The Attorney-General, speaking at Sandown on Thursday, pointed out the
danger that Governments, in their anxiety to get votes at the polling-booths, would forget that, after all, the preparation of attractive legislative changes is not the main function of Government, but that it is the main function of a Government to govern, and administer faithfully and well the various interests committed to it. He took credit for the present Government that it had really worked hard at this class of its duties, and that it had succeeded in greatly improving the influence of England abroad, in administering Egypt so well that it is now quite possible to abolish forced labour altogether, and to reduce the interest on the Egyptian Debt; and that the country trusted Lord Salisbury to manage the dispute with Portugal in a manner to secure our honour, and to obtain that for which we care most,—the true interest of the African natives on the East Coast. Sir Richard Webster believed also that the improvement in the state of Ireland was due to firm and faithful administration. He ridiculed the notion that it was due to the new affection for England inspired by Mr. Gladstone's policy, so long as the agitators in Ireland, sup- ported by more liberal-handed agitators in the United States, continue to use the language which they still use as to this country.
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