10 JANUARY 1880, Page 3

Mr. Chamberlain delivered a strong speech to his constituents at

Birmingham, on Thursday evening. He expressed his belief that the country had at last found out the foreign policy of the Government, and asked scornfully, "Where is the peace with honour," the "strong place of arms" in Cyprus, the "friendly and independent" Afghanistan? Who believed in a reformed Asia Minor, or the scientific frontier, or did not expect every month some new source of anxiety or new disaster Even now it was said that because the Russians were going

-to Merv, new sacrifices must be demanded from the English people. He held that both in Afghanistan and Zululand, we had entered into war on false pretexts, in -order to conceal a policy of aggression. The epitaph of this -Government would be,— Here lies a Tory Ministry,

Whose word no man relied on ; Who never said the thing they meant, And never did a wise one.

He was himself convinced that the country had returned to the mood of 1868, and that we should have a Liberal Government, supported by a Liberal majority.