Principalities has been prolonged, and is still unexpired, and may, I trust, yet lead to the conclusion of an honourable peace.

"In these affairs I have acted in cordial co-operation with my allies, with whom, as with other foreign Powers, my relations continue to be of a friendly character.

"Papers on these subjects will be forthwith laid before you.

"My assumption of the Imperial title at Delhi was welcomed by the Chiefs and people of India with professions of affection and loyalty most grateful to my feelings.

"It is with deep regret that I have to announce a calamity in that part of my dominions which will demand the most earnest watchfulness on the part of my Government there. A famine not less serious than that of 1873 has overspread a large portion of the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay. I am confident that every resource will be employed, not merely in arrest of this present famine, but in obtaining fresh experience for the prevention or mitigation of such visitations for the future.

"The prosperity and progress of my Colonial Empire remain unchecked, although the proceedings of the Government of the Transvaal Republic, and the hostilities in which it has engaged with the neighbouring tribes have caused some apprehensions for the safety of my subjects in South Africa. I trust, however, that the measures which I have taken will suffice to prevent any serious evil.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,

"I have directed the Estimates of this year to be prepared and presented to you without delay.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"Bills relating to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and for amending the Law as to Bankruptcy and Letters Patent for Inventions will be laid before you.

"Your attention will be again called to measures for promoting economy and efficiency in the management of the Prisons of the United Kingdom, which will at the same time effect a relief of local burthens.

"Bills will also be laid before you for amending the Laws relating to the Valuation of Property in England, for simplifying and amending the Law relating to Factories and Workshops, and for improving the Law regulating the summary jurisdiction of Magistrates.

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Legislation will be proposed with reference to Roads and Bridges in Scotland, and the Scotch Poor Law.

"You will be asked to constitute one Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland, and to confer an equitable jurisdiction on the County Courts in that country.

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"I commend to you these and other measures which may be submitted for your consideration, and I trust that the blessing of the Almighty will attend your labours and direct your efforts."

And then Her Majesty retired, and the Commons withdrew. Lord Beaconsfield, said a reporter, seemed to have some hesitation in proceeding before Her Majesty; but a motion of the hand from the Queen was sufficient to show the new peer his place in the procession, and she followed him down the steps from the throne. The omission in the Address of any reference to the cyclone wave disaster in Bengal drew, at a later period, from Sir Stafford Northcote what may here be appended as practically part of the Speech. After showing that the omission was due to the accident of Lord Salisbury's absence,

"The terrible calamity," he said, " is one of which it was impossible to speak with too much gravity and too much sympathy. The calamity is altogether unparalleled in the history of the world. Of all the great catastrophes, including that famous earthquake which took place in the last century at Lisbon, I believe there has been nothing to compare in magnitude with this fearful disaster. On the other hand, it was a disaster which was apparently beyond the reach of human means of prevention. But," he concluded, "it is a matter of serious regret to the Government that, by an oversight, there should be an omission on the part of those who advise Her Majesty-an omission of a subject the notice of which in the Royal Speech would, as he says, have been grateful to the Indian people.".

The mover and seconder of the Address in the Lords adapted their speeches to the most conciliatory phase of the Ministerial policy, and refrained from any of the tone of recrimination which had been too prominent in the speeches of the recess. Lord Grey de Wilton gave credit to the Czar for sincere intentions, but objected to the "bag and baggage" policy on the ground that the Turks "must live somewhere"; and, referring to the miscellaneous advice which had been so freely bestowed on Government, created a cheer by quoting the useful precept, "Do not speak to the man at the wheel." When Lord Haddington had seconded the Address, Lord Granville rose. His silence during the recess had led to the suspicion that his views agreed with those of the Ministry, but he proceeded to disprove this, though his criticisms upon their conduct confined themselves to the charge of a change of policy towards Turkey at the time of the autumn agitation, of neglect in not preparing some substitute for the Berlin Memorandum on their rejection of that document, and of the irreconcilability of Lord Derby's despatch, written after the occurrence of the Bulgarian massacres, with any theory of the independence of Turkey. His admission that he considered the change of policy most wise and most statesmanlike, robbed the first criticism of all sting. The Turkish Government he charged with direct complicity in the Bulgarian massacres, which had caused this change, and argued that they had destroyed their position with respect to the Treaty of Paris, in which he expressed his faith, by their neglect of the notes and requisitions of England.

He commented severely on the speeches of the Prime Minister, especially his reference to Russia, asserting that it was clear the ordinary course of things had been reversed, for our Cabinet agreed in private, but disagreed in public, with Russia. They may act, he said, referring to their differences of language, on the principle of a French nobleman, who, being asked once a year by his Monarch how many children he had, invariably answered, "Two," until on one occasion he said "Six"; and on the Monarch expressing some surprise, said—" I am afraid of boring your Majesty by always saying the same thing." The Conference he regarded as an affair of mists and mystifications, and the whole policy in regard to Turkey as pregnant with inconveniences and dangers. He advocated the proposing to Europe to come forward as one body and insist upon the reforms which it was necessary for Turkey to carry out.

Lord Derby answered Lord Granville's first criticism by denying that the Government had altered their course, except so far as to meet altered conditions, and explained that, so far from being ready to fight for Turkey at the time of the rejection of the Berlin Memorandum, he had warned the Turkish Ambassador, when the fleet was sent to Besika. Bay, that times had changed since the Crimean War, and that the Porte must only reckon on the moral support of England. The Cabinet had disagreed from the Berlin Memorandum, because it involved the possibility of armed interference, against which they had set themselves from the first determinately, and of which they openly disclaimed all intention when they entered the Conference, which Lord Derby denied had failed, for it had improved the prospects of peace by putting an end to the Servian War; and as to the reform of the disturbed provinces of Turkey, its results had been to press upon the Porte the necessity for carrying them out, though they might prefer their own way of doing so. It might be his (Lord Derby's) own feeling that the Porte had better have acted like embarrassed men, and put their affairs in the hands of trustees; but they had taken the responsibility upon themselves, and on themselves alone, he had warned them that it must in that case lie. The effect of the treaties of 1856 and 1871 was only to call upon England for active interference for the Porte at the solicitation of France and Austria; and, though inaction might cease to be the duty of England in such an extreme case as Constantinople being threatened, he contended for no more stringent construction of an engagement than they would fairly bear. He likened his despatch after the Bulgarian massacres to the action of a counsel who threatens to throw up his brief if his client will not do as he advises him, and protested against the principle of interference in the internal affairs of a foreign country. In conclusion, Lord Derby committed himself to no more definite programme than doing his best for the maintenance of peace. In the course of his speech he expressed his regret that the Turkish Government had failed in putting down the insurrection in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and this remark elicited from the

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Duke of Argyll an eloquent and fiery attack, which was the feature of the debate. "I say distinctly," said he, "in this 'high place '— in this house top' of Europe-that every insurrection against that Government is a legitimate insurrection. Human beings under that Government owe it no allegiance. I heard that declaration of the noble Earl with infinite regret, and it is not one that will satisfy the feelings and consciences of the people of this country. I heard also with infinite regret the declaration of the noble Earl that he was determined in no case to use force to compel the Turks to do justice to their Christian subjects. I do not know whether the noble Earl has already made that announcement to Europe, but if so you might as well not have sent an Envoy to Constantinople." Neither peace nor good government for the Turkish Christians, said the Duke, had this Conference secured, and he charged Lord Derby with appreciating nothing of the true forces at work in this great Eastern Question, which had darkly overshadowed Europe for forty or fifty years. "I say you will have no peace in Europe, and you ought to have no peace in Europe, until the well-being of the Christian subjects of the Porte has been secured by the united action of the European Powers. And if you have sent one of your most distinguished members to Constantinople, declaring beforehand your guns to be loaded with blank cartridge, I say you might just as well have sat still, twiddling your thumbs, as you did for three months before. Has the noble Earl never heard of the Sibylline leaves? Do you think that the great forces of religion and the sympathies of people with people, which are at the root of this great Eastern Question, will be satisfied with this irreducible minimum to which the claims of the Christians have been cut down, and to which the noble Marquis seems to have consented? If the noble Earl does not believe that, the Conference has failed, both in securing peace and good government for Turkey. There are other powers in Europe," continued the Duke, "besides the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs; and much as he may despise sentimentality in politics-forgetting that sentiment rules the world-forgetting that all moral feeling is founded on sentiment-much as he may despise sentimentality in politics, I am greatly mistaken if sentimentality will not be too strong for him. If some one does not seize the helm which the noble Earl says the Government has abandoned, I believe that Europe will drift into a bloody and dreadful war."

The Duke concluded by charging the Government with having been the drag upon Europe, which prevented concerted action in European concord; and drew from the Earl of Beaconsfield, who would rather, as he said, have listened to the debate than taken part in it, his maiden speech in the House of Lords, in which the Premier insisted upon the political aspect of this great Eastern Question, especially as regarded English interests, while admitting that the condition of the Christian subjects of the Porte was a

matter of great importance, to which he believed all the Powers were alive. But, said he, the Eastern Question involves some of the elements of the distribution of power in the world, and involves the existence of empires; and he believed that any interference directed to the alleviation of the sufferings of the Turkish Christians only would but make their sufferings worse. He pleaded for a calm, sagacious, and statesmanlike consideration of the whole subject, never forgetting the great interests of England, if it was ever to have any solution at all.

Lord Cardwell commented strongly upon the danger of accompanying every enunciation of a policy by the statement that it was not intended to enforce it, and the possible results of such constant "deference" to the wishes of the Turkish Government. He attacked the doctrine of non-interference, and Lord Salisbury briefly defended it. "I rise," he said, "to protest against the view laid down as to the duty of the Government with respect to coercion, namely, that we ought to adopt a course which in time past has been too popular with Governments of the colour of the noble Duke opposite, and use threats of coercion, while we are hazy in our own minds as to whether we shall follow them up or not. To coerce the Porte we must send a fleet into the Bosphorus and bombard Stamboul, and the effect of that would be to produce anarchy in every part of the Ottoman Empire, where in many parts there were still an armed Mohammedan and an unarmed Christian population."

Lord Salisbury begged the House to wait till the production of the papers (which Lord Derby had promised for that evening) before charging the Government with any want of sympathy with the oppressed Christian populations, but laid down the doctrine that insurrection is only legitimate, even under a much worse government than that of the Porte, when it has a fair prospect of success.

Lord Galway and Mr. Torr, as proposer and seconder of the Address in the Commons, began a debate which followed the same lines as that in the Upper House--the former deprecating war in the interests of the subject races, and strongly protesting against the importation of a religious element into the question; and the latter complaining that the Government could derive no real guidance from all the speeches and meetings of the autumn.

Lord Hartington dissipated all idea of Liberal dissensions by taking the same tone as his colleagues in the Lords, and making a speech which the Times described as more uncompromising than that which signalised his return from Turkey in the autumn. He began by remarking on the programme of the Queen's speech, in which, said he, the Government "have attained successfully to a level-I will not say of dulness, because that would not be respectful, but-of repose and reserve, to which I do not think any of their predecessors have attained."

After remarking in the speech the absence of all mention of