lly qualified to fulfil the great duties and responsibilities
resting on him? That is what we had to consider. We considered it
entirely with reference to the public interest, and the public interest
alone; and we arrived at the conviction that on the whole the retention
of Sir Bartle Frere in that position was our duty, notwithstanding the
inconvenient observations and criticisms to which we were, of course,
conscious it might subject us. And, that being our conviction, we have
acted upon it. It is a very easy thing for a Government to make a
scapegoat; but that is conduct which I hope no gentleman on this side,
and I believe no gentleman sitting opposite, would easily adopt. If Sir
Bartle Frere had been recalled--if he had been recalled in deference to
the panic, the thoughtless panic of the hour, in deference to those who
have no responsibility in the matter, and who have not weighed well and
deeply investigated all the circumstances and all the arguments which
can be brought forward, and which must be appealed to to influence our
opinions on such questions--no doubt a certain degree of odium might
have been diverted from the heads of her Majesty's Ministers, and the
world would have been delighted, as it always is, to find a victim. That
was not the course which we pursued, and it is one which I trust no
British Government ever will pursue. We had but one object in view, and
that was to take care that at this most critical period the affairs of
her Majesty in South Africa should be directed by one not only qualified
to direct them, but who was superior to any other individual whom we
could have selected for that purpose. The sole question that we really
have to decide to-night is, Was it the duty of her Majesty's Government
to recall Sir Bartle Frere in consequence of his having declared war
without our consent? We did not think it our duty to take that course,
and we do not think it our duty to take that course now. Whether we are
right in the determination at which we have arrived is the sole question
which the House has to determine upon the motion before it.

"The noble duke opposite (the Duke of Somerset) has told us that he
should not be contented without being made acquainted with the whole
policy which her Majesty's Government are prepared to pursue in
South Africa. If the noble duke will introduce that subject we shall
be happy to discuss it with him. No one could introduce it in a more
interesting, and, ind