Hawkes Bay Herald. MONDAY, MAY 28, 1877.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3917, 28 May 1877, Page 2

Hawkes Bay Herald. MONDAY, MAY 28, 1877.

The English papers up to April 4th, which are those of the latest dates to hand by the English mail, are full oi' nothing but General IgnatiefTs mission, and the protocol -which he had come to persuade the neutral Powers to sign. At last they signed it, and then it Avas found that by doing so they had left matters in precisely the same position as they were in before. The document had been attenuated, as The Times says, till it had come to mean that " in some unspecified circumstances, the Powers should consult with each other

as to the best way of applying some unspecified means for the attainment of some not very accurately specified end." No Power would have risked much in signing such a document as this, however—again to quote The Times : — " Even when the protocol was thus brought within the limits of diplomatic safety, owv own Government hesitated to sanction it unless llussia should promise to demobilise her troops. At last a compromise was hit on. The English Government signed the protocol on Saturday, March 20, without waiting until Turkey and Montenegro had made peace, or until Russia and Turkey had disarmed. But it stipulated, on the other hand, that the protocol should be of no eeft'ct if those objects should not be attained." These objects not having been obtained, of course the protocol was of no effect, and might just as well never have existed. The main significance of these circumstances now is that they point to the fact of the Czar's intense anxiety to find some means of escaping from the necessity of going to war. This anxiety was, no doubt, based upon the best of all possible grounds, an adequate knowledge of the enormous difficulties that stood in the way of a successful invasion of Turkey. These difficulties are only now beginning to dawn upon the Avorld in general : to the Czar and his counsellors the}' must have long been v\ r ell known, and probably nothing but the absolute necessity of deferring to the national feeling on the subject would have induced him to commence the contest when he did. This national feeling, it is further worth while to remark, was not shared of late by the upper classes in St. Petersburg, who, like the Czar, were in a position to be well informed in regard to the probable conditions of the invasion. "It is certain," nays The Times, " that a great change lias come over Russian opinion of late, especially since the unfortunate issue of the Servian war. The extent of it is described with peculiar vividness in a remarkable speech which the Russian Government liked so little as to have seized the Jfoseow G'a.-jrffe for printing it. The speaker, being the President of the Moscow Slavonic Benevolent Committee, is naturally a fervent advocate of a war with Turkey. He may Vie taken as the high-Avater mark of enthusiasm in that direction. Yet he speaks Avith a despondency for which even the closest foreign observers of Russian opinion were scarcely prepared. A few months ago the whole Empire cried for Avar against Turkey, and volunteers Avere sent to SerA'ia Avith something like a crusading fervor. But noAv, he admits, the enthusiasm has A-anished, except among the peasantry. The upper classes are not only ashamed of it, but turn it into ridicule. They make it the theme of jokes and calumnies. Even the more educated and thoughtful classes follow the fashion thus set by official and courtly society. This, in the AieAv of the speaker, is, of course, greatly to he deplored, but that only makes his admission of it the more significant. If it is true that the Russian fleet is bound for the Mediterranean, that circumstance slioavs great faith on the part of Russia in the permanency of English neutrality. If England were likely soon to be hostile, entering the Mediterranean Avould be entering a trap, as England holds the key of both ends, and could thus send in as many vessels of her oavii as she pleased, Avhile she could preA-ent all Russian reinforcements. We may feel tolerably satisfied that Russia Avill attempt nothing in Egypt hostile to English interests. In Roumania, Avhere such things as metalled roads hardly exist, the disastious floods-reported in our telegrams Avill mean a tolerably prolonged interruption of traffic, and consequent delay of military operations. The attitude of Austria is a puzzling one; that she Avill interfere in some manner, is becoming eA'eiy day more and more probable, but Avhether she will come in as doctor to the " Sick Man," or as heir, appeal's still to be O]jen to question.