The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-03-05 00:00:00

" THE PATHS OF HONOUR AND OF
SHAME."

Mr. Gladstone in an article in the March number
of the liineleesa Century, entitled "Ph. Paths of
Honour and of Shame," says: —Since the British
, Government wisely determined that the question
• respecting the passage of ships of war throsgh the
Bospherons should be left to the decision of Europe,
there has not remained the shadow of • plea for
separate war or separate operations tending towards
war in the Levant. In the comprehensive and
entangled subject, which is, we hope, likely to be
brought before the Powers, interest we have, but
special interests we can hardly be said to have. Nor
can there be a groner fully than to &Brume either a
sole or a peculiar responsibility in casee where our
Interests are common and where our partners in those
common interests are both more proximately and
more deeply concerned than ourselves. In the
Danube, the Black Sea, the Straits, and the possession
of Oonstantinople it is evident that the Powers on the
banks and ooasta and the Powers on the shores of the
Mediterranean are marsh more concerned than we,
and in proportion to their concern they, and not we,
ought to beer the main brunt of any controversy that
, may arise. Two propositions I note as undeniable.
, First, that it is neither within the duty of Ragland
' to take into her own option the enforcement by arms
of the general interests of Europe; secondly, that
lance the Government decided to leave the question
of the freedom of the Boephorous for ships of war
which bad been held by so many to be • special
and separate British interests, the twin question of
the possession of Constantinople has lost every trace
, of an interest specially and separately British. It
has fallen into the category of thaw Important
• subjects of European concerns which lEnrok
can handle with perfect right and am
power, as against any disorderly member of
European system, but which a single State is neither
competent in point of public law nor probably sufficient
in material strength to bring to • wild settlement. II
thews things be es they exhibit in the present situation
the rw-e-via 01 Wand and Rods in the Levant as

one among the strangest which fortune or folly bibs
ever brought about. The only safegviar 1 for the
despa.ch of the Best was the assent of Turkey, which
would have signified the co-operation of the three
Powers unite:some fixed arrsogement. In she *beano*
of that assent, we have before us at best that flourish-
ing of fists in one another's faces, which is a poor
affectation an.l mimicry of courage, and which meats
a danger where none previoody existed. Individually,
I have not expected conflict am probable, but it is
because our admirals, officers, and men, deserve a
omidlence of which war parties at home, whether here
or in liuscic, have no claim whatever. But if out of
this singular local combination of the forces there
should grow a war, it will be as probable ow, of
I widest in its range, certainly either for the one State
or for both, among the most wanton awl, therefore,
the most wicked and shameful which the annals of
modern times have placed upon record. There are,
ho sever, already signs of an approach to unity amongst
us with retard to one great department of the
Eastern Question, which is at length beginning to
I receive ;some of the attention it deserve. It is evident
part of the proper work of England is to 'look
closely to the matter of equality, or rather propor-
tion, of treatment as between Greek and Slav, and
If there is a desire for rivalry here is a legitimate
opportunity for a free and generous rivalry
The fabric of the Turkish Empire has been so simple
that the primary aim of its wisest friends should be
to secure its remains against further shocks, and with
this view to establish relstions between the Porte and
its provinces as easy and elastic as may be. Scarcely
lees difficult than the question between Ilellene and
Turk is the question of local demarcation between
Hellen. and Slay. Austria may here have an undue
bias against the Slav—Rumia against the Hellene.
Surely it will be for England to hold the scales with
fair and even hand. It may be asserted that neither
the Balkans on the one hand nor the sea on the other
can be the true limit of the frture Bulgaria. How
much territory south of these mountains it shall
include, and how the line shall be drawn, can only
be decided upon an impartial and detailed inquiry
into the local circumstances of language. In the
Treaty of 1856 an important provision was made for
consulting in the Principalities the wishes of the
people thsmselves. I hope that, together with the
eihenical facts, regard may now again be had, where
it is practicable, to the desires of the population,
Among the States that are to take part in the negotia-
tions the case of Austria requires a brief special
notice. If, unhappily, it should prove that there
exists a combined os for selfish purposes between
Germany and Russia, the only way to neutralise it
will be, not by forming • weaker ootintercombination
or conspiracy, but by meeting it with clean hands,
and bringing to bear ag,lnst it the general sentiment
of the Powers who speak as a whole for the civilised
world, and the interests of DIM at large. I am far,
bowevei, from saying that we have as yet any proof
of danger from this quarter. The recent speech of
Prince Bismarck is somewhat elevated and broad in
tone, and may partially serve us a a model in its
sober estimates and graduation of motives and
Interests. In this most grave and difficult negotia-
tion, Russia, if she shall advance any extravagant
claims for the artifical enlargement of Bulgaria,
will presumably be met in the first line of opposition
by Turkey, Greece, and Austria, each of them stand-
ing upon the ground of its own strong and legitimate
interest*. It can hardly be doubted that these
three States would receive a firm support „amply
I sufficient for it. purpose from England, France, and
Italy. Austria ham special interests in the freedom
of the Danube, the freedom of the Straits, and the
future ownership of Constantinople. We have a
general, not a special, interest in the same questions.
There is therefore, no necessity and no place for any
mecret arrangement with a view to the promotion of
these interests. There remain two points in the
alleged or possible conduct of Russia which appear to
call for a word of notice. Let us co-operate with any
and with everybody against any mutilation of
Roumania, should the occasion unhippily arise. But
again, and most earnestly, I express' the hope that it
may never arise at AIL !Wads ought not to stoop to
this petty spoliation, or abstraction if you will, from
a humble but a brave ally. If she does, I fear that
iachief may c .me of it hereafter. Do not let her
descend from what may he her bigh estate to make
out of this small appropriation of a tract which she
has never held for half • century a Naboth's vineyard.
Finally, I am selfish enough to hope, in the interest
of my country, that in the approaching conference or
congress we may have and may use an opportunity to
esquire the goodwill of somebody.