ABSTRACT
Gladstone’s foreign policy had been successful, both in conception and execution, during his first ministry. George Granville Leveson-Gower was outmanoeuvred by Bismarck on colonial questions, and British policy towards Germany shewed neither firmness nor discernment. He brought England to the verge of war with Russia over a boundary dispute in Afghanistan, although he, like Gladstone, was opposed to the advance on the North-West frontier of India which in opposition they had both condemned. The return of the Liberals to power in the spring of 1880 is of the first importance in the history of British policy towards the Ottoman Empire. Both Gladstone and Granville, when in opposition, had severely criticized the settlement of Berlin, and both were determined that they would as far as possible justify their criticism in office. The last reference to Cyprus from Gladstone is in a letter to Madame Novikov in 1896.
