Mr. Gladstone's criticism on the Guildhall speech is contained in
a short letter to the Bedford Liberal Association. He is puzzled, he says, in relation to the Afghanistan portion of the speech, to know why, if an invasion of India from the north- western side is impracticable, the frontier there should be described as unscientific, or how "any foe can so embarrass and disturb our dominion as to put us to great expense," " on a frontier which it is impossible for him to invade." lie also does not understand why we should be told about the anxiety of our Viceroys concerning a frontier which no one of them, up to, though not including, time present Viceroy, recommends us to alter. In relation to the Treaty of Berlin, Mr. Gladstone remarks on the silence of the Prime Minister concern- ing any advantages to the subject peoples expected to arise out of time provisions of that settlement, and says this silence is quite consistent with the Prime Minister's former language and con- duct. Further, he comments on the apparent inaction of the Government in relation to the Report of the Rhodope Commis- sion,—an inaction, by the way, which we may possibly ascribe, when we consider the counter-evidence set forth in another page, to a wavering confidence in the character of the evidence taken,— and he regrets the apparent indifference of the Government to a commercial distress which has been greatly intensified by its own reckless expenditure. As Mr. Gladstone points out, the only effective criticism on the Government will be the criticism of the polling-booths.
