The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-06-08 00:00:00

THE CONGRESS.

The invitations to a European Congress,
which have been sent out to the Powers by the
German Government, mark a distinct stage in
the history of a prolonged series of negotia-
tions. The principle which has guided this
country throughout has been founded on the
necessity of obtaining some sort of preliminary
agreement as to the points whose discussion
must form the subject-matter of the Congress.
If the views of England and Russia. with re-
gard to the settlement of the Eastern Question,
had been found to be utterly antagonistic and
irreconcilable, no good could have been ob-
tained by entering upon a controversy which
could have had no practical result so far as th.
adjustment of the dispute was concerned.
Events have proved that this divergence of
opinion is net so wide us had been anticipated.
A common basis of deliberation has now been
laid down in virtue of which the issues raised
by the Treaty of San Stefano may be debatee
with some probability of a swistactory solutioi,
being finally discovered. Of course it woulf:
be premature to assume that all the difficulties
of the situation have been surmounted by the
mere fact that the Congress is to meet in the
course of the ensuing week. Until the repre-
sentatives of the Powers have met, no arrange-
ment can be made respecting the specific mode
in which the various questions can be definitively
settled. Many of these are matters of detail,
and everything must depend upon the proposals
which are submitted to and accepted by the
Congress. Progress has, however, at length
been made towards dealing with the cornplicatt d
problem with which the Congress will have to
deal, and that after all is something for which
to be grateful.
It is a little more than twelve months ago
that the Russian army arrived upon the banks
of the Danube, and paused for several weeks
upon the shores of that broad and rapid stream,
making preparations to cross it. During that
time, and while there was a lull in the echoes
of the war cry which had burst upon Europe,
attempts were made by the neutral Powers to
bring about a settlement of the dispute without
the effusion of blood which must always accom-
pany a European war. But Turkey was at that
time conscious in her strength and her abLity
to resist the Power of Russia, and for a time it
really seemed as though she had not tins-
calculated .the potential nature of her position.
The Russians, after a delay, which seemed to
other nations almost unaccountable, crubsed the
Danube on the 27th of June, and the Turks
made a feeble and ineffectual attempt to ills.
pute that passage. Yet they made a desperate
resistance at Plevna, and though for five months
Osman Pasha's great tactical skill succeeded in
rapidly converting an open town into a fortified
camp, and in holding it against an overwhelm-
ing force of Russians, he was at length com-
pelled to surrender, and the Russians then
found it an easy march to Constantinople. We
all know what has happened since. Turkey,
prostrate and bleeding at every pore, lay at the
feet of the conqueror, the Treaty of San
Stefano was signed, and it is over that Cantons
instrument that all the subsequent difficulty has
arisen. The (Aber Powers, more especially
Great Britain, objected to such an important
matter by the whole body, and the reluctance
of Russia to submit the Treaty to a Congress,
has proved the great stumbling block in the
way of a ratification of that famous instrument.
For the present we may well rest satisfied
with the fact that the Congress is to meet after
all, and that no resort will be made to arms
before the European Powers have attempted to
settle the questions arising out of the defeat of
Curkey, in another way, and by peaceful
deliberation. Count Schonvaloff, on his return
to London from St. Petersburg, intimated to
our Government that the Czrir would be pre-
pared to waive his objection to the submission
of the freaty to the Congress in the form
deemed essential by England if an understand-
ing could be previously brought about as to
the points in the Treaty to which we inten led
to take exception. This intimation was con-
sidered by our Cabinet to furnish a possible
basis for a satisfactory solution. The terms of
the document were then discussed between
Count Schouvaloff and Lord Salisbury in
accordance with the general principles laid
down by the Foreign Secretary in his well-
known Circular of the Ist of April, and within
three days of the Russian Ambassador's return,
a provisional
e hand
awn hdieho understandinguri
t Fd
ejsrieriegsnwanformulatedt o
sarrivedeeiii
introduced
. On
one
ocde
rut
eaei
certain
the
alterationson
into the Treaty; and on the other hand, Russia,
through her Ambassador, acknowledged that
these alterations were not of a kind which must
be met with an absolute refusal. The Count
however: w.as not empowered to make any bind-
ing admission of this kind on his own authority.
All that he could do
.was to transmit the under-
standing for ratification to St. Petersburg, and
at the same time h.is Excellency expressed his
belief as well as his. hope that this ratification
would be forthcoming. An assurance of this
kind was justly considered as affording strong
grounds for the belief that the Congress might
be held at an early date.; and the German
EicoVerUgieUtt which htid actively extorted itself