New-York tribune., 1876-02-03
BRITISH TOPICS.

| lFROM TIE REGULAR LORREtPOSDENT OF IEihtNrl
LONDON, Jan. 13.-The City Of Oxford-which is
always to be distinguished from the University-is
most exactng constituency. 1t requires no Ices
than three speeches within ten days from its Sc
nior member Not everybody would be able to
make them all without repetition or some
sign Of wearness but Sir William iarcourt is enti-
tied to the credit of equal vgor and variety in the
three. or the first gave some account. The sec
ond devoted 20 his critics and to sewers-a con-
necion hope II was not in Sir Williams mind 10
establish. The third, delivered on Monday.
was survey Of the condition of parties. The imes
had called on Sir William lIarcOurt for aprograInme
lie retorted that the word is not an English word,
nor the idea an English idea Nobody cond make
similar criticism his reply. When you call
thing un-English in this country, you destroy n.
Nobody wants programme, says the late Solicitor
Gcneral-nobody bnt the dealers in programmes the
amateur manufacturers Of them, who are the com
mon nulsances Of parties, the charlatans Of politics;
like the critics In Loihair' recruited from the dis
appointed pretenders, the neglected docirinalres,
the hopeless failures Of public life" That
il the keynote TO the whOls speech IL is an
answer 10 the recent Manchester Conference to the
political idealists, to the men with cry, the men
with hobby, the men of one measure. and SO on.
As for the Liberal party, Sir William Harconrt de-
nies that il I il il often represented OF late,
disorganzed. He points 10 the loyal support which
the leaders Of its advanced sections-Mr. Forster,
Mr. Bright Mr.. Fawcett and Mr.. Gladstone himself
give 10 Lord Harrington. lie has great dea, oi
good advice to offer Of certain klnd-adVlce whHt
NOT 10 do. IL amounts TO about this Do nothingyou
cannot succeed in. Harass the enemy, watch legls-
lation and administration make Tory bills as Lib
eral a. you can when you cant defeat them wholly
Sink your differences when you have chance
int in ba N Commons
or an election ia the country. Vote for
anybody who nies the Liberal flag Above all, be
ready to take office when the moment comes.
need not say that Sir William Harcourt, who is
rapidly becoming a.master of phrases, wraps up Oil
these things which state 50 crIdcly III decorous
words. Nobody would stand mp before an audience
even Of politicians and say Your great duty Is 10 pe
ready 10 take Office when you can get H. IL eouhis
much better to say that though to gam once Is NOT
and ought not Ia be the first aim of an Oppositloh
it il one of ito chief duties to prepare itself and to
be- ready when il il called upon, TO conduct the Gov
ernment Of tue Queen : TO say
lis principle and most beneficial principle OF our
CONVENTIONAL s. item thai, hen one parry III hs sth,e
IA unab. 10 carry Affairs the Sovereign shouih pe a"c
10 address herself 10 another body of men VINO can ON
mnud tho support uf Parliament and the country II an
Opp"sitr n il In such condition, either from Internal
dscor iucurable weaAness that j, u,ng ni one ,o f
spond Ia such sunm0nr has fai,a 10 iHlniI one :"
the main objects for which exists II the leader OF
party compelled to avo~ that he cannot rF on tIs
supunrf hl- side TO con luct and~ thu party i
extinct political power IN the state
speech is 10 he judi gel. Of course, 10y s am ana
by the circumstances in which II II Delivered 30
iudged Sir William lIarcouTGs is n judicous speech
II is the speech OF politician who ~ also stateH-
man in no mean snsc Of the w0rl: OF possible
leader: of a man who understands his oonntrymeh
aud the temper oi the times; who IA young aud can
wait and Who forecasts accurately the conditions
IL. him afI liza
party The Liberal party, one may saw VIII re-
sutn. mower when one of two things shall hay. hap
peued The existing Government will wear out its
popularity by "a succession of bluuders or destroy II
bv some one blundcr too gigantic 10 be borne. or
else some Of tho movements with which differ
ent sections of the Liberal party are Identified VIII
be ripc for egislatiOn and for the county. winch
Of these thing. will happen rst cannot be certainly
predicted. But practical men think tho former
most likely, and, a practical man. Sir william
Harcourt advises His party TO be ready for that
event.
II proof Of the extent Of his resources that he
should have been able to make so brilliant speech
indeed two brilliant sreeches-in 80 dun pohtieal
season. He is not indebted to the Torres Tor so
much IA a tome. f,r tins last speech discusses
neither the Sue Canal nor the fresher subject OF
tho new Fugitive Slave Circnlar. Against this lat
meetings The feeling is hardly less strong than
that which compelled the withdrawal of the former.
But il will be impossible Tor the Government TO
yield twicc to the same kind of pressure, and the
real attack will have 10 be made this time IN Parlla-
ment For that It is, | presume. that Sir William
Ilarcourt reserves himself.
MIR. Dion Boucicault has made another bid FOR I'M
mortality. He has written letter 10 Mr.. DisrnelI,
as Burke did 10 the Duke Of Bedford. The latter is
remembered because Burke wrote him, and Mr..
Bouccant hopes 10 be remembered because
he writes 10 Mr.. Disraeli: or perhaps that
when Mr. Disraelis correspondence is published
his letter will he included IN It. a. yon find
in Madame de Gyignf's the cpstl's of NJ. de
Pomponne and NJ dc Guitaud who otherwise would
be clean forgotten. Or is that Mr. Bouccault Is sa-
tated with trumphs the stage, and like AleXan-
der signs for other worlds la conquerf Ii Is IN poii-
ties that he now seeks fame. ihe modeSy of tlie
author Of " London Assurance" has for once been
40 far subducd to permit hiin to address
10 the Prime Minister appeal for the
liberation Of the Fenian prisoners. He has
discovered new reason for clcmency. Ii Is "The
Shaughraun,7 play which Mr.. Boucicanlt rightly
describes as without literary pretension, whence
his argument 10 bet must have had polIti-
cal object. II is the story of escaped convict,
and 200 600 people in London have nightly APP
planded the escape ergo, Mr. Disraeli ought to re-
lense the Fenians now langishing in Jail II is
good argument; its only fault being that it proves
too much II is equally good for the release of "ther
couyicts, and even Mr.. Boucicanlt does not yet
propose that MIlbanl and Clerkenwell, and Dart
| moor should be emptied. The world ~ censorions,
and people were found base enough to suggest fhat
Mr. Ioucicault'- drama had ceased to draw, ai tlat
this letter is nothing hut clever advertiseineht