Sir Stafford Northcote no alternative but an appeal to the country. The tremendous machinery of the Caucus was immediately set in motion. The Radicals, as was ever their wont, appealed to the passions of men, and with their usual want of veracity they accused the Conservatives of having produced all the misery and distress that then prevailed. And yet, notwithstanding this, they argued, the late Government wished to spend three millions of money in affronting a friendly nation. Such an argument as this naturally told with their ignorant and thoughtless followers, and in the end the Liberals were once more returned to power, and the Marquess of Hartington became Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone's career having come to a close.
THE LIBERALS COME INTO POWER ONCE MORE.—WAR FEELING DISPLAYS INSELF IN FRANCE AGAINST ENGLAND.—THE WEAKNESS OF THE BRITISH NAVY IS STILL A SOURCE OF ANXIETY, BUT THE PEOPLE ARE DECEIVED BY THE RADICALS.—FRENCH DEMANDS.—FRENCH ULTIMATUM.—FRENCH DECLARATION OF WAR.
AS the Liberals once again took up the reins of Government, rumours were in the air of a secret alliance against England on the part of France, Russia, and Spain. The Conservative organs in the Press, and even some of the more moderate Liberals, pointed out, that if the rumour of this alliance was true it boded ill indeed for England. Spain had never forgotten Gibraltar, and never forgiven Trafalgar; while Russia still smarted from the scars inflicted in the Crimea. A coalition of the three powers, therefore, against England was not, under the circumstances, a matter that could create surprise, although it ought certainly to have aroused alarm. In the event of war between France and England, France could insure the assistance of Spain by holding out to her the hopes of regaining the Rock Fortress of the Mediterranean; while Russia, with one eye on Constantinople and the other on India, would give
