Mr. Bryce and Mr. Asquith both spoke on We _iiv_liday
upon the Eastern question,—the former at Aberdeen, the latter at Leven. Mr. Bryce's speech is important, not so much from his position as a former Cabinet Minister as from his wide knowledge of the subject, and his usually cool his- torical judgment. He entirely believes that the Sultan intenes the extirpation of the Armenians ; and estimates the deaths which have occurred by massacre and hunger at a hundred thousand. He thinks that the best remedy would be the partition of Turkey, but the Powers are not ready for that. The next best would be to place Turkey under a European Commission, but this demands an accord of many years, which is hardly to be hoped for. The third best, as involving no territorial changes, would be to depose Abd-ul-Hamid, which if Europe were united would not, he thinks, be a difficult task. If the Powers would not agree even to that, Mr. Bryce would denounce the treaty binding us to support Turkey, would withdraw our Ambassador, and would take some farther serious step, which is not distinctly specified, but which would not lead to war. He means probably the enfranchisement of Arabia from the Sultan, which would knock the Khalifate to pieces, but he does not say this. The speech should be read carefully, for it is full of knowledge.
