NEWS OF THE WEEK.
R. GLADSTONE has at last taken up a line of his own on the jN Eastern Question, and we have to record with deep regret, and something like indignation, that on that line he is not—it is stated —to be supported, but opposed, by the front Opposition bench. Yet the defect of his resolutions is not due to their trenchancy, but to their caution. He proposes to the House to express dissatisfac- tion at the conduct of Turkey, in not complying with Lord Derby's demands of September 21 in relation to the Bul- garian massacres ; to base on this a statement that Turkey has lost all claim to either material or moral support from us ; to declare that our policy should be devoted to securing "local liberty and practical self-government" to the disturbed provinces of Turkey ; and to say that in that view we ought to renew as far as possible our policy of 1826 and 1827, in setting Greece free for all practical purposes from Ottoman control, and to "promote the concert of the European Powers in exacting from the Otto- man Porte, by their united authority, such changes in the Government of Turkey as they may deem to be necessary for the purposes of humanity and justice, for effectual defence against intrigue, and for the peace of the world." We should have greatly preferred a resolution approving a common action with any European Powers willing to co-operate with us, especially Russia, for the liberation of the Turkish provinces from Turkish control. But we must be content with what we can get, and the policy of Mr. Gladstone's resolution is far better than any policy yet sub- mitted to Parliament. So Sir John Lubbock is to give them the go-by, by proposing the "previous question," for which both the Government and the front Opposition bench appear to intend to vote,—the necessary result being that Mr. Gladstone's resolutions will drop out of the discussion, without being directly negatived.
