The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-27 00:00:00

AUSTRIA AND THE EASTERN
QUESTION.

In a long article on the situation in the East the
Cologne Gazette remarks that, if Austria allowed her-
self to be tempted into an agreement with Russia for
the partition of Turkey, she would not only be
sharply condemned by the public opinion of Europe,
but would find herself opposed by England and by
other Powers also. France, stimulated by the ener-
getic attitude of the British Government, no longer
looks upon. Russia as a possible ally in the future;
she has become anti-Russian, and she sympathises
warmly with. England. The French are beginning
to remember the Crimean war and the Treaty
of Paris, for which France shed mere blood than
any other nation. This change of feeling is
especially important, as it must be a material element
in the political calculations of Prince Bismarck. Any
attempt on the part of Austria to become an accomplice
in the plunder of Turkey would rapidly induce France
to ally herself with England; and that France would
be followed in such a course by Italy, and perhaps
Spain, there can be no doubt. "Unfortunately,' con-
cludes the writer, "the times are past when Joseph 11.,
notwithstanding all his assurances of affection for the
Empress Catherine, exclaimed that lie would never allow
the Russians to take Constantinople, adding that the
neighbourhood of the turbans will always be less
dangerous for Vienna than that of the hats. Frederick
the Great, too, called Russia 'tine terrible Puissance'
in 1769, saying that it would ultimately become
necessary to form a league of the Great Powers to
oppose the dangerous advance of Russia. His suc-
cessor, Frederick William 11., actually entered into
an alliance with Turkey against Russia and Austria,
which, however, was not carried into effect owing to
the outhreak of the revolution in France." But, con-
cludes the Cologne Gazette, it is clear that the Eastern
Question is far more closely connected with the in-
terests of the Germany of the present day than it was
with those of the Prussia of Frederici -the Great;
and Prince Hismar% will certainly not at the decisive
moment sacrifice any German or even European in-
terest in this question. --Pall Pall Gazette.

At the conference of members of the Independent
Order of Good Tempi:An, held at Liverpool on Tuesday, it
was stated that the order now numbered 2,453 lodges and
110,000 members.

On Monday morning four fishermen in the employ--
ment of the Duke of Richmond and Gordon were drowned
near Lo,,siembuth, in Morapliire. While a cobble Con-
taining seven sen was approaching one of the sea salmon
netwit was (Arnold great •wavey'and•one fishet man was
washed into the water. A few seconds after a second sea
struck the boat, and all hands were thrown out. Two who
dung to the boat were saved and one swam alhore.

A CHINESE SCHOOL IN AMERICA.

The New York Tribune says :—lt will be news to
many of our readers to hear that the Chinese Govern-
ment is maintaining in the city of Hartford, at an
annual expense of 100,000 dollars, a school where more
than 100 Chinese boys are going through an educa-
tional course that is to last fifteen years. But even
many who have known of the existence and objects
of this institution can hardly have been made ac-
quainted with the romantic history of its inception.
This is to be found in a lecture delivered by the
'ILv. Joseph H. Tv, kiwi!, of Hartford, before the Kent
Club of the Yale Law School. The hero of the story
which jMr. Twichell tells in such a simple, unaffected
way, and yet so picturesquely, is Yung Wing, who
had the good fortune to be brought to this country to
get an education, and who conceived at 17 the plan
which took him 20 years to carry into effect. It is
the old story of men with great ideas—long years of
waiting without a chance to work, long years
.of work.
big without result, sudden reverses which put him
back where he began. A young man so far
Americanized that he took prizes at Yale for English
composition, and had to learn Chinese again on
going back to China, his task was to press upon the
most conservative people in the world what seemed
a radical, if not a revolutionary project. He sue.
ceeded at last in a country where the death of an
official's mother can delay an enterprise for three
years, and rose with the triumph of his ideas. Yung
Win.. is now a mandarin of high degree, and the school
he as founded will in a few years send back across
the Pacific 100 young men who, in China, will be
statesmen and philosophers. Mr. Twichell is right
in calling this "one of the most remarkable institu-
tions of the age," and right in calling Yung Wing
"one of the most significant characters of modern
civilisation."