ENGLISH EXTRACTS,

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3895, 11 April 1877, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS,

(Condensed from " The Times.") THE PREMIER IN THE LORDS. Seldom has the House of Lords witnessed an assemblage so full of curiosity and^ interest as yesterday (Feb. 8). On thifj occasion the Commons might feel that the centre of gravity of Parliament had for the occasion been transferred to the other House. Though it is not long since the country has has had a Prime Minister sitting in the House of Lords, there is something strange in the transfer of a successful statesman and a popular orator from one stage to the other while he holds the most important office under the Crown. Where the Prime Minister is there must be the centre of interest, not perhaps for the routine transaction of business, but for those statements on the great questions of the time which most satisfy or stimulate curiosity. THE FALL OF MIDHAT PASHA. The change is as bewildering as a story out of the " Arabian Nights." Only the other day he had reduced the Caliph to the prosaic level of a Constitutional King. He had defied the whole of Europe to meddle with the independence of Turkey, and had asserted her dignity with a haughtiness worthy of Sultan Mahmoud. To all appearance he was the hero of Con-" stantinople, and of much more importance than the Sovereign himself. But in an instant the scene is changed as if by enchantment. The Sultan, whom Midhat made, sends for the all-powerful Minister and drives him out of Turkey as unceremoniously as if he were a lackey. • B^. hind the phrases of the Constitution,-^^ the old supreme powers, unlimited by any European pedantry, and in an instant they show that Turkey is unchanged. It matters nothing that Midhat has been dismissed in accordance with " Article 113 " of the Constitution, which, we are gravely told, enables the Sultan to expel from the country all persons who endanger the safety of the State. The power is older than the Constitution, and will survive it. The ruler, spiritual arid temporal,-^ a race which, governs by the right of the i sword, and which is kept apart from the subject populations by the most intense fanaticism in the world, cannot surrender his despotic power in obedience even to the finest Constitutional theory. If his own throne or the sovereignty of the Mussulman caste should be at stake, he must strike with the swift decision of Oriental rule. Were he to hesitate, he would be pushed ■ on by some portion of the sovereign caste, which detects the approach of danger with as keen an instinct as skilled theologians scent heretical propositions. On this occasion Abdul Hamid seems to have obeyed the promptings of some Pashas, who are said to have given him proofs either that Midhat's Constitution invaded the Imperial prerogative or that Midhat had been forming a conspiracy against the. Sultan himself. In a subsequent article The Times observes with reference to the same matter : — "We do not know with, any surety what it means, but if it should "-" prove the commencement of the adoption at Constantinople of a policy of deference to European counsels, it would cut away the ground from under the Russian Circular." PRINCE GORTCHAJKOFF. A St. Petersburg correspondent says that Prince Gortchakoff, having failed in frightening Europe, is discredited, and it is whispered in Russian society that he will soon be compelled to resign his office. As for the military strength of Russia, it is an illusion. The mobilization which was decreed on the day that the Czar held a great review at St. Petersburg has been a failure. The strength of the regiments is far less than estimated, and the most shameful frauds have been discovered. The result of this, and also.of the political relations of the Empire, is that the Czar desires a pretext for not going to war. 'PUBLIC OPINION IN ENGLAND. It is hardly too much to say that there is at present no effective antagonism of Conservatives and Liberal, Ministerialists and anti-Ministerialists, except thatwhiah attaches itself to the Turkish dispute/ But on tin's matter people have been more vehement and irritable than the most blazing domestic question has made them for years ; a philo-Turk and anti-Glad-stonian feeling prevailing in the higher society, while the constituencies tend, though perhaps not decidedly, the other way. (Feb. 5.) . THE SENTIMENT OF PARLIAMENT. In reviewing the debate in the Lords, The Times writes : — lt has been imagined, or, at least, asserted, during the recess, that the so-called anti-Turkish feeling and policy have been confined to the Radical wing of the Liberal party, and that when Parliament met there would be a great ' Whig demonstration of confidence in the Government. So far as the aristocratic leaders of the Liberal party are concerned, this expectation has not been fulfilled. Lord Hartington in the House of Commons has made a speech more uncompromising than that which signalised his return from Turkey in the autumn, and we find in the House of Lords a similar disposition. THE MINISTERIAL PLATFORM. These two principles seemed to be placed by Lord Derby as the pillars of his policy — firstly, we shall only remonstrate with Turkey ; we shall not coerce her : secondly, we shall only plead for her ; we shall not fight for her. The opposition between this policy and that which the Liberal leaders have determined to recommend is obvious. There may be much J to be said on either side, but we belioir the practical decision oi the nation will ue for Lord Derby.