New-York tribune., 1905-02-15
NEUTRALITY MAINTAINED
Lord LansdOzone Discusses Wdr and
Other Foreign affairs.

London. Feb 1.-THE Prince and Princess of
wales werS present at the resumption of business
IN the House of Lords. Lord Chancellor Halsbury
read the Kings speech and the Marquis of Win
chester CONSERVATIVE moved the address in reply
to the Speech from the Throne
2aIi Spencer. the Liberal leader, referred to the
war IN the Far East. He said it was the most
earnest desire of the people of Great Britain to see
the end of the conflict and he trusted his ma1estys
government would not lose fair and proper oppor-
tunity TO bring the conflict TO a peaceful solution
Foreign Secretary Lansdowne expressed his sor-
TO" and concern at the continuance of the war in
the Far East, and added that should an opportunitv
LOT bringing 1t to close itself the govern
heht would avail itself thereof with alacrity but
an attempt at Intervention now would mean retard
ing the very object desired. Great Britain had en-
deavored, not unsuccessfuy to maintain the stric4
est neutrality.
In regard to the most difficult and embarrassing
question or contraband. the government Lord
Lansdowne continued, had upheld the wise and
time honored policy of securing the narrowest nos
sinle restrictions of the definition of contrahand
al uceS- Ii was satisfactory to have been able to
arrive at reasonable modus vivendi Since July
not single British had been interfered with
except where clearly a blockade runner
Referring to the North Sea incident Lord Tars
oo"he SAID mat once and only once were they near
peihs drawn into the vortex Of war He need hard
~ say that 1t arose in connection with the North
Sea incident, TO which he only referred because he
desired to acknowledge the kindly remarks of Fail
Spencer. who had congratulated the government
on its conduct Of the negotiations following the
Dogger Bank affair
Lord Lansdowne speaking on the subject of
Macedonia, said there a consensus of opinion
among the powers in favor of drastic reforms and
scheme would be proposed which he hoped would
meet with sympathetic criticism The troubles in
Macedonia were not merely a of Turkish mis-
management, which might be ended by a stroke of
the pen, but the conditions in Macedonia were not
equalled anywhere in the civilized world at this
moment Russia and Austria, upon whom the DOW
| ers conferred mandate to deal with the Mace
donian problem. have put forward new scheme of
reform, which was under discussion, but the For
eign Secretary was unable to present it IN detail
TO the House this evening. The British government
was satisfied that it marked considerable step
in advance
Lord Lansdowne also referred to the Anglo
French agreement He said it had been of no little
value in settling many difficulties.
In regard 10 South Africa, the Foreign Secretary
said that the government was prepared to give the
TransvaaI first and the other colonies later not
self-government but representative institutions
Touching upon the Tibet expedition, Lord Lans-
downe said that the attitude Of the government
toward Tibet had been absolutely consistent Colo
mel Younghusband (the British political agent, who
headed The piss0n m nad fd his instrc
main in the Chunnbi district for seventy-hve years
and this action had been repudiated by his ajes
In regard to alien immigration, the Secretary
said II clearly indicated by the sentiment Of
the country that the government must deal with
n Do eo but With no desire to eScude the e
mate competitions of foreign labor
In conclusion, Foreign Secretary Lansdowne re-
ferred to the Redistribution bill, which he said
could not be passed at the present session. He
twitted the Opposition on its haste to turn out the
government, and repudiated the idea of Earl Spen-
Ger that the government would be found occupying
the Opposition, benches next year
'I cannot help retorting,' said Lord Lansdowne
that, unless the noble earls trumpet sounds a
somewhat clearer note, the walls of Jericho may
stin stand a considerable time. and may not
only supervise the preliminary operations Of the
redistribution, but may perhaps. give effect to
them in another session of Parliament"
After few words from m Lord Gosehen Q!berap
adjourned at $50 p.