Lord Salisbury attended a dinner given by the Associated Chambers
of Commerce on Wednesday, and made a speech in which he noticed the strong revival of national feeling. "There is a kind of sensation, a thrill, a longing for action, a desire for a definite aim to be stated, and a definite policy announced. Foreign countries have thought that a new spirit, one altogether strange, has come over the country." They have been accustomed to think of us for thirty years as a tame people, willing to submit to encroachment, but there is no more ludicrous interpretation of our modern policy. As a commercial people, we know what is worth struggling for and what is not, but we are still ready to strike hard and strong when the necessity is upon us. The pur- chase of the Suez Canal "was cordially accepted by the English people as a sample of the policy" of the present Ministry. The speech was most warmly received, and nearly expresses the present temper of the nation.
