New-York tribune., 1879-01-29
TOWN TALK IN LONDON.
HARcOyRT'S sPEECH-WHISTLER AND TON
TAYLOR

E,AIiNG MAN IN PARLIAMENT FROM oNfoR'-
WHISTLER AND TAYLOR TAKE EACH OTHER ~
TIIr EARS
,rpo,, mn REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE TEiBUNr
Io<poN Jan. l6.--lf tine anger of opponcnts he
.,.,,rc of success Sir William IIalcourt's speech
at oxford on Tuesday has proved very successful IN
deed The lingo organs attack him in chorus Ihe
TjmC, alouc dcVotng two leading articles to HIM.
Rut now aS on some recent occasions the style oi
answer attempted is peculiar. Sill William Iiar-
courts speech is an arragnment of the Ministry on
specific charges. 1t contains both the indictment
and the evidence. The Jingo answer Snot that the
evidence i. untrue but that the accusations are III
credible. They took similar line when charges oI
prcyaricatOn and dSingenuousncNs were las
tened on leading members OF the Caehet
They said. Can ANYBODY believe that such things
are truc of English gcntemcn!' But they were
true unhapply Not only the accused but the ac-
cnser, were English gentlemen and it Is atleaSt
~ difficult TO conceive dishonesty on their part as
gniIt ON the part of the defendants. Sir William
Harcour is not to lay more stress than u VIII
bear on the purely moral side of II dispute out ne
SAYS The utter mUossibility of placing any re-
lance on statements however explicit, or accepting
denial.. however formal. by the Ministers oi the
Crown-thi, is state of things hitherto unknown
70 the public life of England which has sappcd inc
foundations of pubhc confidence
Two or three months ago. II used to be my fate to
beqro very eminent Engllsman-not politician
Int q man of wide political knowledge and decided
Radical yiews-say that he would vote Tor the
Tories whenever dissolution came; so dlsRusted
was he with the spectacle Of Liberal dlsc"ids ana
indecison. / had the pleasure to meet nm again
more recently; the exposure OF Lord NranorooAH
ninth paragraph and Of Lord SalIshuryS amazing
selfcontradictons on Afghan policy having mean
Gil I...s fbiI vi
fOr the Tories, but snail not vote loI 'u'"' -"
living is too strong
The proof of II supplied by Sir William llarcourt
- elaborate and-n one case at east-paintUily
complete but am not gong to follow HIM INTO de-
tails The whole speech is sufficiently interesting
and powerful to reward anybody VIII" VIII read II
through II i amusing we'll as able. Like the
Scarborough address last Novenber,i 1t sparkeS Wth
cpiganS SIR William Harcourt has sometimes
been spoken of as Il pupil OF Lord Bedcoh'iicld'
They hay, never been on the same side IN politics.
but there NAV be q resemblance IN their method ol
treating public questions on the platform. Neither
of them ever breaches. They both have a talent
for smart savings for apt Illustrations, for ancc-
,lote- and for contcmpfuous invccjiYe. Sir William
Harcnut quotes Mr. Bras>el testimony that
Cyprus having no haTbor for fleet, cannot be con-
vcrtcd into a naval station, mt may perhaps be
used a. 4 Coaliug station, and cNclaimN: shade oil
Aphroditc! Paphos a coalng station 1ou would
suppose that Venus had jltcd the God ol War ana
returned to the legitimate and Sooty embraces oI
Vulcan" Tuat i,qulte III Lord Rra,onsiieid's man
ucr; or i'm one of hls manners. SO Is some ol the
chaff which Sir ilam addresses directly to the
GREAT Iory chief. "The Eastern Roumea Of Bcrim
i, ilst one Of those ingenious pieces of political
clock work winch have cvcry merit except that they
Will not 20. | sometimes doubt If Lord Beac"n'-
field himself believes IN his own Eastern Roune.ia
whether II j. not like the celebrated checks on
household suffrage, which were onk scati0ldihG
to educate his own party 50 is lis description OF
Sir Garnet WOlsccy, after the sending away "i
almost the whole force of troops from cyprus as
"Gcucralis,m0 over half rcgment;' : and OF
Cypru, itself as " the re>iduum of all their qilXouc
braggadocio. an island OF winch Sancho Panza
would have been ashamed" He depicts
the Afghan war as a conflict carried on
mainly with hill-tubcs. whose homes nave
been invaded without cause; "and when they resist
hot pcrllaps an unnatural thiugWc lind = Heces-
sary 10 cut their throatS and eXtrriIfatc then VII
lage,.' He adds "Io ny ,nscience this sort Of
thing. though 1t may ne very scientific, is not alto
gether conGrlIolo or pleasant bat | suppose am
wrong H., ind that the Bishops approve and vote
ia H. one OF them. think, has said chat 1t Is the
best way of propagating the Gospel"
Thi- is. after all. only the ornamentaton of
tial part Of ITS fabric-a speech not less remarkable
for knnwlrd and for argunentaive vlgor than
Tor the lighter qualities Of winch have given an
illustration or two.
II will interest rowing men to know that the
chosen Liberal colleague to Sir William llHcouTt
IN the representation Of Oxford City Is Mr. entity
whose fame as au umpire in the yearly University
Boat Races ON the Thames Is almost az great III
America as in England. Mr.. Chtty, though yonng
,non--,,v five, and forty-i Que of the recognized
leaders of the Chancery Bar. Like 50 many other
strong lawyers, he is going into political hfe' ana
will stand for Oxford Whenever there Is an cec'lOn
His early devotion To rowing and continued inter-
est IN # have done him no more harm at the bar
than they dld Mr. Denman. who was stroke OF
First Trinity and is now OF her Majestys
Judge. of the Common Pleas.
II WAS hoped that the Parliamentary vacation
would be cnliycmed by a speech from Mr.. Bright,
hut this j. not to be- note from birmingham
saws that hc has been for some time suffering from
a severe cold and has been advised to 90 abroad
fora few weeks He will not, Therefore, he able to
addrcs, h, constituents before The meeting Oi Par
llament but it is understood that he Will speak
during the Easter
Mr. Whistler whatever he may think of critics, Is
surely one of hc best advertised artists living; and
AZ j. fc critcS-that is writers on the public press
concerning themselves with au-Who advertise
him. and advertise hIm gratis. Ever since the
fainou, triM. in which Nil RuSkin was de-
iendant. the papers have had articles either
about the trial or about the pamphlet
which Mr. Whistler wrote respecting the
trial and which Is already in fifth edl-
ton Aud now comes Il correspondence between
Nh Tom Taylor and Mr.. Whistler printed
at full lcngth in a weekly Journal OF society.
The author uf nocturnes and arrangements sent