The Macedonian question was raised in the House of Commons
on Monday in an amendment to the Address moved by Mr. Stevenson, who urged that in view of the inadequacy of the measures hitherto adopted, and the obligations incurred by ourselves and the other signatories of the Treaty of Berlin, steps should be promptly taken to place the execution of reforms in the hands of a Governor responsible to the Powers. After speeches in support of the Motion from Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice and others, including three Unionist Members (Sir John Kennaway, Mr. Bond, and Mr. Moon), Lord Percy replied in a long, able, but entirely unsympathetic speech, containing statements which the Times in a leading article on Wednes- day characterises as incapable of being read without unfeigned astonishment. The obstruction of the Turkish Government, Lord Percy contended, had been of a purely passive character, and he attributed the main responsibility for the slow progress of the reforms to the action of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Committees. It was unfair, he added, to ascribe the conduct of these quarrelling races to the mis- government of the Sultan. In a word, Lord Percy, con- veniently disregarding the recent utterances and despatches of the Foreign Minister, reverted to the standpoint of Mr. Balfour's unfortunate "balance of criminality" speech.
Previous page
