Lord Cranborne, as the guest of the Sheffield Chamber of
Commerce, on Friday, the 30th ult., made some strange observations on the Venezuelan imbroglio. He is reported to have said that "it was not in order to assure the bondholders, but emphatically to protect our humble fellow-subjects, that we had engaged upon what was termed the Venezuelan mess. It was a mess. Warlike operations were always a mess
but we must not be afraid of that." Proceeding to discuss our co-operation with Germany, he said he was not at all astonished at the irritation provoked in view of the hostile feeling produced last year by "the words of certain irrespon- sible persons in Germany."—The inclusion of Count von Billow amongst "irresponsible persons" is really a master- stroke of humour.—But, continued Lord Cranborne, we should take care not to follow this bad example. After all, what was sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander, and he had been "a little shocked at the recklessness with which certain irre- sponsible persons in England had criticised the operations of Germany without knowing anything at all upon the subject. There was no German Alliance. Undoubtedly there were certain arrangements to govern our common action when we entered into this business, and we could not leave in the lurch those who took common action with us."
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