John Morley: “Apart from other objections, it would undeniably have been a flagrant breach of solemn international engagements.”

This was a complete falsification of a whole set of our national promises.

There lay Ireland,—squalid, dismal, sullen, dull, expectant, sunk deep in hostile intent.

Could ministers justify abandonment, without far stronger evidence than they then possessed that they could not govern the Transvaal peaceably?

I am trying to feel my way through the most difficult problem, the most difficult situation that a responsible Government can have to face.