Mr. Goschen postponed till another occasion what he had to
say on the subject of reforms in our great Spending Departments, but he deprecated the shortsightedness of economists who, having decided that it was a national duty to achieve certain ends, then grudged the money necessary to secure those ends. If you pay for great guns, and then grudge the money for the shot and shell which alone could render these guns useful, you are not a true economist, but fall between two stools. When Englishmen complain of the weight of taxation required for the support of ,the Army and Navy, they should at least remember that they are free from that burden of popular conscription which presses so heavily on the resources of all Continental nations. Though Mr. Goschen wished England to be ready, England is labouring for peace band-in-hand with the German Chancellor, and the Government had never shown the inclination imputed to them to hazard war for the sake of a particular dynasty in Bulgaria, or a particular Prince. Frequent as are the changes of Government in this country, Mr. Goschen denied that the foreign policy of the country was thereby paralysed, for successive Governments fulfil each other's engagements even better than some of the Continental Governments which do not change fulfil their own. Lord Rosebery had faithfully carried out the policy of Lord Salisbury, and Lord Iddesleigh, again, had faithfully redeemed the pledges of Lord Rosebery. Mr. Goschen's whole speech was strong. It was a tonic administered to a shaken and vacillating public mind.
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