Lord Rosebery was the principal guest on Tuesday at the
annual Oyster Feast at Colchester, when the company are supposed to have eaten twelve thousand oysters,—at least that was the number provided. He made a humorous speech about the qualities of the oyster, saying that it was not selfish but self-contained, that its house was its castle, like an Englishman's, that it avoided altruism lest opening its mouth it should be snapped up, and that it crowned its " blameless and interesting career" by allowing itself to be served up for dinner,—a " life of virtue crowned by a termination of utility." And then Lord Rosebery became serious, declared that his policy was identical with Lord Salisbury's, which there is reason to hope it is not, and repeated in even stronger terms his argument at Edinburgh. Isolated action would mean war. "I will not add to the massacre of Armenians the massacre of other great popula- tions, in order to precipitate Armenian extinction." "My in- formation is good, my conviction will not be destroyed by any rhetoric, however impassioned ; benefit the Armenians if you can, but do not draw down upon yourselves an Armageddon." How it is to be drawn down, if we arrange terms with the Dual Alliance, Lord Rosebery did not hint. We are to con- fide in him, and let the Armenians go—that is, submit to the most humiliating defeat in history, at the hands of the Sultan.
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