GREAT BRITAIN" AND IRELAND. 



399 



stantinople was published on the 15th. On 

 the 21st Earl Derby stated that the Confer- 

 ence had been agreed upon, and that England 

 would not deviate from the usual course of 

 sending an ambassador. On the 25th Lords 

 Stratheden and Campbell introduced a motion 

 in the House of Lords to the effect that the 

 conditions proposed by Russia to the Porte 

 were such as to justify her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment in taking every precaution to discourage 

 the encroachments by which the treaties of 

 1856 and 1871 were threatened. The motion 

 was not acceptable to the Government, who, 

 as Earl Derby had said, could not discuss the 

 armistice, and was disposed of by agreeing to 

 the previous question. At the end of Febru- 

 ary affairs seemed so critical that the Opposi- 

 tion deemed it wise to avoid embarrassing the 

 Government with specific questionings. The 

 war estimates were presented in the House of 

 Commons a few days afterward, the Secretary 

 saying in connection therewith that they had 

 been framed on a strictly peace footing, as 

 would be the case whatever apprehensions 

 were entertained ; also that there was a grow- 

 ing feeling that the militia should not be ex- 

 clusively employed within their own counties, 

 and that some of the finest regiments had 

 placed themselves absolutely at the Govern- 

 ment's disposal. The House then passed the 

 vote, fixing the strength of the army at 135,- 

 452 men. On the 7th of March Earl Derby, 

 admitting that the state of things contemplat- 

 ed in the treaties of 1856 and 1871 had ceased 

 to exist, and that they were only binding till 

 a new treaty was made, declared that as a 

 general principle England wished the questions 

 at issue to be settled in a European, not an 

 exclusively Russian sense, and wished the set- 

 tlement to be durable and equable toward the 

 various races and creeds. 



Dissatisfaction was expressed, when Lord 

 Lyons was named as the person who would 

 represent the Government at the Congress, 

 that some member of the Cabinet had not been 

 selected. The explanation was offered on be- 

 half of the Cabinet, that while all the other 

 Powers would be represented by their Chan- 

 cellors or Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Eng- 

 land liad made an exception because its system 

 of administration was wholly different from 

 that of Continental states. " An English min- 

 ister, being a member of a Cabinet collective- 

 ly responsible to Parliament, can not act on 

 his own sole authority; and, if he leaves his 

 colleagues to settle what his instructions are 

 to be from time to time, he abdicates his part 

 as minister, and becomes a mere agent, instead 

 of one member of the Cabinet which has to 

 decide on what shall be done." 



On the 1st of April the Queen sent in the 

 following message: "The present state of 

 public affairs in the East, and the necessity in 

 connection therewith of taking steps for the 

 maintenance of peace and for the protection 

 of the interests of the empire, having consti- 



tuted in the opinion of her Majesty a case of 

 great emergency within the meaning of the 

 acts of Parliament in that behalf, her Majesty 

 deems it proper to provide additional means 

 for her military service. And therefore, in 

 pursuance of those acts, her Majesty has 

 thought it right to communicate to the Houses 

 that her Majesty is about to cause her reserve 

 force and her militia reserve force, or such part 

 thereof as her Majesty shall think necessary, 

 to be forthwith called out for permanent ser- 

 vice." 



In consequence of this action Earl Derby 

 resigned his position in the Cabinet. Lord 

 Salisbury was appointed Secretary of State for 

 Foreign Affairs in his place, while Mr. Gathorne 

 Hardy became Secretary of State for India, 

 and was succeeded in the War Office by Colo- 

 nel the Hon. F. A. Stanley, a brother of Earl 

 Derby. The message of the Queen calling out 

 the reserves was sustained in the House of 

 Lords, April 8th, after a short debate, in which 

 the Earl of Beaconsfield spoke for the Govern- 

 ment and the Duke of Argyll avowed the 

 belief that the country was being led to a con- 

 clusion that was concealed from Parliament. 

 In the House of Commons, Mr. Gladstone said 

 that no emergency had been shown which 

 would justify calling out the reserves. Sir 

 Wilfred Lawson moved an amendment to the 

 address contesting the necessity of calling out 

 the reserves. This was voted down, 319 to 

 64, after which the address to the Crown was 

 agreed to without a division. 



On the same day that the calling out- of the 

 reserves was announced, Lord Salisbury issued 

 the circular of the Government to the Powers 

 on the Eastern question and the attitude of 

 Russia in the pending negotiations. The circu- 

 lar recited so much of the history of the nego- 

 tiations concerning the Congress as appeared 

 to show that Russia had deliberately refused 

 to permit the consideration by the Congress of 

 some of the articles bearing directly on Euro- 

 pean treaties ; criticised the provisions of the 

 treaty of San Stefano respecting Bulgaria, as 

 creating a new and powerful state under Rus- 

 sian auspices: deprecated the weakening of 

 Turkey as the Power which must continue to 

 hold the key of the Black Sea Straits; en- 

 larged upon the dominance which Russia would 

 gain by the treaty in all the Black Sea region 

 and Armenia, and on its injurious effect upon 

 the English trans- Armenian trade; and pro- 

 tested forcibly against the reservations with 

 which Russia proposed to restrict the Congress 

 in considering the several articles of the treaty. 

 (See EASTERN QUESTION.) 



The Government in April ordered the re- 

 moval of a contingent of native Indian troops 

 to Malta. The fact was not known until Par- 

 liament had adjourned for the Easter recess, so 

 that it was not possible for the House to review 

 the action of the Government until it had be- 

 come substantially accomplished. The circum- 

 stance aroused much indignation. Questions 



