Mr. Rylands made his threatened speech against Sir Henry Elliot
on Tuesday, and it was rather injudicious, hinting that the Ambassador Ordinary thwarted the Ambassador Extra- ordinary at Constantinople, which, of course, he could not prove. Mr. Forster, however, restored the debate to dignity, in a speech in which he showed that Sir H. Elliot's policy was to uphold Turkey, whatever massacres might be the result, declared that " European peace could best be preserved by the fulfilment of European duty," and held Government to their repeated asser- tions that they would not fight for Turkey. He believed that the Turks were growing excited with their successes, and read a letter from Constantinople stating that the Turks threatened no longer to submit to the capitulations which alone protect European sub- jects from oppression. If the British Government prohibited Russia from acting, the responsibility for the Christians would in future rest upon ourselves exclusively. The return of Sir. H Elliot would be dangerous, from his very zeal in the maintenance of ideas which Were no longer those of the country. These views were expressed with the same strength by Mr. Gladstone also, in a speech in which he repudiated the notion that British interests were the only measure of British responsibility.
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