NEWS OF THE WEEK.

" THE mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small." For a whole year the States of Europe listened callously to the cries of the Armenians, whom they were bound by treaty as well as the principles of Christianity to protect. Now we acutely fear they will have to pay the price, as America paid the price for her slave-holding.

Affairs in the East have greatly advanced this week, for Greece has been called upon to make her ultimate decision. On Tuesday Lord Salisbury announced in the Lords the policy defined in the Note condensed below, which is substantially that Crete is to obtain autonomy, but that Greece must first retire from the island, and that the Turks must, for the sake of order, retain a garrison there. There was practically no debate in the Lords, Lord Kimberley playing his part as an ex-Foreign Secretary, and only trying with much adroitness to bind Lord Salisbury to a despatch to Vienna, in which he had intimated extreme reluctance to coerce Greece. In the Commons, however, Sir William Harcourt, who moved the adjournment, protested against the retention of the Turkish garrison as an almost "insane arrangement ; " and Mr. Courtney warned the Government that acts of war against Greece would not be supported by opinion. Mr. Balfour explained that the Turks would be " under the control of the Powers "—which is only correct in the best case if Yildiz Kiosk does not tell them to mutiny—but Mr. Morley repeated the objection. Everybody was moderate, but the feeling in the House is much deeper than any words yet employed, and a hundred Liberal Members have signed an address to the King of Greece approving his action. The point, of course, is how many Unionist Members would have liked to join in that most irregular action, a subject on which Lord Salisbury should not content himself with the opinions of Whips.

The identical " Note " of the Six Powers was handed in to the Government of Athens on Tuesday, and is a very menacing document, obviously altered once or twice, and finally, we imagine, with certain expressions inserted in it under pressure from Berlin. Athens is informed that " the Great Powers have agreed upon a course of action" in order to put an end to a situation which would com- promise the peace of Europe." Their points are that Crete cannot "in any case," "under present circumstances," be annexed to Greece. The Powers, however, have resolved to confer upon Crete "an absolutely effective autonomous" regime, " under the high suzerainty of the Sultan." They " confidently await the wise determination of the Greek Government to withdraw their ships and troops," but do not conceal " that in case of refusal they are irrevocably deter- mined to hesitate at no measure of compulsion, if on the expiry of six days the withdrawal of the ships and troops has not been effected." A more uncompromising ultimatum was never addressed to an independent Power, and it is all the more galling because the Note addressed to Turkey is far milder, and leaves the withdrawal of her troops to be settled by a separate Convention. The German Emperor has, in fact, forced France and England into a position in which they are distinctly acting against Greece on behalf of Turkey. The English people will certainly not be united in support of that policy.

The Greek Government need not decide till Tuesday, and much may occur in the three days. At present, however, information from Athens, and from all the capitals of Europe, indicates that the King has made up his mind, and will only yield when Greece has been defeated. He has made Colonel Metaxa, a Macedonian, Minister for War, has sent a more determined Commodore to Crete as Admiral, has ordered Colonel Vassos not to yield, and informs all who have access to him that he shall not retire. The whole reserve force of Greece has been called out, and is accumulating in Thessaly, and there are signs that the Albanians are beginning to massacre Greeks upon the Servian frontier. The Turkish force collected for the invasion of Greece is very large, and we distrust the rumours of its want of preparation. The Ottomans have rifles and bread, and the raggedness of their uniforms will only increase their disposition to plunder. There is still, of course, a chance of peace, for the Great Powers are afraid of quarrelling if war is once declared, but up to Friday afternoon the chance was but a thin one. Greece, in fact, as it would seem, has embarked upon a half-mad but quite heroic adventure.

The Turkish gendarmerie in Canes have been giving the Powers an object-lesson in Turkish methods. They have not been paid for fourteen months, and on March let dis- covered that while they still received nothing, their officers had received their salaries. The Albanians among them, the fiercest ruffians in the world, objected to this treatment, and as with the international Marines patrolling the streets there was nobody whom they could nicely plunder, they shot their Colonel, one Suleiman Bey, and his second-in-command, and barricaded themselves in their barracks. On Major Bor coming up to demand submission they shot at him, for- tunately without effect, and wounded an Italian officer, but the contest was too hopeless, and on the Marines harrying up they surrendered at discretion, and the ring- leaders will be executed. The whole scene was in the truest Turkish manner, but ended improperly, the regular course being for the Albanians to compel the merchants to give them their wages. A remarkable incident is said to have marked the proceedings. Suleiman Bey being frightened, promised the men their pay, and being a Turk, was laughed at ; but the Albanians said they would take his promises if he could get Major Bor's word as guarantee. Even Albanians understand the " perfidious " Englishman, who with two thousand of them, and unlimited power to enforce dis- cipline, would make Crete as safe as a drawing-room or a Bengalee district.

The precise attitude of the Great Powers is still as doubtful as ever. It may, however, be broadly assumed as accurate that the German Emperor, on personal as well as political grounds, is bitterly hostile to Greece ; that Austria shares this hostility out of dread of war; that Russia is annoyed rather than angry because she may have to take action she thinks rather premature ; and that Great Britain and France, though vexed and unhappy at the immediate prospect, are more hostile to Turkey than unfriendly to Greece. Those are the conclusions we draw from the mass of speeches, inter- views, telegrams, and, we are compelled to add, rumours and falsehoods which at present bewilder the British mind. The hour for clear action, diplomatic or other, has not arrived yet, but if France were governed by a great mind, her alliance with this country and Italy in a resolve to await events would be almost a foregone conclusion.

Mr. McKinley was installed as President of the United States on March 4th, and delivered an inaugural address which, except on one subject, is unexpectedly moderate. He remains determined to raise the tariff, and will call an extra Session of Congress on March 16th with that purpose. He accepts the gold standard, but talks the usual meaningless stuff about the " parity " of the metals, and evidently has some internal belief that if there is a surplus in the Treasury the currency will in a great degree right itself. He is strongly opposed to Trusts, wishes all laws to be more rigorously carried out, dislikes ignorant immigration, and desires to foster the mercantile marine. For the rest, he holds that "peace is preferable to war in almost every con- tingency," and advises that as the Arbitration Treaty "is clearly the result of our own initiative," and " presents to the world a glorious example of reason and peace, not passion and war " controlling international relations, it should be accepted by the Senate. The address is, except as regards taxation, most sensible ; but it is pointed out that every member of the new Cabinet except one is a millionaire. The effect of that, if the millionaires are not discreet, will probably be a further development of "Bryanism," which is at bottom discontent with the ascendency of capital.

The Halifax election has resulted in another defeat for the Unionists. Mr. A. Billson, Radical, was elected by a majority of 412 over the Unionist candidate Sir S. Crossley (for Mr. A. Billson, 5,664; for Sir S. Crossley, 5,252 ; for Mr. T. Mann, Labour candidate, 2,000). In 1895 the Conservative was returned by a majority of 390 over the highest Radical can- didate, Mr. W. R. Shaw. And'as on that occasion, also, there was a Labour candidate who polled 3,818 votes, instead of Mr. T. Mann's 2,000, the defeat implies a considerable relative loss of Unionist votes. But we can hardly expect to succeed at an ordinary by-election just now, while we are sacrificing so much of English sympathy to sustain the " Concert of Europe" with regard to Crete and Greece. Lord Salisbury is no doubt the truest friend of Crete among the European diplomatists. But that is not likely to be apparent to ordinary electors as they read the accounts of our many concessions to the pro-Turkish sympathies of the Emperor William. Nor can we greatly regret that the Government should see to what results in the constituencies their atti- tude is likely to lead.

The Lord Mayor gave a dinner at the Mansion House on Tuesday to the retiring American Ambassador, Mr. Bayard, proposing his health in an eloquent but too florid speech, in which he happily said that if Mr. Bayard's father had been asked of what he was most proud, he would have replied, "I am not certain whether I am more proud of being the son of my father, or the father of my son." But surely the Lord Mayor mixed his metaphors a little too freely when he said to Mr. Bayard, " You have distilled from the bosom of the English public that torrent of fraternal affection which will cement the love and affection which we [the English and American peoples] should and do entertain towards each other." Distilling from a "bosom," instead of a retort, and distilling a torrent of cement, is surely a very strange opera- tion. And how do you cement love and affection? Mr. Bayard made, as usual, an admirable speech in reply, in which he dwelt with pride on the fact that though there is a frontier of four thousand miles between the United States and Canada, there has never been for eighty-five years the sound of a hostile gun, and never been on the great lakes a single armed ship worthy of the name or a single fortified fortress. That is really a matter to be proud of, but it will be more difficult to make the same boast eighty-five years hence, if America should intervene more freely in European politics, as we have often been tempted to hope that she would. Of Lord Salisbury's little speech, which was a very thoughtful one, we have said enough in another column.

the South African Committee's sitting on Friday, February 27th, and on Tuesday last, Mr. Rhodes was still under examination. On the Friday, Mr. Blake put some very pertinent questions as to Mr. Rhodes's duties under the Charter. Mr. Blake read the clause of the Charter requiring all the Company's officers to communicate freely with the High Commissioner, and then asked whether it was not his duty to communicate "your plans with reference to the Johannesburg incursion." To this Mr. Rhodes replied, " You must be the judge of that" Later Mr. Rhodes, in answer to a question from 141-. Labouchere, read President Kruger's speech at the banqutIt to celebrate the German Emperor's birthday. It was in th.s speech that President Kruger said, "If one nation tries to kick us the other will try to stop it." Asked as to the profits made by his company, the Gold Fields of South Africa, and how, if the gold industry was so much overtaxed, the company could pay such large dividends, Mr. Rhoden explained that " the profits were made out of the forma- tion of companies and the dealing in shares." At the close of the sitting Mr. Labonchere asked Mr. Rhodes what were his wishes as to his examination on the second half of the Inquiry,—that dealing with the Chartered Company. Mr. Rhodes replied, "I should like you to take me before I go ; but if you want me to come back to be examined on the administration of the territory, the working of the Company, and so forth, I will come back. But I do not want to remain in England six or eight months doing nothing." No doubt it must be a weariness of the flesh to have much to do with a Parliamentary Committee, but Mr. Rhodes must, we fear, endure it. People who do not like being worried in this way should not engage in organising raids which turn out failures. Bat, of course, if Mr. Rhodes presses for it, the Committee ought to take the rest of his examination without delay.

On Tuesday Mr. Rhodes, examined by Mr. Bigham, gavc, some of the facts as to the withholding of political rights from the Outlanders, and Mr. Rhodes, who had previously shown so much contempt for and ignorance of details, became quite encyclopa3dic in his information. Mr. Rhodes calculateZ that the adult male Boer population was only twenty thousand, while there were eighty thousand adult male Outlandera The Outlander population was also increasing at the rate of twenty-five thousand a year. Before the finding of gold the revenue of the Transvaal was about 275,000 a year. Now it is about four and a half millions. When the organisation of the Reform movement began, no one could get the vote unless he had been living in the country since 1876, or was the son of an enfranchised burgher. Attempts had beer made to degrade the Bench, public meetings were practically prohibited, and the local authorities might forbid crowds of more than six on the streets. Mr. Rhodes ended by declaring to Mr. Wyndham that he always felt that Kruger would give way in the end, and that there would be a bloodless revolution. "I held the opinion that if the High Commis- sioner had told him firmly that he must give civil rights to these people, he would give them." But if that is so, why did not Mr. Rhodes, both at the Cape and in this country, organise an open agitation in favour of inducing President Kruger to give civil rights ? A constitutional agitation of that kind, both inside and outside the Transvaal, backed by the yearly influx of twenty-five thousand Outlanders, must have been successful.

A very interesting South African case was decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on Friday. February 26th. It was an appeal in regard to a native chief named Sigcau, who was arrested and imprisoned without any warrant being issued, without any definite charge being brought against him, and without being brought before any tribunal, but simply on a proclamation issued by the Governor of the Cape directing the arrest, on the general ground that Sigcau had disregarded and defied the law. This proclama- tion was issued in June, 1895, while Mr. Rhodes was Premier and Secretary of Native Affairs. On what was apparently a Habeas Corpus proceeding, the Cape Supreme Court declared the arrest illegal and ordered the release of Sign% The Judicial Committee upheld this decision. Lord Watson, who delivered the judgment, spoke very strongly as to the illegality committed, and described the proclamation as " an edict deal- ing with matters adminiitrative, judicial, legislative, and executive in terms which are beTon 1 the competency of any

authority except an irresponsible Sovereign or a supreme and unfettered Legislature, or some person or body to whom these functions have been lawfully delegated."

The Niger Company is in the vein of success. It has found an Emir who consents to govern the northern parts of Nupe from Bida in its interest, and it will govern Southern Nupe by its own agents, assigning farms to black immigrants from the North, who, if well treated, will, it is hoped, be devoted to its interests. Its able soldier, too, Major Arnold, has after a march of two hundred miles taken Ilorin. The march was at first unopposed, and even encouraged by friendly messages, but on February 15th, Major Arnold, whose men were marching in single file, suspected mischief, and suddenly formed them in square. He had hardly done so when he was attacked from the rear by eight hundred cavalry and five thousand infantry, apparently well armed. The Houssas not only stood firm, however, but reserved their fire till the enemy were within fifty yards, thus inflicting fearful loss. The enemy kept on firing, but the square moved steadily forward upon Ilorin, and on February 16th entered the city, from which the Emir had fled with his followers. The defeat is considered final, and perhaps it is, but we must wait to hear more about the kind of garrison Major Arnold can leave behind him. The -native Emirs whom we are obliged to appoint have so many jealous rivals that they may be faithful, but once secure their first thought is to rid themselves of the restraining presence of the white men. There are evidently the materials among the Houssas for a fine African Legion.

The number of persons on relief works in India has risen above three millions, and the Plague is increasing in area. The Governor of Bombay telegraphs on February 28th that the " reported" deaths in his capital from the disease were in the week ending February 26th 730, while in Poona, the Mahratta capital, they are so numerous that the " most drastic measures must be taken." He evidently does not believe the figures as regards Poona, which show only 236 deaths in February. In Kurrachee the deaths were 205 for the week, and there were cases reported from eight other large and populous districts. A great number of houses will be pulled down or burned in all infected places ; but the Government is greatly hampered by the reluctance of the people to confess the truth. There is a special difficulty, too, in Bombay arising from the high pecuniary value of the enor- mous residences, the insulge, as the Romans called them, into which the labouring classes now crowd. A sanitary officer recently found that one of them was occupied by twelve hundred tenants, for whom the sanitary accommodation was entirely insufficient, and indeed could hardly be said to exist.

The Committee on the Education Bill began on Monday with a proposal to postpone the first clause, which was very feebly supported and peremptorily negatived. It represented the general dilatory tactics of the Opposition. The next amendment was declared out of order by Mr. Lowther (the Chairman of Committees). Then a wholly superfluous amend- ment was moved to omit the word " necessitous " before voluntary schools,—the whole object of the Bill showing that that was and could only be the purpose of the Bill,—and that amendment was negatived by a majoritytconsiderably greater than the majority of the Government,—and so the cavilling went on almost all night, the only amendment of the least substance being one by Mr. Griffith to restrict the operation of the Bill to schools in existence before the passing of the Act,—on which the Opposition appeared to contend that new voluntary schools would be built and equipped out of private resources only in order to obtain the new 5s. grant,—but the amendment was rejected by a majority of 139. Then other petty questions were raised, concluding with an amendment of Lord Cranborne's, moved only to obtain an explanation from the Government, which quite satisfied him, though the Opposition would not allow him to withdraw the amendment, which was, however, negatived without a division. On this night the Closure was only once moved by the Government.

In the same Committee on Wednesday afternoon the first considerable discussion arose on a proposal by Mr. Evans that the grant-in-aid should never exceed in the aggregate the sum contributed per scholar by voluntary subscription, though that would make the Bill perfectly useless for the purpose of almost all the poor Roman Catholic schools in the country, where voluntary subscribers are few and distant. At length Mr. Carson moved the Closure (Mr. Lowther having dis- allowed it a little earlier), and it was voted by a majority of 157, after which the amendment was negatived by a majority of 200. Thereupon Mr. Evans moved a further amendment to reduce the 5s. grant-in-aid to 4s., and after another hour and a half's discussion Mr. Balfour moved the Closure, which was carried by a majority of 167, when Mr. Evans's amendment was rejected by a majority of 225. And then at last, after another half-hour, Mr. Balfour got the first ten lines of his Bill agreed to.

Yet this is the sort of discussion which Sir Henry Fowler, speaking in the Free-trade Hall in Manchester on Wednesday night, described as interrupted by the unfair use of the Closure, and as aggravated on Monday night by a "con- spiracy of silence." If there is a conspiracy of frivolous cavil on one side, a conspiracy of silence on the other is the only proper answer to it, and so far as Monday night was con- cerned, no charge could be less just than that the Closure was unfairly used. On Wednesday night the Chairman did in a single instance disallow the Closure when Mr. Balfour had proposed it, but that only showed that he holds the scales of justice evenly, and he allowed it a very short time afterwards. We do not think that any one who studies the debate will deny that the combination of Welsh Radicals to suffocate the Bill with unjustifiable amendments, was far more conspicuous than any attempt on the side of the Government to cut short their loquacity.

On Thursday by far the most important discussion in the Committee was on an amendment moved by Mr. Ellis Griffith, the object of which was to compel the Government to give the grant-in-aid of 52. for every child in every voluntary school without distinction between the necessitous and the non-necessitous schools,—in other words, to waste the money on cases where it is not wanted, and to leave no reserve out of which the more necessitous schools can receive additional assistance, though more than 5s. per child is urgently wanted. The Opposition supported this proposal on the ground that though it would waste money sometimes, it would not waste so much as any bribe to a school to prove itself to be necessitous, though there was no reason why it should be necessitous, would waste it. The discussion lasted three hours and a half, after which Mr. Balfour moved and carried the Closure by a majority of 134, and rejected the amendment by a majority of 140.

On Thursday, too, Sir W. Harcourt, who made a speech at Stepney on Crete and other subjects, referred to the Educa- tion Bill as a Bill for endowing sects, and especially for endowing the Church of England schools. As it is a Bill for helping schools to make their secular education more efficient, and does not give a shilling to Church of England schools as such, nor a shilling which it does not give also to other denominational schools which are in need of help for the improvement of their secular teaching, this assertion of Sir William Harcourt's shows his usual indifference to accurate statement. He declared that the Opposition would be helpless to amend the Bill,—which we think very likely, especially as many of them have no wish to amend it, but only to mutilate and indefinitely obstruct it. For that purpose, we trust, they will find themselves absolutely incompetent.

The Navy Estimates are on the whole satisfactory. The net total is £21,838,000, or £15,000 above those of last year. Though the shipbuilding vote shows a decrease of about half a million, it is proposed to lay down four new battleships, three third-class cruisers, two sloops, four twin-screw gun- boats, two torpedo-destroyers, and a new yacht for the Queen. The great feature of the Estimates is, however, the increase in the personnel. There is to be an increase of 6,300 men (of whom 1,000 are to be Marines), which will bring the total up to 100,500. The Naval Reserve is also to be reorganised, and made more efficient. This is most satisfactory, and shows the agitation in favour of more men to have been amply justified. Taking last year and this year together, the addition to the personnel of the Fleet is over 11,000 men.

Bank Rate, 3 per cent.

New Consols (4) were on Friday, 1111.