ABSTRACT
The country’s rage, when the news became known, was such that Ministers again showed commendable restraint in refraining from the kind of forceful action that would have been immensely popular though war would have resulted. After such suggestions, indeed, had been made, it seemed almost tame for Mr. Balfour, addressing his party conference on October 28th at Southampton, to give the details of the settlement that had been reached with the Russian Government. Balfour’s prospects of being blessed by some Liberal strife were actually improved when Asquith, Grey and Haldane, having virtually abandoned Rosebery as impracticable, made the dubious “Relugas Compact” early in September. Balfour must plainly have seen in all this a variety of ways in which the Liberal leaders might grievously damage their prospects in the very act of taking office. Balfour’s step was, of course, plausibly defended on various grounds.
