The usual banquet was given at the Guildhall on Novem-
ber 9th, and Lord Salisbury made a speech principally about the position in Egypt, though he prefaced it by a eulogium of the warmest kind on the late Mr. W. H. Smith, to whom he attributed " undisputed and almost unparalleled influence among his colleagues, and in the Cabinet." He also declared that the Government had not altered its policy in Ireland, and was not disposed to believe that a separate Legislature there " would be distinguished by peace and order, by an abstinence from blackthorn, or by freedom from the curse of eccle- siastical domination." As regards Egypt, her Majesty's Government had found, not made, their position there. They had been asked by Europe to make sacrifices both of blood and treasure, in order to rescue the country from the evils which had overtaken her, and they had done so, and would not waste those sacrifices by retiring before their mission was accomplished. That mission was so to strengthen Egypt that she could resist external attack and put down internal disturbances, and it could be accomplished only by a foreign Power, which must be England. No paper guarantees were of any use against barbarians. He believed that even if a Gladstonian Government succeeded the present one—which ought to apologise for being so long in dying—the people of this country would compel it to adhere to the accepted policy the promises of the Opposition on this head being misunder- stood by the Continent, owing to its ignorance of "the play of our electioneering forces." The speech was followed by a sharp rise in Egyptian securities, and by a determination, it is said, in Paris to worry more than ever.
