Staunton Spectator

The Policy of England Defined.

London, May 9.-The Times, in a leading article, speaking of the remarks of Mr. Cross, home secretary, in the House of Commons on Monday night, on Mr. Gladstone's resolutions, says: "Mr. Cross emphatically condemned the misrule in Turkey, and unequivocally declared that the government would do nothing to protect the Porte. Thus an end is put to the reports that the government is inclined to let itself be made an instrument of clamors for war. Mr. Cross, of course, added that the government would defend the interests of England and, what is more important, he defined those interests. We should protect the Suez canal, guard Egypt, and not permit any power to interfere with the freedom of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. Hence we should protect Constantinople from becoming the prize of conquest. This is the essential part of our policy, and is also the policy of all Europe. None of the powers could permit the freedom of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea to be hampered, but to suppose that Russia would defy the united policy of all the powers by seizing Egypt and Constantinople is to suppose that her statesmen are, in a medical sense, unfit to be at large."

"Mr. Cross at the conclusion of his speech, gave the following as a clear statement of the government's policy: Not to sanction oppression or tyranny in any part of the world; to preserve treaty engagements and set an example, which, followed by the other nations, would materially add to the happiness of the world; deeply as we regret the war, to maintain the strictest neutrality between the contending nations outside the necessities of this actual war, and to maintain as they ought to maintain, and as any British government would maintain, those interests of England which ought to be maintained. We have no thought of fear or gain. Before the face of the House of Commons he declared-of England, of Europe, of the world-that the government is conscious of the honesty of their own purpose; they are conscious of their own earnest desire for peace; they are conscious, if need be, of their strength. Wherever the opportunity may offer to stop this war, to heal these wretched divisions, to improve the condition of these Christian populations in a way which will really improve them, (and that way, in Mr. Cross's opinion, is not by war,) to localize, minimize or wipe away the effects of war, then the government will give their services."