CABLE NEWS. (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. — COPYRIGHT.) BRITISH POLITICS.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 142, 18 December 1905, Page 7

CABLE NEWS. (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. — COPYRIGHT.) BRITISH POLITICS.

THE LIBERAL PROGRAMME. ~ LORD DALMENY'S SUPPORT. iPUESS ASSOCIATION.") (Received December 18, 8.43 a.m.)

LONDON, 17th December. Lord Dalmeny, eldest s>on of the Earl of Rosebeiy, in the course of a. speech in Midlothian, declared that he would loyally support tho Government whatever their measuies on Local Government, land values, or Home Rule were. Mr. Haldane, Secietary of State for War, ii ill not ratify, without enquiry, Mr. Arnold-For&ter's proposed changesa-e-garding volunteers. Sir Alfred Thomas, member for Glamorganshire, speaking at Ferndale, declared that he was in a position to state that the Liberal Government would include Welsh disestablishment and disendowment as an essential part of its programme. SIR EDWARD CLARKE. (Received December 18, 8.43 a.m.) LONDON, 17th December. Sir Edward Clurke. has already announced himself as a Unionist candidate for tho City. Sir Edward Clarke, in his younger days, followed the profession of journalism, and was afterwards called to the Bar. His first great success as a. lawyer was madein the well-known "Penge Mystery," and he afterwaids made a great impression by his able speech in the Pimhco case in defence of Mis. Bartlett. On the accession of Lord Salisbury's second .Government to power in August, 1886, Sir (then Mr.) Edward Clarke was made SolicitorGeneral, and received the honour of Knighthood. RAISED TO THE PEERAGE. LONDON, 16th December. Lord Edmond Fitzinaurice (brother of the Marquis of Limsdowue), who hag been appointed Under-Secretary to the Foreign Office, has been raised to the Peerage. LORD CURZON A POSSIBLE CANDIDATE. RETIREMENT^ MR. LABOUCHERE. (Received December 18, 8.43 a.m.) LONDON, 17th December. Theie is a strong movement in the City in favour of asking Lord Curzon, who recently resigned the position of Viceroy of India on account of differences with Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, with respect to the control of the military forces of that Empire, to stand for the City. Lord Curzon will be asked to contest the seat on national rather than on party grounds. Mr. H. Labouchere, member for Northampton, will not contest the seat again owing to his advanced age. Some forty-five years ago a young attache in Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, by name Henry Labouchere, then twenty-nino years of age, failed to put in an appearance at Constantinople at the appointed time, and formal enquiry Mas mado as , to the reason for the delay. • In .due course a letter arrived at the Foreign Office stating that, as inade.qunto provision had been made for his travelling expenses, and that as his private -means were limited, the attache was walking, and would in due time reach the shores of the Bosphorus. On another occasion, when the same young gentleman was stationed at Washington an aggressively irate countryman called and demanded to sco the British Minister. "Not here! Then I shall wait till he comes." "Very woll," replied the attache, "pray take a chair." The visitor waited and wtiilod. " Was the Minister likely to be in in another hour?" "I think not," replied the imperturbable attache blandly. "The fact is he sailed for Europe on Wednesday, and can hardly yet have reached Queenstown. But, you know, you said you would wait till he came "in, ' so I offered you a chair." The child is father to the man — the attache to the politician; and, needless to say, the hero of these tales was tho witty, cynical " Labby," who has always commanded the oar of the House, for he was hardly over dull, often original, And generally livoly. Born sovenly-four years ago, he was christened Henry Dupre, and was educated at Eton. He retired from tho Diplomatic Service in 1864, and turned his attention to politics. By on odd coincidence the remorseless opponent of Royal Grants and curtailer of Civil Lists sat originally for the Koyal Borough of Windsor. He subsequently ucted as special correspondent for the Daily News in Paris, and his letters of a. "Besieged Resident" made a great sensation. Mr. Labouchere, who is the proprietor of Truth, is the most experienced defender of libel actions in England. During the twenty-five years of the existence of I'ruth he must have- felt lonely on the rare occasions when he had not a. writ for libel out against him. In a list of forty-four actions seventeen verdicts were returned ,for the defendant, nineteen cases were abandoned or settled, while in the remaining eight cases some of tho verdicts were not unsatisfactory to the defendant. One of his prosecutors afterwards got six mouths' imprisonment. Another of his libel plaintiffs got j ten years. The longest and most expensive case in tho list was the Zierenburg action. It concerned a home for female inobriates at Ivennington. After a twenty-one days' hearing the jury roturned a verdict for the defendant. It was a satisfactory but expensive victory. The ease cost Mr. Labouchere £7000, not a penny of which could he recover. In spite of all, 'Mr. Labouchere is a wealthy man. MR. CHURCHILL'S APPOINTMENT. (Received December 18, 8.45 a.m.) CAPETOWN, 17th December. The press in Cape Colony is very unappreciative of Mr. Churchill's appointment as Under-Secretary in the Colonial Office. The papers declare that he shows scant knowledge of the opinions, aspirations, and difficulties of the colonies.