Lord Carnarvon, criticising the clumsiness of the diplomacy of Russia,
still insisted that there was no pretence for war, and that if we went to war,—which he never desired to prevent merely by weakening English resources, — we should not really know what to aim at. If we gained Constanti- nople, we could not keep it for ourselves, without creating a machinery for the purpose, and undergoing sacrifices greater than any the country had ever dreamt of. And for a country divided against itself, as ours is, to enter on such a policy would be disastrous in the extreme. The Duke of Argyll made a less impressive speech than usual. Lord Salisbury was bitter, but ineffective ; and Lord Kimberley closed the debate in a speech of very considerable force, which drew blood when he criticised the false pretence of unanimity which Lord Beaconsfield's speeches at the commencement of the Session had assumed, and pressed home the alarming inferences justified by Lord Derby's speech. That speech of Lord Derby's should indeed be circulated by hundreds of thousands in this country, if the friends of peace are up to their work.
