The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1877.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 61, 19 May 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1877.

The red hand is .again stretched out m Europe, and Heaven only knows the extent of ruin and desolation that ito deadly sweep will inflict. The present war is one m which both victor and vanquished will be losers. Viewed m whatever light it seems to be purely a national calamity. Neither Russians nor Turks are likely to be better off when the contest is finished than they were before it commenced. Nor is Turkey, whether victorious or not, likely to govern her dependencies better than she would have done had the sword not superseded the parchment. But most assuredly both these nations will by this war sustain an injury that it will take them years to recover from. Of the two, Turkey seems to stand much the better chance m the contest, not because she has been so far successful, but because the great powers of Europe are pledged to maintain the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Herein is the most serious j)art of the case. If the belligerents were perfectly independent of the other powers they might fight their own battles, have their own exhausted exchequers, and their own Rachels to weep for the slain. But Russia m her aggressive procedure has violated a treaty which she made years ago with the principal European powers. But these powers do not love the Turks. Moreover, the latter have, m the recent civil strife, acted with such oriental savagery towards thei r Christian dependencies as to alienate still more the sympathy of Christian nations. Hence, although m making a descent upon Turkey, Russia is violating the the Treaty or 1856, to which England, France, Germany, and Austria were parties ; these powers are slow to interfere on behalf of the obnoxious Moslem. Still this indisposition cannot go far If the Turk is becoming decidedly worsted m the contest, and the Russian staiidard is. finding its way to Constantinople, England, at least, cannot, for more reasons than one, hold longer aloof. An armed interference will be the result, and this implies no longer a war between Russia and Turkey merely, but a war between Russia and England, and perhaps several other nations. If this takes place it will probably be the most disastrous event of the age, and its unhappy re"suits will, m some shape or another be a part of the experience of every family throughout Christendom. Little, then, as the Christian sympathises with the infidel, the one thing he hopes is that the infidel will conquer m this war. Still it is to be considered that the defeat of Russia by the armed intervention of England would be much more likely to result m a final settlement of the dispute than would

the defeat of Russia by Turkey alone. The latter is a despised nation, and it is hardly likely that Russia would for long brook the stigma of defeat at such hands after having acquired the reputation of being able to cope with the foremost powers of Europe. Few people suppose that France has accepted her defeat as final, ovsn though her victor has an historical valuation somewhat above that of a second rate power. She is now husbanding her strength probably with the intention of measuring it again with that of her formidable antagonist and it is quite probable that the Franco-Prussian war will have yet another chapter. So impressed, is Prussia with the Phoenix-like capabilities of her but lately humbled foe that she is now massing troops m the frontier towns m preparation for the expected struggle. If Frauce is so resentful of her defeat by. Prussia as to be willing to i*isk another encounter for the chance of regaining her lost laurels, how much more resentful would Russia feel if vanquished by a foe that she has always regarded with contempt, and whose presence m Europe she considers as an injury to herself? If Turkey is, without extraneous aid, victorious, there will doubtless be peace, but it will be peace for a little season only. If the lessons of history are worth anything, Russia will never sleep until she has wiped out her disgrace, and the evils averted to-day will surely come to-morrow m all their earnest reality. In any case the prospect is gloomy. In this Eastern Question the day of peaceful arbitration seems to have passed, and the disputants have committed themselves to the sword. The general impression is, that England will have to bear her part m the struggle, and probably Austria also, while another war between France and Germany is a foregone conclusion. How it will all end is a secret that history will tell after the curtain has fallen upon the great drama now opening to the view: