The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Timex has no wish to represent the attack on a
Greek blockader runner by Hobart Yasna as a very unto-
ward event, or to forebode serious Eastern difficulties
as
the sequel of it. Indeed, so far as we can judge at
present, it may have a permanently pacific tendency.
These two cannon shots may quicken diplomatic action,
and spew the protectors of Greece their responsibilites.
A good many illusions may be dissipated by the energetic
action of the Turkish commander. The first of these
will be that the Porte has no will of its own, and that
it will content itself with remonstrating to the last,
sending its ironclads to cruise lazily in the Arthi-
pelago, the imbecile representatives of a naval power
which it is afraid to exert. It will now be seen whether
the Greeks are able to maintain the conflict they have
challenged. Of their maritime skill and enterprise there
can be no doubt, and the islands furnish sailors whom no
one will accuse of want either of courage or skill. But
the little sailing vessels of the Levant trade, and the half-
dozen steamers which the Greeks might bring together to
support them, are not likely to be a match for the navy of
an empire which still reckons great resources in men and
ships. In fact, Turkey has been preparing ships and guns
and all the means of naval warfare for years, and though
the fleet may have been purchased by an outlay out of
proportion to the revenue of the empire, still here it is,
ready to maintain the Sultan's claims, and Greece has
nothing which can be opposed to it. Another illu-
sion which will probably pass away within the next
few days is, that Greece will find active support from some
continental Power, and especially from her great Northern
ally, in resisting the Porte by force. We believe the
opinion of Europe is so settled on this subject, that even if
Russia were inclined to encourage the Hellene aggressions
she would be compelled to desist by the strong opposition
of the other Powers. The Greeks have, indeed, tried the
patience of the world too far. There has been every wish
to deal generously with them, and it need not be said that
their cause, so far as it is really that of the Christians of
Turkey, has the sympathy of the most enlightened minds
and the most noble hearts in every country of the world.
But, Philhellenes as we may be, we will not be made
accessories to the stirring up of civil war in a friendly
State.

Strongly as appearances justify the belief that the advice
and assurances of Russia, and perhaps of Prussia, are not
entirely foreign to the otherwise reckless determination of
the Greek Government, the Herald cannot believe that
either of these Powers can have deliberately sought to
create a conflagration in the East. For we must
assume that if Russia and Prussia have advised
Greece to force Turkey into a war, they have
undertaken to sustain it, and that, whatever may
be the desire of the Western Powers to avoid a war,
will infallibly provoke a general one. Austria cannot
possibly look on whilst the Turkish Empire is being broken
up by Russia and Prussia, and France can hardly hold
aloof from the fray longer than Austria. So we shall
assume, until we have evidence to the contrary, that the
Greek Government has acted under no promises of support
from Russia or Prussia, but has followed its own devices
in defying Turkey. If that be the case we entertain little
doubt, as we have said, that it will not venture to turn a
rupture of diplomatic relations into war, but will soon find
itself compelled to offer to Turkey the satisfaction it has
now refused. If, however, we should be deceived in this
anticipation, if the war which Greece has done enough to
provoke should break out,we trust that the Great Powers will
not attempt to make up for their weak conduct towards
Greece by bullying Turkey. It was in their power to
have compelled Greece, which only lives by their protec-
tion, to fulfil its duties a neutral Power. It will
be a scandal and a sin, the punishment of which will fall
in large part upon them, if they should intervene to
secure Greece immunity for misconduct which they have
themselves reprobated, and give it a glorious triumph
for disregarding all its international duties and their
counsels.

The Daily News holds that in her demands Turkey is
strictly within the limits of her legal rights ; and Greece,
unfortunately for herself and for the race of which she is
the champion, has not, during the forty years of her
national existence, acquired the title to appeal to that
higher law which sometimes justifies the violation of ordi-
nary rules. The kingdom of Hellas is not the Piedmont
or the Prussia of the Eastern peninsula. The sympathy of
Western Europe cannot be given unreservedly either to
Greece or to Turkey. Neither seems to have within
itsel° the germs of a healthy development, or to be
the nucleus of a new organisation of the East. The great
Christian Powers will probably feel that their proper atti-
tude is one of neutrality. The turbulence of Greece
repels sympathy almost as much as the decrepitude of
Turkey. If the apprehended struggle clears the ground
for a more worthy occupant than either of the contending
Powers, some negative good will at least be done. It is
not probable that England, under an Administration of
which Mr. Gladstone is the chief, and of which Mr. Bright
is an important member, will be tempted by old Foreign-
° (lice traditions either into armed meddling or into scarcely
less dangerous diplomatic muddling.
The Post observes that though Greece may possibly
think that the European Powers will interpose to prevent
Turkey from crushing her, this idea must, if acted on,
lead to results disastrous to Greece. In the first place,
Turkey is very well able to vindicate her rights, and in the
next place any attempt to overawe her would at once call into
existence a coalition quite as powerful as that which fifteen
years ago protected her from Russia. We must wait some
days, if not longer, before we are made acquainted with the
language addressed to the Hellenic Government by the pro-
tecting Powers, although there can be no doubt about its
purport. Even now it is not too late to avert the
threatened disturbance of the peace of Europe, and it is to

he hoped that the representatives of the Great Powers at
Athens will give the Government of King George dis-
tinctly to understand that in the event of a war with
Turkey they must not rely on the assistance of States
whose sole intention was to maintain the independence of
Greece.

The Standard says the significance of the present bold
attitude of Greece consists in this, that it is assumed in
the teeth of the joint attempts at mediation made by the
protecting Powers—by Russia, as well as by France and
by England—joined on this occasion, as we learn from the
semi-official press of Berlin, by Prussia. Now it is clear
that Greece, single-banded, has no possible hope of over-
coming a Power like Turkey. No one believes for a
moment that the Hellenes, with all their high aspirations
and their fine sentiments, would be able to sustain, of
their own resources, a war with Turkey. They never
have been a match in the field for the Turks, even

man to man. They certainly have not increased in mili-
tary prowess since the days of the war of liberation.
They are no better able to maintain themselves, as an
independent Power, against the Sultan, than they were
able to win their independence against the Sultan's prede-
cessors. They have neither army nor navy--neither
money nor arms—neither credit nor spirit. Pitted against
Turkey, in a fair field, there cannot be a doubt but that the
smaller and weaker nation must go down, unless sustained
by some friendly arm. How, then, have the Hellenes
dared to provoke this quarrel with Turkey ? What are
the chances on which they have relied to help them out of
the consequences of their foolhardiness ? A war between
Greece and Turkey is simply ludicrous. If the combatants
are left alone there can be but one issue. But it is impos-
sible to believe that Greece accepts the challenge on her
own account solely—that she relies upon the intrinsic
might of the Hellenes to conquer in the struggle. There
must be an impression, more or less distinct, in the
Hellenic mind, that Greece is not to be left to fight Turkey
singly ; that some superior Power will watch over her, and
keep her from harm in the end, even if it does not aid her
actively in the battle.

The Telegraph notes that recent scientific observations—
and every observation taken by those interested in the
welfare and safety of our collieries is nothing if it is not
scientific—have proved that certain conditions of the
atmoshere forerun and foretell certain exceptional
liabilities to calamity. The coincidence may not be
momentaneous—the abnormal state of the outer air may
not be followed for days by the exceptionally
perilous character of the air in the pit. But it is as
certain as anything need be for our guidance where
the saving of human life is concerned, that when the
pressure of the atmosphere, as indicated by the barometer,
is low, it is urgently necessary to send down the pit a
greater body of air, in order that the light and noxious
vapours of the coal may not overpower the atmosphere or
the pit, and rush up into fatal combustion. Several days
before the deplorable explosion near Wigan, Mr. Negretti
gave a public warning which should have put managers
everywhere on their guard ; and the consequence of insuf-
ficient attention at llindley-green pit to the atmospheric
c.nditions has served to show that predictions of
danger in the mine may be given with practically as
much trustworthiness as predictions of storm upon the
main. If that is not the case, the scientific men whose
duty it is to investigate such matters—and who are, in
fact, paid by the State for that work--should make
thorough examination, and set at rest any public suspicion
cf laxity and indifference to the safety of our poor miners.
If, on the contrary, a distinct relation between certain
atmospheric states and certain colliery risks can be clearly
established, it is not less the business of the public servants
to make science available in mining as in other branches
of industry—and thus to prevent a useless sacrifice of lives
which often lies heavy on our hearts and consciences at
this season of bright fires and bright faces.

The late Mr. John Bairstow, a wealthy cotton
Fpinner, of Preston, bequeathed the bulk of his largo for.
tune to religious and charitable purposes. The aggregato
mount of the bequests is about £lOO,OOO.