Punch (74.1878)

53 PUNCH, OB, THE LONDON CHAKIVARI [Ahul 13, 1878.

PUNCH'S ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

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A week of waiting—for dis- Vv ««rra^^^ >^ >Spl!^ remain — Dead-lock, Death-

cussion of the Marquis of Sales- X ^\' grapple, or Retreat. Which

BtmY's Circular, administering TjHt4*$fv ^^n^^^T5: is it to be ? England, Europe,

a facer, or, rather, a series of ^ | ' ^gP^ l-- and. the "World, look, with

facers, to the Treaty of San v »s. bated breath, for the reply.

Stefano. The Government has ' * "^f^ i->;^\Vv.^t >. ^. • Earl Gbey— as usual the

put down its foot. _ The Treaty " Hal o' the Wynd" 9f the

has to go, or the Lion and the Bear must have a fight for it. Even

the Budget looms small in the presence of the great question-
"Peace or Warp"

Monday, April 1 (Lords).—An ominous day for bringing down the
Royal Message, notifying to Parliament that "the state of public affairs
in the East, and the necessity in connection therewith of taking steps
for tbe maintenance of Peace and the protection of the interests of
the Empire, having constituted a case of great emergency (How
about style, my Lord Br) within the meaning of the Law, Her
Majesty has been pleased to call out her Reserve Forces for perma-
nent service." Paws off, Tobv !

This is a Royal Message—albeit brought down to Parliament on
All Fools' Day—only to be delivered with decorum and received with
gravity. Lord Beaconsfield so delivered it, and Punch, for
England, so accepts it. Punch renders it into his own tongue in his
Cartoon. It brings the Lion and the Bear face to face on the narrow
ledge of S^ri Stefano. There is not room to pass. Three courses

House of Lords—put the dilemma which next week's debate, it is to
be hoped, will resolve. " It is not enough, your Majesty and my
Lords, to tell us your objections to the Treaty of San Stefano. What
do you propose to put in its place ? You can't set up his Humpty-
Dumptyness, the Padishah, again. You refuse to recognise the
uncivilised Slav, under Russ rod, heir to the Turks' lands, tene-
ments, and hereditaments. Whom have you in contemplation, as
successor to the damnosa, but illecebrosa hereditas, of the Ottoman ? "
The Ottoman!—that most troublesome of Dame Europa's pieces of
furniture—which everybody wants to sit upon, and which obsti-
nately declines to be sat upon comfortably ; which is always in the
way, yet can never be effectually shoved on one side; which is by
common admission rotten, yet cannot get itself quietly broken up ;
which serves to wrangle over, to fight over, to break shins over;
serves, in short, for all purposes but a comfortable lounge or a quiet
place of repose. And now here is poor old Dame Europa on the
point, as it seems, of tumbling over it, into the Fire of General War!