6 



hands of Mr. Gladstone, whenever he thinks fit to make use of it, 

 for electioneering purposes, as he did in the recent election in this 

 division. I am fortified in this opinion by the following 

 occurrence in the House of Commons. It may be in your 

 recollection that about the close of last Session a question 

 was asked of the Prime Minister by the Chairman of the Farmers' 

 Alliance, in his capacity of member for Bedfordshire, as to the 

 probability or intention of the Government to bring in a Land 

 Bill during the present Session. The reply of Mr. Gladstone was 

 both remarkable and suggestive, for he told Mr. Howard that 

 their action in the matter must depend upon two points : First, 

 whether the farmers desired to have a Land Bill at all, and, 

 secondly, with what force and power they expressed that desire. 

 Well, gentlemen, when I read this question and reply, their pre- 

 arrangement appeared beyond a doubt, whilst never was a more 

 glaring invitation for agitation thrown out to the farmers of this 

 country. We had not long to wait in order to see its efi'ects, for 

 during the autumn we began to read of meetings of farmers taking 

 place in the far north — in Aberdeenshire, Morayshire, and Forfarshire 

 — delegates were sent down from the Farmers' Alliance, branches of 

 the Alliance were formed, whilst the spark that had been lighted in 

 the north spread with the rapidity of a rocket through the length and 

 breadth of Scotland, touching county after county till it at last 

 crossed the border ; and having expended its force on the banks of the 

 Tees, it went off" in a grand display of fireworks to the admiration and 

 wonder of the Quaker inhabitants of Darlington. Now, gentlemen, 

 I have endeavoured to give you some idea of the acts and deeds of 

 the Farmers' Alliance out of doors, where it is anxious to appear as 

 the farmers' friend ; but let me ask you for a moment to consider the 

 action and behaviour of the leaders and representatives of the 

 Alliance in the House of Commons. I will give you one or two 

 illustrations. In March of last year the honourable member for Mid- 

 Lincolnshire, Mr. Chaplin — than whom no more consistent supporter 

 or able exponent of the tenant-farmers' interests sits in the House of 

 Commons — brought forward a motion, calling attention to the 

 serious outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease all over the country. He 

 showed that by the action of 



THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES (aNIMALS) ACT, 



introduced by the Duke of Richmond, the late Government had 

 succeeded in stamping out that disease entirely, and for nine months 

 before the late Government left office there had not been a single case 

 of disease, and, in fact, the country was perfectly free. Within a 

 very short time after the Liberal Government came in three cargoes 

 of diseased animals were admitted into Deptford, and within 

 two or three days afterwards foot-and-mouth disease appeared in the 



