Of Mr.Labouchere the saying may be used, which is often employed with regard to weak men--Mr.Labouchere is far from a weak man--he is his own worst enemy.

His delight in persiflage, his keen wit--his love of the pose of the bloodless and cynical Boulevardier--have served to conceal from Parliament, and sometimes, perhaps, even from himself, the sincerity of his convictions, and the masculine strength and firmness of his will.

Somehow or other, he is least effective when he is most serious.

His speech on Uganda, for instance, was admirably put together, and chock full of facts, sound in argument, and in its seriousness quite equal to the magnitude of the issues which it raised.

But no man is allowed to play "out of his part"-- as the German phrase goes.