Yesterday week Mr. Fawcett made an attempt to speak out
the plain truth on the subject of the negotiations, by moving a reso- lution, couched in language extracted from Lord Derby's and Lord Salisbury's own despatches, to the effect that Turkish promises without guarantees are useless, that the Powers have a right to demand adequate securities for better government in Turkey, and that the misrule will continue until such guarantees are obtained as were proposd at the Conference ; and he supported his resolu- tion in an effective and uncompromising speech, showing that several British Governments in succession had neglected their duty to the Christian subjects of Turkey, and that things were never worse than they are at the present moment in Bosnia and the Herze- govina. But Lord Hartington, while prepared to agree with Mr. Fawcett, held that in the middle of a pending negotiation the passing of such a resolution would be inopportune,—an opinion which Mr. Gladstone echoed, though speaking with great power and eloquence to the same effect as Mr. Fawcett. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was compelled to admit that he proposed to meet the speech made by Mr. Fawcett, as an indictment of the Government, with a direct negative, rather than the motion ; and eventually Mr. Fawcett, acting under the advice of his leaders, made an offer to withdraw his motion, which was refused. Ultimately several divisions were taken on the ad- journment of the debate and the adjournment of the House, and defeated by majorities ranging from 171 to 144, when the adjournment of the House was at length agreed to. Mr. Cobden used to say that he never could discover under what circumstances the House would approve of a Dissolution ; and in like manner, we may say that this year at least it seems impossible to discover under what circumstances the leaders of the Opposi- tion would regard a Parliamentary intervention in the boneless foreign policy of the Government, as " opportune." Surely if it be not opportune before the Government has gone wrong, it would be still less so after the Government has succeeded in doing just what Mr. Fawcett—using their own language—describes as utterly without meaning.
