Much the same division of opinion exists as to the further question of ti wisdom of appointing an ex purre Commission, whose decisions shall, apparently, be final in the discussion, Such an action was the natural sequence and counterpart of Lord Salisbury's peremptory and uncompromising atti. tude, but it would seem to be an obvious and grievous error of judgment to add immensely to the difficulty of the situation by completing the impasse at which we Jvo mew arrived. The gravity ut the error—as many now deem it to he—is much relieved by the assurance that the labours of the Commission are, after all, only advisory, so to speak, and are designed to furnish a basis for further negoti lution. There is abundant room here for a more or less graceful escape from what at first seemed an all but hopeless dilemma, This explanation of the function of the Committee has, however, only made more evidently unwise and regrettable the menace of forcible resistance with which the Message closed. At this point the wiser judgment of the entire country is strongly opposed to the President's action. The religious Press is practically a unit against it, and of secular newspapers only the helpless jingoes are in its favour.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.