LORD CARNARVON'S RESIGNATION.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2858, 12 April 1878, Page 3

LORD CARNARVON'S RESIGNATION.

Lord Carnarvon has published in a pamphlet form the speech in which, on Jan. 25, be explained in the House of Lords the reasons that prompted his resignation of the seals of the Colonial Office. As a specimen of«siraple unaffected eloquence the speech is worthy of preservation ; as an illustration of unselfish, political honesty it is worthy of attentive study. The circumstances have so completely changed in the course of tbe last fortnight that there are no lessons of policy to be derived from Lord CarnarTon's impressive utterances, and their interest and importance arise from the fact that they area calm and dignified protest against tho statesmanship which is not regulated by principle, which has no clear and no definite views, but which shapes its course according to the shifting breezes of popular opinion, which takes -advantage of each whisper of popular iwarni to attempt to dazzle the world with -a sensational programme, and which, while ostensibly pursuing one end, has its eye steadily fixed on some other. At the lime Lord Carnarvon made his speech in Parliament the order for the recall of tbe English fleet from the danelles bad been issued. Therefore the specific ground on which ho difFored from the Prime Minister had disappeared. But Lord Carnarvon felt there could be no kind of security lest the difference should reappear the next day, and the pacific assurances of Lord Derby and Sir Stafford Northcote should be negatived by some martial declaration and innuendo of the Prime Minister. This has been the case throughout. The official speeches of the leading surbordinate members of the Cabinet have been consistent with a policy of strict neutrality. Whenever the chief of the Cabinet has spoken he has uttered words which seem to ring with the echo of battle. Ifc should be remembered in the address delivered by Lord Carnarvon to the South African deputation on Jan. 2, not a word was said by the then Secretary of State for the Colonies which was at. variance with tbe programme of the Government then before the country. Again, it is clear from the correspondence read by Lord Carnarvon in the course of his statement in the House of Lords on Jan. 25, that at the very time Parliament met, and the pacific and reassuring sentences in the Queen's Speech were read, the Prime Minister had "the idea that the despatch of the British Fleet to Constantinople might be necessary—a necessity which certainly carried with it tbe contingency of war. What may be Lord Carnarvon's view of the European situation at the present time we do not of course know ; but even supposing he believes war between Russia and England inevitable, it does not follow thai he should regret having separated himself from a Cabinet which, while proposing a policy of neutrality, was, as the official despatches published in the Blue Book show, ever ready to lake the opportunity of national panic to run the risk of war.