§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTsaid, he had intended to move, in accordance with his Notice—
That, in the opinion of this House, the conduct of Her Majesty's present Minister of Foreign Affairs has strained the relations of England with the French Republic, and has deprived this country of valuable Allies;but he did not propose to trouble the House on this occasion with any details on the subject. He considered that the words of his Motion had been justified by events. He wished, however, to place before the country that the Government had made one more conspicuous failure in the Conference, and that this failure was due to mistakes of their foreign policy. They had abandoned the alliance with Germany, and they had endeavoured to patch up with France an alliance which had proved a broken reed. The result of their failure in the Conference was that, while they had in no way conciliated France, they had sot against themselves the dominant influence of Europe—namely, the great German Confederation. With regard to South African matters, our Native Allies had been neglected and unprotected, while a valuable official had been recalled, apparently without any other reason than that he had resisted the attacks of the Boers. He trusted that during the Recess Her Majesty's Government would take some steps to avert the consequences of the errors they had committed, and that some protection which the Convention had failed to give would be afforded to our Native Allies in Zululand.
§ GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOURsaid, that he had intended to call attention to the interference of the Treasury with the printing of the Indian Accounts, and to the conduct of the Under Secretary of State for India in agreeing to withhold the regular and long-established set of Accounts which for nearly 100 years had been laid before Parliament. Owing, however, to the absence of the Under Secretary of State for India, he would postpone the matter till next Session.