The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-05-11 00:00:00

G. F. GREEN,
PIANOFORTE
.

THE SITUATION.

During the troubled period which succeeded
the disastrous defeat of the Piedmontese [irate s
at the battle of Novara, now nearly thiety
years ago, Count Cavour Was one day asked by
a diplomatist how things were going on. 'I he
reply of the statesman was, "We exist, and
every day's existence is a gain." Time has
proved the truth of teat wise saying of Cavour,
who did not live to see the futl accomplishment
of his plans. He died before Italy was con-
solidated ; but the little State wnica less than a
generation since lay bleeding at every pore at
Ltie feet of Austria, is now one of the great
Powers of Europe, and is represented at the
various Courts by an ambassador, a diplomatic
official of the very highest rank. Count
Cavour's observation may be applied, with a
little varying, to the political situation of to-
day. There has been no actual rupture in the
relations between England and .Russia; and
that this should be so is not only a matter of
congratulation in itself, but affords some
ground for hope that peace may be per-
manently preserved. It may therefore be said
by those who have at heart the maintenance of
huropean peace: " We are still not at war, and
every day's avoidance of war is a gun." The
Ministers of the Crown declare one after
another their emphatic desire to keep the
country out of war. The influences which in
Europe, as in every civilized community, work
in favour of peace, are so powerful in them-
selves, that the longer any positive act of hos-
tilities is avoided, the greater are the chances
that war may be averted in the end. It would
be a striking commentary on the boasted march
of civilization if at a time when crowds are
thronging into the Temple of Peace in Paris,
two other European capitals as distant from
each other as London and St. Petersburg,
should be preparing to rush into war.

From oiore- thin. one source reports have
reached this country of a more conciliatory
disposition on the part of those who are re•
sponsible for the administration of affairs in
Russia. Great Blitain has refused to ent, r on
any Congress whose deliberations are to be
based upon the alternahle provisions of the
Treaty of San Stefano. More or less official
announcements have just been made indicating
a willingness on the part of Russia to modify
the terms of the Treaty. A straw shows the
direction of the win i. aria the return of the
Grand Duke Nicholas to St. Petersburg, coupled
with the appointment of General Todleben as
Commander-in-Chief of the armiesturrounding
Constantinople, and of Prince Labanoff as
Ambassador to the Porte, are looked upon as
b&ng of a pacific nature. A grand council was
recently held in the Russian capital, and the
opinion of this assembly proved decidedly
adverse to an open collision with this country.
This is said to have produced a great impres-
sion on the mind of the Czar, who has been
always represented as a sovereign of peaceful
views. It is easy to see that there are many
considerations which induce the Russian
Government to hesitate before finally confront-
ing the risks of a second and more arduous
war. There may be no truth in the stoties
current respecting the exhaustion of the Im-
perial treasury, the disorganization of the
army, owing to the strain of the campaign, and
the internal disaffection prevailing throughout
the Empire. There need be no truth in such
statements to account for the reluctance of the
Czar and his advisers to face the prospect of a
war with England. An empire upon whose
dominions the sun never sets, and whose re-
sources are practically inexhaustible, would take
the place of a decrepit and bankrupt State,
whose internal condition had long been a scandal
to Europe.
At the same time an impartial review of our
own position must lead to the conclusion that
only the most righteous cause could justify our
plunging into war. Our interests are so vast,
extending over the whole world, that we should
offer many vulnerable points on which an
enemr could attack us. Whitening the ocean
with the sails of our commerce, we send our
traders into every port where the marts of men
teem with traffic. Belting the earth with our
colonies, dotting its surface with our fortresses,
anchoring our navies in all its harbours, the
morning drum beat, in the language of an
eloquent American wakening with the sun, and
following the hours, encircles the earth with a
a continuous and unbroken strain of the martial
airs of England. Daring the civil war in the
United States, a single privateer known as the
Alabama, showed how easy it was to annihilate
the commerce of a whole nation. The appear-
ance of the Cimbna off the coast of Maine, as
1 recently announced, has a most ominous look
about it. • There was no questioning the fact
that a large steamer, comnussioned as a Russian
man•of-war, and manned by a number of sea-
men, out of all proportion to her requirements
has arrived in American waters. The obvious
inference is that these sailors are to be em-
ployed in manning privateers, which-are to sail
from. American ports in the event of a war with
England. It is possible that the despatch of
the Cimbria may be intended merely to excite
apprehensions here as to the possible conse-
(voices of a war, with the object of ienderig
our Goveruniont less disposed to insist on its
deruando. Such an incideut litaY well mak° the

people anxious tnat every effort should be mad.e
for the preserval ion of per (',.).-isti-Wiy with
national dignity and honour. The destruction
of commerce alone, to say nothing of the huge
addition which a war Would make to our
national debt, and the sacrifice of life that must
ensue, would in itself be a heavy penalty to pay.
In the last war with Tiussia, we held our own
upon the sea, for there were no privateers, and,
indeed filibustering of this description was
abolished by the Declaration of Paris in 1856.
But the Confederate Staten of America were no
parties to that agreement, and the success from
her own point of view which attended the ravages
of the Alabama might well tuapt a hostile Power
to attack Great Britain iu a part in which she
would feel a blow most acutely, her com-
mercial superiority amo;igst the nations of the
earth.