The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-18 00:00:00

SIR W. HARCOURT, M.P., AT OXFORD.

Sir W. V. Harcourt, M.P., attended the annual
dinner of the Oxford Reform Club on Tuesday, and
delivered an address upon general political topics.
With respect to domestic legislation, he said :
There is no domestic policy in this country now. (Cheers.)
Under the auspices of the present Administration, do-
mestic legislation and the care of our own people have
well-nigh ceased to exist. Plans for the sustenance
of the decayed and decoying falnic of the Ottoman
gmpire strong 'places of arms" occupied with a
view to future campaigns ; secret treaties preg-
nant with undefined obligations, which may result
at any moment in sudden and distant wars; contests
with savage tribes for "scientific froatiers," of which the
object is uncertain and the end obscure,—such is the only
material which Her Majesty's Government in these pinch-
ing times offers for the consolation of an anxious and a dis-
tressed people. (Cheers.) It has been justly remarked that
the only Cabinet Minister who has spoken during the
present year had not a single word to say on any matter
affecting the domestic condition of the people, except to
express his doubts as to the serious extent of the present
distress, which he is ef opinion is an imagination of the
Liberals, invented for party purposes. (Hear, hear.)
Such is the information as to the condition of the country
possessed by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach. It the cabinet kuows
notLieg of the prevalence of distress, there are a good many
people in Eugland who know it too well. ([Lear, hear.) I shall
certainly not be guilty cf the unfairness of holding Her
Majesty's Government responsible, in the first instance, for
the depression of trade. Ido not share the fatalism of those
who attribute the recurrence Of distress to some fortuitous
cycle. These disturbances have their oxiginin one great cause,
and that cause is war. (Cheers.) The result may not be imme-
diate, but it is certain. But if war disturbs and destroys our
commerce, there is an influence still fatal to its revival,
more dangerous because more impalpable, and that is
the constant apprehension of war. Commerce depends
upon confidence. (Heir, hear.) No man will undertake fresh
enterprises or risk his capital if he is uncertain whether
peace will be maintained. There are only two countries in
the world in whicri industry has perceptibly recovered its tone,
and these are the United States anti France. And why is this?
Became they are the only two countries in which the policy of
their Governments gives to their people a confident assur-
ance of peace. (Cheers.) The charge that I have to make
against her Majesty's Government is that they have given
anti that they do now give, to the English nation no such
assurance of peace. It is because the policy which they have
adopted, and to which they nave committed the country, is
one whicn at every moment involves the halm and inspires the
just apprehension of war that I impeach tnetn as Me main
obstacles to the revival of prosperity, and I holdthpm deeply
responsible for the continued distress of the peop e. They
have sedulously cultivated the war spirit. They have
sown the wind and they are reaping the whirlwind.
(Cheers) A policy of secret diplomacy—of plans cencocted
in the dark, and sprung, of a sudden, on the nation—hidden
contracts pledgirg the state to vast liabilities -expeditious
prepared with studious concealment, while Ministers were
giving solemn assurances that no change in action was con-
tempiated (cheers)—tue utter impossibility of placlng any
reaiteee OD aL a temente, ho ,vever explicit, or accepting denials,
however formal, by the Ministers of the Crown—this is a
state of thiega nitherto uneuown to the public life of Eug •
lam, when has sapped tile foundations of public confidence,
and forbids the revival of that prosperity which confidence
alone can restore. (Cheers.) .No one knows what the
Government are about, and therefore no one knows where
he stands to-day or where he will fiud himself tomorrow.
An assurance of peace from the Government carries with it
no credit. 14 is as likely as not—perhaps more likely than
not—that it is given at the monieut when a project of war is
in process of preparation or on the eve of execution.
Sir William then proceeded to criticise the conduct
of the Government, particularly with reference to the
Berlin Treaty and the Anglo-Turkish Convention
respecting Cyprus. He contended that all the results
expected from the Treaty of Berlin had been utter
failures, and that the country had lost faith in the
Government, and he prophesied that, although the
Ministry would not dissolve, they would soon be dis-
solved. He thus concluded his speech, which occupied
an hour and a quarter in its delivery :

The danger is imminent lest the tradition of a free Par-
liament and a self-geverning people controlling a constitu-
tional administration should be abrogated, and we should
see erected in its place a system of State-craft which
converts the transaction of our affairs into a mystery
of mini Aerial intrigue. In the presence of such a danger
I entreat you to sink all minor differences and
unite in a common defence against a common
foe. (Cheers.) There is only one hope left, but the remedy
is in your hands. If the majority of tuis nation is of
one mind with the present majority of the House of
Commons; if it is content, that Parliament should be a pas-
sive machine to register the foregone conclusions and to
ratify the accomplished acts of the Ministers of the Crown,
then, Sir, no donut the thing is done; the deep-laid scheme
for revolutionizing our constitutional sy,tem will be finally
and permanently accomplished, and the basis of our future
polity must be found in the maxim poptaus vult decipti et
decipiatur. (Cheers) But I cannot, I do not, and I will not
believe it. The omens are not favourable to the success of
these sinister project 3. Iho majorkty which supports the
Government was, on the last Occasion, greatly diminished. If
you had been in the House of Commons last month, you
would have been sAigularly struck by the change of spirit
which had come over both parties since last August. I never
saw a minority so confident in the hour of defeat or a ma-
jority so downcast in victory. (Cheers.) Wherever the
English constituencies have been consulted within the last
six months they have given fewer votes to the supporters
of the Administration and more votes to its opponents.
(Cheers.) Be of good cheer. (Cheers.) There is a good
time coming and that soon. (Cheers.) I do not wonder
that the Uoveroment shrink from the name of a dissolution
with which they were once so fond of menacing us.
(Cheers.) No, Sir, they will not dissolve ; but befoxe long
they will be dissolved. (Cheers), And then I devoutly
hope and firmly believe that the voice of the nation Will
vindicate its ancient rights, and will count, mn by a decisive
judgment a msjority which has betrayed its trust and a sys-
tem which has lowered the standard of English public life
(cheers), which has given to this people a peace that is no
peace and an honour that is unworthy of the name. (Loud
and continued cheers.)