The Blackpool Herald. — 1876-02-25 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

THE GOVERNMENT AND THEIR SUEZ PURCHASE.  The Standard says :—"The transaction, it is admitted, was unprecedented; but so was the cause which gave it birth. There has been no attempt at any deception as to the nature of the influence we have acquired, which it was never pretended was in the direct proportion of the shares purchased. The influence it was our object to secure, and which we have seoured, is of a kind not to be reckoned in votes. The Khedive's embarrassments were a grave European difficulty, chiefly affecting England, because England had the largest interest in the passage through the Suez Canal being-kept free. In that fact lies the general answer to the string of questions which Lord Hartingthe offickl leader of the Opposition, declared had not been categorically answered. It was inevitable that in a matter of this kind the Government should not give categorical answers upon every point on which those who are devoid of the responsibilities even of Opposition are curious. The country must always tale some part of the policy of a Government upon trust. This does not, of course, debar the Opposition from requiring a full explanation of all the circumstances of every transaction in which the public hmour or the public interest has been engaged. What the country has a right to be impatient of his criticism of the kind which formed the staple of the Opposition speeches on Monday—criticism directed to technical points of procedure; commercial objections to a noncommercial policy; demands for information which cannot be given without endangering its success. Against this the beat answer is that with which Mr. Disraeli concluded the debate on Monday night, and with which apparently the leader of the Opposition conourred, for he confessed that 'there was a great deal to be said in favour of the measure from a political point of view.' But it is from the political point of view that the Government asks to be judged. It does not contend, as Mr. Disraeli said, that this is a good financial operation or a favourable commercial speculation, The Government, in buying shares in the Suez Canal, meditated neither a financial nor a commercial operation. What has been done is recommended to the country as a political measure— as something intended to strengthen the Eastern influence of Great Britain, to extend her power and to guard her possessions. That is a result which is, of course, extremely unpalatable to some of the Liberal leaders, for it is a reversal of their own policy. The country, however, which is led by a sure instinct in this matter, has for that reason applauded the more the Government measure—applauded it, perhaps, out of an extravagant estimate of its immediate results. As for the discussion of Monday, it proves not only that the Government is as strong in the opinion of the House of Commons as of the country, but also, as Ma Disraeli remarked, that if the member for Greenwich had been Minister the Suez Canal shares never would have been purchased."  Cardinal Ledochowski has been ordered to leays Lemberg, but he is unable on accotmt of ill health. At Stourport, on Monday, Thos. Jones, a hawker, waa remanded on a charge of murdering his wife, by throw. lug her down stairs. A telegram from Rome says that Ministers have given up the hope of bringing the commercial treaty with Austria before the Chamber this session.  At Liverpool, five men convicted of extensive thefts of watches at the Lime street Railway Station, have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment varying from six years to eight months.