He had read nearly the whole
of the large Blue Book which contained the reports of the
Conference, and all he could say was that he challenged any
assembly of public men to meet together and show more ability and
statesmanlike thought in the discussion of the questions submitted
to them than was shown by that Conference during its short reign.
He was delighted with the noble words of Lord Salisbury, when he
expressed his satisfaction, and said he hoped this would be only
the first of many similar Conferences, but Lord Salisbury, like
other public men, sometimes saw occasion to change his views,
because not long ago he said, on a public occasion, that all he
knew about Federation was, that it was a word spelt with ten
letters, which was somewhat of a wet blanket to some of those who
had reckoned upon Lord Salisbury as an ardent supporter. More
recently he said, in reply to a question put to him at a public
meeting at the East End of London, that geographical considerations
would prevent the realization of such a scheme; but his allusions
to geographical difficulties vanished before modern science.
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