GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



343 



those measures, resulting in the brillumt victory re- 

 cently gained by Sir Frederick Koberts, will, I trust, 

 speedily bring to an honorable termination the war in 



progress has been made toward the pacification and 

 settlement of the country. A renewal of hostilities 

 by the Afghans, under Ayoob Khan, has rendered 

 necessary further military operations in southern Af- 

 ghanistan. The prompt measures taken by the Gov- 

 ernment of India for the relief of the garrison of Can- 

 dahar, and the conspicuous ability and energy dis- 

 played by my officers and troops in the execution of 

 those measures, resulting 

 cently gained by Sir Fred 

 speedily bring to an hono: 



that division of the country. I regret that it has not 

 hitherto been possible to give you such information on 

 the general state of Indian finance, and the recent mis- 

 carriages in presenting the accounts of military ex- 

 penditure t as you would justly require before entering 

 on a practical consideration of the subject. You may, 

 however, rest assured that I shall redeem my pledge 

 to supply you with this information at the earliest pe- 

 riod within my power. 



No advance has recently been made in the project 

 of a South African confederation, nor could advan- 

 tage arise from endeavors to press it forward, except 

 in proportion to the favorable movement of public 

 opinion in that portion of the empire. The general 

 state of affairs in South Africa is, however, on the 

 whole, satisfactory, except in Basutoland, where I 

 trust that a moderate and conciliatory policy may al- 

 lay the agitation caused by the enforcement of the Dis- 

 armament Act. 



Her Majesty concluded with reference to the 

 favorable harvest ; to the "probable improve- 

 ment in the condition of the people of Ireland," 

 and to the acts passed by the Parliament, among 

 which were named those on burials, educa- 

 tion, the liability of employers, ground-game, 

 the repeal of the malt duty, savings-banks, post- 

 office money-orders, the condition of merchant 

 seamen, and grain-cargoes. 



Mr. Gladstone spoke of the course and pol- 

 icy of the Government on the principal ques- 

 tions it had to consider, at the Lord Mayor's 

 banquet, November 9th. For Ireland, it would 

 be the duty of the Government again to exam- 

 ine the land laws, and it would not scruple, if 

 that was deemed necessary, again to call the 

 Legislature to deal with the subject. Anxious 

 as it was to be associated with practical im- 

 provements in the laws of the land, it recog- 

 nized the duty of enforcing the law for the 

 purposes of order as above every other duty. 

 It must first look to the law as it stood, to as- 

 certain what its fair and just administration 

 meant ; but the obligation incumbent upon it 

 to protect every citizen in the enjoyment of 

 his life and his property might under certain 

 circumstances compel it to ask for an increase 

 of power and authority, when it would not 

 shrink from its duty. The struggle in South 

 Africa was regarded as one "carried on by 

 means of colonists, and growing out of a policy 

 which has been the result of their counsels in 

 the exercise of their own independent rights, 

 yet still a struggle which we can not but watch 

 with a close and deep anxiety." When the 

 present administration came into office, Mr. 

 Gladstone continued, it found an Anglo-Indian 

 force of about 70,000 men engaged in sustain- 

 ing the military operations that had been car- 

 ried on in Afghanistan. It had sought to se- 

 cure the independence of the people of the 



country and to restore their friendly relations 

 with the Indian Empire. It had not been able 

 to accomplish all that was wished, hut a part of 

 the country had been restored to a more hope- 

 ful condition, and the military force engaged 

 there had been diminished by between 20,000 

 and 30,000 men. Toward the solution of the 

 Eastern question, the Government had heen 

 able to adopt the declaration and to work for 

 the purpose which had been authentically de- 

 clared on the part of the Government which it 

 succeeded. The late Prime Minister had de- 

 clared, justly, two years before, that the Treaty 

 of Berlin was a treaty which, if fully executed, 

 promised to confer great benefits upon Europe, 

 and had stated, with truth and justice, that Eng- 

 land would not be the power that would shrink 

 from any of the obligations connected with its 

 execution, and had expressed an expectation 

 that, within a very short period, its several 

 provisions would take effect. "When the pres- 

 ent Cabinet came into office, it found that many 

 of the most important parts of the treaty still 

 remained unfulfilled. It at once declared its 

 intention to endeavor to secure their execution. 

 It had not acted in the spirit of an enemy to 

 Turkey, but as its friend, because, said Mr. 

 Gladstone, " we endeavored to bring it to a pol- 

 icy by which, and by which alone, as we are 

 convinced, it may have a promise of continued 

 existence. . . . This we believe," he concluded, 

 " that for the continued existence of Turkey, 

 of the Turkish power, either to give a chance 

 of that existence, or to justify that existence, 

 two things are necessary : the one, the fulfill- 

 ment of international engagements; and the 

 other, that the condition of the people over 

 whom the Ottoman power is reigning shall be 

 rendered tolerable by good and equal law." 



Lord Granville, speaking at a Liberal meet- 

 ing in Hanley, November 2Vth, said that it 

 was painful and discreditable that a want of 

 security for life and property should exist in a 

 part of Ireland ; that it was impossible that 

 such a state of things should continue; and 

 that on the meeting of Parliament the appeal 

 which the Government would make to it would 

 not consist in a mere demand for extraordinary 

 powers which might be best fitted to strengthen 

 the hands of the administration in the particu- 

 lar emergency, but should be " for remedies 

 which, while they give her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment the fittest means for dealing with present 

 disorder, will also prepare the way on sound 

 principles for the future contentment of the 

 people." In reply to attacks which had been 

 made by Lord Salisbury, his lordship showed 

 that the foreign policy of the Government had 

 been consistently governed by a purpose to se- 

 cure the fulfillment of the Treaty of Berlin and 

 to maintain the concert of the powers. He be- 

 lieved it had been proved to be possible for the 

 powers in the face of a question of immense 

 importance to agree "to put in clue subordina- 

 tion their own direct and personal interests, and 

 unite for the purpose of bringing to bear their 



