re-echoed the attacks which have been made elsewhere, partly, no doubt, from ignorance, partly, no doubt, from thoughtlessness, but in a great degree by means of mechanical agitation. The Premier proceeded to vindicate the position of England as the guardian of public liberty and national independence, and was answered by the Duke of Argyll, who argued it to be the truest interest of England to put an end to that great calamity, both in Europe and Asia, called Ottoman rule; and maintained that it is no interest of this country, but the reverse, to keep in charge of Constantinople, and established on the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, a Power which, after defeat and reduction by Russia, would be the mere vassal of Russia. He passed to the Suez Canal. That question was treated slightly by his noble friend who moved the Address, because he said the Canal was in no danger. He did not mean to dwell upon it, but he wished to say that no one was more heartily with the Government than he was in declaring broadly that England never will permit, at any cost, that any Power in Europe shall interfere with her direct access to India. He had no sympathy with the language of those who talk with bated breath about conquests in India. We are not ashamed of our conquests in India. We do not require that any excuse should be made for the men who made those conquests. We are proud of the men who conquered India for us, and we are proud of the great military and civil services by which that empire has been so successfully governed. There was no sacrifice which this country would not make for the maintenance of our dominion in India, because it concerned their pride and their honour, and also, he thought he might say, because of the conviction which they might justly entertain-which he held in the strongest way-that the conquest of an inferior by a superior race was not an evil.

The Marquis of Salisbury closed the debate in a brief and very pacific speech, in which he testified with extreme warmth to the almost "tormenting desire for peace" evinced by the Czar, and assured the Lords that, if it were possible to ask for a secret Session, he could satisfy them that we were not isolated in our diplomacy, or forced to act alone. He maintained, however, that the war itself is a far greater evil than any of the chronic and cruel oppressions which caused the war. And he challenged Parliament either to give its implicit confidence to the Government, and so enable it to act with force in these great issues, or to replace it with one in which it could place implicit confidence.

In the Commons, after Mr. Wilbraham Egerton had moved and Mr. Tennant seconded the Address, the debate was confined to Lord Hartington, Sir Stafford Northcote, and Mr. Gladstone, the rest of the evening being taken up by the Irish members who wanted Home-rule. Lord Hartington, while disclaiming any regret that Parliament had been called together, expressed his difficulty in comprehending what had occurred since the prorogation to create a new situation. He thought the paragraph about pre

cautions cruel to the Turks, whom it would encourage in resistance, and deprecated war at the present moment, or the grant of means to prepare for war, in the strongest terms. in the strongest terms. Mr. Gladstone, whose speech was a short one, entirely coincided with Lord Hartington on this point, and following Sir Stafford Northcote as he did, he endeavoured to nail him to his declaration that the Government were not asking for money now. Both speakers considered the real discussion postponed, but both intimated that as yet there was no ground for alarm in the proceedings of Russia.

Sir Stafford Northcote, who spoke between Lord Hartington and Mr. Gladstone, affirmed and reaffirmed that the policy of the Government was peaceful. Parliament had been summoned because it would be possible for Government, with its support, to facilitate the close of the war, and its counsel might be indispensable when we knew, as we did not yet know, the Russian conditions of peace. No peace which affected arrangements to which the European Governments were parties could be made without their consent. It was 66 needful therefore to maintain an attitude of watchfulness and reserve." Her Majesty's Government did not intend, however, to ask for immediate supplies, but he must "remind the House that it may well become the duty of the Government to put themselves in a position to take the measures of precaution that may become necessary." Sir Stafford did not defend the Tory Press, which might, he admitted, occasionally misrepresent the Government, but declared that those who perpetually accused the Government of a set determination to drag the country into war did ten times as much mischief. They encouraged the Turks to believe that there was a strong war party in Great Britain.

Outside the House, meanwhile, Mr. Chamberlain, at Birmingham, attacked Lord Beaconsfield's foreign policy as made to invent dangerous situations, which must some day lead to a Russian war, and wondered how Poland was to be assisted, whatever Russia's crimes in Poland, by keeping Bulgaria in servitude. Greece he desired to see enlarged by Thessaly, Epirus, and Crete. In a fuller speech, delivered at Chelsea, Sir Charles Dilke declared that Turkey would have yielded had Europe been in earnest; drew a parallel between 1828-9 and 1877-8; pleaded strongly for the policy of strengthening and extending Greece; and protested against the creation of fresh tributary States, sure to become the centres of new European quarrels, whenever they should quarrel, as all tributaries must quarrel, with the Porte.

The newspapers held their various views upon the opening debate in Parliament::

The Daily Telegraph held that no Prime Minister of England ever spoke in the presence of national perils with a more becoming dignity and resolution than did Lord Beaconsfield. His speech rose to the true height of the situation in being inspired by nothing except the welfare of this realm, and the maintenance of its influence in the

world. The explanations of policy and intentions given are incomplete, precisely because the negotiations now proceeding are unfinished. Prince Gortschakoff has managed to keep the Russian terms unknown down to and beyond the opening of Parliament. The consequence is that Her Majesty's Government are compelled to keep unknown that portion of their counsels and purposes which depends upon the demands of Russia; but much is already gained by having the Legislature at hand and in session.

The Daily News said Lord Beaconsfield was in what his admirers would probably call his finest vein. He was grandiloquent; he was historical after his own way of dealing with history; he was heroic, he was prophetic; but he did not condescend to any particular explanations of any policy the Government may have in view. Indeed, one can hardly imagine anything less satisfactory than the debate would have been, so far as Ministerial explanations were concerned, if the public had not some clearer and more practical utterances to instruct it. The House of Lords were left in ignorance of everything they must have specially desired to know.

The air, however, was for a time cleared by the Ministerial statements in both Houses at the opening of Parliament, but more especially by the declaration of Sir Stafford Northcote in the Lower Chamber, which counteracted the disquieting effect of the paragraph in the Queen's Message speaking of an "unexpected occurrence." But the prospect in the East became gloomy again when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, within a few days, announced that he proposed to move a supplementary estimate for military and naval supplies. The reason was to be looked for in the rapid progress of Russia towards the Turkish capital, driving crowds of refugees into Constantinople. The country became alarmed, and Consols fell heavily. Lord Beaconsfield repudiated in the Upper House the making of any promise not to ask for a vote until the Russian terms were known, though that agreement had been generally understood; and in the Lower, Sir Stafford Northcote, not denying the understanding, declared that a change of circumstances made a change of policy necessary. "More than a week has elapsed," he said, "and not only have no terms of peace been received from the Russian Government, but it appears that a considerable force of Russian troops are rapidly advancing. Under these circumstances we have felt it necessary not to delay any longer realising that state of things which was intimated in the Queen's Speech-namely, asking Parliament for such assistance as will enable Her Majesty's Government to make provision for any circumstances that might arise requiring precaution."

Meantime the Queen, in answer to a personal appeal from the Sultan, had applied herself to the Czar in mediation; and a motion of Lord George Hamilton had drawn from Mr. Fawcett a proposal to enquire into the means of mitigation of Indian famines, and from Mr. Bright an earnest speech upon the subject.

"We hear," he said, "of thousands being killed in the war in the East of Europe; but all that this war has done, and all that the wars of the last ten years have done, has not been equal to the destruction of human life in the English dependencies in India." The right hon. gentleman concluded with these words:" You have the rain from heaven and the great rivers, and you have a Government which, having conquered the country, is bound to devote all the powers of its intellect to save the people from this suffering, and to save this country and this Parliament from the degradation and humiliation of allowing it to be known throughout the world that millions of subjects of the Crown of England have, in the course of ten years, perished by famine, which great engineers and men of great experience say positively might altogether have been prevented."

But for the moment the minds of men were set upon the Eastern Question, and the country was startled by the intelligence that the English Fleet had been ordered to the Dardanelles. Then the rumoured dissensions in the Cabinet took shape and form, and it became known that, in consequence of the gravest disagreement with a resolution arrived at by their colleagues, the Earl of Derby and the Earl of Carnarvon had resigned. On that evening there was consequently a large gathering of peers and members in the Upper Chamber, where business began with a reassuring statement by the Prime Minister. Responding to the Earl of Sandwich, Lord Beaconsfield said it was true the Government had directed the British Fleet to proceed to the Dardanelles with a view to go on to Constantinople, if necessary "to defend the lives and properties of British subjects" in the capital, " and take care of British interests in the Straits; " and a telegraphic despatch to the Powers to that effect had been prepared; but, on receipt of the proposed conditions of peace, the Admiral had been ordered to remain at Besika Bay. Lord Carnarvon then explained with careful minuteness the reasons which induced him to resign office. Taking the House into his confidence, his lordship said the Prime Minister condemned "very severely" the language he had used to a deputation on January 2; disclosed that he stoutly opposed a proposal, discussed at a Cabinet Council on the 12th, to send the fleet to the Dardanelles; that he sent in his resignation on a decision being come to by the Cabinet on the 15th to dispatch the fleet to Gallipoli, but consented to retain office on the decision being rescinded; and that he felt compelled once again to resign, this time definitely, upon the Cabinet resolving on the 23rd that the fleet should be sent to Constantinople. Lord Beaconsfield said he could not see that Lord Carnarvon had shown sufficient reason for quitting the Ministry, and reaffirmed that the Government adhered to the policy defined in "the charter," as he named the despatch, of May last. Earl Granville then asked for some explanation as to the reported resignation of Lord Derby; but the Earl of Beaconsfield said he "always thought it a high, valuable,

and ancient privilege of anyone retiring from a Government that he should announce the fact to Parliament himself in the first instance."

The Earl of Derby, to the relief of the House, reappeared in his seat two or three days afterwards. His lordship politely declined to enter into a general debate on the Eastern Question at the instigation of Lord Stratheden and Campbell; but, replying to a complimentary query from Earl Granville, stated that he had resigned because the Cabinet had come to a determination which he could not agree with, but, the cause of the difference having disappeared, he had no hesitation in withdrawing his resignation.

In reply to Lord Stratheden, Lord Derby said it was very conceivable that circumstances might arise under which the sending up the fleet to Constantinople would be an act entirely proper to be done, and would not in any manner endanger the general peace. It might be sent up in the interests of humanity, and its dispatch might be conducive to the preservation of life; but, if his noble friend asked him to define beforehand what would be the circumstances under which it would be justifiable to send the fleet up to Constantinople, he felt himself unable to make any such statement. The Earl, in reply to a question from Earl Stanhope, was sorry to say that the Government had received no intimation of the conclusion of an armistice, and had no information to give on the subject. The Russian Ambassador, whom he had seen about an hour ago, was equally uninformed. On the other hand, from the despatch which he (Lord Derby) had lately received, the Turkish Government declared that their orders were positive to their delegates to sign the terms of peace; the delay that has occurred was not, therefore, caused by them. No proposal had come from Russia for a diplomatic sanction to either her own or a joint occupation of Constantinople.

In the Commons, Sir Stafford's announcement of the supplementary estimate created great excitement; and, with abundance of detail, he endeavoured to persuade the House that a grant of six millions would enable the representatives of this country to enter the forthcoming Conference on the Eastern Question with the consciousness of being the Plenipotentiaries of a united nation. Sir Stafford showed his secretarial ability by giving a clear précis of the latest correspondence between Lord Derby and Prince Gortschakoff and Sir H. Layard, and suggesting that it was the most natural thing in the world that, in view of the sweeping changes contemplated in the East, Great Britain should come to the consideration of them armed with the confidence and support of the House, as well as enriched with six millions of money. Sir Stafford Northcote grew earnest in a peroration as to the undiminished power of England; but by far the most important part of his speech was that in which he stated that, a week before, the Russian Ambassador had called on Lord Derby, and informally given him the following as an outline of the bases of peace proposed to the Porte by Russia: