A banquet of the Middlesex Conservative Registration Associa- tion was
held at Willis's Rooms on Wednesday last, at which the Chancellor of the Exchequer made the speech of the evening. He had to reply to a very violent speech from Mr. Chaplin, M.P. for Mid-Lincolnshire, in which that great champion of Con- servatism first declared that as he could never assail a foe in his absence, so he could not assail Russia in the absence of any one to represent Russia, and then proceeded to declare that the guilt of war would rest on "the deliberate, the determined, the settled policy of Russia, and on the criminal recklessness of those who during the past autumn so deluded and utterly misled Russia as to the true feelings and convictions of the people of this country." To this silly and very wild inflammatory appeal, the reply of the Minister was very reticent. Sir Stafford Northcote of course chaffed the Opposition for its very " uncooperative " tactics, and rallied them on the result of that meeting of Parliament for the accleration of which in the autumn they were so eager. As to foreign policy, he said, "I will not pretend to a success which we have not achieved. We have failed, and for that failure we feel the deepest regret. We cannot regard the present state of affairs without feelings of deep uneasiness ; but it is an uneasi- ness which is tempered with the conviction that we have done our duty, and that we mean to do our duty by our country." "It was stated some time ago that a Minister in another country regarded the prospect of war with a light heart. Well, gentle- men, we hope that war is still far from our own door ; but cer- tainly, whatever may be the prospects of war, we do not regard them with light hearts." That is all very wise and prudent, — though Mr. Chaplin must have been disappointed by so reticent a reply to his very provocative remarks.
