19 SEPTEMBER 1903, Page 2

Four Bishops—‘those of Durham, Worcester, Hereford, and Gibraltar—protested on Monday

in letters to the Times against the continued inaction of the British Government in the Near East. They all point out, what is, of course, patent, that Great Britain is responsible for handing back the Macedonians to slavery, and all demand intervention of some kind, though they are a little vague as to the method. One, the Bishop of Worcester, Dr. Gore, is evidently willing to face the contin- gency of seeing Russia in Constantinople, rather than allow the Sultan to repeat the scenes of Armenia amidst an ancient European population. The Premier will probably attach little importance to the protests of Bishops ; but he may remember with advantage that the Bishops of Durham, Worcester, and Hereford represent the Evangelical, High, and Liberal sections of the Anglican Church, and that they speak, if not for the general sentiment of the people, at least for its general conscience. The ordi- nary voter does not understand much of politics, and he dis- likes Russia, but he does understand that Christians are being massacred in thousands by Mussulmans, not because they have rebelled, but because their husbands, brothers, and sons have done so. The evidence that the Turks are murdering women and children in hundreds of the villages, and this whether the males are in insurrection, or, being Greeks or Wallachs, have refused to rise, is irresistible. It is only necessary to read the despatches forwarded by the corre- spondent of the Times at Monastir, or to the Daily Mail by Mr. Reginald Wyon, a most experienced and cool observer, who, according to latest advices, has just been expelled from Turkish territory.