Eves a clever daughter-in-law," says the Chinese proverb, "cannot ewo without and it seems tu us an equal impossi-Dility to uke an interesting dish out of the papers brought from home by the Sutlej. They are absolutely forlorn in their emptiness. The St. Jimes's Budyet, for instance, which is generally complete in its summary of ews, yi a-half columns under the heading News." The subjects are the American Consressionai elections, of which we have already heard something'; a notice of the negotiations with Portugal, feom which we learn that if Lord Salisbury does not soon make a new treaty, and does wot meanwhile take care that Portugal's po: sessions and claims in Africa are scrupulously respected, public opinion in Portugal will become uncontrollable, and something terrible will happen. Bishop Tucker's cara van had been attacked on its way to Uganda by the Ugugu, "and owed its safety mainly to the marked gallantry of Lieut. Siegel and the escort of twenty Germans, three of whom were killed." There seems to be little doubt that the of Captain John Orth ship, the St. Marga near Staten Island, Tierra del Fuego.
Except what we have here mentioned there is no foreign political news whatever, but there is such sad stuff as the following, whose insertion is the more remarkable, as much later news had been received in London direct from China by November 7th, the date of the paper before us The steamship Oceanic, which left Hongkong on 9th September and Yokohama on 18th September, arrived in San Francisco on Saturday. She reports that anarchy reigns in South Formosa, which is overrun by robbers. The Chinese warship there is unable to check piracy on the coast, and the junk trade has for aid for the sufferers from the inundations een interruptd. 'An appeal has been made at Peking. Four millions of people are des: Heute, and. terrible suffering exists among them.' Business is suspended at Taotai in consequence of a strike. The troops called out to quell the disturbances among the strikers fired upon the mob, six persons being killed. Serious trouble is feared A plot was discovered to kill the King of Corea and his family during the obsequies of the Queen. Sixteen suspected persons have been arrested, including the brother of the King, who was the leader of the would-be assassins. It is rumoured that five Chinese warships were lost sixty miles from Jinsen during the violent gale which prevailed just previous to the Sailing of the Oceanic.
The only other foreign news of avy importance that we can ud is the advent to power in Greece of M. Delyaunis, who appears to be pledged tu a turward policy but it is well to remember that Ministers do not always carry out when they get into power all the promises they made when they were still in uppusitiun. According to the St. James's the exciting cause of the change of government in Greece is jealousy of Bulgaria's progress. It says Delyaunis lias as much regard for the opinion of "the civilised world " as the statesman who once patronised him, he must feel a little mortified just now. His advent to power in Greece is, with singular unanimity, pronounced to be a misfortune for Greece and or Europe. It is generally understood. that M. Delyaunis's Ministry will mean a policy of plunging; and the new: Premier confirms this impression by the highly injudicious language he has held Yo a corespondent of the Journal des Deébats, The Greeks have been rendered very sore lately, not so much by the doings of the Turks as by the doings of the Bulgarfane, The rival nationality in the Balkans is pro-sporous, successful, gaining in prestige ever lay; whereas the Greeks are standing still. The agitators of Athens have evidently succeeded in persuading the electors that it is neurly time for another ' go" at the Turks. For this, as things have been arranged in the Kast of Burope foursome time past, isa choup amusement, If you beat the Turk, well and good. You keep what you have taken from hint, the Turk beats you, you set up a howl about atrocities, and"? Europe" comes in und frightens him away. But the game will not' be played that way this time. "If the Greeks are foolish enough, to quarrel with the Turks, they will probably be left to take their thrashing.
Nothing is more common than to read in Unionist journals that Mr. Gladstone has degenerated into an unscrupulous place seeker, who subordinates his own ideas entirely to what he believes to be the wish of the masses at the moment; that hi fact constantly on the fence,' prepared as down upon the side which he tinds occupied regards awy question whatever tu jump by the more numerous crowd. Even the Spectator, which always retains its udtiiras tion for Mr. Gladstone, while it hates and fears his Home Rule policy, recently repeated this accusation. The Hconomist, however, also a strongly Unionist paper, takes a very different, and we think nich more correct view ut Mr. Gladstone's charac ter. He is," it says, 'a person, it may be conceded, of considerable craft, with intellectual pleasure in making hi think that his mind is undecided, but he is also © man of peremptory convictions, which he has the greatest difficulty in keeping back, even when it is most inconvenient to express them." Tt concludes a very thoughtful article as follows We suspect that those who accuse. Mr. Gladstone of being always guided by deference to popular feeling entirely underrate his confidence that he can make that feeling go very much as he pleases. "Character rarely-alters and Mr Gladstone throughout life has de:
nided very much upon his own mind and his own power of speech. He has never cared one jot whether any colleague quitted him or not; and we cannot remember un instance in which he has bent to a general public opinion which he did not share—for, sentatives of scmicindependent Ireland in be it remembered, his plan for seating repre: Westminster has never been even outlined, He dissolved in 1874 without telling anybody but the Queen; he fought the whole force of "society" in dealing with Purchase in the Army; be defied his own past, when he abolished the Irish Establishment, and he went in the teeth of all politicians, of his own best colleagues, and of the popular majority when he proposed Home Rule. He Tikes say that he will be guided by the people, and has probably a strong belief that in representative government a popular demand should he obeyed, if possible; but he has quite sufficient belief in himself and i ill. The majority against him in 1886 has never shaken him at all, or induced him to give way one step. He will go his own way on questions he thinks serious, though he will bow to the crowd as he goes, and will, whenever be ca, give "popular opinion" the solace of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.