Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/64

 56] ENGLISH HISTOEY. [march

Camperdown, who requested some official information with reference to the disastrous expedition sent out under Major Macdonald. Ostensibly its object had been to come to terms with the hostile tribes lying inland from the Uganda frontier, and to define more clearly the frontiers of our own and the Italian sphere of influence. Lord Salisbury admitted that there had been rumours of certain dangers (arising from the action of French explorers) and these made the Government anxious to establish our military power at some station on the Upper Nile. Unfortunately the mutiny among the Soudanese troops brought that branch of the expedition to an untimely end. The suppression of the mutiny occupied several months, and so diminished the force under the command of Major Macdonald that it was not thought wise to prosecute the original intention of the expedition to its full extent. Another important point was associated with the name of Major Martyr. A considerable portion of Major Macdonald's troops, with others found in the Protectorate, made an expedition from the higher waters of the Nile down the river bank, and that expedition under Major Martyr had been, on the whole, successful. On his arrival at Bora it was found that the Dervishes, having heard that a British force was en route, had dispersed. Major Martyr pushed forward, and the last they heard of him was that he was at Bedden, where the sudd commenced. In conclusion, Lord Salisbury promised that as soon as Major Macdonald's report was received it should be presented to Parliament.

The Government was probably wise in postponing the second reading of the London Government Bill until a date (March 21) when, by the suggestion of shortened holidays, they might curtail useless discussion. Mr. Herbert Gladstone (Leeds. W.) was put forward by the Opposition to move an amendment which from its vagueness might hope to attract those who thought the Government's bill went too far and those who might think it did not go far enough. He thought that no bill would be satisfactory which, while disturbing the existing condition of affairs, failed to simplify or complete it; and, at the same time, he desired to pledge the Government to do nothing which might render the unity of London more difficult. It seemed, although it was not clearly stated, that Mr. Glad- stone's desire was to put aside without consideration all the special claims of the City of London, to increase indefinitely the powers of the London County Council, and at the same time to give greater powers to the new Municipal Councils. How these apparently contradictory objects were to be attained did not appear very plainly from Mr. Gladstone's speech. Mr. Asquith, who spoke on a later day (March 22), also made a brilliant speech, which conveyed the idea that his convictions on the subject were not very deeply rooted. He declared that a bill which did not deal with the prerogatives and powers of the City Corporation failed to grapple with a difficult problem,

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