The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-10-07 00:00:00

IG,E OBSERVER.

11"-D
there would ue an outcry 01 national indignation agah.
which no Government would be able to stand. What was de-
manded was that the Christian population in the Provinces
of Bosnia, Herzegovlna, and Bulgaria should have an
administrative control; that the taxation or tribute be
moderate and fixed beforehand ; that they be free both of the
Turkish people and Turkish authorities ; and that the rulers
set over them should be neither Turks nor Christians
dependent on the Turkish Government. They were all—
Whig and Tory, Churchmen and Nonconformists—unanimous
in the demand. Without departing from a single principle
he had held to allhis life, he could stand there on a common
ground with the most extreme and consistent Liberal. The
sympathies engendered on behalf of a common Christianity
and a common humanity rose superior to all ties and obliga-
tions, all the associations and traditions of Party. (Cheers.)
Well, then, it would seem. taking Lord Bath as the repre-
sentative of a large and p Iwerful section of the community,
that Minister' alone, it they are so, are hard and unfeel-
ing. Their Press is with them.. No doubt they are against
mercy and against freedom. They tell us, these writers in
their Press, that England was as bad in the Indian Mutiny,
and as bad on a small scale in that unhappy transaction
in Jamaica; but let me tell them that they supported those
enormities, whatever they were— (kear, hear)—and they are
only following out their own instincts and their own con-
stant policy when they refuse to condemn the infernal
wickedness and cruelties that have been perpetrated by
the Turks. (Hear.) We have had a speech lately from the
Chancellor of the Exchequrr, Sir Stafford Northcote. Speak-
ing in as unabashed a manner as his chief, he tells us
that England leads, and he said this most emphatically
to thousands of Yorkshiremen who were listening
to him the other day. Why up to this time, during
the whole of the spring. what England has done has not been
to lead but to thwart, and in a certain way to menace (hear),
because the Government thwarted the proposals of the other
Powers, and if they did not intend it as such the assembling
of the enormous fleet at the mouth of the Dardanelles neces-
sarily acted as a menace. (Hear, hear.) Well, let us lead. I
have no objection, if we can lead in a policy of mercy and of
freedom. Let us dissolve a Partnership with a Power which
curses every land that is subject to it. (Hear, hear.) One of
our poets bas said, and said truly,--.

" Byzintians boast that on the clod
Whereon their Sultan's horse has trod C.::.l -
Grows neither grass nor shrub nor tree'
And there is no doubt whatever that desolation and ruin are
the last memorials of Moslem power on the once fertile
shores of the Mediterranean Sea. (Hear, hear.) Well,
then, our duty now, I think, is clear. If we would i
wash our hands of thfs whole business, if, by reason of the ,
Treaty of 1856, or by reason of the negotiations of the 1
past few mouths, it is Impossible for the Government to
wash their hands of this whole question, then I say that
we ought to insist upon a new policy: and on that policy,
and along its lines, the Government, if it exists and acts
and leads, ought resolutely to load. It is only as the voice
of the country demands, it is only as the finger of the
country points. If the Government would do this even now.,
lithe speech of the Prime Minister the other day had indi-
cated that he had any sympathy with your views or any
sympathy with the oppressed in these countries, he might
have restored to himself probably the confidence of the
nation—(hear)—but his speech had entirely the opposite
effect. Of Lord Derby's private opinions we have abundant
evidence. We have his own speech which he made a dozen
years ago, extracts from which you have seen in most of the
newspapers; his opinions at that time, so far as I can gather
them from what he said, are precisely the opinions
that I have held all along upon this Eastern Ques-
tion. (Hear, hear.) But then Lord Derby is one of twelve
gentlemen who form the Cabinet and the Ministers of the
Queen. lam not without confidence in the wisdom of his
opinions, but my confidence is shaken when I come to think
of what he will do and of the strength of his convictions.
But what are we to say of his chief? I say the speech he
delivered the other day at Aylesbury was a speech of the
utmost defiance to the people of England (hear), and a speech
heartless and cruel as respects Servia and Bulgaria. (Hear,
hear) There is a demand for an autumn Session. (Hear.)
I believe nobody is so much opposed to an autumn Sesssion
as a member of Parliament. (Laughter.) Bat though it is
full of inconvenience, still the demand for it seems at this
time constitutional and wise. (Hear, hear.) Ministers are
at variance, and the Prime Minister, in his speech, defies
the country. It there was a dissolution now, what would
happen ? People would be thrown our. The probability
is, I think, that the Ministers themselves woule fear
greatly that they would be swept off the hoards and that.
for the new policy of the country a new Ministry would
be installed. I think that the chief who made that speech
I deeply regret must by this time also have regretted it. I
think the effect would ba that public opinion would mei
him from his pride of place and from his place of pow I
(Cheers.) Let him meet Parliament or let him meet cons
tuencies. lam not afraid what would be the decision of the
country. (Cheers.) We regret, the country regrets, our past
policy with regent to the Turkish question. We regret, and
the country regrets, the sacrifices of the Crimean war. We
are not now anxious to go into war to defend the Turks, and
we are not called upon and we do not intend to go to war to
defend the enemies of the Turks. 'We are at a long dtsiandL
from that part of the world. It is no business of yours tof
be sending ships and troops nearly 3,000 miles to effeor
terriberial changes in which we have no great and no direoll.l
interebt. It we had left it Zo the course of nature—nature
as explained to us by historic facts—the question would
some , way, no doubt, settle itself. But if we had a"
meeting of Parliament, or a Dissolution and a General
Election, the policy of England, in my opinion, would be
decl ed, and I am free to state, too, that as my judgment,
that e should have a solemn and irrevocable decision on
the part of the people of this country—namely, that the
bloodfand the treasure of England should never again be
' wasteil on behalf of the Turks. (Cheers.) That the vote otE
our G9vernatent, the vote of England in the Parliament on
Europe, shall be given in favour of jastice to Christian and
Moslem alike (cheers ),and that the Ottoman power shall be.
left hereafter to that fate that Providence has decreed to
corruption, tyranny, and wrong. (Great cheering)
Mn Bright having resumed his seat,
Lord Edward Cavendish, who contested the election for
'the North-East Division of Lancashire in 1874, said the speech
they had just heard was one of the most far-seeing and
(statesmanlike speeches that had ever been delivered in this
Lcountry. Although the Chancellor of the Exchequer said
that foreign policy was too diffieult a subject for the ordinary
English intellect, yet the country was now thoroughly
aroused, and the people were determined for the future that
the iufluence of England should not be used to maintain
Turkish misgovernment. Lord Edward spoke in conclusion
of the charge of agitating for party purposes brought by
Lord Beaconsfield against Mr. Gladstone. He should think
Lord Beaconsfield's colleagues must all feel the deepest
(regret that that speech was ever uttered.
,
Mr. Jacob Bright, M.P., who was loudly cheered, said
he was proud that the first public meeting on the Turkish
affairs was held in the Town-hall of Manchester. It was a
powerful meetinst, and had Rs effect throughout the
northern part of the kingdom. The charge that this
ffro„ a, mere fictitious movement was disproved ).7- e,..
the Free Trade-hall, and another yet was announced. He
mentioned these facts in proof that there was a powerful
movement among the people, based on deep feeling. He
hoped the influence of Manchester would have some effect
in securing self-government to the desolated Provinces of
-
Turkey. (Hear, hear.) ,
M. Hugh Mason said he knew of no moderation In this
noble cause. He hoped the people would be bold, resolute,
extreme, and even bigoted and fanatical. It was impossible
to speak with moderation after the speech of the Prime
Minister. He hoped that an autumn session would be vigor-
ously demanded.
The meeting was closed by a vote of thanks to the
President.
LORD JUSTICE JAMES on the EASTERN
QUESTION,
The Times of Tuesday published the following :
Sir,—l think that the accompanying suggestions of
a detailed practicable scheme for effecting the oject
we all have in view may deserve consideration.—Your
obedient servant, W: M. JAMES.
"I think it may be assumed that there will be no
diffieultY in procuring from the Porte the most unequi-
vocal acknowledgment and declaration that the
Mussulmans and non-Mussulmans are to be absolutely
equal before the laws.

"To maintain and enforce that declaration there
should be appointed for the Provinces of Bosnia,
Herzagcvina, and Bulgaria a Governor-General in
Council, with as extensive powers as the Governor-
General in Council has in India, the Council com-
posed of Mahomedans and Christians, with a tenure of
office of seven years. The first nominations to be made
after previcus communication with the six Powers—
viz., to be made really by them.
"These should be established within the Vice.
Royalty a Supreme Court of Justice, mposed in
equal numbers of Mussulmans and Christians, highly
paid and irremovable, as iu England and France. The
first nominations to be made as above suggested as to
the Governor-General in Council.

"The Judges should go Circuit, as in England, and
in each Circuit town there should be summoned to
meet the Judge a body like our Grand Jury, taken out
of the head men of the villages, who should be charged
to present, without fear, favour, or affection, any
cases of extortion, cruelty, or other oppression come
to their knowledge. At the Viceregal capital each of
the European Powers should have a Consular Agent,
who should be entitled to make official representations
to the Governor-General of any official wrong to the
people which he has become aware of.
"With these arrangements, and a system of com-
munal awl departmental administration like the
French, it appears to me that there would be a reason-
able chance of securing for the whole population alike
protection for life, industry, and property under equal
laws impartially administered and enforced.
"September 30."

-Solved, andllaris how to get the peol
end into church, because although t!
places in connection with the Churc of _ _ .in
which the Gospel is truly preached. I must say I do
not call it going to the house of God when -
goes to witness processions and pompa
And I know there are hundreds of thousands of
people living in the suburbs surrounding London,
having large incomes and fine houses, who do not attend
church any more than many of the workpeople do.
Let us look at the objections people urge to going out
on Sunday. Some say their clothes are not good
enough, but they are good enough if they have been
paid for. (Laughter.) I admit there are persons who
should never go to church—those who wear boots that
squeak, and ladies whose umbrellas are always falling
dlvn with a snap. Then you find people who say
they dok't go because of the heat and the bad air. I

they could have three I three or four ,-
td lip, but only ell