NEWS OF THE WEEK.

EUROPE still waits for the Greek decision. The Powers expect a local war in which they will look on, but Turkey, though provoked, hangs back, and Greece, though determined, is foolishly anxious not to be technically the aggressor. There should be a decisive incident before next Saturday; but something is going on at Constantinople which causes hesitation. The Porte is fall of the Ottoman fighting feeling, but the Sultan cannot bring his courage up to the necessary orders. It is just possible that a victorious Ottoman Army would not suit him at all, while a defeat would be the signal for a military rebellion.

All kinds of reports are circulated every day as to the temper of the Greek Government. It is elated, it is in despair, it is determined on war, it holds out only in fear of a revolution. Any of these stories may be true or none, but meanwhile the public action of the Government is that of men resolved upon a definite course. The Army is steadily strengthened, the King professes himself quite resolute, and on April 14th the Premier demanded from the Chamber a war credit of £750,000,—a considerable sum for Greece. His speech on introducing his proposal was entirely free from bombast; a cold recapitulation of the Greek idea that the Cretans had a right to settle their own fate, but that Europe had steadily resisted every proposal having that for its basis. As regards the frontier, their preparations had been forced upon them by the " singular conduct " of a neighbouring State; but they had been able to supply deficiencies in the Army, and hoped within a few days to remedy them com- pletely, so that the Army would be able to fulfil its mission. The preparations are, of course, exhausting Greek finances ; but the wealthier Greeks of the world have lent their country some assistance, munitions have been purchased for some months past, and it is believed that a small internal loan will be raised without difficulty. Trade has almost stopped and agriculture is partially suspended, but experience shows that even in very small States fighting, especially on the defensive, is never stopped by want of money. We do not suppose Holland was very rich when she drove out Philip II.

The Ethnike Hetairia, the secret society of Greece which has for object the realisation of the "Great Idea," and for members most of the cultivated Greeks in Greece and out of

it, thinks it time to force the hand of the Greek Government. It has accordingly directed its followers now upon the frontier to invade Turkey in three bands, one pressing towards Janina, the capital of Epirus, and two others endeavouring to seize the passes between Edhem Pasha and his base at Salonica. They crossed the frontier unobserved, but the precise measure of their success is far from clear. The Turks say they were driven back ; the Greeks, that the northern band at all events has been fairly successztJ, and may seize Janina. Even the English special correspondents are at variance, the Times' agent at Larissa reporting Greek successes, and the Liberal papers Greek defeats. The excitement has been very great, but so anxious are both Greece and Turkey to appear not to be the aggressors, that the Greeks disown their guerillas, and the Turks still abstain from declaring war. Accord- ing to the stories forwarded, both Greeks and Turks fought with great courage and determination, but some Italian volunteers retreated paralysed by hunger and the mountain cold. This incident will hereafter be the subject of much discussion, but will not greatly, even if the raid succeeds, affect the war if it breaks out ; while if it fails it will be classed as " untoward," and officially forgotten.

The Liberals have failed to obtain a day for their vote of quasi-censure on the Government for its possible conduct in regard to Greece, but on Monday they debated past conduct at much length. Sir C. Dilke, who opened the debate, showed pretty clearly that the Cretans had always rejected autonomy, especially in 1866, in favour of union with Greece; and he praised King George for having forced the hand of the Powers, who until Colonel Vassos landed in the island were doing nothing. Mr. Curzon, in reply, maintained that there had been six debates on the subject in the House of Commons, and affirmed once more that the decision of the Powers to give autonomy to Crete was honest, and would be effective. Her Majesty's Government desired the withdrawal of the Turkish troops from the island, but also the with- drawal of the Greeks. He maintained that the Admirals had prevented much suffering, though they had been compelled to shell the Cretan insurgents, and especially pointed to the good results they had produced by dis- arming the Bashibazonks, a remark which is quite true, and suggests that the total expulsion of the Turkish troops would entirely pacify the island. As regards the mainland, the Government was opposed to war, and had heard with satisfaction that the recent raid was unauthorised by the Government of Athens, and would not be treated as ground of war by the Sultan. It must not be forgotten that the Concert of the Powers had prevented the despatch of Turkish reinforcements to Crete, and that if all the action of the Concert could not be approved, still any combination of that kind required from each member of it a certain amount of give and take. That also is quite true ; but the complaint is that, as regards this country, it has given much and taken nothing.

Sir William Harcourt, who followed Mr. Curzon, greatly laboured that point, the substance of his allegation being that the policy of the British Government was now dictated from abroad, that is, by the majority of the six Powers. British foreign policy is, in fact, " placed in commission." He denied the right of the European Federation to legislate for any independent Power, rather a dangerous denial considering that we have no other locus standi, when we control Turkey as to its internal government. The Cabinet of the nations, Sir William contended, had done nothing for Armenia, and indeed, in the language of the Duke of Argyll, were always practising the goose- step. In Crete they had backed the wrong horse and

bombarded the wrong people. The Cretans were quite right to be troublesome. As for Greece, but for Greece Crete would never have bad even the offer of autonomy. Sir William wanted to know what position the Powers held in Crete,— were they delegates of the Sultan, or did they shoot people on their own authority ? The only difference between their right and that of Greece in Crete was that Greece was invited by the Cretans, and the Powers were not. When are the Turkish troops to be removed ? The British Government sent mountain-batteries to Crete. Was it perhaps going to fire autonomy into the Cretans ? He ended by a strong denunciation of the idea that this country should protect the integrity of Turkey, and that it should always be submissive to the Concert, which might demand of us help in terminating the independence of Greece.

Mr. Balfour, in reply, maintained that, though the Otto- man troops must be withdrawn from Crete, their assistance at present was essential to the pacificatory work of the Powers (who, nevertheless, have disarmed the Bashibazonks). He defined the " integrity of Turkey " as a phrase which had a special meaning in diplomacy, as under it the freest institu- tions could be granted to any province. As for the Concert, if we have failed to do enough in concert with the other Powers, how much should we have done if we had acted singly ? (That is a very good epigram, but little Greece, by acting singly, has done more than us.) The object of the Concert was to prevent the scramble for Turkey, in which Servia, Greece, Bulgaria, and perhaps Roumania, would each seize its own bit. That sounds well, but it is rather a departure from the old argument that the Concert of Europe was to prevent a European war. A European war is a mighty evil, but the aggrandisement of all the Balkan States at the expense of Turkey would be a mighty good, and could it be secured, would be well worth two years of a war confined to those little Powers. Mr. Balfour's argument would be per- fect if Europe wished Turkey to continue, but he himself does not wish that, but only desires that the necessary par- tition should be effected peacefully. That is quite right, but when is the partition to begin ? At present what is happen- ing is that Turkey is threatening Greece and Bulgaria with a large and well-appointed army, and that the Concert squeezes those little peoples' throats for fear they should make any forward movement.

Sir William Harcourt, who is a little fettered in Parliament —it is said, by the recalcitrancy of influential supporters, though he denies that—let himself loose on Tuesday in a speech to the Eighty Club. It was a really good speech, though one feels in reading it that the man who made it is conscious of irresponsibility, and delights in it. Its argu. mentative pivot from first to last is that Great Britain in adhering to a Concert of Europe, gives up her freedom of action, and passes under " dangerous obligations to great military and despotic Powers, whose interests are not ours, whose objects are not ours, whose sympathies and convictions are not ours." We invest them with a kind of legislative power, and some fine day they may legislate us out of Egypt. Sir William quoted Canning and Palmerston as his great exemplars, both of whom, he maintained, had insisted upon our right to singleness of action, but ended by saying that he did not wish to stand alone, but to make combinations with Powers which agree with us in sentiment. With much of this criticism we agree, but Sir William Harcourt exaggerates for forensic purposes. If Europe has no legislative power, what becomes of our right to emancipate Turkish provinces in peace time, or to occupy Egypt, or to distribute Africa P And as for independence, are we ever quite independent if we join in partnership even with those who in the main have the same objects and opinions? We wish critics would lay more emphasis on the mismanagement of the Concert and less on its existence.

On Monday Mr. Gerald Balfour introduced his Bill for the establishment of a new Agricultural Board and Department in Ireland. The Department is not to be under the Irish Office or the Castle, but is to be an independent body. Again, it is to depend financially, not upon what it can annually squeeze out of the Treasury, but upon a grant of about £150,000 a year, being the amount of Ireland's quota paid to the local taxa- tion account in respect of Estate-duty,—i.e., the sum allotted to Ireland when the grant was made in relief of English rural rates. The new Board is to take over the duties connected with the encouragement of agriculture, now exercised by several other Departments, and to receive and spend the sums now voted for those Departments. The genesis of the new Board was, explained the Chief Secretary, the Report of Mr. Horace Plunkett's Recess Committee, and he inferred that the policy of developing agriculture there recommended would be followed. On the whole the proposal was well received, but the Irish members of all parties declared that enough money was not granted. Their most telling point was, of course, that whereas English farmers had got half their agricultural rates paid for them. Ireland only got a fixed sum calculated on a perfectly different basis. That is true ; and we think that justice ought to be done in this respect. But if it is done, justice ought also to be done to England by making Ireland pay locally for the things which in England are paid locally,—i.e., a portion of the cost of the police, and a portion of the cost of education. If Ireland asks for financial justice it must be even justice.

On Friday, April 9th, the Civil Service Estimates were under discussion, and the usual amount of desultory talk was indulged in by private Members. Mr. Legh, backed up by Sir Henry Howorth, was anxious that the public should have freer access to Buckingham Palace when the Court was not in residence. That is a perfectly reasonable proposal, and we are glad to say that Mr. Akers-Douglas promised to con- sider the matter and make representations in the proper quarter. There is not much to see in Buckingham Palace except a few good Dutch pictures and George IY.'s brit-h.-brat. Still, it would not be a bad thing for the larger public to learn by seeing that an English Royal Palace is not the home of insensate luxury they sometimes suppose it, but in truth considerably less magnificent in appearance than one of the new hotels.

Mr. Burns was very indignant that Kew Gardens were not open earlier in the day, and called upon Mr. Chamberlain to support him in his attack on the permanent officials. Mr. Chamberlain refused to be drawn, and as "a very enthusiastic horticulturist to whom gardening was even a greater delight than politics," declared that the scientific value of the Gardens would be impaired if the officials were forced to let in the general public when the students were going over the houses. Later on the question of the completion of South Kensington Museum came under discussion, Mr. Burns proposing that the Imperial Institute should be handed over to the Museum. Mr. Akers-Douglas could only say that the Government were anxious to get rid of the present scandalous condition of the approaches to the Museum, but had to add that there was no immediate prospect of the necessary funds being available. We have only one thing to say. When the time does arrive for finishing the buildings it will be a very gross scandal if they are not finished in accordance with the beautiful and appropriate plans already in existence. That this would give West London a really noble brick and terra-cotta build- ing is proved beyond doubt by the wing already in existence. The section opposite the Post Office in Exhibition Road is probably the most beautiful piece of modern building in London. And yet it is sometimes proposed to discard the old plans and try a new scheme !

The House of Commons rose early on Tuesday morning for the Easter Recess, dispersing under the music of a hearty curse from Dr. Tanner, who audibly consigned the Members to the Devil. The work accomplished during this first division of the Session has been very respectable. All regular busi- ness has been got through steadily and well ; the House has discussed, without impeding, the progress of foreign affairs, and one important Bill, that for increasing aid to voluntary schools, has been got fairly out of the way. The new practice under which the Cabinet, and the Cabinet only, controls legislation, has been solidified by the passage of that Bill without a single amendment ; and under the determined application of the Closure, the tendency of the House to become a mere assembly for talk has been perceptibly moderated. The Radical journals are very eloquent over the tyranny of the majority, but the country has been delighted to see that work gets forward, that the faddists are sat upon, and that the Government is too strong to be moved even by jets of water. The numerical weakness

of the Opposition, and the want of great men in its ranks, has rather impaired the deliberative character of the House of Commons, but it has done better than most Vestries or Municipal Councils. No new man has shown himself daring the debates, but no old band has much lessened his prestige with the people. Indeed, Sir William Harcourt has increased his ; at least without him the Liberals would have been in a wretched way.

On Saturday, April 10th, Sir Alfred Milner was entertained at dinner at the Hotel Metropole by three hundred members of the Inland Revenue Department. Mr. Goschen (to whom Sir Alfred Milner was once private secretary), in a speech which, as far as South Africa is concerned, we have discussed at length elsewhere, made some very bright and amusing refer- ences to the dealings of the Inland Revenue Department with the Government. When he saw the proceeds of the Death- duties, said Mr. Goschen, he endeavoured to gauge their -ability to meet certain items of naval expenditure; and when the chances and changes of this mortal life brought -millionaires, or more than millionaires, under the opera- tion of these duties, he could not resist the temptation of translating the cheques which are poured into that till, over which Sir Alfred Milner lately presided, into "naval effects." " When I see a cheque for £100,000 paid into the Revenue by a more than millionaire, I say, That represents two torpedo- boats.' Or if there is a smaller sum I say, That represents a most effective gunboat." Mr. Goschen also spoke with serious admiration "of the astounding degree to which the country is able to bear the imposition of the taxes imposed on it." It is indeed most remarkable, but the beast of burden is very strong, and his load is most cunningly adjusted.

On Friday, April 9th, the sensational rumours caused by Sir John Willoughby's refusal to answer the questions put to him at the previous sitting proved altogether fallacious. Dr. Jameson was first asked to give his account of what he told Sir John Willoughby. In effect he told the Committee that the expressions in Sir John Willoughby's letter to the War Office as to the alleged approval of the Imperial authorities went a great deal further than anything he ever said or in- tended to imply, or would have been justified in saying. Sir John Willoughby then admitted that his letter was not drafted by him, but by his legal adviser, Mr. Hawksley,- solicitor to the Chartered Company. He seems to have copied it and signed it under the mistaken impression that Dr. Jameson had seen it and approved of it, which was not the case. It would seem,in fact, that Sir John Willoughby was so anxious to save his brother officers from losing their commissions that he was ready to sign almost anything that would induce the War Office to delay. That was foolish, but by no means discreditable to Sir John Willoughby. We think, however, that the Committee should examine Mr. Hawksley on the matter. It will not be forgotten that this letter was last winter made the basis of many accusations against the Colonial Office. The Willoughby incident thus proved a complete mare's-nest. The sitting closed after the examina- tion of Captain Heany and Dr. Wolff. Dr. Rutherfoord Harris is to be examined at the next meeting of the Committee on April 30th. It is to be hoped that during this witness's evidence the Committee will insist upon the production of the cipher telegrams which passed between Mr. Rhodes and his London agent.

On Friday, April 9th, at the meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects, Lord Charles Beresford read a paper on the fighting value of certain of our older ironclads,—if re- armed. He declares that we have forty-five vessels in com- mission or reserve armed with obsolete muzzle-loaders, which are, as things stand, entirely worthless for battle purposes. He holds that for various reasons twenty-eight are not worth touching, but that seventeen of the battleships and cruisers are good sea-boats, and if rearmed would be really useful vessels. Their armour is quite good enough to burst shells outside the vessels and to stop small shot from entering. The cost of the new guns plus the fitting them would be about £1,100,000. Thus for the price of a new battleship and a cruiser we could get a formidable twelve-knot squadron of seventeen vessels. That sounds common-sense. At any rate the Admiralty should make up its mind either to arm these vessels properly or else not to count them as part of its effective fleet. To do that in their present condition, unless Lord Charles Beresford's facts are all wrong, is clearly a dangerous deception.

The suicide of a reigning Prince is so unusual an event that the sudden death of Frederic Francis, Grand Duke of Mecklen- burg-Schwerin, has been the occasion of much comment. He was found on April 10th, either dead or dying, below a bridge in the grounds of his palace, and it was asserted in Berlin that, distracted by pain caused by disease, he had thrown himself over the bridge and when discovered was quite dead. The Grand Ducal family, in a sort of circular to the Press, confirm this story as regards the facts, but maintain that the Grand Duke wandered into the grounds half-dazed with suffering, fell either through or over the walls of the bridge, and when found by the gardener was still sufficiently alive to utter words which suggested that the fall was quite involun- tary. Except as an incident in German history the question is of no importance, for the family, though interesting from its unusual antiquity—it was reigning when Charlemagne fought the Wends—has little weight even in Germany, where it is accused of keeping its people wholly behind the age. The subjects of the House, some half-million in number, are governed very much as they were in the Middle Agee, the peasantry, in particular, differing very little in status from serfs. They are still, we believe, liable to be flogged for neglecting work. They do not, however, rebel, and probably there are some compensations in their position which the world at large does not perceive.

On Saturday Mrs. Hnmphry Ward opened a free library at Edmonton—the building being, as usual, presented by Mr. Passmore Edwards—and made a rather striking speech, emphasising and expanding the idea we have always main- tained,—that free libraries are good things, even if they only benefit the few. The majority who frequent them for novels and newspapers obtain pleasure and rest, two things which are good for them ; and there are always a few "with the exceptional aptitudes which so often run to waste in our huge industrial class." The chance of feeding their minds is one, said Mrs. Ward, " which a democratic nation like this, wholly dependent on the brain-wealth of its children, cannot afford to refuse." Let no gift be lost for want of fertilisation, the first elements of which are provided by free libraries. She had personally known a miner who worked eleven hours a day for eleven days a fortnight train himself to read a Greek play with ease and accuracy, and had seen a young reedmaker who worked for factory hours hurry to the library to indulge in the study of economics. Professor Huxley had been both surprised and touched by the passion for science displayed by some workmen in their scanty leisure, and, we may add, we have all read the story of Hugh Miller. That, we are con- vinced, is the true argument for free libraries, and not the conventional make-believe that reading benefits all mankind. It is no better to the majority than any other innocent pastime; but of the few it makes levers for the upheaval of the mass. One man who has become mechanician or chemist through reading in his libraries, may repay tenfold even bene- factions like those of Mr. Passmore Edwards.

The Merle (quoted in the Times of last Saturday) has dis- covered a new example of English hypocrisy and perfidy. Tee- totalism in England is only a cloak for Protectionism. "All this crusade aims at stopping the importation of foreign wines, particularly French, which are the best in the world." English clergymen do not show equal hostility to the degrading fumes of opium because that is a quasi-national product. "To the intrigues of these water-drinkers must be attributed" the stagnation in the export "of our fine wines and choice liqueurs," the consumption of which does not in- crease with the increase of wealth in England and America. The object of "these teetotal follies is the same as that of Elizabeth when she maintained fasting in order to keep up the fisheries." That is delightful. We no doubt make plenty of blunders about foreign nations, but hardly, we think, rise to quite such heights of imagination as this.

Bank Rate, 2i- per cent.

New Consols (2k) were on Thursday, 112.