Mr. Asquith on Wednesday in Fife made another speech in
which, after a comparatively brief allusion to the fiscal ques- tion, he pointed out with the fervour of genuine conviction the duty of a British Government in Macedonia. The promise of internal autonomy given at Berlin in 1878 had, he said, been broken, the province was handed back to the Turk, and from that time a system of " organised tyranny " had prevailed under which "Turldsh landowners and officials drained the country of its wealth. The Courts were corrupt ; justice was a mockery ; the evidence of Christians was not received ; and neither life nor property nor honour was safe." The insurrection, though accompanied by terrible excesses, was amply justified, and the duty of Great Britain was to press on Europe that the Sultan should be forced to consent to the creation of a Govern- ment in Macedonia responsible to the Powers alone. They could not without intolerable shame appeal to him again in vain. That is the true line to take, and the speech will have an effect not only in this country but abroad, and especially in Constantinople, where the rulers understand that a new Government in London is at least possible.
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