The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-20 00:00:00

13A1GEROUS CHIMNEY ORNAMENT.

totiyl frequent accidents due to the bursting of shell.,
occur in France, fail apparently to cure per,
a foolish liking for keeping these dangerous
of the Franco-Prussian war in their houses
thec,—arg6 the Evening Standard). The latest victim of
i
hi; "Plosion of an obus is a young man residing with
~,letarents at Arras. On the mantelpiece in the
lie;,'1118 bedchamber were several, bombs which had
eesented to him recently by a friend who had
few;;;‘fled them on the battle-field at Bamurne. 4
PariZghts ago he repaired to his room after bidding his
. clet-48 good night. A moment later an awful
IviiPOrition was heard to proceed from the bed-room,
gazi:h offered a cruel speotacle to the family's
the a Upon their hastening to the scene of
geit,aater. The poor lad whom they had just
''ed, alive and well, was stretched a bleeding, dis-
tti;;(l Mass on the ground. '1 he shattered windows,
litre '66118 of furniture with which tha room was
the falling plaster, explained at once the cause
N4oejalaillitY• An obus had fallen from its place
the log by its fall. The victim, if not dead, is at
4,,raßates of death. His right hand was torn from the
the skull fractured his le'g -broken, and his whole
Y on
Pokeib. ,e mass of wounds so serious as to preclude all
tv, 111tY of recovery. Such terrible consequences of
chiZe Prevailing penchant for possessing °buses as
1:`,11,,Y ornaments convey a lesson which should not
UPon people.

The

AMERICAN OPINION ON TEE EASTERN
QUESTION.
The American papers have leadet s on the situation, dis-
cussing the San Stefano Treaty, of which the full text had
been received. The New York Tribune of April sth says :-
-

" We have been surprised in reading the text of the
treaty article by article to find Russian Commissioners
appearing at every turn of the process of pacification
and reconstruction. A Russian Commissioner is to
assist the representatives of Turkey and Servia in
arranging the frontier line. A Russian is to be as-
sociated with a similar Commission in settling the
claims of Mussulman land owners. Another Russian
Commissioner, in connection with a colleague from
Vienna, is to settle all questions which Montenegro and
the Porte cannot regulate in common. An Assembly of
Bulgarian Deputies is to organize the new Principality
under the supervision of a Russian Commissioner, and the
introduction of new regulations and the supervision of
their execution will be intrusted for two years to an
Imperial Russian Commissary, who is to have 50,000
troops under his command as a permanent army of
occupation, to be supported by the new administration,
and numerous Conimiesioners are authorized to verify
Mussulman land claims, to dispose of State property,
and to sell unclaimed estates; but in every instance
they are to act under the supervision of men:leers of the
Russian Civil Service. If the new Principality is not
converted into an outlying P.ussian province within
two years, it will be because there is lee administrative
faculty in Russian Commissioners supported by troops.
While it is possible that as soon as the troops are
withdrawn Bulgaria may combine with Roumania,
Servia, and Montenegro, to resist pressure from the
North, and that Europe may ultimately gain a
vigorous nationality, it is far more likely that
under the manipulations of the Commissioners and
the compression of military force, it will be reduced to
the level of a Russian dependency. With the text of
the treaty before us we are not surprised that the
opposition to the free exercise of the conqueror's
belligerent's righta is increasing on the Continent as
well as in Great Britain. As the European Powers
allowed Russia to overthrow the Turkish dominion
in Bulgaria and in the larger part of laoumelia,
they cannot complain if she strives to reorgnize
the provinces in her own mechanical and re-
pressive way. Noble and generous as her efforts
have been to deliver the Christian subjects of
the Porte from oppression s.nd to marls out a
prosperous future for them, the regenera,tion and
reconstruction of the Balkan Peninsula ought not to
have been delegated to a nation whose religious
instincts are so intolerant and whose administrative
methods are go defective. Even if an army of occupa-
tion were not to remain for two years so near Con-
stantinople, the Great Powere might well stand back
in apprehension while those bleeding and crushed pro-
vinces were being hammered into shape according to
the Russian plan. The Treaty of San Stefano, more-
over, without furnishing a basis for the permanent
pacification of the gast, will hasten Turkish de-
cadence. The popular institutione which Uidhat
attempted td introduce have been swept away and the
Government is impoverished and powerless."

In the Herald of April 6 the subject is referred to in a
strain of sympathy for Ittusia. The writer says:—
"Fortunately we are ourselves in a position from
which we can view the posibilities of the great conflict
that seems imminent without the anxious interest of
nations likely to be involved in its slaughter and ruin,
and while the American people are not indifferent to
those aspects of the case that have regard to humanity,
they are not feeble on the side of that humanitarian
moonshine which deprecates war as the greatest of
evils. But the war with regard to England possesses for
us an interest special to the relations of a maritime and
commercial rival—an interest similar in its nature to
that which England felt in so lively and practical
a way in our own desperate civil coi,ftiot. Indeed,
the spectacle of England at war and the United
States recovering in virtue of the conflict some por-
tion of its maritime greatness, while it will reverse
what the world saw 15 years ago, will be as much
less offensive, as the recovery of one's own always is,
to the seizure of that which belongs to another. For
if we are to benefit in any way by England's troubles,
it must be, and we believe will be, honestly and honour-
ably. If Russia can equip in any part of her dominion
or purchase elsewhere cruisers competent to hold
their own against British cruisers and efficient to
sweep the seas of Britisli commerce, we shall contem-
plate that fact with lively sympathy fcr Russia, and
without tears for England, who gave herself no un-
necessary distress for our feelings, when she did her
utmost to deprive us of the commerce that she is now,
perhaps, to lose. But this result must be achieved by
a nation legitimately at war with her, and not through
any assistance rendered by our shipyards through
abuse of our neutrality."

The New York Ccnt;;-,srel al and Financial Chronicle com.
mentirig on the Circular of tho Marquiti of Salisbury
observes ;

"It is now no longer doubtful that Great Britain
means to fight Russia unless Russia retires from what
we cannot but regard as a most indefensible position,
even if she should be left to fight Russia alone. Nor
is there now any longer a mystery as to what it is
that Great Britain considers a just cs,uee of war.
Whatever be the final result, Lord Beaconsfield and
his Cabinet have not only outwitted their political an-
tagonists at home, but by a sudden and unlooked-for
stroke of policy have ranged on their side the intelli-
gent sympathy of Europe and the world.
"The Salisbury Circular is by far the most impor-
tant document which has been published in many
years in connexion with the complicated affairs of the
East. It is difficult, indeed, to resist the conviction
that such a document, so just in its demands, so clear
and unanswerable in its arguments, and so firm in its
tone, would have rendered impossible the recent war
between Russia and Turkey. In the present situation
of affairs, and judging from the effect it has already
produced, it seems a not unreasonable presumption that
it will prevent a fresh outbreak of hostilities, Lord
Salisbury's Circular derives Its whole strength from the
sanctity of treaties. His lordship takes his ground on
tha Tieaty of 1856. One of the first articles of that
Treaty guarantees the independence and integrity of
the Ottoman Empire, and it is expressly stipulated
that to preserve peace and order in the Tux kish pro-
vinces, to which certain reforms were promised, there
should be no armed intervention, except with the
consent of the contracting Powers. In other words,
Turkey was to be allowed to work out her own re-
forms, and her independence and integrity were not
to be disturbed except by a fresh Conference, and a
formal rovision of the treaty. Russia violates the
Treaty of Paris by making war on Turkey without the
consent of the other Powers. On this, however, Lord
Salisbury does not in his Circular lay any very special
stress. His grand objection is that Russia in the face
of the Treaty of 1856 has made a private treaty with
the Sultan, by which the latter is so despoiled of terri-
tory and so fettered in his action that he is virtually
placed in the condition of a Russian vassal. Lord
Salisbury clearly shows that all these arrangements,
which augment the power of Russia, which are ruinous
to Turkey, which are detrimental not only to the im-
mediately neighbouring Powers, but indeed to every
country which has any interest in the Mediterranean,
are in direct violation of the articles of the Treaty of
1856. Great Britain has thus taken her position on
the sacredness of treaties and on the broad principle
of international law. She champions not only her own
cause, but the common rights of Europe."