In his Manchester speech on Wednesday Mr. Balfour dealt chiefly
with foreign affairs. After briefly stating that the Government felt itself bound to redeem all its pledges with regard to agriculture, the voluntary schools, and the Indian cotton-duties, which he created some disappointment by saying that the Indian Government could not spare at the present moment, but of which they were determined to pre- vent any Protective effect by making the countervailing Excise-duty on the Indian cotton manufacturer really equivalent to the Import-duty, he turned to foreign affairs, and admitted "with sorrow and reluctance" that "the European Concert, which has been successful in deferring the reopening of the Eastern question, has not been equally successful in inducing the Sultan to adopt those re- forms in the administration of Turkey, in the absence of which I fear it is impossible to hope that the re- opening of the Eastern question will be indefinitely de- ferred." If that sentence is intended to keep the sword of Damocles banging over the Sultan, as it may be, we fear that it will nevertheless not alter by a single hairbreadth the Sultan's grim and stolid purpose. His nerve is steeled against everything but immediate danger. He does not discount even the terrors of the future.