6th Oct. Tue probability that Mr. Gladstone would be able or willing to return to power was certainly not contemplated when he retired two years ago. However physically strong a man in his eighty-seventh year may be, and however completely he may retain his intellectual faculties, after sixty years of public service he is entitled to retire. Nothing but the dissensions in his old party could call him back to the field. There is no reason to suppose that his agitation against the Sultan was undertaken with any desire of bringing himself before the public; nothing of the kind would be necessary in his case, As we already hinted, and as is now stated in recent telegrams from home, this agitation, while it is inspired by the feelings of humanity which have always been unusually strong in Mr. Gladstone, was also undertaken with the view of strengthening Lord Salisbury's hands, As the Spectator pointed out some little time ago, Lord Salisbury was looking to the nation for direction, and the recent agitation was undertaken to show him clearly, and enable him to show the Foreign Offices of Europe, what the feeling of Great Britain really is. It has been fairly successful. As regards Crete all the Powers followed Lord Salisbury's lead, abandoned their cruel proposal that' united Europe should blockade the island and allow the 'Turks to do as they liked with the Christians, and induced the Sultan to grant the Cretans what is almost self-government; while as regards Armenia, Lord' Salisbury has agreed with Russia and France to send a joint note to the Porte, demanding the adopting of reforms which will secure the safety of the Armenians.
When Mr. Gladstone retired, there were two candidates for the Liberal leadership, Sir William Harcourt, Mr. Gladstone's most able lieutenant in the Commons, and Lord Rosebery, Under ordinary circumstances the leadership would have gone without question to Sir William Harcourt. He is beyond question one of the ablest men in the House of Commons as a " Parliamentary hand he is sufficiently popular, and he has the great advantage of being, as the Prime Minister should be; in the governing branch of the legislature. But there were some 40 Imperialist Liberals, who would not serve under Sir William; and as their defection would have been more than sufficient to upset the Liberal Government, the Radicals who supported Sir William gave way and accepted Lord Rosebery. Their adhesion to Lord Rosebery has never, however, been whole-hearted, and Sir William himself and the Radicals have always felt that he was unfairly treat-'There has, therefore, always been some friction between Lord Rosebery and his lieutenant in the Lower House, and this has culminated in Lord Rosebery's resignation of the leadership of his party. It is not very clear why he should have resigned on the question of intervention in Turkey, for even Sir William Harcourt proposes that England should act hand in hand with Russia, Lord Rosebery having retired, however, Sir William was his inevitable successor, as Reuter's telegram on the subject indicated. Mr. Asquith's time has not yet come, and Mr, John Morley is not of the stuff out of which leaders are made. There must be a great deal of bitterness in Lord Rosebery's mind against Sir William to induce the former to nominate Mr. Asquith as his successor, and he must have known that it would come near bringing about a disruption of the party, while our system of government' greatly depends on Her Majesty's Opposition being a compact organism with a recognisable head, not a mere jelly-fish, or fortuitous concourse of.atoms, Disruption must indeed be imminent if Mr. Gladstone is called from his lettered retirement at Hawarden to make the atoms crystallize again, Two years of such leisure as Mr. Gladstone allows himself have no doubt done much to renew his powers but even if he were to take the nominal leadership he could only hope to be able to hold it for a year or two; and it is doubtful whether that would be time enough to enable him to effect permanent union between the Impenalist Liberals and the Radicals, The long-continued prosperity of England has given the country a strong bias towards Conservatism; but not the old-fashioned. " rest-and-be-thaukful" Conservatism, but a Conservatism fiat would tamper out of sheer wantonness with two of the chief factors in our prosperity, free trade, and the gold standard, It is.necessary for the proper carrying-on of the government of the Empire that there should be a strong and anitad Opposition as well as a strong and compact majority behind the Government; and if Mr. Gladstone's reappearance on the field can effect the reconstitution of the Liberal party, it will be welcomed all round.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.