The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-08-06 00:00:00

NUL GLADSTONE ON THE MNUL

Mr. Gladstone's speech at the Mansion-House
banquet, in I mndon, on Satur lay night, was devoted
chiefly to allii-ione to the War on the Continent.
Referring to its origin, the Premier said :

noir dtoo
annottiopirpoontoouitolcteb,
onotlrigsheteeksttodporgoron
ut
the ev'e ar
iy jc
to" s teonrt;
great
iof posterity upon the rights and open the wrongs of the
at
quarrel which we now see coming to an issue; but in
the name of wounded humanity, in the name of grieving
civilisation, in the name of our religion, afflicted with what it
witnesses, I do record that nothing more oeffloratile, nothing
more dismal, has marked, perhaps, the history of nnnkinil,
and certainly the history of modl:id in our time, than this,
splendid indeed it may be, but awful spectacle hi which nations
ci! the highest civilisation, with institutions the most perfectly
developed, with celebrity eiVablielied in every department of
history, with the first positions in the civilised world to which
It is possible for any nation to attain, are pushing on their
troops by hundreds of thousands, and almost by milli ns, for
deadly conflict for causes which it is diffi alt to appreciate
(cheers). It Is Impossible, my Lord Mayor, to resist the im-
pulse which drives to the expression of the sentiments of grief
and regret the nilnd and heart of every intelligent man when
lie beholds each a spectacle as this, but we must also recollect
that our interest in not alone that of spectator.. Our business,
our first I,Uiillree, in relation to this contest is not that of
those who either take or intend to take a share in the san-
guinary strife. The ideas that necessarily occur to the mind
of an English Minister when unhappily he arrives at one of
these dreadful crises of European affairs are these—seem
j rity and neutrality. It is his business, it is the hininesi of a
British Ministry, whatever be its political colour, at all
times, hut especially at such times on these, to inspect its
, establishments as they are, and it anything be wanting, then
I by judicious measuret to propose and to provide that this
country shall, humanly speaking, be made secure from cull-
tingeucie a which may arise. And I think there never was a
period at which. whether we look at the condition of
, those great establishments of the army and navy of
the country, with the auxiliary forces, or whether we
look at the united temper ami fouling of the coun-
try, there never was a period at which a discussion
of this kind, painful as in some respe ts it mint inc
on account of the circumstances out of which It has arisen,
could yet he met by a flovernment with a greater security or
with a greater conviction that whatever might arise, this
great station wonld be found equal to its duties. But. my Lord
Mayor, what are those duties? Those duties, setting aside
anticipations of events that have not arisen, and that I trust
and believe will not arise, are to maintain a just, absolute,
Impartial, and dignified neutrality. And why is it that we
are to maintain that neutrality 1 It is not on account of
want of sympathy with our fellow-creatures who are suffer-
ing in tads awful struggle it is not on account of any
principle of selfith isolation ; it is not because we think it pos-
sible for the ['lilted Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to
isolate itself and to sever itself I Poo the concerns arid in-
terests of civilised Europe. It is no other grounds ;it is
because the very first duty that commends itself to the minds
of rational and prudent men is that the evils and mischiefs
and miseries that belong to this war should he circumscribed
within the narrowest circle; it is because the evidence and
expression of partial judgments leaning to the one side or
the other is the best method for other nations not engaged
to adopt to prevent the extension of the circle of these
miseries and afflictions ; and it is became we hope
that epportunities will arise amidst the vicissitudes of
conflict at which the friendly voices of those who have
done nothing to forfeit the confidence of either side
may be heard for the purpt se et being ministers of good,
and may do something in favour of suffering mankind.
Andy et, any Lord Mayor, let it not he supposed that the
maintenance of neutrality is for this country at least an easy
duty (cheers). On the contrary, it in anxious and it is
arduous to a degree t erhaps only second to the cowl riming
,of war itself. Were we a people dependent only upon our-
scions, and a peopie having none dependentupon us—were we
• people whose territories Were BUrronuded with a wall of
brass, all of whose wants and all of whom desires were
satisfied from within the circuit of our own dominions,
the came would he diff.,rent ; hut, on the contrary,
there is scarcely a equate yard of the surface of Europa
with which England has not relations, relations of com-
merce and of interests, involving us at every point
isn transaotions that in the interests of both these Powers
place us in contact with them under circumstances the most
trying to patience and to goodwill, both on the one side anti on
the other. If, for example, we look to the administration of
the laws which belong to neutrality, connected with the ex-
port of goods, and connected with the export of commodities,
which may or may not lie turned to the purposes of war,
how obvious ills that even the most impartial administration
of those laws may fun its bearing operate differently on the two
parties engaged in such a contest, so that we Can hardly hope,
my
il Loberdoiloidayboor,thnot to
rorthweitonaeosseoococeaositonosoetniotwolta ttzpeusrt
that in the Ministry of this country there will be no thought
ept that of acting d si
according to absolute ant
exc le
pistice and doles nothilig to forfeit the fn lendshio which
we are, entitled to claim from troth belligerents, and which
thromth a long course of years I will venture to say we have
faithfully and hotionrahly maintained But do not
10 us be surprised, and do not let its he discouraged or dis-
appointed, if in this ca=e or in that it should happen to one
or both that we are led the other way. If the tones of
nctoutinatrty ohas ncebeern
elude orshtohualtd
trheeacthi
iyotilry eoarsf thls
wrong, Lind bee given cause lor complaint, or that those