Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-24 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE'S RETURN

MR. GLADSTONE, it appears, is expected in
England next week ; and, with great propriety,
all discussion in Parliament on the subject of his
lonian mission has been postponed until after his
arrival. In the absence of the principal party
concerned, it would have been very unfair to have
indulged in those railing accusations with which
certain members of both Houses were apparently
'so well primed. The right hon. gentleman will
doubtless be able to explain many things in his
proceedings, and in those of the lonians them-
selves, of which at present there is probably no
slight misconception ; and on that account it is to
be hoped that the subject will be brought forward
first in the House of Commons, so as to afford the
requisite opportunity for making the necessary
explanations. He may, it is true, find it impor-
t-taut to abstain for a while' from discussing the
case in all its bearings. The lonian Farliament
was to be engaged with the whole question of
their constitutional position under the Protec-
torate of Great Britain ; and the same reason
twhich Lord Derby gave in the House of Lords
the other night against debating the subject there
la that time may, in part at least, exist still.
" If," said the Premier, " we are to enter into a

discussion, we must enter into the discussion of
(propositions which, embodied in the form of reso-
ilutions, are to be made the subject of debate in
the Assembly of the independent Republic of the
lonian Islands. In that body all these questions
twill be discussed, as the recommendations of Mr.
GLADSTONE have been put forward for the purpose
iof being submitted to the Legislature of the lonian
!Islands, and if they accept them it will be their
duty to embody them in the form of an Act which
swill have no, force until it has received the sanction

of the First Minister. It is therefore inconvenient

. that we should be discussing matters before they
/are brought forward in the independent Assembly
t of the lonian Islands, and by so doing we should
place the question in a very false position." For
.it is apt to be forgotten, that the lonian State is
not a Colony of Great Britain, but only under a
British Protectorate. It is, in fact, an independent
fßepublic—subject only to a specified and limited

Protectorship on the part of the British Govern-
*ment. As Lord DERBY. further pointed out, " its
Legislature is not subject to the control of the
Imperial Parliament, although its acts, before they
Ocan become law, must receive the sanction of the
Crown." The Imperial Parliament, therefore,
whatever it may have to do with the act of
Ministers in sending out Mr. GLADSTONE 011 this
'lonian mission, and with the right hon. gentle-
man's conduct in performing its duties,—and with
(these, of course, it has everything to do,—has yet
no right to interfere with the proceedings of the
llonian Legislature. As Mr. GLADSTONE may
probably bring with him the final decision of the
lonian Assembly, on the acceptance or the refusal
lof the propositions made to them, the whole ques-
tion will probably be then in a condition to be

ibrought properly before Parliament.
Already, then, we are seeing the strict fulfilment
)of the representations, on this affair, which Lord
iDERBY made to the House of Lords on the first
night of the session. Under the peculiar circum-
Istances of the case, as he shewed, " Mr. GLAD-
STONE, for the short time which he could lend to
,the service of the country in the lonian Islands
!consented that he should be himself the means of
recommending to the lonian people those altera-
tions and improvements which were requisite.

It being necessary for Sir JOHN YOUNG to retire,