Mr. Gladstone left Dalmeny Park on the morning of Monday, December 1st, and, crossing the Forth at Queensferry, proceeded by special train to Inverkeithing. There an address was presented to him by the Magistrates and Town Council of the burgh. On arriving at Dunfermline, the next stoppage, a large crowd, numbering about 9000 persons, was found awaiting the train at the railway station. Provost Walls, in the name of the Corporation, presented an address.

Speech at Railway Station, Dunfermline.

Mr. Gladstone, who, on accepting the address, was enthusiastically cheered, said:—

Mr. Provost and Members of the Town Council, and Ladies and Gentlemen,—

I have to thank you very heartily for the address that has been placed in my hands, and I feel that even that address affords not so striking a testimony of your feelings as the numbers in which you have gathered together before me. Believe me, that though I am grieved to pass by this historic spot with such rapidity, yet I shall carry away with me a long and lively recollection of the remarkable demonstration you have been pleased to give me of your sympathy and kindness. I do not receive it, ladies and gentlemen, as a personal matter. I receive it as a tribute to a common cause, in which we are all alike engaged. The Provost has well said that we are endeavouring to strike a blow on behalf of Liberalism in the stronghold of Toryism. I trust that blow will be effective. At any rate the delivery of it will be as earnest, as steady, and as strong as I, for one, can help to make it. For you, the men of Fife, I have only to say that you may be satisfied with the position, the happy position, in which you have hitherto been, of returning to Parliament a member acting in conformity with your views, and promoting the progress of sound Liberal opinions. For, ladies and gentlemen, if all had done as Fife has done, if England and Ireland had done as Scotland has clone, even the Scotland of 1874, which I trust will be greatly improved upon by the Scotland of 1879 and 1880, if they had done even as the Scotland of 1874 did, we should not now have had to face a deficiency of six millions in England, confusion of finance in India, war in South Africa, war in Afghanistan, and in Europe a state of turbulent expectation, which, if it do not bear the name of war yet, unfortunately, too much resembles it in effect and substance.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bid you farewell, cordially hoping that your industries may continue to flourish, and that, under the shade of that ancient church whose melodious bells we now hear in the distance, you may prosecute those industries with satisfaction and with advantage; further, that you may prosecute another industry which at this moment I do not undervalue—the industry of maintaining those sound political principles which, depend upon it, lie at the root of our national greatness and our national prosperity.

Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, M.P., then presented sets of damask table linen, in the name of the manufactories of the town, to Mrs. Gladstone, the gifts being acknowledged by Mr. Gladstone, amid continuous cheering, which lasted until the train left the platform. Crowds had assembled at various wayside stations, but only at Cowdenbeath was a stoppage made to take up the Right Hon. W. P. Adam, M.P.

Speech at the Railway Station, Perth.

When the special train reached Perth the station was found to be crowded, and Mr. Gladstone was received with the most vehement expressions of joy. Accompanied by the Lord Provost and Magistrates, the right honourable gentleman and his friends proceeded to the City Hall, and there received the freedom of the Fair City. Mr. Gladstone, in returning thanks, made a graceful allusion to the death of Mr. Roebuck, M.P. After the ceremony a start was made for the railway station, around which by this time an enormous crowd from the city and the surrounding districts had assembled. Immediately adjoining the station a small platform had been erected, and cheer followed cheer when, after receiving addresses from the City and County Liberal Associations, Mr. Gladstone, introduced by Mr. Parker, M.P., began to reply as follows:—

My Lord Provost, Sir James Ramsay, Ladies and Gentlemen,—Sir James Ramsay has not read, has not caused to be read, the county address out of consideration for the limited time which is at our disposal. That was most considerate on his part, and I think that we do not lose hereby all that might be supposed on this account, that we can form some idea of what is in it. Let me say, ladies and gentlemen, I have had a varied experience during my short stay in Perth. In the City Hall just now I fell in with a Lord Provost Richardson, who in that City Hall was no politician. Neither was I. But I come here, and here I find a Lord Provost Richardson, who is perfectly intelligible in his statements of political opinion, and I really believe he is the same man. My friend Mr. Parker spoke of the influence that this visit might have on the city and county elections. But, gentlemen, I am not here to interfere in your elections. You do not want any advice from me. Your city is a virgin city. It has never been stormed by the adversary, and I believe it never will be. And as to the county, no doubt I am a spectator, a spectator only, but I am much mistaken if it does not, on the earliest occasion, follow the example of the city. I was very glad to hear the address of the city Liberals read, but the address of the city Liberals said that while it was pleasant to welcome me their pleasure would be still greater if Scotland should make me one of her representatives. Now, gentlemen, I want to get rid of that "if." You may depend upon it, except for the uncertainty of my life, or of human life, there is no "if" at all in the matter. The county of Midlothian, if it had not spoken sufficiently already, has spoken in this last week in a manner perfectly intelligible to us, and, depend upon it, perfectly well understood by those who are to oppose us.

Gentlemen, I came down here upon a very grave errand, and upon that errand I will say a few words, because the business is a common business

The serious Indictment against the Government.

—for us, for the men of Midlothian, and for you all. I came to advance a most serious indictment. The declarations that I have made have covered a very wide field; they have exposed a large open front. I have not been able, I admit, to read with perfect care all that has been written in the newspaper press of the country upon this interesting occasion. But so far as I have read, or so far as friends have informed me, there is only one statement of fact—and I have made a great many—there is only one which has been seriously challenged. I stated, gentlemen,

The normal duration of Parliaments.

in Edinburgh that it was an established usage for a great length of time that the Parliaments of this country should only address themselves to the regular transaction of the business of six and not of seven sessions. I wish here to repeat that statement, and to say that so far as the time of my own experience goes, and I believe so far as an earlier experience is concerned—but I will not now speak of that, because I have not had time to re-examine the whole of the facts—but so far as the last half-century is concerned, I say I will hereafter shatter to pieces the allegations of those who have impugned my statement. And the matter is of much importance; because my point, gentlemen, is this. I have never said that the Parliament might not, for grave cause, go through the regular business of a seventh session. I can conceive circumstances which would render it right and expedient, but the rule being that seven regular sessions should not be taken, I am entitled to ask why it is that

Special circumstances may be conceived rendering seven full sessions necessary.

rule is to be departed from on the present occasion? That is a most instructive question for us, because there is but one answer. The Government do not like to dissolve, because they dare not dissolve. They do not like to dissolve, because they naturally, and not dishonourably, not culpably, wish to prolong their Ministerial existence. They think, gentlemen, that they are conferring immense blessings on the country, and they very naturally desire that the flow of these blessings—which we may almost call a deluge—should not be arrested one day sooner than is necessary. But the practical point of the whole discussion is this; I omit the investigation page 82 of the facts for the present, I will deal with it before I go out of Scotland, [unclear: i] life and breath are given me. But the practical point is this: They do not dissolve, because they dare not dissolve, and the fact that they do not dissolve in and must be to you an additional incitement, an additional ground of confidence because it amounts to a moral demonstration that we are those who now represent the mature convictions of the majority of the constituencies.

Consider, gentlemen, I entreat you, what is meant by the treaty-making power page 83 It is a power under which the Crown of the United Kingdom is

The abuse of the treaty-making power

entitled to pledge the faith and honour of the country to any other State whatever and for any purpose whatever, unless I except the payment of money, but this exception is more apparent than real. Now that is a power so large, that it must be most dangerous unless very discreetly used. It is so large, gentlemen, that at various times it has attracted the jealousy of patriotic men; and attempts have been made in Parliament to limit the action of that power by requiring that treaties should be submitted to Parliament before they are finally concluded. [Cheers.] I do not wonder for a moment that you are disposed to receive with some favour a suggestion of that kind. The objections to that suggestion are not objections of principle. In principle I cannot say it would be unsound. They are objections entirely, in my opinion, of practice, and they come to this, that the nature of negotiation with foreign States is frequently so complicated and so delicate that it hardly can be carried on except by a single agency concentrated like the agency of Ministers; and that agency invested with the exercise of a large discretion. Now, my opinion

The treaty-making power was formerly safe and useful

is that the treaty-making power of the Crown, as it has been used by former Governments, was a safe and a useful power. About a year or two ago, I forget exactly how long, Mr. Rylands, a well-known member of Parliament, made a motion in the House of Commons to the effect that some control ought to be placed on this power. I, gentlemen, opposed that motion, upon grounds which I wish to state to you. I said the Crown, and the Crown acting through its responsible Ministers, is by far the most effective agent for the conclusion of the difficult subjects that are necessarily involved in the making of treaties. But then I said—No doubt you will object that it is a vast power which is thus placed in the hands of Ministers, and that it would be most dangerous if it were exercised without reference to the known convictions and desires of the nation, but, gentlemen, I also said my reply to the objection is, that after all the long years of my public life, I cannot

Treaties should be in conformit with the convictions of the people.

now recollect a case in which any treaty has been made except in conformity with the well-understood general tendencies and convictions of the people. The subjects hare usually been long before the public. It may not be known what the precise materials of the treaty are, but it is known within certain bounds what they must be, and any right-minded Government has no difficulty whatever—as I can say from practica experience—in so conducting itself in these delicate matters as to have a mora certainty that though they have had no formal communication with the Parliament or the people, yet they are truly expressing the convictions of the parliament and the people. I will not now trouble you with references to instances, but if, gentlemen, you were to go back to the time of the Crimean war and the treaties at the close of that war—if you were to take the treaty made in 1870 with respect to Belgium, or, in fact, a whole multitude of instances upon which we might proceed—I do not hesitate to say that these treaties were instruments which, in each case, were agreeable to the national feeling at the time. Now that was the express ground on which I defended the treaty

Upon that ground alone the treaty-making power is defensible.

making power. I said in Parliament that it was impossible to defend that power upon any other grounds. I want to tell you what then happened. Sir Stafford Northcote, as the leader of the Government in the House of Commons, and as the man who, upon the highest subjects, is entitled to speak the sense of the Government—Sir Stafford Northcote rose after me, and he said—I do not quote his words, but I state their effect—he said, such was his concurrence with the opinions I had given as reasons for not entertaining the motion of Mr. Rylands that it would save him the trouble of entering at length upon the subject. Therefore, gentlemen, I hold that the Government were bound, in making treaties, to do nothing of importance except upon the principles to which Sir Stafford Northcote then assented. They page 84 were bound to make no treaties upon questions of a novel character and of vast importance with regard to which the country had had no opportunity of making up its mind. Now I want to know what it was that happened a very short time after that debate. To the perfect astonishment alike of Tories and Liberals, it

What the Anglo-Turkish Convention involved.

was announced, without almost the notice of a day, that her Majesty's Government had contracted what is called the Anglo-Turkish Convention. No human being had heard of the subject-matter of that Convention. Neither Tories nor Liberals had had the slightest opportunity of considering it. We were told one fine day that we had become responsible for the good government of the whole of Turkey in Asia. Look at your maps, gentlemen, and see what that vast country is; seething, I am afraid, with all the consequences of bad government. And here we whose own affairs properly belonging to us are beyond our power to deal with, so that they are constantly running into arrear, by the act of the Government, taken and done in the dark, were involved suddenly and without notice in the provisions of this Convention. Now what are these? I have given you one. We were to be responsible for the good government of the whole of

(1) The protectorate of Asia Minor.

Turkey in Asia. You are some times told it is Asia Minor. It is not Asia Minor peculiarly: it is all Syria, all Palestine, Assyria, Turkish Arabia. The whole of those vast countries are placed under our responsibility, and if, gentlemen, any functionary of the Turkish Empire misconducts himself in any of those countries that is now your affair. But that is not all, gentlemen. You have also undertaken by this treaty-made on a sudden and in the dark, while the Powers of Europe were assembled at Berlin, but without the knowledge of any of those Powers—you have also undertaken to defend the frontier of Armenia against the Russian arms. You, at a distance of three thousand miles, have undertaken to send your fleets and armies to that country to meet Russia on her own borders, and to repel her from

(2) The defence of the Armenian frontier.

the Turkish territory. And, moreover, you have made that covenant, irrespectively of the goodness or badness of her cause; for it does not say that you will defend Turkey against Russia on the Armenian frontier after convincing yourselves that she is in the right. But you are placed under an unconditional engagement. But then, along with all this, what other great provision is there? There is this provision, that you have

(3) The acquisition of Cyprus.

become practically the masters of the island of Cyprus. [Laughter and jeers.] Well, gentlemen, I find this—I cannot name the island of Cyprus in any assembly of my fellow-countrymen without immediately drawing forth a flood of derisive laughter. But, gentlemen, this is no laughing matter. You have undertaken responsibility for that island. You have undertaken the good government of that island. And what have you done? I have no doubt that in many matters of administration we may have improved the government. It would be very difficult indeed to take over any Turkish island and not to improve the government. But I am sorry to say, gentlemen, that we have imported some new scandals into that island. I will tell you of two ordinances that have been passed by British authority. First of all, I ask you, was it a right or a proper thing, without the knowledge of the people of this country, to take over an island of that kind? I think it a very shabby trick to play the Turk. But independently of that, was it right for you people who were a free people to take over that island and govern it despotically? You are governing that island despotically by the hands of military officers. Is that a proper position for a free people to be placed in without its knowledge as well as without its consent? But you have done these things already. Under the Turk, any man could buy land it the island of Cyprus and go and cultivate it. We in our wisdom—because it is the nation after all: this is a self-governed country—I do not mean the people of Perth—not at all—the people of Perth would not have done it—but I mean the people of the country—have passed an ordinance, under which no man is page 85 allowed to buy land in Cyprus, unless he is either an English or a

Cyprus under British rule.

Turkish subject. Before Cyprus became ours, any Greek of the kingdom of Greece might have bought land in Cyprus; and remember Cyprus is inhabited by Greeks. Nothing could have been more natural and proper than the purchase of land by a Greek. That we have forbidden. But I will tell you what else we have done that is a great deal worse, and you will hardly believe it. Under the Government of this free nation, an ordinance has been passed, the effect of which is that the authorities of the island, who are chiefly military authorities, appointed by us, have power to banish from the island any man they please without putting him on trial for any offence. [Cries of shame.] Yes; you are justified in crying shame. It is a shame. It is a disgrace to this country; it is a scandal before the world. Gentlemen, I have given you three leading points. I will not speak now upon the worthlessness of Cyprus for the purpose for which we were told it was to be so valuable, because time would forbid it.

Mr. Donald Currie said, Within a minute or two we have to proceed by the train to Breadalbane, and I now ask you kindly to give three cheers for Mr. Gladstone, thanking him for having come to Perth.

This call was most heartily responded to, and with cheers for Mr. Currie, Mr. Parker, M.P., and the Earl of Breadalbane, the proceedings in the open air concluded.

Mr. Gladstone amidst the greatest enthusiasm at once entered the train and proceeded to the north.

Speech at the Railway Station, Aberfeldy.

At Dunkeld, during a stoppage of a few minutes, Mr. Barry, merchant, in the name of the assembled inhabitants, gave Mr. Gladstone a hearty welcome to the Highlands, and received a few words of thanks in reply.

On the arrival of the special train at Aberfeldy at about 4.30, Lord Breadalbane, with Lord Colin Campbell, M.P., Mr. C. S. Parker, M.P., and Mr. Donald Currie, Liberal Candidate for Perthshire, were ready to receive the distinguishes guest. An address from the inhabitants of Aberfeldy and district having been presented by Mr. Rankin, banker, Mr. Gladstone, who on coming forward to acknowledge the presentation was loudly cheered, said:—

Mr. Rankin, Lord Breadalbane, Ladies and Gentlemen, Inhabitants of Aberfeldy and the district,—I accept with very great pleasure an address which has been as spontaneous in its character as it is warm and earnest in its language. I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that it is to me an unexpected pleasure. I had no idea, when I accepted the courteous and kindly hospitality of Lord and Lady Breadalbane, that I should give you an occasion to meet together in public for the purpose of expressing your sentiments on what is now going on, and has been going on, in Midlothian. But I am the more gratified in proportion as I feel that this movement was unexpected—in proportion as I feel it has come entirely from yourselves. Gentlemen, I have not now received for the first time an expression of similar sentiments from the people of Scotland. I am bound—I will not say in modesty—but I am bound in truth to state that I regard many of the kind words that you are pleased to use with respect to myself and with respect to my past public life, as proceeding from your indulgence rather than from my own deserts, and, at any rate, as being used towards myself not merely with reference to the past, not merely on personal grounds, but because you are aware that, as a member of the Liberal party, I have undertaken an arduous contest in the metropolitan county of Scotland; and as you not unnaturally regard this contest as an occasion on which you may well and suitably express sentiments that you conscientiously entertain.

Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot find words to express to you my feelings of

The serious nature of the occasion.

the serious nature of the occasion. I do not use the language of exaggeration; I do not act under the impulses of party. Those impulses would not lead me, advanced in years, to undertake [unclear: a] labour of this kind were it not that I feel that the issues are so grave. They so deeply involve the character as well as the happiness of the country, that, in my opinion, it is the duty of every man to use his utmost exertions, to contributed all that he can, towards causing it to be rightly understood and rightly decided and I, who have preached this doctrine indefatigably to others, am bound no to shrink from acting upon it myself. Ladies and gentlemen, I must frankly tell you as regards the issue of that contest in Midlothian that unless 1 am deceived in the grossest manner, there can be no doubt. There is even reason to believe that some of the shrewdest among our opponents are perfectly well page 87 aware that they cannot win; and let me tell you, gentlemen, that our opponents in electioneering matters are frequently very shrewd indeed. We have much to learn from them in that respect; and, ladies and gentlemen, I trust we shall learn from them many useful and valuable lessons, not as to the ends exactly that they have in view, but as to the judicious and careful use they make of the means of obtaining these ends. The mind of this country, ladies and gentlemen, has been led abroad and over the whole earth. It really seems as if under the present sway our business was not to regulate the concerns of our own land and of our own firesides, but the concerns of the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world. That is not my view of the matter at all. My view of the matter is, that the promotion of good government among and for a people is a great, and noble, and arduous work, that taxes all their energies. I wish to get rid of a great deal of the nonsense—the mischievous nonsense—that has been introduced into our politics. None of us can forget the enormous responsibilities, the extended duties, that attach to such an empire as this country has erected, stretching forth into every quarter of the world, and having relations with the whole of its inhabitants far and near. But while we duly estimate these relations, while we will never shrink from those duties, let us avoid that system of meddling—those theatrical displays and tricks, which are aimed,

The "theatrical policy."

apparently, at drawing off the minds of the people of this country from their own interests, and from their own necessities, and at blinding them to the fact that, while they are inflamed and flattered by high-sounding discourses about the great position of England, and the necessity that England should become the teacher and the instructor of every nation in the world, we are in danger of falling into a condition in which we shall be conspicuous for the neglect of our own affairs, and in which all the reasonable wants and wishes we entertain for the improvement of our laws and institutions will remain entirely unfulfilled.

Gentlemen, I will not further detain you at this time. I assure you I rejoice to think that so lively a sympathy exists among you for the cause in which we are engaged; and, gentlemen, I hope when the county election in Perthshire comes you will show that you are aware that Scotland, as well as England, "expects every man to do his duty;" you will contribute your part towards the constitution of a Parliament sounder and wiser than that which now exists; and rely upon it, we shall see, in the course, I hope, of a very limited time, some progress made towards undoing the many mischiefs that have been brought upon us in recent years, and towards giving some satisfaction to the reasonable wants and wishes of the people.

Hearty cheers for Mr. Gladstone and for Lord and Lady Breadalbane concluded the proceedings, after which the party drove through the illuminated village of Aberfeldy, past bonfires blazing on the adjoining hills, and on between rows of torch-bearers towards Taymouth Castle, where fireworks and rejoicings closed the eventful day.