After Sir Stafford. Northcote's statement on Thursday, Mr. Edward Jenkins,
M.P. for Dundee, made a rather trenchant and injudicious speech against the Government for its insults to Russia, and for its " disingenuousness " in not telling the House, in rela- tion to the first orders sent to the Fleet, that the intention was to force, if necessary, the passage of the Dardanelles. Mr. Jenkins added a very just criticism on the tendencies of Austrian diplomacy, but his speech was of the kind which irritates oppon- ents much more than it encourages friends. Lord Robert Montagu luckily threw his weight in much the same fashion into the oppo- site scale, by calling the Czar a tyrant, and when called to order by the Speaker, offering to substitute " any synonymous term," and by declaring that there were in that House " hypocritical lovers of freedom," for which, when called to order, he apologised, by saying that he was thinking more of persons out of the House than in it, though he certainly spoke of persons in it. The dis- cussion was brought to an end by Mr. Forster, who remarked that the interests of peace would be best consulted by dropping the conversation. He did not think the Government should be credited with hurrying the country into war. He held that no justifica- tion for war had been made public, and that before bringing about such an incalculable calamity, the Government would tell the House their reasons for incurring so heavy a responsibility. Thereupon a flash of silence fell upon the House, and Mr. Jenkins withdrew his amendment.
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