babble” revealed his whole attitude of mind on Turkish affairs; and the painful impression aroused by this utterance was increased by his declaration of July 30 that the British fleet then at Besika Bay was kept there solely in defence of British interests.  He made a similar but more general statement in the House of Commons on August 11.  On the next morning the world heard that Queen Victoria had been pleased to confer on him the title of Earl of Beaconsfield.  It is well known, on his own admission, that he could no longer endure the strain of the late sittings in the House of Commons and had besought Her Majesty for leave to retire.  She, however, suggested the gracious alternative that he should continue in office with a seat in the House of Lords.  None the less, the conferring of this honour was felt by very many to be singularly inopportune.

[Footnote 104:  See, inter alia, his letter of May 26, 1876, quoted in Life and Correspondence of William White (1902), pp. 99-100.]

For at this time tidings of the massacres at Batak and elsewhere began to be fully known.  Despite the efforts of Ministers to discredit them, they aroused growing excitement; and when the whole truth was known, a storm of indignation swept over the country as over the whole of Europe.  Efforts were made by the Turcophil Press to represent the new trend of popular feeling as a mere party move and an insidious attempt of the Liberal Opposition to exploit humanitarian sentiment; but this charge will not bear examination.  Mr. Gladstone had retired from the Liberal Leadership early in 1875 and was deeply occupied in literary work; and Lords Granville and Hartington, on whom devolved the duty of leading the Opposition, had been very sparing of criticisms on the foreign policy of the Cabinet.  They, as well as Mr. Gladstone, had merely stated that the Government, on refusing to join in the Berlin Memorandum, ought to have formulated an alternative policy.  We now know that Mr. Gladstone left his literary work doubtfully and reluctantly[105].

[Footnote 105:  J. Morley, Life of Gladstone, vol. ii. pp. 548-549.]

Now, however, the events in Bulgaria shed a ghastly light on the whole situation, and showed the consequences of giving the “moral support” of Britain to the Turks.  The whole question ceased to rest on the high and dry levels of diplomacy, and became one of life or death for many thousands of men and women.  The conscience of the country was touched to the quick by the thought that the presence of the British Mediterranean fleet at Besika Bay was giving the same encouragement to the Turks as it had done before the Crimean War, and that, too, when they had belied the promises so solemnly given in 1856, and were now proved to be guilty of unspeakable barbarities.  In such a case, the British nation would have been disgraced had it not demanded that no further alliance should be formed.  It was equally the duty of