We are happy to perceive, from a textual report of
Sir John Lubbock's speech at Maidstone, on Wednesday week, that that -very good, though rather hesitating Liberal, has ceased to be attracted by Lord Beaconsfield's Asiatic policy. He now acknowledges that the Berlin Treaty brought us neither peace nor honour, and though he will not condemn the Afghan war as unjust, he does condemn it as unwise and impolitic,—a distinct "reduction of the difficulties of Russia." He believed the country had more to fear from Lord Beaconsfield than from the Czar. The Tories had increased the expenditure of the country by 114,000,000 a year,—from £71,000,000 in 1873 to /85,000,000 in 1878,—and we had nothing to show for it. The Con- servatives despised economy, and Sir Michael Hicks Beach ;sneered at the "dry bones of political economy," but "the dry bones of political economy are the skeleton upon which is built up the wealth of nations." The Tories talked of a spirited foreign policy, but the spirit was a spirit of war and of intrigue, and he trusted the constituencies would yet insist on abstaining from aggression and injustice, and returning to a policy of peace. Sir John Lubbock might have added that Liberals, if they fight, wish to fight either for principles or for English interests, and not for the maintenance of a Mahommedan caste in power.
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