Mr. Gladstone did not attend the Lord Mayor's banquet at
the Guildhall on Monday, having to pilot the Franchise Bill through Committee ; but most of the remaining Cabinet Ministers were present, and three made interesting speeches. Lord North- brook, for example, stated that he found a general consensus of opinion as to three points connected with the Navy, namely, that we should steadily increase the number of ironclads, that we should build more swift cruisers for the protection of com- merce, and that we should attend more to the speed of the smaller Queen's ships. The Admiralty were attending to those points, and were determined to maintain "the supremacy" of her Majesty's Navy. Lord Selborne recorded his strong opinion in favour of a Second Chamber of some kind ; and Lord Gran- ville, while saying ditto on that point, took the opportunity to assure France of his entire friendliness and willingness to mediate with China upon " well-defined conditions ;" to assure Germany that this country, possessing the cream of the world ready for colonisation, had no jealousy of her projects; and to assure Great Britain that Lord Northbrook had brought back much information from Egypt, though he could not fore- shadow his report. He denied also that the Foreign Office had failed in making Commercial Treaties, as we were now dealing with France under "the most-favoured-nation clause," and had arranged a modus viveadi with Spain, pending a new Treaty. In regard to the Nile Expedition, all Ministers, including Lord Hartington, admitted a certain anxiety, but hoped for success, and this without further hostilities with Arabs, "with whom we have no quarrel."
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