Year: 1872

COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS.


,yRoa THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBuNRl


LONDON March l6.-Mr. Fish's answer was received
IN London on Thursday, March IA. and was IN LORD
Granville's possession on the same day. Ii met with
better attention than the American Case. Instead
~ benc suffered 10 lie about in the Foreign Once
Cor month or TO 90 astray in the post it seems TO
have been communicated to the Prime Minister with
rreat uronptness He had If by O'Clock the same
evening 1t was not even deemed necessary that IL
,hould he printed before other members Of the Cab
inet were allowed to see 1t. Mr. Gladstone assured
an anxious House last evening that
a.; .oIloaouea knew the contents Of
The dispatch before the adjournment on Thursday
Az there was but one copy, they must have been
.hIioinc enough to take turns, unless perchance
,hev Looked over each others shoulders. BY one OF
,hose accidents which seem to befal Mr.. Gladstone
more frequently than other men, the document
,ame into his hands within an hour ater ne had
been compelled to tell Mr.. Disraeh that he had no
official information on the subject. Al tne time IL
WAS made this denial was felt to be ratner stIong'
,os,nuch as the substance. if not the text, OF the
sispatch had been telegraphed by the Brltlsh MIN
lster nj Washington 70 the Foreign Ohce In
Iopdon and had been made known to at least one
newspaper on Friday last Probably Mr.. Gladstone
chose to consider nothing official but the dispatch
ifseh and for this he had TO wait longer than was
exnected. II came by slow Inman steamer, and
luck would have il that the day of itS ARRIVAL should
be the day of the Queens Leveo, which Cen
eobepek though it proper to attend 1t NAV be con-
iectured that this was the reason why Lord Gran
Vile did not hear the dispatch read till between five
and six in the afternoon. and why the curiosity of
Mr. Disraeh and the rest of the House, and OF the
public in general, was left another "a hours Oh the
stretch


Notwithstanding all that had previously been
stated about the dispatch, including the full sum-
mary of it given in THE TRIBUNE, and republished
here there and is very great anxiety TO see the
dispatch itself Mr.. Dsrae did not use too strong
word in Parliament last night, when he described 1t


as intense 1t is keener, possible than was the de
sire in 1870 to learn the purport of Prince GOrtscha
kof7s rejoinder to Lord Granville on the Black Sea
dispute although on that dispatch was supposed 10
hang the issue of peace and war. Having been told
yesterday that Mr. Disraeli would repeat his ques-
ton, | went down to the House. Though it
was full, there was no throng in the lob
bies and / suppose nobody believed that MIR.
Gladstone could he induced TO say anything OF much
importance We had to wait till debate on private
business and long string Of questions had been got
through. Mr.. Dsrael sat on the front opposition
bench in that sleeping statue-like way which Is
babitual with him. His complete impassiveness of
face is no slight advantage to who so often has
to endure personal attacks, and who Is watched
every moment for indications of the effect which
either they the general course of debate may
have on his determination. The reporters In the
gailery have a theory, am told, that while Mr.
Gladstones face readily shows signs of vexaton or
alarm Mr. Disraelis emotions betray themselves in
mis- feet which he has trick of placing and repac-
ing in different ways. For my part, have never
applied myself TO detect the varying meanings
of these manifestations, butt dare say, they
NAV be q profitable object of contemplation
70 anybody who particularly cares to know at par
ticular moment Mr.. Disrael's state of mind. They
might have been worth studying last night II MI
Disraei and not Mr.. Gladstone, had been In posses
sion of the dispatch But in fact all one could hope
20 learn anything about was the temper of the
House. There was general expectation that
question would be put, coupled with the knowledge
that the dispatch had actually been received but no
member whom talked with had an atom Of real
information beyond what had been in print. 1t Is
perhaps too early to ascertain precisely what recep
ton the answer has met with. Ministers are not apt
10 talk freely even among their own supporters on
subject which is to be discussed next day il Cab
met meeting.


To relieve the strain, we had slight touch of
comedy before the serious business, Mr.. Dsraeh and
Mr.. Gladstone rising at the same moment from op-
posite sides Of the table, and neither seeming in
elined to sit down. The Tory leader persisted how
ever, throwing in the remark that he was sorry TO
be inportunate "even to Minister and went on
10 say be thought it necessary press the inquiry
because three months out of the four allowed for
presenting the cOunter-cases had already elapsed.
And he varied his question by asking :" how the two
Houses Of Parliament may become aware Of the
nature Of the answer" Mr.. Gladstone retorted that
be his feet mention the arrival OF the dis
patch when his adversary rose but for all he told us
be might well have sat still. That he had the dis
patch Thursday about u thathis colleagues saw 1t the
same night that they were going TO talk it over In
Cabinet to-day, and that till then he could make no
further communication, was all the gratlheaton be
vouchsaled to the anxiety of the House.


! Some people think. nevertheless they already
know good deal about the dispatch. What is
known might be quite enough 10 go upon in ordi-
nary cases bat here good deal seems to turn upon
the precise phraseology of two sentences and
those, of course, are not generally known. II
should hazard guess it would be that the effect Of
the answer upon the minds of those who have read
Il Is good. The effect on persons whose information
generally early has certainly been good, for al
though the refusal 10 modify the American Case
may be positive the frendliness Of the tone of the
dispatch dispOses people still TO believe stoutly that
away out of the difficulty will be found. IL would
DC presumptuous to predict what sort of reply Is
hkely TO be made but there can be no harm In sur
nus that the Cabi1et still have great faith In the
healing virtues of time and that by way of answer
they may intimate that fuller explanation of the
views OF our Government would be desirable before
any further step is taken.


| sm sorry 10 have to add that what wrote
nve or elk weeks ago about the state of American