There are some other items of foreign news, too interesting
to be passed over, yet scarcely admitting, of detailed statement.
Spain is in the throes of a new intrigue. There is a Fusion- ist project to unite the infant daughter of Queen Isabella with Prince Charles, a grandson of Don Carlos. Queen Isabella is re- turning to the dynasty as it was in Ferdinand the Seventh, and she believes that she is fortifying her rule by that stratagem.
Last week we left the Turkish Ministry strong in its new fu- sion; but it has undergone a little " crisis " since the appoint- ment of Aali Pasha to be Foreign Minister. Something forebade his continuance in his office : it was said that he had refused to ratify the " compromise " ; that the French ascendancy had re- gained its power, or that Redschid required too obsequious a submission from his rival and equal. Most likely, some point of personal punctilio dictated Aali Pasha's scruples. But the diffi- culty has been got over ; he takes office "'without portfolio "— joins the Ministry, but does not meddle with its foreign business.
Greece has come upon the scene, in the form of a circular by its Chancellor of the Exchequer, begging for " sympathy " and aid. Greece, the Chancellor says, has made wonderful progress, —although the bench is not yet independent, education is not yet completed, debates in Parliament are not yet free, and the Exchequer cannot get on without begging. With a French and English army in occupation, to support its Government and keep down its King—with its Chancellor of the Exchequer holding out his hand to charitable Christians—Greece cannot certainly be said, even yet, to have established itself in the European system.
Previous page
