The general speech dwelt with great force on the same
view which Mr. Forster has repeatedly expressed in Parliament, but he illustrated so happily the kind of happy-go-lucky expectations under which Lord Beaconsfield has engaged to reform the Turkish Empire in Asia, that we must quote the story. A certain Sultan, in the height of his caprice, told his Grand Vizier that he must make a certain ass speak, or else lose his head. The Grand Vizier, after consideration, promised to make the ass speak on that day year. His friends, astounded, asked him what he meant by such a promise. " Well," be said, " it is a year off, anyhow, and that gives me a year of life. In that time the Sultan may die, or I may die, or the ass may die." Now the Jingo spirit in this country is the Sultan ; Lord Beaconsfield is the Grand Vizier ; and the ass is the Turkish Empire. Lord Beaconsfield has promised to make the Turkish Empire whole within a given time,—rather longer than a year, by the way,— but before that time comes, either the Jingoes may disappear, or Lord Beaconsfield may resign, or the Turkish Empire may breathe its last. So the promise is not so reckless, after all.
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