" Mtie 'I n October 6, 1849 Is there to be
war in Turkey, or not ? That is the question of the day, and much may be said on both sides of it: the unknown event, however, is marching on without much mercy for the wishes of those who antici- pate war with most dislike. If there be war, will England be bound to help Turkey ; and whether hound in honour or not, will she do it ? Those are questions still more easily put, not altogether in the boldest spirit. " I don't think our Ministers have the pluck!" cries the statesman of the " shopocracy," with a sickly sneer, to hide his fears lest they should. And that statesman is precisely the object of alarm to the Ministers; whom he despises for fearing himself, internally conscious as ho is that there is nothing about him to be really afraid of.
One enormous impediment stands in the way of England's taking part in any war—the financial demands for such a purpose. It is a double difficulty—difficuh in itself, and difficult through what opponents may make of it. However Ministers may feel nationally and chivalrously bound to support Turkey, they may naturally shrink from the immediate consequence at home—war on the Danube is more income-tax on the Thames. And however Notting Hill and Camberwell may have "come forward" to follow up Lord Palmerston's "spirited protests," it is in be doubted how far they would come forward with the subsidies needful to put those protests into action.
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