He expressed his belief that Turkey
would have yielded to the concerted action of Europe; noticed the change
in the tone of the ministry from the omission in the Premier's speech of
the phrase, "the independence of Turkey;" protested strongly against
England being dragged into war, and warmly eulogized the non-conformists
for the consistency and unanimity with which they had insisted on
justice to the Eastern Christians. Political feeling entered into
everything at this time, but as an evidence of the hold Mr. Gladstone
retained in the Scottish heart, he was in November elected Lord Rector
of Glasgow University by a large majority. Lord Beaconsfield was the
retiring Lord Rector, and the Conservatives nominated Sir S. Northcote,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Mr. Gladstone's opponent.
The war in the East went disastrously for the Ottoman arms. January 23,
1878, the Porte agreed to accept the terms of peace submitted by the
Grand Duke Nicholas.
Mr. Gladstone was invited January 30, 1878, to attend a meeting of
undergraduates at Oxford, held to celebrate the formation of a Liberal
Palmerston Club. He strongly condemned the sending of the British fleet
into the Dardanelles as a breach of European law; and confessed that he
had been an agitator for the past eighteen months, day and night, to
counteract what he believed to be the evil purposes of Lord
Beaconsfield.
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