The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-03-26

was for the south while the oratcr
John Bright, sprung from the common
people, was on the side o. tyranny and
constitutional outrage and numbers
We have never had very much respect
for Bright from that day to the pres
emit. But the glorious and grand old
man, though higher born and more
masterfully educated. rose above En-
glish prejudice and allied himself in
hearty sympathy with the few mil
lions of southrons fighting for rights
and muniments and freedom and in
dependence. Honor, eternal homo to
his name, In a speech at Edinburgh in
October, 1862. Mr.. Gladstone was pro-
phetic in part. He said: The federaI
government can never put down the
rebellion. If it should, it would only be
the preface and introduction Of politi-
cal difficulties far greater than the war
itself"
THE political dificulties' came as
foretold and are with US to this hour
with cumulative power n growing
tendencies evil-ward, and no man can
foresee the end. The great Lincoln. in
the war, with the vision Of a seer fore
saw and foretold the money power was
more to be dreaded in the future, as
the output of the war, han ~confeder-
ate arms or any other cause. Nh. Glad
stone in 1863 said this: Il do not be-
lieve a more fatal error was ever COM
mitted han when men Of high intel
Iigence came to the conclusion that
the emancipation of the negro race
was to be sought, although they could
only a V to it by a sea of blood"
1t is not surprising that Earl Sails
bury, the present prime minister of
Great Britain, and the head of the
tory party, in December last, should
have declared that Gladstone was the
greatest of English statesmen since
the country was governed by parIia-
mentary law. He foresaw what awaited
this country when right and justice
and common sense were ruthlessly vic.
lated and trampled under the rude
heels of armed men. Mr.. Gladstone
stood by the right like a great, true
man loving liberty. John Bright sided
with power aggrandized and inflated,
forgetful of the rebellion against Eng
land, and violating every principle
lying at the foundation of free govern
; ment.
The solution of the Greek trouble
could be accomplished if the powers
were unselfish and without SO much
jealousy Of each other. If a proper
sense of right and justice prevailed
among them there would be no serious
obstruction in the way Of a peaceful
and fortunate settlement. The New
York Tribune commenting upon the
Gladstone ~deliverance, says this:
1.-THE powers have long denied tina:
Turkey has any rights in Crete. The
integrity of the Turkish empire is a
long exploded fiction. The CretanS
ought, therefore, to have rights Of their
own, and if any other power has rights
in hat island it is Greece, to whom
Crete belongs historically, geographic
cally and racially, as we'll as by pOpu-
lar preference. Seeing that Turkeys
rights are nil, and that Turkish gov
ms has become intOlerabla
through it's abuses, Greece, in respond
ing TO the desire of the Cretans and
the dictates of civilized humanity.
wants to assume the administration Of
, the island. She is willing to do SO under
the nominal suZerainty of the sultan
exactly as Great Britain is doing in
Cyprus and Egypt, and Austria-Hun-
gary in Bosnia. Such an arrangement
would satisfy the Cretans, would be
acceptable to Greece, and would not be
resisted ven by the sultan. 1t would
assure fail protection and equal justice
to the Moslem population of Crete, as
is proved by the fact that the Moslems
are thus dealt with in Thessaly. 1t
would be reasonable, logical, practical.
just and right. Yet the powers say it
shall not be-"
Some of the newspapers Of both Sec
ions comment upon the Inconsistent
attitude of Mr.. Gladstone in his recent
pamphlet while c%onceding fully his
great power exhibited in it. The elo-
quent leader has laughed over such
charges brought against him in other
days and about other matters. He says
he has been learning all his life and is
not concerned in 1870 or 1880, as to
what he thought in 1880 or 1910. This,
in our own words, is about the sub
stance of what we remember to have