21 FEBRUARY 1880, Page 3

Lord Edmond Fitzmanrice, addressing his constituents at Caine on Wednesday,

made a speech in which he en- deavoured to steer half-way between the Tory sympathies of Mr. Cowen and the policy of Mr. Gladstone. He took credit to himself for supporting the Government in calling out -the Reserves, and he reproached Loll. Derby for approving of a policy which led to such preparations, and then shrinking from -thapreparations themselves. Nevertheless, he thonghtthe foreign policy of the Government "in many respects unfortunate." It 'had not recognised the plain fact that the Turkish Empire was moribund, and provided for the succession to it. He thought the great initial mistake was the rejection of the Berlin Memorandum, without providing any substitute for it; but he did not disapprove at all of the secret negotia- tions by which Russia and England arranged their dif- ferences before they came into the Berlin Congress. He

• did not say what he thought of the attempt to deceive the world as to the fact that these differences had been secretly arranged. In short, the speech was one of rather ostentatious -candour, steering so evenly between the foreign policy of the Government and the foreign policy of the Opposition, that Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice can hardly be claimed either by the one or 'by the other. He stands alone, proposing for England an Anstro-German alliance that would restrain Russia, and keep France from moving even if any opportunity for regaining her lost provinces should occur.