On Thursday afternoon, a Nonconformist "Ministerial Con- ference" was held
in the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, for- the purpose of presenting to Mr. Gladstone an address on the- risk of war. The address contained the names of four hundred ministers of Dissenting congregations in the London district, and declared that "for the war with Russia with which we are menaced' they "had failed to discover any justification," and that they had, therefore, determined to strengthen Mr. Gladstone's hands by placing in them the record of their cordial support. Mr. Gladstone,, in receiving and replying to the address, contrasted very power- fully the virtual unanimity of England at the time of the Crimea)) war with that wide division of opinion which renders it possible for such a county as South Northumberland to divide its vote equally between the Government and the keenest antagonists the Government, and which admits of popular meetings of the greatest enthusiasm on each side of the present issue. Ewa such large minorities as the Liberals gained in the recent Wor- cester and Hereford elections could never have been gained in- opposition to the war policy of 1853. Mr. Gladstone maintained that the nation is now profoundly divided, instead of profoundly unanimous, and that worse still, while in 1853 we were acting with the moral support of all Europe, we are now acting in con. plete moral isolation. He maintained that as by our policy of two years since we had driven the Bulgarians into the arms of Russia, so we are now doing our best by our isolated action to drive Austria into the arms of Russia, and to compel her to- agree with her adversary quickly while she is in the way with him. He warned his audience against the selfish Eastern policy of Austria, and showed how she had forbidden Montenegro to rescue from Turkey her old northern possessions. That is all quite true. But does not Mr. Gladstone press his anger against Austria too far? Austria, jealous though she is of Montenegro, would be a very respectable mistress for such provinces as Bosnia and the Herzegovina ; and if Austria is so likely to be thrown into the arms of Russia by the policy of the Government, is it not possible that the same result might be partly due to the too great distrust of the Opposition ?
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