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to whom he had taken somewhat the semblance of a red 

 rag to a bull, so that whatever discussion he had happened 

 to be present at until this one, there had been a vehement 

 outburst of objection to the doctrine of not interfering when 

 you did not know what you were about, which he had 

 ventured to broach, and which seemed to him the simplest 

 and most straightforward doctrine in the world. He should 

 be glad to say a word on this topic, having by accident 

 been absent on the previous day, when Mr. Shaw-Lcfevre 

 read a paper, though it was doing what he himself 

 deprecated, dealing with a matter which was not exactly 

 the one before the Conference. What he wished to say was 

 this, that he did not come to the conclusion which he had 

 advocated now for so many years, on the sort of grounds 

 that actuated a doctrinaire man of science ; on the contrary, 

 nothing could be more distinctly and emphatically practical 

 than the reasons which first impressed on his mind the 

 impolicy which existed twenty-five years ago, and which 

 he was happy to think, with the help of his colleague. Sir 

 James Caird, and Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, he had some hand in 

 getting rid of He would mention an occurrence which 

 made an indelible impression on his mind. When he and 

 his colleagues visited the Isle of Skye, the worst part 

 of Ireland, that which was in the most depressed state, 

 could not show a population in greater misery than 

 the people who were to be seen within a mile and a 

 half of Portreath. He had journeyed in many parts of the 

 world and seen many savage people, but the population of 

 New Guinea, about which they had heard so much lately, 

 and where he had been a great many years, was vastly 

 better provided with the comforts, decencies, and refine- 

 ments of life than many of their fellow-subjects in the Isle 

 of Skye were twenty years ago. He should imagine that 



