He did say, however, that he hoped "the great disgrace
of Southern Europe would be wiped out," and he took occasion to repudiate emphatically and with scorn the idea that England could conciliate the Continent by "splendid renunciations." The Continent would be guided by con- siderations of prudence and policy, not "by a beautiful and almost idyllic conception of international politics." He did not believe in that conception, and "at all events he might say that her Majesty's Government did not see in the present problems of the East any cause either for abandoning the policy which had hitherto been pur- sued, or for relinquishing a single acre of land that they at present occupied." Cyprus, therefore, is to be retained as well as Egypt. It is to be noted that Lord Salisbury repudiated the charge of selfishness made against the
Continent. He thought the rulers of States, as trustees, were bound to be selfish, and drew an eloquent contrast between the position of Great Britain, who, if war broke out, would staffer chiefly in her commerce, and that of nations who might find their most vital interests affected. Most of this passage, a very splendid one, was, we think, directed to the address of Austria.
