Mr. Gladstone sent to the papers of Saturday last the
moat effective commentary on our Eastern policy, or want of policy, whiclrlie has yet published. The organs of the Government;— the -Pall Mall and the Telegraph more especially,—keep con- tinually crying out that it is the part of trim wisdom and patriotism to strengthen the hands of our Adminidtration, though they do not give us the least hope that they are to be strengthened to do what the English people desire. 'Mr. Gladstone is anxious to strengthen their hands if they ititlend to 'change their policy, and to weaken their hands if 'they 'intend, as Lord Derby expressly declared, to pursue itWithout unsaying a ward or regretting a deed of the last few tnenths. Accordingly, that kind of policy Mr. Gladstone's letter Of Saturday must have very materially weakened, if it did not render it utterly impossible. He pointed out how Mr. Disraeli had declared on July 17 that he had been addressing rather advice than remonstrances to the Turkish Government, simply because that Government was so anxious to be guided by British advice that remonstrance was not needed ; that in spite of this analetythe Turkish Government first 'denied the Bulgarian out- rages and suppressed the newspapers that related them, then pro- motedthree at least of the miscreants who superintended them, —Mr. Baring's Report shows that they promoted five,—and lastly, sent a man (Selim) to inquire into them, who tortured such Bulgarians as gave evidence which he did not like; and that through all this, Sir Henry Elliotaticeording to Lord Derby, con- tinued to make a dozen unrecorded (and disregarded) remon- strances for every one which was recorded (and also disregarded), and that, nevertheless, " unlimited doses of protest and remon- strance " are'still apparently held to be the only proper modea discharging our duty at Constantinople. No service rendered by Mr. Gladstone to the English people since he left office has equalled this pithy and powerful letter. It was a letter which, in a moment, made clear to the country the policy wrapped up in the embarrassed phrases, and the -expressions of dull and almost sodden intellectual obduracy, contain-ed in Lord Derby's previous manifesto.
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