The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. W. H. Smith,
made an effective speech to his constituents on Tuesday, which chiefly turned on Sir W. V. Harcourt's recent attack on our new acqui- sition of Cyprus, and he read a long letter from. Sir Garnet Wolseley on the climate and value of Cyprus. For this defence he was called to account again by Sir W. V. Harcourt, in the. House of Commons on Thursday night, and again replied to his assailant, to whom also Colonel Stanley, as Secretary for War, offered some rejoinder in connection with the fever which had attacked the troops. From the whole discussion, we are disposed to gather that Cyprus is not very healthy, but that a. perfectly healthy station for troops can be found on a plateau some 5,000 feet high; that Famagosta is not a good harbour but a respectable roadstead, which, at the cost of £150,000, may be made into a safe roadstead for as many ships-of-war as her Majesty is likely to want there, though it would take a vast deal more to make it into a true harbour; and that it has thia advantage over Malta and Gibraltar,—that cattle can be fed there, and in that way a commissariat organised, while this is impossible on the bare rock of Malta. On. the whole,. though the Government are by no means so pleased with their acquisition as they try to seem,, no doubt the place may be useful, if we ever have a great war on hand on the shores, of the Mediterranean, which we trust we never shall. In any case,. Cyprus is a brand snatched from the burning, an island rescued. from the desolation of Turkish rule.
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