But its main interest was in this, that it
proposed a vote of credit for the Egyptian Expedition, which was to be
provided for by addition to the income-tax, making it sixpence
half-penny in the pound for the year. The financial proposals were
agreed to. In the course of the session Mr. Bright resigned his place in
the Cabinet on the ground that the intervention in Egypt was a manifest
violation of the moral law, that the Government had interfered by force
of arms in Egypt, and directed the bombardment of Alexandria. Mr.
Gladstone denied that the Ministry were at war with Egypt, and stated
that the measures taken at Alexandria were strictly measures of
self-defence. In justifying his resignation Mr. Bright said there had
been a manifest violation of the moral law; but the Premier, while
agreeing with his late colleague generally on the question of the moral
law differed from him as to this particular application of it.
The Prime Minister attended the Lord Mayor's Banquet at the Mansion
House, August 9, 1882. In replying to the toast to Her Majesty's
Ministers, after some preliminary remarks, Mr. Gladstone alluded to the
campaign in Egypt, which had been so much discussed, and said: "Let it
be well understood for what we go and for what we do not go to Egypt.
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