The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-03 00:00:00

Ely (stourtnibe ObstriTer,

SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1875.

PrkOzi'l•;C!!•S IN FOREI(iN

Thelpre3s,nt Prime Minister, speaking ut
Guildhall Banquet some years ago, descrin,d
ii.- foreign outlook in cue of those feliciclt ..s
pi.rases -which, once uttered, speedily bee-
historical. " The sky is grey," said the right
hon. gentleman, " but the clouds are the pre-
cursors of neither darkness nor tempest. Could
the same language be applied now to the notit;-
cal firmament abroad? The incessant arming
of France and Germany is too notorious to need
much comment. When the Gaul and the Teu-
ton again meet for mortal combat, the war of
1870 will be thrown into the shade by the fierce-
ness of the strife. That gigantic struggle, brief
as it was, eclipsed all other "aiiiets of modern
times, not only in the fearful sacrifi.:e of iif,
but in the magnitude of PA results. It dispelled
a superstition which had linv2; weighed upon the
heart of Earone—that France waa the greatest
military monarchy upon the Continent, and that
her armies were invincible. It showed the Teu-
tonic race flying to arms at the news that war
had been declared, and that France was about
to invade the soil of Germany. How the tide
of invasion was rolled back, how the Prussian
armies poured over the soil of France like a
torrtnt, how they besieged' and took her capital,
took her
.sovereign a prisoner, led her armies
into captivity by hundreds of thousands, des-
troyed her fortresses, and took from her two of
her finest
.gro v c;,s, to say nothing of calling
upon herLafaratwar idetnnity of two hundred
millions sterlfitg, history records, and children
now living amongst us well remember. France
was thoroughly prostrated, and it was believed
that by her dismemberment she would be crip-
pled and rendered powerless for mischief for
many a year to come. But a first class Euro-
pean Power is not shattered by the reverses of a
single campaign, and the extraordinary energy
shown by our neighbours across the Channel
in recovering from their misfortunes, certainly
astonished the world. She paid off her heavy
war idemnity with a celerity which surprised
even wealthy England, and set to work to re-
organise her forces in a way whieh shewed that
the lessons of the war had not been bossed upon
her.

But it is not merely upon the banks of the
Rhine and the Moselle that the continental sky
grey. Turning our eyes to Constantinople, we
see that the sick man of the Emperor Nicholas
is very sick indeed, almost unto death. The
Turkish empire, pervaded by fanaticism and hope
lessly involved in debt, seems sinking into de-
cay as fast as it is possible for a State to do.
Possessing a beautiful climate, a fertile soil, and
immense natural resources of mineral wealth re-
quiring only capital and energy for its devel-
opement, Turkey seems destined to be obliter-
ated from the roll of nations. The indolence
and the fatalism which thus combine to send a
once powerful empire to ruin, are especially dis-
heartening to us, for twenty years ago we en-
tered upon a great European war for the espec-
ial purpose of maintaining the integrity of Tur-
key. The blood and the treasure of English-
men and Frenchmen were poured out like water
in the trenches before Sebastopol; yet what has
been the result? The Russian ambassador at
Constantinople is said to have the Sultan cam-
pletely under his influence; and Turkish grati-
tude to Epgland is shewn when the Sultan re-
fuses to see a dt'putation of our countrymen who
wish to plead for toleration towards chrislians
who are now persecuted by fanatical Mussalruans
Extravagance in high places with national bank-
ruptcy staring ti.e country in the face, the fie-
ances a wreck, the public service disorganize
the monarchy in tile heals of an irrespoueiee
sovereign, surrounded by narrow-minded nud
intolerant advisers, the people ground down by
despotism, and surrendering themselves either
to selfish pleasures or to incureble idleness—
such is the picture which we see in a great Ste
in the east of Europe—a State eeparatiug tbe
barbarisms of Russia from the civilization of the
western world. How long is it to last? Those
who know. reply that the answer is merely a
question of time, and the inquiry arises whether
supposing the shores of the Bosphorus and the
Golden Horn, held by a Russian army, England
would again go to war to bolster up a tottering
empire. The answer must, of course, depend
upon the circumstances of the moment.
But what are we to say of Greece? that cies-
sic laud which, thousands of years afro was the
seat of learning and of art? To day the name
of Greece is synonotnous with brigandage and
chaos. The King finds it impossible to.govevu
his subjects, and they merely laugh at his as-
sumption of authority. It is a lamentable fall-
ing off from the country of Socrates and Plato, of
Aristides and Phidias, of Miltiades and Chuon.
Then let us lock at Spain—civil war and brigand-
age running riot through the land. Italy too
the home of painting and of sculpture, is in-
fested in some of its fairest portions by robbers
and bandits. Altogether, then, to say nothing
of the Muscovits barbarism beyond the
the outlook in Europe is not justnow of an asaur-
ing character. Still we may hope that &time gli
there may be clouds, Uhy are act the pre-
cursors of either darkness or teniptest.