We pointed out a few weeks ago that the Blue-books,
if care- fully studied, proved that this Government would have used force rather than not carry out the enfranchising clauses of the Treaty of Berlin. The Vienna correspondent of the Telegraph now telegraphs (Friday) a synopsis of the Austrian Red-book, which shows that Lord Granville fully expected that force would be required to settle the Montenegrin affair ; that he proposed to Austria to join in an occupation of Smyrna, hint- ing that England, as mandatory of Europe, was prepared to occupy it alone ; and that after this proposal, which, it is
almost certain, was revealed to the Sultan, the Porte yielded. Lord Granville would also, it seems evident, have used force to liberate Epirus as well as Thessaly ; but he was baffled by the secession of France, and a declaration from Prince Bismarck that the German Parliament would not vote money for coercion. But when, after he had accepted the Turkish proposal of a Conference, the negotiations still hung fire, he accepted in principle, as Mr. Goschen reports, a sug- gestion made by Germany that 30,000 Greek troops should be carried by Europe into Constantinople. Bit by bit, as the facts come out, Englishmen will understand that this is not a weak Government, and the Tories will begin to accuse it of always using force.
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