New-York tribune., 1876-03-24
BRITISH TOPICS.
BLINpERs OF THE GOVERNMENT.
THE ADMINISTRATION LOSING us PoPULARrTY-THl

LONDON, March 9.-The Government have had
bad fortnight of tso bad that they may he said to
have lost pretty much all they gained by the Drill
llancy Of their first night A succession OF mishaps
and bunders have reduced them to very nearly the
position they occupied with the country during the
vacation, before they bought the Suez Canal shares
And so perverse is Fate that it is possible enough
that that purchase, which brought them credit
and fresh power at the time, may prove
their destruction. The reason is plain. When
the purchase was resolved on, courage was
in the ascendant. Now that some OF ITS
then unforeseen consequences and c0rollaIles De-
come apparent, courage has given way to caution.
Lord Derby's tmid coun.els control the CABINET.
Mr. Disrael weak in health Overburdened with
Parliamentary work. and careless about details, the
effects of which he undertakes, RENTS to the head OF
the Foreign Office the conduct of great transaction
on which the head of the Government and the head
of the Foreign Office were VIGOROUSLY at variance
when il was first entered upon. do not mean that
Lord Derby opposed the buying of the Suez shares,
but he belitlcd the act and frttered away the real
significance Of It, and cut from under the Govern
ment the only ground on which the act could be de-
Tended. And now that further decisions have to be
taken they are taken i'll accordance with LOrd
Derby's shopkeepng policy, and not in accordance
with the imperial purposes which Mr.. Dsraei wisely
profess,d in making the purchase The truth is That
NJ. dc Lcsseps, full of far words as he was al the
time looked on the acquisition of these shares by
England as a to his own control oi the canal
and 10 the supremacy OF French influence over the
canal and in Egypt generally, which he had always
striven to maintain. The French Government
took the same view. Ever since. NJ. de Lesseps
has been moving heaven and earth to regain the
position he had momentarly lost His Government
have backed him in every possible way. French
tinanciers have backed him. a campaign Of intrigue
has been gong on III Cairo and III Pdrls, steadily
directed against Mr. Cave, against English influence
generally against the acceptance by the hhedlVe ot
English offers, against Sir George Eliot against the
coming of Mr.. Rivers wilson and against know
not what else Ii NAV be all summed up IN one
word a campaign against England. Ii has had very
considerable success The kheiive is-well hc is an
Oriental and hard UP for money, and don't know
that much more need he said He is much less
grateful to England for helping him out of his last
difficulty than 10 whoever will help him out 0i the
next All this the English see, and MAX" little or no
effort to avert. They will not buy the founders
shares the kLedve wanted 10 sell them. They VIII
not nominate an English commissioner for the new
National Bank of Egypt. They will commit them
selves 10 nothing. They stand a. if frightened by
the thick coming sequcls 10 their first great aet ana
there is every probability that they vii let hall the
advantages of il slip out OF tier hanls. CONCEIVE
how differently Lord raluerston would have acted
had he once rsnounced his old prejudces against the
Canal and resolved to have hand in IT. lie never
would have let go the hold he had once gained. NJ
A.. Ic,,eps and the gang of stock j0bbing " hnan-
c.r, hose aid he ondsto accept might have
plotted and bullied and bribcd to their hearts con-
tent his grasp would have tghtened not loosened
Eut There Is no Palm.rston at the Foreign Oilicc;
there is only Blue Book.
This. however, is n peril less calamitous to the
60, .rnmcnt at the moment than Their domestic
mi-foriuncs. Tho number of people outside oi the
stock Exchange who take constant Interes III Egyp
tian matter, s not large. The number who take an
interest in the Barals bill Is very great After long
hesitation Nj Di,racli, against hs better Judgment
resolved that Mr. Osborne Morgans rcsoution must
Ia. heat.u for t, session. and beaten il accordingly
was but hy a majority cut down from 30 to 81, and
after a speech from Mr. Dsraeli himself, betraying
al the irrrsoution he ieltthe speech of a man who
did not know what Ia say. He knows that the con
ces,on involved in the bill i, one that has got to be
male Ills real opinion is that II had better have
been made this year. The longer 1t Is postponed the
greater are the demands. But the High Church
Tories have the advantage of knowing their own
minds thoroughly They are all for dying in the
IaSt ultcH TiIU'l lildH SNt way io'' ''' Wv
likely TO have their choice. The moderate men Of
the party are WIKI difficulty persuaded to do their
work. Here however, IA in the Slaye-Circular de-
hate discipline prevailed. But | am told that the
effort was almost, desperate; that hardly ever has
there been 40 strong whip; that the last man who
conld be got-for there Tories Who cannot be got
WAS brought up. On the other hand, the Liberals
were badly generated More than enough friends OF
fla, resolution than needed to carry 1T were ab-
sent and the feeling that this IA one OF those VIC
tories which cost more than defeat
Then there has been a bad blunder about publish
ING sir Daniel Lange's "private and confidential
letters to the Foreign Secretary. Sir Daniel Lange
has been the English Agent and practically English
Director of the Sncz Canal. The publishing of these
letters was followed by his immediate aId peremp-
tory dismissal Ii il felt that the Government ought
10 have prevented this. If it had shown since the
purchase any disposition To make ITS power as the
largest socLholdcr in the Canal felt. NJ. de Lesscps
would not have yentured on such an act. Every
body takes il as M aron to the Government. That,
however is not what has brought most disgrace on
them At frs, it was supposed these letters were in
cuded in the papers given to Parliament by an IN
adyer,cnce But to the astonishment of the House,
Mr. Disraei got up and said that was not ~. To
the repeated renonstrances and protests of Mr. Glad
stone and others he gave the same answer-that
although marked private and CONFIDENTIAL the let
ters were published in accordance with well-con-
sidercd rule of the Foreign Oiiice. Now tins Is
thing the English people will not stand There has
been but voice in the press and In Parliament.
Such violation of the usages OF private He, such
BETRAYAL of good faith cannot be tolerated. such
rule cannot stand. What has been done is un-En-
glish and ungentlemanly. and the excuses offered
for il are not listened to- Mr. Disraeli will hear OF
il as long az he lives, and it is amazing that man
lIa EI1t,iah well "a he docs slOuld