"WHAT THE WORLD SAYS."

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3933, 23 June 1877, Page 2

"WHAT THE WORLD SAYS."

(By "Atlas.") The despatch of an English force to the East would of course be an overt act amounting to a declaration of war. But [ I am told that Lord Beaconsfield by no means shrinks from such a step ; in fact, he is rather pugnaciously inclined. With the Cabinet as a body more cautious counsels may prevail ; but it is pleasant to know that the head of the Government is fully alive to the issues which hang in the balance. Russian successes in Asia Minor may make it imperative for us to hold the Dardanelles ; and we may have to garrison Crete, and otherwise protect our property in the Suez Canal. It appears, from the accounts of a gentleman who has beenV spending the winter in Russia, that theY feeling towards England throughout Rus^» sian society is something nearer exaspera^^ tion than mere irritation. We are coun-" ted little better than the unholy Turk ; we are given over to money-grubbing, addicted to luxury, sensual, effete, played out ; we are the modern type of ancient Rome, and it is the mission of the simple, virtuous Muscovite to play towards us the part of the Goth and Hun. Does the constant repetition of a character detract from the care and conscientiousness of the artist representing it 1 Experience would seem to say not. Here are Messrs James and Thorne as perfect as ever in " Our Boys," and Miss Neilson, who, says the Alia California, has played Juliet nearly twelve hundred V times, and ' ' yet time has not robbed her W' of one single grace or beauty of the multitudes which have not only led captive the hearts of critics, but even brought unwonted tears to the eyes of cynics." Princess Mary of Hanover, after taking eight months to make up her mind, has finally refused the hand of her cousin H.R.H. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. I see Schouvaloff paid the Prince of Wales the compliment of attending-af the Charing Cross Station to see him off. to the Continent. If my memory serves me right, in the prize-ring also they always shake hands before fighting. I hear of a great scandal at the Foreign Office. A person who has been allowed to act as an agent for consuls and others serving abroad is said to have bolted with a large sum of money confided to his charge. I hope we have now heard the last of these Foreign Office agencies, and that this will be the end of them. It is difficult to imagine anything more injurious to the high tone which ought to pervade the consular service than the belief prevalent throughout it that the employment of a Foreign Office agent is necessary in order to obtain advancement, or even leave of absence. I believe I may confidently assert that at the end of the present session Mr Hardy will resign his portfolio as Minister of War, and retire to the comparative ease of the Upper House. His successor will - probably be Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, but on this point I cannot speak with certainty. If Colonel Stanley were a better debater, he would be the right man in the right place as Secretary of State for War. One of the quite well-known London weekly papers will most likely collapse, I hear, very shortly. My geographical ideas were never in a more confused state than after a perusal of the so-called " war-maps " published by The Times and the Daily News. The Times' map in particular left on my mind the impression of a number of worms crawling amongst a mass of names of

which I had never heard. I believe the worms to have been intended for mountains ; but why they should take this extraordinary form, I cannot understand. Nor do I see why a map, which professes to assist me on the 21st April, should stop 250 miles south, of Kisclienaff, the head-quarcsrs of the Russian army, or why it should omit the Roumanirn railways. _