CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1622, 23 December 1882, Page 31

CURRENT TOPICS.

EUROPEAN AFFIXES.

It is a strange but well-proven fact that we are never so near war as when monarch.3 are busiest in informing their subjects thab they are at peace with all tue world. • The Einpuror of Germany to^d us the other day that the peace of Europe was assured. In a later issue we printed two telegrams which, to those who .can rend between the lines, are strongly significant of the very ephemeral nature such peace is likely to possess. First, General Ignatieff has been rcappointcd to the position of Russian Minister of the Interior. The Czar's anti- Germanic feelings are well known, and were very freely and openly expressed in all companies before he came to the throne. General Ignatieff hates the Germans, and the Germans hate him. Russia's domestic affairs are in a deplorable condition; Nihilism is still rampant, and is daily spreading its ramifications further and further, more especially in the army and navy ; and it is more than probable that the Czar will have to fall back upon the old remedy for internal disturbances — to undertake a war abroad in order to ensure peace at home. He is bound to keep up an enormous army — about which Mr Foebes told us a good deal — which, should it become strongly infected with revolutionary ideas, fuld soon turn its strength againsfc 3>£lf, if its attention were nob diverted to some other object of attack. A war with Germany would perhaps be even more popular than one with ourselves. The two nations have long hated and envied one another. Germany has often thwarted Russia's schemes of aggression in the East. Russia caused much uneasiness to Germany during the war between the latter Power and France by h«r sullen and almost menacing attitude on several occasions. It is a notorious fact that the appearance of General Ignatieff's forbidding Calmuc face upon the sceae usually forbodes some disturbance, and he is the most likely man to be chosen by the Czar to "let loose the dogs of war.' 1 Should Germany be engaged ma war with Russia, it i-i difficult to believe that France will abstain from seizing so favourable an opportunity for revenge on her deadly enemy. Should Russia's hands be full, it is not unlikely that tho Turks will avail themselves of so opportune an occasion of repossessing themselves of the provinces wrested from them during their late war with Russia. Another telegram informs us that hostilities have broken out between Montenegro and Albania, that the Albanians have appealed for help to Austria, and that Turkey threatens to declare war against Montenegro if the latter attacks her Albanian territory. The news conveyed to US in these two short telegrams naay well foreshadow what may ultimately result in a general European war. The Prince of Montenegro has just returned to his country from a long visit to the Czar, , by whom he was treated with singular distinction, and as a consequence we now receive the news that he has commenced an attack upon Albania. Russia knows full Well that Austria will be only too glad of an opportunity to possess herself of Albania, as she has done of Herz9govina and Bosnia j if once her troops enter Albania, on whatever pretext it may be, they are not at all likely to leave it. It is a vital necessity for Austria to have possession of a seaport on the Mediterranean, and for the last few years she has been steadily pushing southward, with Salonica as her ultimate destination. Russia has viewed with increasing uneasiness the amicable relations existing between Germany and Austria, and will be only too glad to let Austria work her will ih Turkey, provided she stands aloof from. anyßusso-German contest. Should Turkey attempt to crush Montenegro, shrill have her hands far too full to interfere much with Bulgaria or Servia. Montenegro has ever proved a hard nut to crack — in fact the Turks, with all their power, have never really succeeded in subduing the fierce black mountaineers, who, soldiers to a man, or, we may even say, to a boy — aye, and to a woman, too — retire into their inaccessible mountain fastnesses and bid defiance to the Ottoman arms. Chakir Pasha, now Turkish Ambassador at St. Petersburg, was the only Turkish general who ever succeeded in making them sue for peace, and after a long and arduous campaign, in which he suffered fearful loss, was only too glad to grant it to them almost on their own terms. Tho Turkish soldiers have a saying that they would rather fight with two devils

tbau one Montenegrin, so fierce are the latter in tight and so ferocious in victory. Woe betide the unfortunate prisoner who falls into their hands ! He is either put to death with slow and inconceivable torture, or, after losing his eyeliils ; his nose, and his lips, is sonfc back into his camp to strike terror into hid fellow soldiers. The photographs of five or six of these unfortunates were for some time sold in the shops of Constantinople, but the Government, fearing a general rising against the Christians (for the Montenegrins being Christians, the ignorant Turkish peasant was very apt to consider all Christians as guilty of the same atrocities), was obliged to prohibit the sale of thesa ghastly pictures of Montenegrin warfare. The Albanians are very liLtle better than their neighbours ; so any war between the two will abound with hideous savagery and hlood-curdiing atrocities. But holy Ru°sia — Christian Russia — givps no thought to such trifles as long as her own tortuous policy is carried to a successful issue. It has long been the dream of Germany to consolidate her empire by annexing the German provinces of Austria \ while Austria would, ib is t-aid, be not unwilling to get rid of them, provided she obtained a suitable quid pro quo. It is, therefore, quite possible that Germany would favour Austria's pretensions in the East, provided Austria ceded her German provinces, and would in ail likelihood make every concession in hex* power, both for this end and also to see a powerful rival opposed to Russia, There can be no doubt that ihe vexed Eastern question will occupy men's minds for many a long day to come, and will, and that perhaps very soon, be the cause of important and unexpected changes in the state of European affairs. The Czar has for some tiroo been coquetting with France, and a late cablegram tells us he proposes to visit England. He probably wishes to assure himself of the co-operation of the former and the neutrality of the latter. Nothing is likely to happen dui'ing 1 the winter, but when the spring comes we may look out for squalls. AFFAIRS Iff IRELAND. " Tjs strange, but yet 'tis true." The aposti© of the Laud League, the martyr to Irish freedom, the would-be king of Hibernia, has been compelled to evict the tenants on his Wicklow estates. Eviction, the most deadly weapon wielded by tho Saxon oppressor ; the war- cry of tho landlord ; tho curse of v the finest peasantry in Europe," has been resorted to by — Mr Parnell. Wonders will never cease ; and yet, .what on earth could Mr Parnkll do ? He is, we believe, by no means a Ckcesus, and £9000, which is stated to be the amount of arrears, is something even to a rich man. If tenants refuse to pay any rent at all. even to their own chosen champion, much less are they likely to do it to their enemies. "The land for the people" haa long been the cry, and yet the first annual report of the ]riah Land Commission, dated the 14th November, speaks of the indisposition of tenants to purchase holdings, though a number of landlords are anxious to sell. Tho terms of purchase proposed by the Commission are certainly anything but onerous, yet they will not buy ; so presumably the idea in a majority of cases is that they wish to have the land for nothing, without paying a farthiDg to anyone — a somewhat Utopian idea, even for Ireland. Nearly the whole revenue of Ireland is derived from the land ; industrial enterprise, except a very little in the North, there is none. Supposing Ireland was to become an independent Government, how is such a Government fo be supported if not by the farmers % The action of Mr Paunell shows pretty plainly that both he and the Land League are pretty well played out. Another somewhat significant proof of this is that the salaries of certain of the Irish members of Parliament have been curtailed, if not altogether stopped. Hera wo have two straws which show pretty plainly which way tho wind is blowing, and Mr Parnbll has at last discovered the home truth that the tenants that can pay (for no doubt he assured himself fully of that fact before taking such extreme measures) and won't p<*y, and can't be made to pay, must ba turned out to make room for those who will. There is no doubt that, more particularly in times gono by, evictions, in the hands of unscrupulous and often almost irresponsible agents, were frequently resorted to for trivial reasons, and carried out with needless saverity. At present, however, it certainly appears clear that the British Government is doing its very best to make things pleasant all round ; and if the Irish people will only try to believe this, and, throwing off the armour of suspicion and hate with which they seem to have enveloped themselves heretofore, act cordially and honestly to promote better and, healthier relations between the two countries, we may yet, and that shortly, see a happy, prosperous, and contented Ireland taking ita proper place as a valued and important part of a truly United Eoßgdom.