The debate in the Lords was tame. Lord Beaconsfield wished
to know what "active measures" the Government pro- posed to take in Turkey ; asked an explanation of the sending of an Extraordinary Ambassador; joked about the promise to create "institutions" in Afghanistan, asking if they would be 'County Boards or Parliaments ; and urged the deep responsi- bility accepted by her Majesty's advisers in not renewing the Irish Peace Preservation Act. He feared they would see a renewal of agrarian outrages. In conclusion, he thanked the Peers for having supported the late Government, and having acted as the guardians of the principle that "her power was the only sure basis of the prosperity of England." Lord Granville, in reply, asked why the Tories had not renewed the Peace Preser- vation .A.ct; observed that a settlement in Afghanistan could not be immediate, for we had 60,000 troops there, and "do not know how far the disintegration of the country decided on by the late Government has been carried ;" and described his own policy in Turkey, which is to carry out the Treaty of Berlin thoroughly, through a new concert of the European Powers, and to maintain the nominal supremacy of the Sultan, but to rescue his subjects from misgovernment.
