Mr. Baxter on Thursday addressed his constituents at Mont- rose,
in a speech remarkable for boldness and vigour. He declared that he had never expected to live to see so many millions of people liberated from that worst of all Governments, the Porte. He praised the Treaty of Berlin, which was framed on the lines of Mr. Gladstone's policy, and had transferred eight millions of people from the government of the Turks to the govern- ment of eight other States, including Persia as one. He believed that the Anglo-Turkish Convention was "a mere sop to the Jingoes," but it was a most dangerous arrangement, and if opposed by Russia, might land this country in a conscription. Every end that had been attained might have been secured without paying ten millions for the glorification of Lord Beaconsfield. He believed that the ultimate effect of British policy would be the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire. The defect of Mr. Baxter's speech, as of every speech made just now, was the absence of any light, or any effort to throw light, upon the immediate future. It is guidance, and not criticism, that opinion now wants.
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