=Source.=--_The Times_, March 29, 1878.
The uncertainty which has prevailed during the last few days
respecting the course which our Government would pursue, in view
of the difference respecting the Congress which had arisen between
ourselves and Russia, has received a startling and momentous
solution. When the House of Lords met yesterday, Lord Derby no
longer occupied his seat on the Ministerial Bench, and he at once
announced that he had resigned the office of Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs.... The explanations given yesterday remove all
doubt respecting the relative positions assumed by our Government
and Russia in regard to the Congress. Sir Stafford Northcote
stated in the House of Commons the import of the communications
which have passed between ourselves and Russia.... Russia's reply
amounted to a clear intimation that she claims to withhold from the
cognizance of the Powers any articles of the preliminary Treaty
she may choose. Such a reserve as she asserts is tantamount to a
definite claim to alter an existing Treaty by force of arms without
consulting the other Powers who signed it, and towards whom she is
under honourable obligations. There being this imminent danger that
the Congress may not meet--it being, as Lord Beaconsfield said,
"the belief" of the Government "that the Congress would not meet,"
it became necessary for the Government to consider what further
course they would take.... We do not know what course Lord Derby
would have advised, and it is possible he would not immediately
have taken any fresh steps. But the rest of the Government decided
that in the interests of peace, and for the due protection of the
rights of the Empire, it was their duty "to advise Her Majesty to
avail herself of those powers which she has for calling for the
services of her Reserved Forces." As subsequently explained by Mr.
Hardy in the House of Commons, this step is one which is rendered
necessary by the new organization of the Army.... Its result will
be to raise our regular forces to their utmost efficiency. In
other words, it will place the land forces which actually exist in
readiness for prompt action; and it is thus a plain declaration--a
declaration rendered emphatic by Lord Derby's resignation--that
we are prepared to act promptly if the course on which Russia
has entered directly injures our honour or our interests. Such a
declaration of our being determined to adhere to the claims we have
put forward is perhaps the most momentous step which has yet been
taken by this country.