the late Ministry which could have affected our position at Constantinople, and the gradual withdrawal of England from all interest or risk of entanglement in Continental politics was a favourite and avowed object of Liberal speculation on foreign affairs. It was not long before the natural result was produced in the general contempt with which English advice in foreign affairs was regarded at the great Courts of Europe. It seems almost a burlesque on constitutional government to talk of recalling the late Ministry to power with any view of increasing the weight with which English counsel shall be received on questions of foreign policy. Lord Derby had not been many weeks at the Foreign Office before a marked change came over the estimation in which England was regarded by foreign politicians. Without bluster, and with careful abstention from anything like arrogance in tone, or selfishness of purpose, the influence of England insensibly increased, and it is at this moment far greater in Constantinople than that of any other single nation. It may not be quite equal to the task of inducing the Sultan and his dynasty to volunteer abdication in order to make way for an Anglo-Russian dynasty, as one member of the late Government has suggested, nor to commit a 'happy despatch' by walking out of Europe without a struggle-the only alternative to a general war, which Mr. Gladstone's proposals admit of. We can imagine nothing more deplorable in the interests of the varied populations of Turkey, nothing more certain to hasten a general war in Europe over the spoils of the Turkish Empire, than that the conduct of affairs should pass from the hands of Lord Derby into those of agitators, who, when in power, showed themselves so little prescient, so careless of all consequences in diplomacy, provided they could effect some small economies, and who allowed the influence of England at Constantinople to sink so low-who, moreover, in the present crisis, have shown so little capacity either for calm judgment or for any action, save such as must precipitate the outbreak of hostilities, of which no statesman can calculate the possible area, nor any man living foresee the ultimate result. The true feeling of the country has been exhibited in the all but universal approval of the conduct of the Porte in accepting and going beyond the armistice asked for by the Powers by the offer of an armistice through the whole winter, accompaniednot by new promises-but by the actual inception of constitutional reforms for the whole Empire. The scheme of those reforms is now before the Powers, and a Commission of high Mussulman and Christian dignitaries, under the presidency of Midhat Pasha, is already engaged in reducing it to law. The reply of Russia (and we suppose we must give Servia its due place in a parenthesis) will test its real motives and probably decide the question of peace or war for Europe, and give a chance to the germs of political regeneration or mark the beginning of new troubles for the Christians of Turkey. Meanwhile it is most ominous for the cause of peace and improvement to see the organs of agitation in our press treating the proposed armistice and the scheme of reform alike as a rejection of the requirements of the Powers, and a mere attempt at gaining time with a sinister purpose, which is not that of good government, but of adjourning. . . the inevitable revolution in Eastern Europe.' Nothing could be more characteristic of the state of mind to which the agitators have worked themselves up, than such language addressed to Europe at a time when peace and war are hanging in the scales. Is it really meant that every effort of Turkey to meet our wishes is to be interpreted as an insult that she should dare to have the least voice in the European concert which is to settle her own affairs? Our present task is preventive rather than constructive; but the germs of a new construction seem to lie in Lord Derby's proposal of local self-government and administrative reform. All depends on the choice of the men, and especially of the presiding genius. Both Sclavonians and Greeks might grow up to the destiny that may await them, but for which both need preparation and self-discipline. Their dissensions may be healed; their churches may be reformed into some semblance of that purity which some vainly think they see in contrast to Roman Catholic corruption. But such a future must have a natural growth. The object is not within the reach of a stroke of policy by which the Greek Empire should be resuscitated; and it would certainly be lost by enthroning the Czar at Constantinople. Time may reveal the nation and the man fit to establish a free Christian State over these seats of the highest ancient civilization in Asia as well as Europe. Meanwhile, taking a calm retrospect of the whole matter, we believe it will be found, when the present excitement has calmed down, that, as so often happens in the warmest debates, the two parties have but been advocating the two co-ordinate aspects of that great policy on which the English people have set their hearts; and that the bulk of the nation and of her leading statesmen are equally resolved to bring Turkish misrule to an end in Europe, and to stop the march of Russia to Constantinople. INDEX TO THE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SECOND VOLUME OF THE A. ADAMS, President, described by Tick- Age of the World, modern philosophers on the probable, 202-the Mosaic America, disposition of property in, 283. American education, 289. literature, 276, 277. women, freedom and inde- pendence of, 284. Argyll, Duke of, speech at Glasgow on Bishops, American, the Act of 1786 for the consecration of, 273. Bore, Rev. C. S., his impostures to ob- Boydell, John, 458-his illustrated Bristol, idleness and drunkenness in, British relationships in America, 255– Brougham, Lord, remark on his death, Brunnow, Baron, letter to Lord John Brydone's 'Tour in Sicily,' anecdote of Bulgarians, the, their character, 567- 2 R 588 Burdett-Coutts, the Baroness, letter on C. Carden, Rev. Dr., his impostures to Cave, Mr., his mission to Egypt, 453. Charity, its false system in London, Chartist meeting and procession, its Chenevix, Mrs., the toy woman, at Clive, Mrs., the actress, Dr. Johnson's Confolens dolmen, the, 149, n. 415. Crimean War, its object, 487. New Whig Guide,' 103-origin of Croll, Mr., Climate and Time,' 203- D. Davy, Sir Humphry and Lady, de- Denison, Edward, 385-his exertions for the London poor, 385-389-death, Derby, Lord, on the Suez Canal, 438- E. Eastern Question, the, and the Govern Edgeworth, Miss, anecdote of, 191, 192. Elgin Marbles, the, their purchase ad- England, her complicity, direct or in- -a 'sur- and America, social relations 363. Evans, Mr., work on Bosnia and the ments,' 144-his three propositions, Fraudulent Institutions, number of, Frothingham, R., Rise of the Re- G. Gerard, J. W., 'The Old Streets of Gifford, Mr., described in Ticknor's Gilbert, Sir John, illustrations of Gill, W. W., 'Myths and Songs from Gladstone, Mr., the Bulgarian Horrors Gothic Revival, first conceived by Gray, Thomas, travels with H. Wal- Greece, 493-its backward state, 494 scheme for the pur- Grossetête at the Council of Lyons on |