It has the pleasantness of every foreign tongue, and since Mr. Joseph
Cowen left Parliamentary life, Mr. Burt is the only member who speaks it
in its pristine purity. The Tories were closured finally, though they
had their revenge by preventing the Bill from going to the Grand
Committee, and the work of justice is a little longer postponed.
[Sidenote: Mr. Goschen playful.]
On Thursday, April 27th, the debate began on Sir William Harcourt's
Budget; and it found Mr. Goschen in an unusually playful mood. He had a
task for which his talents eminently fitted him. Irresolute, timid,
changeable, he is the very worst man in the world for constructive
legislation; but give him the opportunity of criticising what somebody
else has proposed, and he is in his real element, and is, perhaps, the
very best man in the House of Commons. There wasn't much to criticise in
the Budget of Sir William Harcourt from the Tory point of view. Finding
himself with a deficit the Liberal leader was unable to go in for any
startling novelty, especially in a Session when everything is to be
opposed in order that Home Rule may be defeated. But one would have
thought that this would have delighted the timid and conservative soul
of Mr.
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