverse was the fact. From recent publications which give a true view of his charac- ter, it is seen that he was one of the most atrocious scoundrels that ever lived, and that those who were fight- ing against him were struggling on behalf of the liberties of Europe. (Hear, hear.) I am afraid I have wandered from the subject of the policy of Her Majesty's Grovernment. Now the policy of the Grovern- ment is the policy of one man, Mr. Grladstone. (Hear, hear.^ Therefore it is necessary for a little to consider some of the moral qualities of that very extraordinary individual. I do not think anyone will deny that he has most extraordinary intellectual ability, physical strength that at his age is absolutely marvellous, and a dexterity in debate and a power of turning facts inside out which is almost superhuman. (Laughter.) We must not lose sight of this, that amongst his great characteristics his principal defect as a statesman is that he will incur any danger, however great in the future, in order to get over any trouble, however small. 9 that may exist at the present moment. (Cheers.) That is a terrible danger, and I cannot give a better illustration of it than what occurred this afternoon. We have been engaged for a considerable time discus- sing the Cloture, or the Closure, as the Eadicals would try to foist it upon us. We have been told by Mr. Gladstone tliat this proposal of his is made entirely for the benefit of the whole House of Commons, and that it is not in any way based on the fact that he has a Liberal majority behind him. There is a very simple test to apply to that assertion. If the arguments he has used for the resolutions he proposes, have such inherent power in them that they are still efficacious when dissociated from the fact that there is a Liberal majority, let us just put the clock back three years and see Mr. Grladstone in the late House of Commons coming for«rard with this resolution, the Liberals then being in a minority, and saying to his party, " My esteemed friends, the inherent right of the majority is so great and their responsibility for the government of the country is so onerous that it is absolutely imperative that they should have the power of closing your mouths." One may safely predict that if such an argument had been addressed to the Liberal party, when they were in a minority, it would have been received with as much derision and contempt as it is received now with acceptance and applause, because they are in a majority. Mr. Grladstone is evidently a little doubtful as to the result of this division ; and you will hardly believe me, but it is a positive fact, that having announced that this resolution was to elevate the House of Commons and improve the public feeling, the Prime Minister of England made a barter to 10 sacrifice the integrity of the Empire if he could get a few Irish votes to help him over this period of emergency. He gave the Irish members to understand that if they voted for this resolution he was prepared to consider in the most favourable manner some scheme — he did not exactly indicate what it was — some scheme of self-government for Ireland. (Cries of " shame.") As regards this question of the Cloture which has been discussed at great length, the more we hear of it the less we like it. If it is used at all we may have scenes of the most hideous confusion in the House of Commons. I read last Sunday in a country church an epitaph, which seemed to me to describe tolerably accurately what the position of the Speaker of the future will be. We are told that he must always be impartial, that he cannot degenerate. This epitaph I told you of had engraved on it this eulogy : that the deceased " was, so far as was consistent with the infirmities of human nature, an honest man." (Loud laughter.) I think we may say of the Speaker of the future, that so far as is consistent with the infirmities of Mr. Griadstone's resolution he will be an honest man. (Cheers.) Nothing more. I may mention as the second most remarkable feature in Mr. Griad- stone's character as reflected in the policy of his Grovern- ment — his intense love of popularity. (Hear, hear.) He will do anything to obtain a little popularity and applause, and he will do nothing which he thinks will make him temporarily unpopular. In opposition he is ready to advocate anything that will bring him a little popularity, no matter how dangerous to the common- wealth ; and, in the same way, in office he will always shun the performance of any duty, however incumbent 11 upon him to perform it, if the duty is unpopular. If we bear that in mind, I think we can trace in this characteristic the origin of nearly all the difficulties which the Grovernment have been involved in since they have been in office. In the first place he is always too late in his action ; and when he does take action he always gives a false reason for that action. Take that Egyptian question. I do not want to trespass on the ground of Colonel Malleson ; but if the Grovernment had acted early with a small amount of vigour we never should have been at war. (Cheers.) But when he was forced to act, as he was forced by the outcry in the north of England on the part of the commercial interests that were being damaged, he set to work to explain that he acted only in self-defence in destroying Alexandria, because he thought " self-defence " would be the most welcome excuse to the peace-at-any-price party. He has laid down tlie very dangerous doctrine that if a certain nation has the biggest ironclads it has nothing to do but steam into the harbours of its neighbours and threaten to blow up the fortifications, as the presence of these fortifications may be a serious danger to the vessels that are near them. Then he informed us that he went to war for the sake of peace. He might as well have said that he made his Mid- lothian speeches for the sake of truth. (Cheers.) One of the reasons why we have got into this Egyptian difficulty is, that when Lord Beaconsfield thought it his duty to inform the world that we were ready to co-operate with other nations if they were willing to act with us, but if not we would rely upon English money and arms to protect English interests, Mr. Grladstone, being in opposition, said that was a 1^ monstrous and sclfitsli doctriuc to lay down, and that the way to protect English interests was by the concert of Europe. I venture to say bigger nonsense was never talked. The interests of England arise not out of the fact that she is an European power, but from the circum- stance that she is an Asiatic power. It is not because she is a little island in the west of Europe, but because she has a great empire in the south of Asia. The only other European nation that has one is Kussia. The interests of these being diametrically opposed, it is absolutely impossible that the European concert can ever be a protection in the East. But Mr. Gladstone clung to that ridiculous theory. It was the same with the Congress at Constantinople. When he got them together he did not know how on earth to get rid of them. (Laughter.) After we had summoned this con- ference, we had finally to act for ourselves ; and now we have got into this position, that having caught Arabi and handed him over to the Khedive we do not know what to do with him. What the ultimate upshot of it will be I do not know. Though our officers and troops have shown that they can tight as well as ever, and have reflected great credit on the army and navy, the diplomacy of the Government has been as lamentable as the bravery of the army has been the reverse. Then again, take the condition of Ireland. It is absolutely deplorable. (Hear, hear). There, again, Mr. Gladstone, when he came into office, though he had the strongest representations made to him by every resident magis- trate, about the necessity of doing something to put down the lawlessness and disorder which was spreading over Ireland, declined to act, because, by acting, he thought he would incur a little unpopularity. Ulti- 13 mately the feeling in England grew so strong that the English Radicals, recognised the fact that we could not allow the friends of the English connection to be robbed and murdered simply because they were honest and loyal, and at last they forced Mr. Gladstone to act and we assisted him. I am sorry to say that in the House of Commons to-day the fact that we had assisted him formed the principal part of his appeal to the Home Rulers that they should vote against tis. Then he brought in the Land Act. I have not time to analyse it, but I believe it to be one of the most mischievous pieces of legislation ever put on the statute book. (Applaiise.) I will tell you what it has done. It was admitted to be contrary to political economy. Under that Act a large number of persons have been appointed purporting to be judges, but in reality they are extreme partizans. They drive about the coiuitry, and in many cases their primary object seems to be to transfer as much as possible of the property of their political opponents to their political friends. The moment you get the idea — and that idea is predominant now in the minds of landlords and tenants — that the decisions of the land courts are regulated, not by the evidence brought before them, but by the amount of political pressure brought to bear on the Government of the day. You are in the presence of a great and growing evil. How it will end I do not know. If we look to the Transvaal or to Zululand, we see exactly the same blunders made by Mr. Gladstone simply from his anxiety to avoid a little unpopularity that might follow his doing his duty. He cultivates popularity at all costs. The Government issued a statement that their primary duty was to maintain the authority of the 14 Queen in the Transvaal. The lives of thousands of soldiers were sacrificed in that attempt, and yet simply because the Eadical party were unfavourable to its prosecution, Mr. Gladstone withdrew the troops. The same thing has happened in Zululand. Cetewayo is a very excellent gentleman. He has a splendid appetite and is a great diplomatist, if we may judge from the manner in which he baffled the teetotal deputation. (Laughter.) But he is a man who ought to be abhorrent to the mind of every Eadical, because representative of the most merciless military despotism ever established on the face of the earth. He came over to England, however, and being an excellent gentleman of great size the English people took a fancy to him. Mr. Grladstone sees him and restores him, and the result is general confusion and a renewal of bloodshed. The sum of all my remarks is this, that Mr. Grladstone will not do anything which will obviously make him unpopular. Our business should be to encourage the people to take the consti- tutional side in public questions, and if we can, by speeches and public discussion, affect the neutral part of the constituencies, who play the most important part in changing governments, and prevail upon them to watch carefully the conduct of public affairs, you may depend upon it that Mr. Grladstone will be loth to adopt the active Eadical and aggressive views of certain of his supporters. It is because, I believe, an associa- tion such as this supplies largely the means of influenc- ing public opinion that I am glad to have been the means of the opening the discussion at the first dinner of the Winter series. (Cheers.) Mr. Edward Clarke, Q.C.,M.P., who was called upon 15 by the chairman to speak as being " one of the most distinguished men in his profession, equally ready and capable as a speaker, whether on the platform or in the House of Commons," said : I am afraid I shall not justify the compliment, but I am glad to offer, with sincere humility and all good will, an observation or two to the members of the Constitutional Union gathered here. I can conceive no organization more valuable for the purposes of a political party, than an organization consisting of young men, a great many of whom can write well, and a large proportion of whom can speak well, so as to be able, in different localities throughout the country, to put forward Conservative principles. It is perfectly clear that the Grovernment of this country is passing — I hope it has not altogether passed — but it is in some measure passing from the House of Commons to the platform and the press. In these circumstances a couple of hundred members of the Constitutional Union can be of great service. Those who have not the time or ability to speak on public platforms, or the gifts for public writing, can yet keep- touch of political matters by contributing letters to local papers, and hints for speeches to other people, and to those that write in the press from day to day, thus helping to form a body of political opinion the value of which cannot be over-rated. I have no doubt many who are here will hereafter be speaking at public meetings, and they will not take it amiss if I suggest one or two matters in regard to these, because I am not altogether unused to the advocacy at public meetings of Conservative principles. Let me make some suggestions in regard to public speeches and addresses. In the first place I would say adapt as far as possible the speech 16 to the place. (Hear, hear.) Let me give an illustra- tion. At the end of last session I was told by a friend of mine, who is a very diligent organizer in the north of England, that he was very anxious to get some speeches delivered in tlie county of Durham. "There," he says, "we have thirteen members, but twelve of them are Radicals and only one a Conservative. The leaders of the party won't come. I advised my friend to write to Lord George Hamilton — (cheers) — but as I am giving this information to Lord George for the first time, I accompany it with an apology for what might have brought upon him serious labour. But it is justly said that he was so overworked, and in such great demand, that it was hardly possible he could come. I then said, " I will give you a week of my holiday ; dispose of me as you like in Durham for a certain number of addresses." They arranged four meetings on successive nights in Durham, Dar- lington, Sunderland, and Hartlepool ; and I set to work to ascertain what the conditions of political life were there, who were the Conservative candidates, why they were defeated, and what sort of influence affected the people. I found that at Darlington the Quakers had it almost all their own way ; the Peace people are very strong indeed there. Said I, " That is exactly the place to talk about Egypt." (Applause and laughter.) I was told it might be dangerous to discuss general topics at Sunderland ; it was a very Radical place ; indeed, there was a very strong Irish element. I said, " That is the place to talk about Ireland." (Cheers.) General topics were kept for Durham, because they had an assembly of the representatives of Conservative Associations in the nortliern counties. T only suggest 17 that whenever a gentleman has a series of speeches to deliver, the most important thing is to find out the political conditions of the place with which he has to deal, and it is quite possible that he will not only secure a better audience, but that he will also get far better reported if he is dealing with topics that are of immediate public interest in the place. (Hear, hear.) The great thing in addressing political meetings upon current topics upon which any sort of official information has been given, is to possess yourselves of that. In the case of Egypt we have a large number of documents presented to Parliament. In other cases we have returns ot different kinds. Never quote from a private writer ; quote from a Parliamentary paper as far as possible. Stick to that habit whenever you speak, and never use a quotation in a public meeting without, if time will allow, making three or four legible copies in order that they may be supplied to the reporters. To those who know the stress under which country reporters report their speeches, it will he apparent that it is most important to aid them as much as possible, and you can always get your quotations printed in full in the papers if you will only take a little trouble beforehand to get copies written out. Be as chary as possible, however, in your quotations, and as simple as possible in your choice of subjects. But on almost any subject you can get a few quotations. Take the Egyptian question for instance. There are one or two despatches of Sir Edward Malet at the beginning of the year ; there is the manifesto of the Egyptian Cxovernment which came into office at the beginning of February thisyear, and there is the despatch which every speaker on Egypt should read in public 18 in full, the despatch of Lord Grranville of the 15th May (applause), with regard to the sending of the fleets to Egypt. You only want a few of these quotations, but do not be afraid of using them over and over again. When you are speaking at public meetings, you are not speaking to such an assembly as this. Archbishop Whateley made a most valuable observation in his work on Khetoric, when he said " one of the most important arts is repetition." Do not be afraid of repeating your- self. Again and again hit on the same nail till you drive it home. Grive the same quotations, force them to print these and to comment upon them, and this will have more effect than the style of the speech, though in respect to that you must be sure, after you have verified your matter, to cultivate simplicity in the arrangement of your topics. Kead the speeches of Mr. Bright. Whatever you may think of his opinions, there is no doubt that for many years past he has been one of the greatest powers as a platform orator. If you set to work to examine them you will be astonished at the amount of repetition of a few ideas you will find. It is one secret of his strength. An idea recurs, in a little different phraseology, again and again. It is rammed repeatedly at the audience he addresses until it becomes perfectly obvious, and the densest intellect cannot refuse to accept it. These are what I venture to put before you as practical observations. I suggest their consideration by everyone who desires to take part, whether as a writer or a speaker, in political matters. Treasure up your quotations. I do not mean you to be voluminous. I know a dear friend of mine who, with paste and scissors, filled many folio volumes with quotations that could never be of any use. But there 19 are a few things which you can get hold of now and again which deserve to be kept. I give a single in- stance. Mr. Davitt made a speech, a short time ago, in regard to the land legislation of the present Grovernment. He said the imbecile legislation of the Liberal party- had taught Ireland that nothing was to be got except by violence and agitation. There is a quotation in your hands which can be used with great effect. If you have in your meeting an Irish element that is tur- bulent ask them to listen to Michael Davitt. You have a hearing immediately. Long quotations, how- ever, are of no use, and never, as you value your happiness, quote at length a passage either from friend or opponent. If you quote at length a passage with the intention of answering it, it is three to one against you that the audience will cheer the quotation, and if you quote a long and brilliant passage from one on your own side for the purpose of emphasising your argument, the audience will say, " I wish we had that man here." (Laughter and applause.) There are two other topics on which I want to say a word or two. One is the topic we have been discussing in the House of Com- mons for a long time, the question of Cloture. I do not know that there is very much use relegating it to the constituencies ; it will be settled in some way or other in two or three weeks. I believe it will practically be useless except as against the Irish- men. I do not think it can be easily put in force. At the same time, it is a mischievous and wrong thing, and may fairly form the subject of denunciation against the Grovernment for a long time to come, and in that way it will be very useful. (Laughter.) Deservedly so ; for though it may not 20 succeed, as many people expect, in affecting the liberty of the House of Commons, it is a deliberate attempt, first, to associate the Speaker with the political opinions of the House of Commons, and then to make the ma- jority of the House of Commons the absolute masters, and compel their opponents to appeal to the public through the platform and the press. The cause of Conservatism takes different forms in different periods of our history, and the form which, to my mind. Conservatism ought 1 o adopt, just at the present time and in the immediate future, is the maintenance of the efficiency and the protection of the authority of both Houses of Parliament. (Hear, hear.) I am quite sure the Conservative party fighting for the efl&ciency and authority of Parliament has a very splendid cry in the immediate future. With regard to the Cloture, all I will further say upon it is this, that it is a subject upon which all varieties of capacity can be of service in assisting public speakers and writers. There is a great fund of illustration in the history of France. It has been referred to with singular effect by my noble friend in answer to a challenge from the Prime Minister. Those matters are interesting to a great many men who are not active politicians. They would read speeches and articles and study them, and I believe the discussion would be very useful. In regard to Egypt there is an enormous field for the study of members of such an association as this. Look into the history of that miserable course of stupidity which was pursued by our Foreign Office in regard to Egypt. There is no language too strong to describe the childish folly which induced them to send, first, two arithmeticians, and then to propose to send three generals, one English, 21 one French, and one Turkish, to settle Egypt. If you read the accounts of that transaction and lay the facts before a meeting, you will find an excellent opportunity of turning the whole thing into ridicule. The meeting gets amused, and then you can act upon it with very strong force and influence. There is no such comic story recorded in our diplomatic papers since the time when Lord Granville proposed that a few marines should be put in boats at Dulcigno, and rowed up and down the harbour, — not to be landed, in case they should sh oot anybody, — but to produce a moral effect. (Laughter.) The production of moral effect is in his line. He arranged the naval demonstration, as has been well said, with the instincts of a theatrical manager. One day he said to Lord Lyons, our Ambassador at Paris, " Let us send three generals to Egypt ; they shall go without any troops ; and they shall settle the rebellious Egpytian army." When Lord Lyons suggested this to M. Freycinet, the latter asked, " Are they to be unanimous ?" Lord Lyons said, " I have no information upon the point ; I believe they are to be unanimous." (Laughter.) M« Freycinet evidently thought this was rather a doubtful thing, and he politely put it bye. Ten days after- wards. Lord Grranville, who could not understand how anybody could be insensible to the virtues of his pro- posal, instructed Lord Lyons that it should be made again. M. Freycinet replied, " Supposing those three generals, who are to have no troops with them, are unanimous, the Egyptian army may yield to their moral influence ; but suppose it does not ? " There was nothing more to be said. (Laughter.) The French Ministry, in the most contemptuous way, rejected the *>•? proposal. M. Tissot saw Lord Grranville, and said it was not a matter they could deal with. Would you believe it ? — four days before our ships sailed for Alexandria Lord Grranville wrote to Lord Lyons, "I should be ^lad to get any suggestion of M. Freycinet as to the course to be taken ; but for my part I can think of nothing better than sending the three generals." (Much laughter.) The whole thing opens out such a number of questions. Take that amusing answer which Mr. Grladstone made the night before last to Mr. Bourke's question. Mr. Bourke asked if the Secretary of State in England had given instructions that the Egyptians were to be treated as belligerents, and when captured as prisoners of war; if so what justification there was for handing over prisoners taken in war to be tried by municipal institutions. That was an awkward question. Mr. Grladstone came down with a written answer. It was the first time I had ever seen him do it. He could not keep to that, however. (Laughter.) '''' It is true," he said, " that instructions have been given that belligerent rights should be extended to the Egyptians ; it was necessary to give these instructions for the sake of humanity, and also to serve the purpose for which the British troops were sent there. But, directly the war ceased, municipal rights revived, and those that were in our hands as prisoners of war might be handed over to any municipal tribunal to be tried for any offences with which they were charged." Any one of you acquainted with the law of nations could pillory the statesman that could give such an answer, and demonstrate its absurdity. Let me pass from those immediate questions which suggest themselves. I speak to you as to those who are going to deal practically by 23 writing and speaking on political questions. Always be prepared for a question coming on. Look ahead. If you wait till the thing is actually discussed in Parlia- ment, you will not be of half the assistance to the party that you would be if you studied it earlier. The man who can speak first in any great discussion is the most valuable man. I am quite sure my noble friend in the chair would say that when a great discussion is coming on it is easy to get men to speak the third night ; the difficulty is to get men to speak the first night, for they have to get the subject up on their own account. We have notice of matters which are coming on. Mention has been made of a number of questions which it is said to be essential to deal with in the next Session of Parliament. There is first the Household Suffrage in Counties ; next there is the Government of the Metropolis ; then there are the City Companies to be dealt with, and our friends on the Eadical benches smack their lips at the mention of the twenty millions of money which the companies possess. Next there is the decayed Corporations, the Bankruptcy Laws, the Patent Laws, the Corrupt Practices Bill, the Ballot Box, and the Eeform of Electoral Procedure. Sir Charles Dilke says these eight or nine, with a few others, will be sufficient to occupy the attention of Parliament during next Session. (Laughter.) At all events we know what the line of the Radicals is going to be, and any man would be doing a real service to his party if he took such a stock as that, looked over it, made up his mind which of these subjects he chose to write upon, and during the interval wrote a book, wrote letters to the newspapers, and became a specialist upon that subject. A specialist 24 upon any political subject is everywhere a great power. I am strongly convinced of the necessity for the Tory party having a constructive policy. (Applause.) But of course it is difficult to agree upon a con- structive policy. It is always easy to agree upon an attacking policy. It is still less easy when a party is out of office to agree upon a constructive policy. There is no practical need for it on the part of those formerly responsible for the conduct of public affairs. But the difficulty of agreeing upon a constructive policy is no reason for telling your young men not to frame one. Let your young men not be content to criticise ; let them suggest a remedy. It may not be the choice of the party afterwards. That is a choice arrived at by experienced persons. The true strength of a party is the fertility of its younger members in practical sugges- tion. For instance, I proposed a rule which exists in the great majority of deliberative assemblies to con- tinue bills from one session to another, and not to treat each session as entirely separate from another. I am convinced that is the true Conservative mode of deal- ing with the difficulties which exist in the House of Commons. (Hear, hear.) But at the same time, if our party came into power, I should not be foolish enough to be angry and hurt if the leaders of the party, upon consultation, did not accept that suggestion. If they came to the conclusion that some other mode of dealing with the difficulty was a better one, as a loyal member of the party, believing that the success of the party will do much more for the country than the adoption of any particular scheme, I should fall into line and fight for the decision they arrived at. A party is not informed as to the 25 opinion of the country unless the individual members of that party air their own beliefs, and it may be ■crotchets, as to the mode of dealing with political questions. Look at the two parties. The danger which the Liberal party is in is the danger of a too severe restrictive discipline. The discipline of the caucus may drive many out of its ranks. Let us make them at home. We want independent thought. We need not be afraid of disloyalty on the part of members of the party when it comes to the actual organisation of the party in the country. The time when we are out of oflBce is a time when every member of the party may do good service to it, and the country by not merely defending the traditions which its members hold dear, not merely by magnifying its great statesmen in modern times, who made the duration of the ministry from 1874 to 1880, one of the most splendid periods of English modern history, but by adding to his defence of its principles, and his eulogy of its great achieve- ments, his own personal and individual suggestions as to solving the great political questions that may arise in the future. (Cheers.) Partridge & Cooper, Law Stationers, 1 ic 2, Chancery Lane. ?>*^- :• m !»'^- 1 i