The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED "The Evening News," "The Morning News," and "The Echo." FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1878.

Auckland Star, Volume IX, Issue 2608, 16 August 1878, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED "The Evening News," "The Morning News," and "The Echo."

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1878.

For tho cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance. For the future in the distance, And the eood that wo can do

The defeat of, an Austrian division by Bosnian insurgents, reported in a special cable messsage received last night from our London" correspondent, is an. event as important as it was unexpected. When the occupation was resolved upon, some opposition was anticipated, but nothing serious. It could never have been intended that Austria should'enter upon a new conquest. The objects in view were peaceful—the restoration of order, and the establishment of a local administration which would guarantee Austria against constant disturbances on its -borders, and the influx of refugees driven from their homes by Moslem oppression. The circumstances under which the Consriess resolved upon this step will be fresh iv the memories of our readers. At one of the sittings of the Congress, Count Andrassy stated that 150,000 destitute persons from the border provinces of Turkey had been thrown upon the Austrian Government for support, and although he did not desire to urge any particular policy on the Conference he earnestly solicited its attention to the matter. The course of procedure had evidently been pre-arranged. The Marquis of Salisbury immediately rose and moved that Austria be authorised to occupy Bosnia andj Herzegovina with a military force, and re-organise the local Government. Mehemet Ali, on behalf of the Porte, strongly .protested, urging that bis Government were only bound by.the Treaty of St. Stefano, and this was a new condition. Whereupon he was so severely snubbed by Prince Bismarck that he absented himself from several subsequent meetings of the Conference. Congress unanimously agreed to ignore the passive resistance of the Porte, and carried Earl Salisbury's resolution. Diplomatically, '< lie result hoped for by England from this further humiliation of the Sultan is two-fold. First, it is foreseen that the two provinces which were the birthplace of the last war, and are the scat of chronic disturbance, would, if left to. themselves, or rather to Ottoman rule, quickly render nugatory the measures devised by the Conference to secure a lasting peace.".".T!ie Treaty of St. Stefano settled the Bulgarian question by givino- local governmentto the people ; but it left the "very root of the mischief without amelioration, but rather intensified, owing; to! the: accession of power m the neighbour-' ipo- Principalities" .of . Montenegro,, and Servia, from whence the .spirit of insurrection and the means to--sustain it were always before derived. England,- there^ fore, • was' sincerely desirous of securing better ■ government for the Y. people;-.'of-the two provinces, not only Abr tbe good of the- -"inhabitant?*.,, but as an essentia] cokHlio'i..'- to the'success of- the 'general' plan :;sketched'. by \,J_ie Congress. There was, however, clearly a secondary motive—the creation of Austrian

interests as a checkmate to Russian PanSlafism. By much the greater proportion of the inhabitants of Bosnia are of the Slav. race. A Austria .4%. already largely conc-i-ed^ith;-ravs.-n Kher south-eastern pr-vinces.: .^Bismarck as well as England is credited \-_h the desire to; .ixte_d -Austrian interests and "authority ih.:that direction, 'the. formier: with- a view: to some future union of "the whole Germanic race, the latter to reduce Russian claims to authority .OY£X...the.subject ..races-of. Turkey,-as thachampioh. of Slavism. England has no reason to .be apprehensive, of Austria; she fs hot an Eastern power,, and to pit her. :agaiiisr ßussia' as the patron aud protector, of the Slavs in Turkey, is mo doubt a judicious policy. Tho Bosnian occupation, if peacefully accomplished, would undoubtedly have been-in the interests: of European order. As it is, the matter wears a.dinerent complexion.,- If; the occupation involves a "serious war and "great bloodshed, would it be .justified? Already;'it" is" said, 100,000 Bosuiaus are in arms, and to subuiie them-would involve military movements on a scale never intended. Diplomacy will probably be tried,..but that'should rather have preceded than" followed a successful collision. Prior to the Russo-Turkish war the Bosnian insurgents rejected Count Andrassy's plan and also the proposals of the combined consuls tor settling differences with the Porte ; is it more likely that they will accept Andrassy's restraints? It is difficult to make any prediction touching the issue of this remarkable complication, for as yet we aire unaware whether the resistance is a combined movement of the population, or emanates simply from the Mussulman inhabitants, who number one-fourth of the whole. From the serious character of the movemeut aud its success, it may be inferred that it combines all classes — that the Christian inhabitants* prefer the Turkish to the Austrian yoke, incited perhaps by Montenegrin aud Servian influence. Iv that case there is no saying where the conflict will end ; aud if the occupation is effected at all, it will be in the nature of a conquest rather than an act of diplomacy.