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Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 194, 4 December 1876, Page 2

The news brought by the Califomian mail places us au courant with European events up to the 7th ult., and we find that, as time rolls on, the cloud which has so long overspread the political aspect of the Continent, becomes darker in its intensity and more wide-spread. Notwithstanding the solemn utterances of Russia to the contrary, it has become apparent that she has been all along a moving spirit in the Servian difficulty, and public opinion, headed by the Times itself, has completely changed its tone, applauding the foresight of the Government, and condemning, in no unmeasured terms, its whilom champion—Mr. Gladstone. Already steps have been taken by the British Government to be prepared for contingencies. A Cabinet Council was summoned ; Lord Napier, of Magdala, ordered to hold himself in readiness to start at once for Egypt; Lloyd's have been asked to supply a list of steamers capable of being turned into troopships ; and special plans for the defence of Constantinople have been prepared by eminent engineers. Those are some of the steps taken on the first keynote of alarm being sounded, and it is consoling to think that when the moment for activity arrives, the British nation is now, as it ever has been, ready to meet the consequences. Rumors of various alliances between the several Powers are rife ; at one time Germany, Austria, and Russia have joined issue, while at another it is Italy and the Czar that have formed a coalition. Those, of course, are but rumors, and may or may not be truthful statements; but there can be no question about the serious aspect of affairs when three army corps are being got ready for the Mediterranean, and the Himalaya, a troop-ship, being ordered to follow with six companies of the Royal Engineers and two companies of the Transport Corps. It is worthy of note that Mr. Baring, the Secretary of the British Legation, whose report on the Bulgarian atrocities caused such animadversion in the public journals, has resolved to leave Phillopopolis, convinced that the Commission for the punishment of the perpetrators of the Bulgarian atrocities is a delusion and a mockery. The worst criminals are rewarded ; humane and moderate men are in disgrace ; the old panic is renewed, and most trustworthy gentlemen have travelled with the utmost speed to Constantinople, to inform the British ambassador that the Turks threaten a new massacre, and had even appointed a day for beginning the slaughter. From India comes a wail of despair, of prospective famine and starvation, and it would appear that that unhappy land is once more to be visited with the horrors experienced during the Bengal famine, for the Pioneer states that there is starvation in Shellapore, extreme dearth in Poonshee, and great scarcity in the other six districts. Taken as a whole, the news by the Zelandia is •very far from being of a cheering nature, for it seems the evil day so long staved off, has come at last. Each Power is quietly arming for the contest, and it is but a question of time and expediency ere the dogs of war are let slipped.