GLADSTONE’S POPULARITY.

Western Star, Issue 965, 18 July 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

GLADSTONE’S POPULARITY.

Advices from Bulgaria and Macedonia assert that the Russians are beginning to feel seriously embarassed and alarmed at the magic which Mr Gladstone’s name exercises in all the provinces and States formerly subject to Turkish rule. After so long conjuring with Mr Gladstone’s name, for purposes of their own, the Russians now find themselves unable to persuade the Christian populations in the East that they can be right in their quarrel with a statesman whose philanthropy they have done so much to exalt. Alluding to this state of things, an Austrian Liberal politician said to me—:

“ If Britain goes to war with Russia it will be of immense advantage to her to do so with Mr Gladstone as Prime Minister. Not only is Mr Gladstone popular in the Balkan Peninsula, in Greece, and among the Christians throughout the East, but he has countless friends among the Liberals of every country in Europe, including Russia herself. If he makes war, the world will know that he was driven to it; and it will not be difficult for a man of his eloquence to magnify the war to colossal proportions as a struggle between Liberalism and Absolutism. In such an issue, Britain would find many open allies, and secret allies everywhere, while Russia would be gradually isolated, Austria-Hungary would not dare to stand beside her for a moment, nor would Germ my venture to do so, at the risk of appearing to revive the Holy Alliance, which might provoke a formidable league of Liberal States.”