Lord Derby, of course preferring the old Treaty negotiated by
himself with Mr. Reverdy Johnson and repudiated by the American Senate, yet took it upon himself to deprecate Lord Russell's ardour, and to rein in the fiery spirit of the aged Earl. Lord De Grey defended himself with some humour for not imme- diately quarrelling with Mr. Fish, as Lord Russell had seemed to think would have been appropriate ; and pointed out how foolish it would have been to insist on the restoration of the Reciprocity Treaty with Canada as one of the terms of the Treaty. Such a course, he said, would merely have discredited free trade in America, as "British free trade" forced upon the United States by diplomatic arts, and would have been very disadvantageous to the Free-trade movement there. Lord Carnarvon criticized the Treaty sharply from a Canadian point of view, but ended by urging the Canadians to accept it. Lord Cairns was as mild as a lamb, milder even than Lord Derby ; and even Lord Salisbury's final expressions of disgust that we had sacrificed our position as neutrals and increased (!) our dangers and liabilities when we are next involved in a contest, was equivalent to approbation, coming from that caustic mouth. Lord Russell's censure was negatived without a division.
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