tended to invest the Indian empire its intrinsic value. Like water, with unusual interest in the public a precious metal must find its . eye. Lord Carnarvon's administra- vent, and will flow till it attains a tion of our Colonial empire has general level. That level cannot been generally approved; and, by a be greatly altered unless the productacit understanding, neither foreign tion in America confounds by its nor colonial policy attracts as a rule extent all rational calculation. Upthe conflicts of party. The pro- on the other question of the relation posed cession of Gambia, the ques- of the Viceroy to the Secretary, tion of confederation in South Africa, which was debated both before and of the maritime rights of Canada, after Lord Northbrook returned, the conduct of Mr Pope Hennessy, in agreement as to the general charits general features so eminently befit- acter of those relations will not ting an English governor, with respect prevent occasional disputes. Harto the insurrection in the Barbadoes, monious co-operation between the the project of annexation in the two Governments is the only guaranMalay peninsula,-give a specimen tee for the due adjustment of the of the numerous and diverse ques- rival local and imperial interests. It tions which arise in all parts of the will not be secured by abdicating world for the consideration and de- either the power of the home cision of the ruler of Great Britain's Government or the independence or colonies. Of them all, the most in- dignity of the Viceroy. To mainteresting in the immediate future tain his place with efficiency in this are the two which relate to Lord system of dual government, each Salisbury's department. The de- authority is bound by the exigenpreciation of silver, except in the cies of its position to arm itself improbable event of the field of the with public support; if a Secretary Nevada mines utterly displacing its of State is found to lose authority position as a precious metal, will by yielding to party influences at probably in the end benefit India home, and a Viceroy by setting by drawing attention to the enor- Indian opinion at defiance, and isomous waste in its public works de- lating himself in the Himalayas, partment, and enforcing, through the the complex machinery of Indian pecuniary anxieties of the Govern- government may in the end prove ment, those legitimate claims of to be self-regulating. There is but economy which, since the destruc- little control or supervision exercised tion of the old Board of Directors, in these matters by Parliament; have never been sufficiently vindi- the Indian Council is a secret and cated. We cannot believe that the official body; the old East India enormous fall which we have re- Directors have found no successors: cently witnessed in silver is due and if the rival pretensions of the to any other cause than panic; for, two governments afford any guaranas soon as the flow of the metal has tee for sound administration, India, had time to obey the influence of its at all events, will be a considerable local and temporary depreciation, gainer. and redress its temporary derangement, it will be found that the supplies from Germany and even those from the Nevada mines, if limited to any reasonable extent, bear no appreciable proportion to the quantity of silver which civilised countries absorb, and cannot greatly affect This wide range of subjects is appropriately closed by an extradition difficulty with America, and by the question of our Eastern policy in reference to the affairs of Turkey, involving our relations to all the powers of Europe, our treaty and other obligations, in consequence of aunt. Yet they are the great slumbrous flowers of that garden where memory loves to wander in idle hours, as the laden bee goes back, and cannot have enough of sweetness. This long day was scarcely old when Mr Dorian came home. He found his family drinking tea in the veranda; and Miss Jeanie, who had run to meet him like a child, came leading him by the hand towards the young men. This father was evidently the kindest of men, for Letty proudly claimed his other hand, Zoe flung herself upon him, and Miss Tubb expanded in his presence. He had been all his life in business, and had made constant efforts to believe in the wickedness of the world, but to no purpose. There were tears in his eyes as he held out his hand to Orlando, and said, "I must thank you again for what you did yesterday. I don't know how to say-I don't know how to think of what might have been," and he put his arm round his eldest child as he spoke. "Please don't speak of it," cried Orlando in a great hurry, "it was nothing: I could not have done less for a cat." Hereupon Miss Dorian burst out laughing, and caught Thomas's eye and stopped. She introduced him to her father, and looked at him curiously. She was puzzled and almost troubled by him, wondering what he thought about so much. "A splendid place!" said Orlando that evening, as he breathed the night air in his friend's room. "I never believed in maiden simplicity before," murmured Thomas, whose old enthusiasm for romance seemed rather stale to him. "She is like an awfully nice honest sort of boy," said Orlando, with the air of one inspired. Thomas shuddered. There seemed to him a certain profanity in the remark. CHAPTER III. "Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep." energy, to lead his family to distant spots, and to wonder in the solitude of his own room why exercise made him stouter. In the schoolroom lessons were forgotten. Jo added a The days went slowly by, and the two friends did not leave the farm by the river. They had not refused to send for their luggage, and, after all, the place was a good central point for lovers of the stupendous chapter, in which was Thames. Thus it happened that a related the tragic story of Miss great change came over the family, Tubb's attachment to a bargeman, who were converted with wonder- by whose side the Farnese Hercules ful ease to Orlando's theory of life. was a puny whipster; and Miss Mr Dorian took a holiday. He Tubb herself, after many fears of poshad read 'Wilhelm Meister' when sible improprieties, invested secreta boy, and there was a half-choked ly in a little manual of training. spring of romance beneath his ample The headlong zeal and superb exwaistcoat. He was now suddenly ample of Orlando inspired the compossessed by a conviction that wis- munity. Early rising, though cynidom was to be imbibed with air, cally regarded by the servants, and that health and happiness were became a custom; and to greet the incompatible with a shirt - collar. rising sun with a shout, assumed He began to row with tremendous the character of a religious observ ance. To ride, to shoot, and to speak the truth, seemed once more the whole duty of man, and the hardy Norseman found a home upon the gentlest of rivers. The courage of the men was matched by the endurance of the women, who made an exercise of hair-brushing, and scorned to shriek at the split point of a hair-pin. Simplicity was the fashion, and practical Letty manipulated her bed with so much dexterity, that she could almost lie in it as she had made it. All things began to be viewed with the eye of the athlete. It was observed for the first time that the butler was beginning to stoop, and it was suggested that he should for the future carry the tray of coffee-cups on his head. Miss Tubb fell into feeble ecstasies over the wing-muscles of the birds, whom she had previously regarded with merely sentimental interest as feathered songsters of the grove; and the very sunlight, which had been little more than a caress, gained new interest as a tremendous species of force. Thomas alone was cold. He congratulated his friend somewhat dismally on his successful preaching of the brutal life. "Brutal life!" cried Orlando; "I wonder that you can use such coarse expressions." "Why, it was your own word," said the other staring. 66 ing much, half actor, half spectator, as comfortable as a hypochondriac jammed in a draughty doorway. One eye observes the sweet, treacherous moonlight without, the other a warm, wide sofa within, but the draught on the neck is undeniable. So was Thomas dissatisfied with the world and with himself, as he interpreted the words and actions around him according to his theory of the situation, his tale of the hero who saved the lovely woman from the water. So, too, it happened that when Miss Dorian, who preserved a becoming moderation even in this new life, came, as she often did, to ask his advice about some book or some subject for the pencil, he was infinitely touched by so much thoughtfulness and courtesy, and made great efforts not to damp her joy. At her request he read to her in his most dulcet tones, but stopped at the bottom of every page to make sure that she was not bored. He received her kindness with diffidence, and perplexed her by smiles which were at once pathetic and intelligent. "I can't understand your friend," Miss Jeanie said one day to Orlando, who had been telling her anecdotes about him. "He seems to be always thanking me and forgiving me at the same time, and both for nothing." Orlando laughed, and declared Thomas to be a preposterous but delightful person, deeply tainted by medievalism and incapable of classical simplicity; and so, shouting a sonorous line of Homer, he betook himself to his hollow boat. Say simple life, or Greek, Homeric, heroic," said the prophet, whose voice grew louder with each epithet. Thomas smiled as he recognised the refining influence of the despised sex. He was acquiring the habit of smiling sadly. He took part in the common occupations, but often moved away into solitude. Sometimes he was discontented among the eager crowd, and having left them, was more discon- "No, indeed I don't," he antented still. He hovered on the swered, eagerly. "I envy you, and borders, hearing a little and imagin--and I think you wonderful. You "You think us very foolish," said Miss Jeanie to Mr Thomas, with a little nod of decision, as he drew near with a book under his arm. The de "When we are told," said the had "no right to take the initiative nets or revolutionary committees. out of the joint hands of the Powers of Europe." It is precisely because the Ministry have wrested that initiative from them and annexed it themselves vindicated, in fact, the public law of Europe, that they have been on all sides emphatically applauded. The rejection of the Berlin Memorandum vindicated the rights of the collective authority of Europe against the Triple Alliance; but Mr Gladstone denounced that as an error, and declared that it led immediately to the Servian War. Mr Gladstone would have made it the basis of communication with the Powers, for what purpose, or with what object he did not state. Mr Disraeli, however, showed that, having regard to the origin and solemn guarantee of the status quo in Turkey, it was a perilous undertaking to allow or counsel an interference of so threatening a character. If the Andrassy Note was an interference, it was sanctioned by us at the request of the Sultan, in order to preserve the concert and united action of the Powers. The collective duty of Europe is noninterference: England has insisted upon the collective observance of treaties: Turkey and its subjects must in course of time find out for themselves that condition of things which suited both of them best. The adoption of the Berlin Memorandum would have led to our armed occupation or war, which it in terms contemplated, while the action of Servia was in no degree dependant upon its rejection, Servia having nothing whatever to do with its provisions. The provinces of Turkey are now the subject of a scramble by the races which inhabit them; the presence of the British Fleet means that there will be no great change in the distribution of territories without the consent of England, whether that change is sought by powerful cabi "The time may come," he added, "when the Government, in concert with other Powers, may usefully interpose with its advice." And later on he remarked: "I think that in the main the policy which they have adopted is right, although I may have had objections to the measures they have adopted to enforce their views." So long as the foreign policy of the Government is absolutely unchallenged in Parliament, and approved by the responsible leaders of Opposition, it may be said to represent the unanimous wish of the nation. Those who in the enthusiasm of a benevolent sentiment would commit this country to a disastrous policy, may find an excellent exponent of their views in Sir W. Harcourt and some philanthropic journalists. We may all of us indulge a wish that Europe may be quit of the Turks, and its southeastern provinces inhabited by peaceful and prosperous tribes. But it is quite another thing to declare it to be the duty of England, in combination with Russia, to expel the whole Turkish nation from Eastern Europe. Our relations and our duties to Turkey were described by the Prime Minister in the speech with which he closed his brilliant House of Commons career. "We are the allies of the Sultan; so is Russia, so is Austria, so is France, and so are others. We are also partners in a tripartite treaty in which we not only generally but singly guarantee, with France and Austria, the territorial integrity of Turkey." These engagements were renovated and repeated only four years ago; and wilfully to depart from them, or even to modify them without the collective sanction of Europe, would be a high-handed, arbitrary, and revolutionary proceeding, which we should not permit on the part of any other Power, and which we cannot undertake by ourselves. "If it happen," said Mr Disraeli, "that the influences which control the greater portion of these fair lands are found to be incompetent for their purpose, neither England nor any of the great Powers will shrink from fulfilling the high political and moral duty which will then devolve upon them." The Government is meeting the unparalleled difficulties of the situation with patience and steadiness of purpose; and a review of the whole Session shows that Parliament unanimously supports them. Turkey must be allowed to work out its own destiny and the ultimate condition of things by itself. If the opportunity offers, Great Britain will help to secure to it the advantages of mediation, and to give effect to considerations of humanity and policy. Meanwhile we cannot, alone or in concert with Europe, strongly as we may sympathise with the oppressed, deeply as we may deplore the outrages which are committed, undertake the duties of administering whole provinces, or of regulating civil war. Precipitate interference might aggravate the mischief, without opening the way to any remedy. If, as we hope and believe, the Mohammedans are a dwindling race, the Government of Turkey powerless to administer affairs so difficult and complicated, the Christians growing in numbers, national sentiment, and vigour, the ultimate condition of things may be more satisfactory than the past, and the peace of Europe more lasting and secure. Printed by William Blackwood & Sons. |