GKEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



365 



be gladly accepted by Christendom and the 

 world. 



Mr. Cross replied, defending the Govern- 

 ment from an imputation of indifference to the 

 ill-treatment of the Christiana in Turkey, and 

 vindicating the policy they had pursued as one 

 of neutrality ; whereas that recommended in 

 the resolutions was, he maintained, one of war 

 against Turkey. The debate on the resolutions 

 continued during the entire week, and on Mon- 

 day of the following, when the division was 

 taken. The first resolution was rejected by a 

 vote of 354 to 223. The other resolutions were 

 not put. 



Mr. Gladstone at first met with considerable 

 opposition in his own party, which, at one time, 

 threatened a split among the Liberals. Even 

 at the division on the first resolution on May 

 14th, 25 of the opposition voted against Mr. 

 Gladstone, among these being the Marquis of 

 Lome, Mr. Lambert, Mr. Roebuck, and Sir Na- 

 thaniel Myer de Rothschild. An interesting 

 contribution to the discussion was furnished by 

 Mr. Thomas Carlyle in a letter to The Times 

 on May 4th. The letter was as follows : 



SIB : A rumor everywhere prevails that our mirnc- 

 nlous Premier, in spite of his Queen's proclamation 

 of neutrality, intends, under a cover of a care for 

 British interests, to send the English fleet to the 

 Baltic, or do some other feat which shall compel 

 Russia to declare war against England. Latterly 

 the rumor has shifted from the Baltic, and become 

 etill more sinister on the eastern side of the scene, 

 where a feat is contemplated that will force, not 

 Eussia only, but all Europe, to declare war against 

 us. This latter I have come to know as en indis- 

 putable fact in our present affairs and outlooks 

 surely a grave one. As to British interests, there 

 is none visible or conceivable to me except taking 

 strict charge of our route to India by Suez and Egypt, 

 and for the rest resolutely altogether steering clear 

 of any copartnery with the Turk in regard to this or 

 any other British interest whatever. It should be 

 felt by England as a real ignominy to be connected 

 with such a Turk at all. Nay, if we still had as, in 

 fact, all ought to have a wish to save him from per- 

 dition and annihilation in God's world, the one fu- 

 ture for him that has any hope in it is even now that 

 of being conquered by the Russians and gradually 

 schooled and drilled into a peaceable attempt at 

 learning to be himself governed. The newspaper 

 outcry against Russia is no more respectable to me 

 than the howling of bedlam, proceeding as it does 

 from the deepest ignorance, egotism, and paltry na- 

 tional jealousy. These things I write not on hear- 

 say, but on acute knowledge, and to all friends of 

 their country will recommend immediate attention 

 to them, while there is yet time, lest in a few weeks 

 the maddest and most criminal thing that a British 

 Government could do should be done, and all Europe 

 kindle into the names of war. I am, etc.. 



T. CARLYLE. 



Even in the cabinet grave dissensions exist- 

 ed, and nominal unity was only restored on 

 May 5th, after an angry discussion in the cabi- 

 net, and by the threatened resignation of four 

 of its members. Earl Beaconsfield was in fa- 

 vor of a violent and sensational policy. The 

 British fleet had been ordered to rendezvous 

 at Corfu with sealed instructions to sail for 

 the Bosporus, and there was every probability 

 that an armed demonstration in favor of the 



Turks would be made. Mr. Gladstone's reso- 

 lution put matters in an entirely different posi- 

 tion ; and when the cabinet met, on May 5th, 

 several members declared that they would not 

 then sanction an armed demonstration on the 

 Bosporus. These four, to whom the country 

 owed the final decision in favor of neutrality, 

 were Lord Salisbury, Sir Stafford Northcote, 

 Lord Carnarvon, and Mr. Cross. 



On May 31st Mr. Gladstone addressed a 

 meeting at Birmingham on the policy of the 

 Government on the Eastern question. The 

 assemblage consisted of upward of 25,000 per- 

 sons, and Mr. Gladstone was loudly cheered at 

 various points of his speech. In the course of 

 his speech, he said : " How is it possible to 

 place reliance upon the policy of the Govern- 

 ment ? "What is it to-day, and what will it be 

 to-morrow ? "What was it when Lord Beacons- 

 field spoke at the Guildhall ? What was it 

 when Lord Salisbury, in Constantinople, ut- 

 tered, in manly tones, sentiments worthy of a 

 British statesman ? To which of these colors 

 does the Government ultimately mean to ad- 

 here ? Its policy is a policy of zigzag and see- 

 saw. But, unfortunately, I am driven to the 

 conclusion that when it moves in the right di- 

 rection it moves under popular pressure ; but 

 when that pressure is withdrawn, it is apt to 

 move in the wrong one . . . The truth is, ladies 

 and gentlemen, it would hardly be an exagger- 

 ation to say that we have not one Govern- 

 ment, but two one pulling in one direction, 

 conformably to public sentiment, the other 

 placed nearer to the springs of action, steadily 

 and constantly watching, and upon the slight- 

 est appearance of even tacit remission in the 

 manifestation of public feeling turning its course 

 directly in the old sense of virtual assistance to 

 the Turks, like the ' dog returning to its vomit, 

 or the sow to its wallowing in the mire.'" 



In the beginning of July, several of the Irish 

 members began to adopt measures to delay the 

 business of the House. On July 2d the army 

 estimates were considered in Committee of 

 Supply ; but at a quarter to one o'clock on 

 the morning of the 3d, Mr. O'Connor Power 

 moved to report progress, which motion, being 

 defeated by 128 to 8, was followed by no less 

 than 16 motions of a similar character, in which 

 the minorities finally fell to 5 votes. Four 

 motions to count the House were also made, 

 the last of which, at 12 minutes past 7 in the 

 morning, was successful. At the session of 

 the following day, complaints were made by 

 several members of the inconvenience and un- 

 seemliness of the course adopted by a few mem- 

 bers, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer in- 

 timated that it would be his duty to consider 

 the rules of debate a statement which elicited 

 the loudly-expressed approval of the House. 



In the beginning of July, the British fleet 

 returned to Besika Bay, after an absence of 

 6 months. This action of the Government was 

 freely commented on, so that, on July 6tb, the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer considered it do- 



