GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



3C3 





with the view of securing the common welfare 

 and equal treatment of the varioiiH races and 

 religions which are under the authority of the 

 Sublime IWte. Mr. Gladstone spoke at length 

 in rritirUni of the policy of the Government; 

 after some further debate, the resolution was 

 withdrawn. The dehate on the outrages in 

 Bulgaria was continued in the House of Com- 

 mons, August 7th and 9th. Mr. Anderson 

 spoke strongly against the course of the Gov- 

 ernment. Mr. Bourke defended the ministry, 

 while he admitted that the outrages had been 

 committed, but ascribed them wholly to the 

 Bashi-Bazouks and independent troops. The 

 Marquis of Hartington affirmed that the re- 

 ports of the outrages had been substantiated, 

 and declared that it was impossible for the 

 Government to address Turkey in terms too 

 strong for the occasion. Mr. Bourke stated 

 that repeated and strong statements had been 

 made to the Porte on these outrages, and that 

 a British consular agent had been sent to Phil- 

 ippopolis, so that the Government might be 

 placed in direct communication with the scene 

 of the outrages. On the third reading of the ap- 

 propriation bill, August llth, Mr. Evelyn Ash- 

 ley called attention to the delay in obtaining 

 official information regarding the outrages, and 

 the want of prompt and energetic action in 

 the matter. He complained that the Govern- 

 ment had, from the first, treated the matter 

 with indifference, and that even now no re- 

 monstrance worthy of the character and power 

 of England had been addressed to the Porte. 

 Mr. Bourke said that the Government had al- 

 ways felt the deepest sympathy for the Chris- 

 tian subjects of Turkey, and had done its best 

 to procure an improvement of their position ; 

 but this sympathy ought not to blind them to 

 other important considerations. To prevent a 

 recurrence of similar scenes elsewhere, General 

 Sir Arnold Kemball would accompany the 

 Turkish army as military attache of the Gov- 

 ernment. Mr. Disraeli denied altogether that 

 the Government had any knowledge of the atro- 

 cities in Bulgaria until they learned them from 

 the newspapers. "What he had disclaimed in 

 answer to Mr. Forster was, not the existence 

 of atrocities, but certain specific statements 

 which were brought forward, and of which he 

 said that the knowledge in the possession of 

 the Government did not justify them. Mr. 

 Disraeli then went on to give a flat contradic- 

 tion to the assertion that England was pecul- 

 iarly responsible for what occurred in Turkey, 

 or that the Turks were its especial proteges. 

 Like Russia, France, Germany, and Italy, Eng- 

 land was an ally of Turkey, and had guaran- 

 teed, along with Austria and France, th terri- 

 torial integrity of Turkey. As long as England 

 was governed by English parties who under- 

 stood the principles on which its empire rested, 

 and were determined to maintain them, the 

 influence of England in that part of the world 

 would never be a matter of indifference. The 

 state of affairs required much care and man- 



agement, and those who supposed that England 

 was acting from blind Hiipertitition, or from 

 want of sympathy with the aspirations of 

 Eastern Europe, were mistaken. The duty of 

 the Government, however, was to maintain 

 the empire of England, and they would never 

 agree to any step which would assail the exist- 

 ence of that empire. 



The discussion was carried on before the 

 public quite as actively after the adjournment 

 as it had been during the session. The excite- 

 ment was increased by the publication of a re- 

 port by Mr. Eugene Schuyler, un<l of other ac- 

 counts agreeing with his, in the Daily A'eicg 

 and Ti/in*, confirming in detail almost the 

 worst that had been alleged regarding the out- 

 rages in Bulgaria. Mr. Gladstone, September 

 8d, published a pamphlet, entitled " Bulgarian 

 Horrors, and the Question of the East," in 

 which he urged that England should move to 

 stop the anarchical misrule in Bulgaria, and 

 make effectual provision against a recurrence 

 of outrages by excluding the administrative 

 action of the Ottoman Government from Bul- 

 garia as well as from Bosnia and the Herze- 

 govina. He favored, however, upholding the 

 territorial integrity of Turkey. He gave a 

 freer utterance to his views at a great public 

 meeting held at Blackheath, September 9th, 

 at which resolutions favoring energetic meas- 

 ures were adopted. At a large meeting of 

 citizens of London, September 18th, presided 

 over by the Lord-Mayor, and at a working- 

 men's meeting, held at Exeter Hall, London, 

 on the same day, Prof. Fawcett, M. P., pre- 

 siding, similar views were expressed. Mr. 

 Disraeli made an address at the Buckingham- 

 shire Agriculturists' dinner, at Aylesbury, 

 September 20th, in which he entered into a 

 full defense of his course and the policy of 

 the Government. Sir Stafford Northcote de- 

 fended the Government, at Edinburgh, Septem- 

 ber llth. Lord Derby was waited upon, Sep- 

 tember 27th, by a deputation from the meet- 

 ing of citizens of London of the 20th, and 

 made a full exposition of the position of af- 

 fairs in the East, in the course of which he 

 made reference to a circular which had been 

 sent to Sir Henry Elliot, at Constantinople, 

 instructing him to make very strong represen- 

 tations to the Porte of the indignation which 

 England felt at the outrages, and to express ex- 

 pectation that the recurrence of such atrociti. s 

 should be prevented. Numerous other meet- 

 ings were held all over the kingdom, and the 

 opportunity was generally taken by members 

 of Parliament to explain to their constituents 

 their position on the action of the Government 

 upon the subject. Among the more important 

 of these occasions was that on which Mr. 

 Bright addressed the Manchester Reform Club, 

 October 8d, in support of the views of the Op- 

 position. A " Great National Conference on 

 the Eastern Question" was held in London, 

 December 15th, at which it was arranged 

 should be discussed the misgovcrnment of the 



