No Liberal Member took quite so strong a line as
this, and Mr. Bentinck, as usual, promptly condemned his own leader (Mr. Disraeli), condemned the Prime Minister, the principle of arbitra- tion, and everything else any way condemnable ; but the tone of the Commons was, on the whole, alarmed and irritable, while that of the Lords was thoroughly angry at the eight months' delay, and the anxious request for it. Lord Cairns, of course, doubted the legality of an adjournment not requested by both the parties jointly, and denied that it would be competent to us to " cancel" the ap- pointment of our Arbitrator, as Lord Granville in the annex to his purloined despatch had proposed ; the Lord Chancellor replying that if the Treaty continued to be interpreted in a sense in which we did not sign it, it would be quite competent to us to withdraw from it, and therefore to cancel the appointment of our Arbi- trator. The discussion, however, died away, their Lordships feeling it necessary to wait for documents.
