That is the report solemnly made by the head of the Government upon the state of things, which is as different from the state of things he found when he came into office as is the deficiency of eight and a quarter millions that he hands over to the new Parliament, from the surplus of six millions which the former Parliament handed over to him.  I cannot, I think, state the matter more fairly than that.  You are—­deluded I was going to say, but I could not make a greater blunder, for deluded you are not; and deluded the people of England are not, and the people of Scotland will not be, but you are flattered and inveigled by compliments paid to the existing Administration in various newspapers abroad.  Is not that a fine thing?  Never mind your finances; never mind your legislation, or your interests, your characters, or anything else.  You have only to look into some paper ardently devoted to the Government and you will see that a paper in Vienna, a paper in Berlin, or even sometimes a paper in Paris has been saying what very fine fellows these present Ministers are, how well they understand the interests of the country, and what a pity it would be if they were to be displaced.  I will give you a sound practical rule upon this subject.  It is totally untrue and absurd to suppose that there is a general approval by the foreign press.  I see that Lord Dalkeith is reported to have said the other day that everywhere except in Russia the press was in favour of the present Government.

Well, I think I know a good deal of the foreign press, and I will give Lord Dalkeith this challenge—­defy him to produce Italian newspapers, that have any circulation or influence in Italy, in favour of the policy of the present Government.  I defy him to produce a newspaper in the Greek tongue, representing the Greek people, either in free Greece or beyond it, that is in favour of the policy of the present Government.  I defy him to produce a paper in the Slavonic language that is in favour of the policy of the present Government.  Oh! you say, the Slavonic language—­that means Russia.  It does not mean Russia.  It means in part Russia; but there are twenty, aye, and nearer thirty millions of Slavonic people outside of Russia in the east of Europe; and I doubt if you could produce a single paper in the Slavonic language in favour of the policy of the present Government.  I say to him, go to the small States of Europe—­go to Belgium, go to Holland, go to Denmark, go to Portugal—­see what their press says.  Gentlemen, I mistrust the press, and especially the official press, of foreign capitals, whether it be St. Petersburg, Vienna, or Berlin.  When I see those articles I think that a large experience enables me tolerably well to understand their purpose.  If they are vehemently praising the British Ministry—­mind, not praising the British nation, not praising British institutions, but praising a particular British Ministry as opposed to some other possible Ministry—­I know the meaning of that to be that they regard that Ministry as admirable instruments for the forwarding of their own purposes, and making the British nation, through their medium, both dupes and victims.