Editing Midlothian campaign (section)

==Extraparliamentary protest movements==
News of a series of atrocities by the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]] during their suppression of the Bulgarian [[April Uprising]] reached the British press, despite the strong censorship of the Turkish authorities. In June the newspaper ''Daily News'', famous for its overseas coverage,<ref>R. W. Seton-Watson: ''Disraeli, Gladstone, and the Eastern Question: A Study in Diplomacy and Party Politics.'' W.W. Norton & Company, London 1972, p.&nbsp;52.</ref> published an account of atrocities committed by irregular troops and claimed that some twenty five thousand men, women and children had been slaughtered. The British public reaction was generally one of dismay, fuelled by various other public prints. Throughout the summer various other reports were published by the Daily News. Sir [[Henry Elliot]], British Ambassador at [[Constantinople]] since 1867, was strongly pro-Turk throughout his years in Constantinople. Additionally he suffered from poor health and was unable to pursue the allegations made of correspondents. All of this inclined Elliot to believe Turkish assurances. Although he was aware that the reports contained at least some truth, he toned down his reports to London.<ref>Robert Blake: ''Disraeli'' Prion, London 1966, p.&nbsp;592.</ref>
The [[Second Disraeli ministry|government of Benjamin Disraeli]] ignored the outrage at first and continued its policy of support for the [[Ottoman Empire]], an ally in the [[Crimean War]] and a bulwark against possible [[Russian Empire|Russian]] expansion in the area. Disraeli, who was pro-Turk himself, was instinctively sceptical about atricity stories published, a stance he already took during the [[Indian mutiny]] back in 1857/1858. Furthermore, the Daily News was a dinstinctly Liberal newspaper and very hostile to Disraeli personally.<ref>Robert Blake: ''Disraeli'' Prion, London 1966, p.&nbsp;594.</ref> All of this combined to cause him to shrug aside the matter when he was questioned in the House of Commons about the issue. When questioned first in June, he denounced the whole story as a set-up job by the Daily News "to create a cry against the Government".<ref>Richard Aldous: ''The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli'' Pimlico, London 2007, p.&nbsp;269.</ref> A week later, he quoted from his official correspondence with Sir Henry Elliot. While he admitted that acts on both sides were equally atrocious, he defended the Turks, repeatedly requoting Elliot. In the interval between these discussions in the House of Commons Disraeli complained bitterly to his Foreign secretary [[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]] that the Foreign Office did not supply him with the necessary accurate information before so critical a debate.<ref>R. W. Seton-Watson: ''Disraeli, Gladstone, and the Eastern Question: A Study in Diplomacy and Party Politics.'' W.W. Norton & Company, London 1972, p.&nbsp;54.</ref> He also resisted calls for a full inquiry and dismissed the reports as little more than "coffee house babble".<ref>Richard Aldous: ''The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli'' Pimlico, London 2007, p.&nbsp;269 f.</ref> In August a preliminary report from [[Walter Baring (diplomat)|Walter Baring]] arrived in London; Baring had been sent out by the British Government to investigate what was going on. The report left no doubt that a massacre had been occurred.<ref>Robert Blake: ''Disraeli'' Prion, London 1966, p.&nbsp;594.</ref> In his final speech in the House of Commons on the 11th of August, Disraeli was forced to admit the killing of twelve thousand Bulgarians; calling it a "horrible event", but contrasting it with the much to high figures published in the Daily News and reports of the depopulation of a province of almost four million inhabitants.<ref>Richard Aldous: ''The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli'' Pimlico, London 2007, p.&nbsp;270.</ref> Afterwards, Disraeli admitted to Derby that the debate had been "very damaging" for the Government and once again criticising the incompetence of the Foreign Office, which had misled him initially. Both Robert Blake and R. W. Seton-Watson agree that Disraeli, already a Turcophile, with a lack of factual information had committed himself to a path from which it was difficult to recede from without admitting publicly that he had been wrong.<ref>R. W. Seton-Watson: ''Disraeli, Gladstone, and the Eastern Question: A Study in Diplomacy and Party Politics.'' W.W. Norton & Company, London 1972, p.&nbsp;56 f.<br />Robert Blake: ''Disraeli'' Prion, London 1966, p.&nbsp;592.</ref>

Throughout August more updates came in; the American consul [[Eugene Schuyler]], a much respeceted man, had been despatched from Constantinople to see for himself what was going on. He reported an "indiscriminate slaughter" and recounted that the Bashibazuks had locked prisoners in churches before setting fire on them. He also detailed the explicitly and religious nature of the violence. Official Turkish denials were dismissed by him as "a tissue of falsehoods". The Daily News immediately published Schuyler's reports. It caused a stir in Britain. Intellectuals and Clerics began to organise rallies and protests.
   
Gladstone took up the issue slowly, at first appearing uninterested. Young journalist [[W. T. Stead]] pressed Gladstone to join the protest. Gladstone felt uneasy, because liberal leader in the House of commons, Lord Hartington, was largely silent on the issue. By the end of August he made up his mind and, in the words of John Campbell, began a moral crusade. He wrote to Lord Granville: "Good ends in politics can rarely be achieved without passion; and there is now, for the first time in a good many years a virtous passion."<ref>John Campbell: ''Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown.'' Vintage Books, London 2009, p. 126.</ref> In four days he wrote a pamphlet which was published titled ''The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East''. In Richard Aldous view, it was the single most influential work Gladstone ever wrote.<ref>Richard Aldous: ''The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli'' Pimlico, London 2007, p.&nbsp;271.</ref> In four days alone, it sold over forty thousand copies and by the end of September, his pamphlet had been sold two hundred thousand copies.<ref>Richard Aldous: ''The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli'' Pimlico, London 2007, p.&nbsp;272.</ref> Gladstone laid down three great aims: First he demanded to put an end ″to the anarchic misrule″. He further demanded administrative reform to prevent the ″recurrence of outrages″. Additionally he demanded to ″redeeem the honour of the British name″.<ref>R. W. Seton-Watson: ''Disraeli, Gladstone, and the Eastern Question: A Study in Diplomacy and Party Politics.'' W.W. Norton & Company, London 1972, p.&nbsp;75.</ref> He advocated concerted action of a United Europe which should pressure Turkey to acquiesce. Galdstoen also condemned Disraeli's policies and his pleas for the status quo.

During a mass rally in Blackheath he adressed a crowd of 10.000 people. Again, Gladstone advocated a coalition of the willing to put an end to Turkish tyranny.<ref>Richard Aldous: ''The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli'' Pimlico, London 2007, p.&nbsp;272 ff.</ref> At a meeting at [[St James's Hall]], Gladstone once again condemned Disraeli. The meeting, which was presided by the Duke of Westminster and Lord Shaftesbury, was attended by [[Anthony Trollope]] and [[John Ruskin]]; letters of support from [[Thomas Carlyle]], [[Charles Darwin]] und [[Robert Browning]] were recited.