NEWS OF THE WEEK.
LORD DERBY has definitively declined to adhere to the propo- sals formulated by the three Chancellors at Berlin, and his refusal has created some excitement at Vienna, the Austrians believ- ing, with justice, that it will increase the desire of the Sultan to resist concession. In reply to a question from Lord Granville on Monday, the Foreign Secretary admitted that he had refused to join the other Powers, but declined to explain his reasons, as he could not make them intelligible without publishing the proposals, which he was not at liberty to do. The secret about these proposals is well kept, but it will be found, we believe, that as we have all along stated, the " impossible " point about them is the "guarantee," the International Commission, which is to see them executed. The Porte would promise any- thing, but it will not bear to surrender the power of breaking its promises, to say nothing of the absurdity of entrusting their per- formance to a Commission composed of very discordant elements. Indeed, the Sultan could not make such a concession without the certainty of being superseded by his nephew Murad, and sent either into exile or another world. The Chancellors knew this quite well when they drew up their Memorandum, and their threat of" eventual consequences " was meant to be a reality.
