356 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



liament had first been taken, and questioned 

 the soundness of the purchase, commercially 

 and politically. He also asked for explana- 

 tions of Mr. Cave's mission to Egypt. Mr. 

 Disraeli replied : On the subject of the fu- 

 gitive-slave circulars, it was the strong desire 

 and intention of the Government to discourage 

 and abolish slavery wherever possible. The 

 Government had given an earnest of this de- 

 sire by what they had already done in Africa. 

 He admitted the responsibility for the first cir- 

 cular, though he had never seen it when it was 

 issued. He would not defend it for a moment. 

 Its recall had satisfied the country. The second 

 circular was, however, prepared by the Lord 

 High-Chancellor, and contained an accurate 

 definition of the law. The circular was ren- 

 dered necessary by acts of English officers in 

 foreign courts entailing legal actions, and the 



payment of compensations by the Government. 

 The Royal Commission would not only inquire 

 into the present state of the law, but would 

 also see wherein it was advisable to alter it, 

 and how by negotiation alteration could be 

 effected. With reference to Herzegovina, Mr. 

 Disraeli declared the Government could not 

 have acted otherwise than it did. A refusal to 

 recommend the Porte to give favorable consid- 

 eration to the Austrian proposals would have 

 placed England in an undesirable state of iso- 

 lation. If England had refused to agree to the 

 note, the Sultan would necessarily at once have 

 rejected it. Then England would have been in 

 the unpleasant position which would have fol- 

 lowed if further questions had arisen as to 

 whether we should support the Sultan in re- 

 sistance to the other powers. If England had 

 proposed a conference, its only course would 



THE BHIQS OP ATB, SCOTLAND. 



probably have been to adopt the very sugges- 

 tions contained in the Austrian note. If the 

 . present proposals should not prove successful 

 in settling the complication, England would be 

 as free as to the future as she was before the 

 Austrian note was written. The Government 

 had bought the Suez Canal shares at the re- 

 quest of the Khedive, while an offer was pend- 

 ing for them from a French company. It had 

 bought them under the conviction that the 

 English people would not view with satisfac- 

 tion the possession of all the shares by France. 

 Mr. Cave's mission to Egypt was expected to 

 produce results which would secure the ade- 

 quate representation of English interests in 

 the management of the canal. He considered 

 that the purchase of the shares gave additional 

 security to freedom of intercourse with India. 

 In the House of Commons, February 22d, 



Mr. "Whitbread, of Bedford, moved a resolution 

 calling for the revocation of all the circulars in 

 reference to fugitive slaves recently issued by 

 the Admiralty. This was rejected, February 

 24th, and instead of it an amendment, offered 

 by Mr. Hanbury, from Tamworth, " that it is 

 desirable to await further information from the 

 Royal Commission appointed to inquire into 

 the subject," was adopted. During the debate 

 on this subject, Mr. Gathorne Hardy, Secre- 

 tary of State for "War, said that the Govern- 

 ment hoped, by means of the commission, to 

 be able to reconcile the maintenance of the 

 utmost extent of personal liberty with their 

 own international obligations and good faith 

 toward friendly nations. 



On the 14th of February the Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer moved a vote for 4,080,000 to 

 pay for the purchase of the shares of the Suez 



