It was not of much use for Lord Stratheden on
Monday to "call attention" to the results of the Black Sea Confer.. ence. The dispute is old, the nation is indifferent, and the speaker had neither oratory nor weight. The Lords slipped away when he rose ; but Lord Granville made to the few who remained—just enough for a pleasant dinner party— a somewhat important speech. He said that amidst the multi- tude of negotiations and explanations rendered necessary by the Conference, he had not discovered any agreement between Ger- many and Russia, though Prince Bismarck may not have been disinclined to repay the Czar for his neutrality by removing an annoying restriction. He, however, cordially supported Great Britain in all the proceedings at the Conference, more particularly in the demand for the famous Protocol affirming that treaties ought to be kept, that famous demand, as Lord Salisbury said, that the " highwayman before he took a watch should repeat the Eighth Commandment." On the other hand, Lord Granville admitted that Austria, though anxious for peace, was willing to main- tain the Tripartite Treaty by force, and that the Sultan was ready to declare war if we would, though he was not willing to declare it alone.
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