Great excitement was created in England by the announcement of the
advance of the Russians on the Indian frontier. March 13th Mr. Gladstone
stated in the House that as the protests formerly made against the
advance of Russia had been allowed to lapse, it had been agreed that
pending the delineation of the frontier there should be no further
advance on either side. In April, however, a conflict occurred between
the Russians and the Afghans, which seemed to indicate that General
Komaroff had committed an act of unprovoked aggression on the Ameer. Mr.
Gladstone moved a vote of credit on the 27th in a speech, whose
eloquence and energy greatly stirred both sides of the House. Happily,
the difficulty with Russia was adjusted by conceding Pendjeh to Russia
in consideration of the surrender of Zulfiker to the Ameer.
The administration of Mr. Gladstone, which had weathered through many
storms, was destined to fall in a wholly unexpected way. When the budget
for 1885 was produced there was a deficit of upwards of a million
pounds, besides the depressed revenue and an estimated expenditure for
the current year of not less than L100,000,000. Mr. Childers, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed to make the taxation upon land
proportionate to that on personal property, and to augment the duties on
spirits and beer.
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