The Eddy Current

LORD SALISBURY

Discusses the Recent Development In Africa and India.

London, Nov. 10.—The brilliancy of the gathering of the lord mayor's banquet at the Guild hall yesterday evening was somewhat marred by the token of mourning for the late duchess of Teck. A number of ladies present wore gowns of black or dark material.

The entrance of the marquis of Salisbury, prime minister, and Arthur J. Balfour, first lord of the treasury, was the signal for loud applause, but the reception tendered to the foreign diplomats was of the tamest character as compared with the enthusiasm which last year greeted the then ambassador of the United States, Thomas F. Bayard.

After the usual loyal and formal toasts, the marquis of Lansdowne, secretary of state for war, responded for "The Army."

In the course of his speech he eulogized "the gallant work being done on our Indian frontier especially by the troops of those native rulers who have long wished to stand shoulder to shoulder with us."

He then proceeded to point out the necessity of an increase of the army to meet "the requirements of imperial expansion."

The marquis of Salisbury was greeted with several minutes of continuous cheering. He began by deploring the engineers' dispute, which, he said, "involves the future prosperity or disaster of the country," but added that he was glad to say there was "a renewed prospect that the board of trade's intervention would prove successful."

His lordship read a telegram from the queen asking him to express how deeply her majesty felt the marvelous display of loyalty to the crown and to her person at the diamond jubilee festivities.

After referring to the conduct of the troops on the Indian frontier in terms similar to those used by the marquis of Lansdowne, and warmly praising the conduct of the Anglo-Egyptian expedition in the Soudan campaign, the premier came to the leading passage in his speech, introducing the tangled question of the Niger and the conflicting claims and interests of Great Britain and France in that section of west Africa.

He said: "It might not achieve the general conciliatory process desired if I entered frankly into all the negotiations between the powers respecting Africa. We are all aware of the great extent of territory cast loose during the last twenty years in Africa, and put up as the object of acquisition for several enterprising governors. The negotiations that are proceeding will possibly continue a long time. We desire that territory to be governed on strict principles of right and with a constant regard to its prosperity and to the interests of the empire. We do not desire unjust and illegitimate achievements, and we don't wish to take territory simply because it would look well to paint red on the maps.

"Our objects are strictly business. We wish to extend commerce, trade, industry and civilization; to throw open as many markets as possible and to bring together as many consumers and producers as possible, and to open the great natural highways of the continent. We wish trade to pursue an unchecked course on the Niger, the Nile and the Zambesi, and in doing these things, while we wish to behave in a neighborly manner and to show due consideration for the feelings and claims of others, we are obliged to say there is a limit to the exercise of this particular set of feelings, and we can not allow our plain rights to be over-ridden."