Two months later Gladstone brought in a resolution on the subject, but thought it unwise to go further than he could persuade the front bench to follow him. How eagerly he urged the Liberal leaders, and how reluctantly they consented, was not known at the time, and the weakness of Gladstone’s resolution was a great disappointment to Fawcett. He spoke vigorously at this May debate, and _Punch_ says of ‘this blind, brave Mr. Fawcett,’ ‘And it do me good to hear one so downright in these over timid times. And do call a spade a spade as plain as ever I hear.... And Mr. Gladstone did speak mighty well to the same time as Mr. Fawcett, only sharper and stronger and brisker and fiercer all at once as is his wont.’ [Sidenote: The Bengal Tiger.] Fawcett, who had so lately been treated as a firebrand, found himself on the other side of the scales when in the next year’s phase of the question Beaconsfield’s Government became bellicose, and moved troops from India to the Mediterranean. Beaconsfield sided more and more strongly with the Turks as the question wrapped itself up into those complications whose orchestration is called the Concert of Europe. It was generally felt that these troops were on hand to help the Turks. Their removal from India to Malta roused Fawcett on two issues—the possibility of helping the Turks and the making of unfair demands on India. He again attacked the Ministers, or as _Punch_ says, ‘had it out with the Government about bringing the Bengal Tiger into European Waters.’ The Eastern question was to continue to disturb Europe, creating suspicions and fostering disagreements. Its first dramatic fruit was at the other end of the Russian dominions, where Afghanistan lies between the threatening borders of the Russian and British Empires. The Amir of Afghanistan, ‘an earthen pipkin between two iron pots,’ was wooed by England and by Russia, but desired the attentions of neither. But to prove his neutrality was impossible. The Indian Government accused him of favouring Russia, and a clumsy diplomacy led finally to war. [Sidenote: To shield the Indian Taxpayer.]