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.