Sir William Harcourt made an amusing speech at Winchester on
Tuesday, in which he remarked on Sir Michael Hicks-Beach's promise of a great work of foreign and Colonial policy. What Sir Michael meant was, he said, clearly indicated by this ominous sentence:—" They must remember that sometimes that would entail cost, and sometimes it might entail war." Here, said Sir William Harcourt, is M. Jules Ferry's policy over again in an English dress. The new war-cry was not to be " Gunpowder and glory ! " but, on the contrary, " Gunpowder and trade! " It was the policy which had saddled France with the disastrous expeditions to Madagascar and Tonquin. That is certainly more or less true. The Tories are always reproaching the Liberals for every concession they have made in the interests of peace, on the double ground that it has humbled this country, and that it has frightened away trade from the English flag.
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