A splendid audience of Princes, Princesses, Peers, Peeresses, and dignitaries
of all kinds, assembled in the House of Lords on Thurs- day to hear Lord Beaconsfield's statement. It was not one of his happiest efforts, being apologetic, full of details, and a little tame. We have described it sufficiently elsewhere, but may state here that the speaker defended the Treaty of Berlin on the lines of Lord Salisbury's despatch, and affirmed that he had re- established Turkey ; that he pointedly admitted the perpetuity of the cession of Bosnia ; that he quizzed the Greeks for asking too much, but advised them to" have patience ;" that he ridiculed the importance attached to Batoum, which he described as no bigger than Cowes, and incapable of improvement—yet he was a fortnight before full of fear lest it should be made a Sebastopol—that he believed there was room in Asia for Russia as well as England ; and tbat he eulogised the Anglo-Turkish Treaty, as securing to England that " room." He believed the Treaty would ensure tranquillity and order in Asiatic Turkey, but declined to describe his plans, as they had still to obtain the sanction of an independent Power, the Sultan. He was anxiously civil to France, in deference to whose susceptibilities he had declined Egypt, and said as little as possible about Cyprus.
