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298 == FOREIGN AND COLONIAL FAILURES. ==

may be thought of the manner in which Mr Gladstone's Cabinet have dealt with the British Constitution at home, it will hardly be disputed that their conduct of our foreign and colonial policy has awakened a feeling of profound distrust throughout the country. The fervid eloquence of Mr Gladstone in 1879-80 convinced the public mind that the policy of Lord Beaconsfield had been one of annexation, of aggression, and generally of a warlike tendency, and largely influenced the votes of those upon whom the results of such a policy were alleged to have fallen in the shape of increased taxation. But the electors who, actuated by feelings of this description, assisted to turn out the Conservative administration, forgot or were unaware of the fact that results of the same kind, and even of a graver character, will almost inevitably follow a policy of vacillation and uncertainty. When the history of our times comes to be written by an impartial hand, nothing will be more striking than the contrast between the professions and the actions of the Governments over which Mr Gladstone has presided. Abhorring war, they have been continually engaged in warfare; detesting annexation, they have annexed more territory than any previous British Government; straining every nerve to escape from responsibility, they have incurred far heavier responsibilities than those from which they shrank. It is as if some malignant fate had pursued them from the very first, turned their counsel into folly, and forced them forward upon the very paths which they had resolved to avoid. True, they have consistently and perseveringly asserted that all their misfortunes have arisen from the faults and follies of their predecessors; but the credulity even of those most willing to be deceived has its limits, and for some time past reasonable men have seen that this excuse, feeble and flimsy at first, can no longer be advanced with common decency.

The impartial portion of the press – notably two journals, the 'Times' and 'Pall Mall Gazette,' which have constantly supported Mr Gladstone's Government – have condemned portions of its foreign and colonial policy with a severity as great as could have been expected from political opponents; and from one end of Great Britain to the other, a feeling is prevalent that British interests are unsafe in the hands to which they are at present intrusted. If this feeling were in any respect opposed to the facts of the case, we should be bound, as patriots, to expose its fallacy, and, even at the expense of party feeling, to uphold the Government. Unhappily, no such course is possible under existing circumstances; and the more we look into the matter, the more surely shall we find that the hesitating, weak, and uncertain action of our Foreign and Colonial Offices have brought Great Britain into a state of humiliation unprecedented in the annals of her history.

Nor is this unfortunate state of affairs confined to one part of the world, in which case one might hope to have success on one side to set off against failure on an-