The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 14, 1868.

time about it. Part of the amount is to be made
up by public subscription. It must occasion gene-
ral regret in Berlin that the new Prussian Ambas-
sador in Paris has been very ill, and although no
better his state is still a critical one. It is said,
however, that he will not retire, but it is to be
questioned if he will be able to discharge his oner-
ous duties after so severe an attack. Just now the
aspect of affairs seems to be a peaceful one, and it
may, therefore, be confidently presumed that the
quiet state of the Continent will conduce to a feel-
ing of greater stability than has been entertained
for some time past, owing to one cause and another
acting unfavourably in various directions.

Ir is seated that remonstrances haiie been-ad-
dressed to the Government of Servia by several of
the Great Powers, on the groimd of its excessive
armaments. We believe that there is good reason
for the remonstrances. RusSia', anticipating a
war between Prussia and liance, ha:s been laying
her plans for some time past with the view of
carrying out the great object of her policy, the
object which, though_ it was naturally postponed
twelve years ago, has never been abandoned—tile
establishment of the Russian jower at CAStanti-
nople. In pursuance:of this great design she has
been diligently stirring up strife among the Slavonic
subjects of Austria, and promoting disaffection
among the Christian subjects of Turkey. The Ottoman
Empire is, in the belief of St. Petersburg diploma-
tists, destined to fall speedily. Austria is the most for-
midable competitor with Russia for the spoils.
Austria must, therefore, be disabled by domestic
dissension from taking part in the great struggle
which is believed to be imminent, at the same time
that the struggle itself is hastened by fomenting
the old and bitter animosity between the Maho-
metan ruler and his Christian subjects. It is with
this end in view that Russia openly sympathises
with and aids the Cretan insurgents, and scarcely
less openly supplies the Servians with arms. It is
probably with this object also that the Russian
army in Central Asia is steadily advancing south,
and has even now approached within a very few
hundred miles of our frontier. The CZAR and his
Ministers know well that we find no little difficulty
in raising the 80,000 troops which are required to
hold our Indian Empire in time of peace, and that
in time of war it would be still more difficult to
maintain that force, and still more difficult again
to provide a force large enough to meet such even-
tualities as the proximity of a Russian army might
involve. England, of course, has every induce-
ment to postpone the threatened crisis. Next to
Turkey itself,:therelis no country which might suffer
so much from it as Great Britain. It is, therefore,
highly probable that Servia has been requested to
renounce her hostile attitude.

It is easier to give good advice than to enforce
it. It is by no means certain that the Servians will
listen to our representations, It is questionable if
the policy of keeping things • pleasant can be
maintained much longer, or if it is desirable to
maintain it. Hitherto we have assumed that there
is no choice between the preservation of the
Turkish Empire intact and the substitution of
Russian rule on the Bosphorus. The laboured
apologies which have been put forth in behalf of
the Turkish Government, the unfriendly disposi-
tion which we have shewn towards the brave
Cretans and Montenegrins, arise, not from any love
of the SULTAN, but from dread of the CZAR. There
are by no means only two alternatives. There are
at least four. We might assent to the breaking up
of the Ottoman Empire on condition that the
European provinces should be divided between
Greece and Austria. Perhaps little harm would
be done by annexing Thessaly and Epirus to the
first, but the annexation of the Principalities
and Servia to the second would be a very question-
abk policy. It would in all probability be found that
the Austrian rule was as little liked on the Danube
as it was formerly on the Po. True, the HAPSBURG
has become a cc nstitutional sovereign ; but for all that
it would not be prudent in us to repeat the mistake,
fruitful of so many disasters, made half a century
ago, when we handed over the Italians to a sovereign
tolfe
ma neontt. he r race. The European
Tl ere i s y
se
ut anotherbieetsof possible
thep
Porte
e-
might constitute themselves into several separate
States. It is asserted by the writer of a very able
article on the Eastern question, which has recently
appeared in the London Quarterly Review, that
while the Mahometans of European Turkey
are 3,800,000, of whom only about one million
Osmb
subjects
ss
ofof the
ee
SULTANgovern-
ing
are nearly 13 millions, of
belonrgae
race,
2o
the
ht he e
Christiangenuin
whom about 51
millions,
-Wallachians and the
Servians of i.e., the Meoldo
the
Principality, have a partial inde-
pendence, and the rest are in total but unwilling
subjection. Year by year the Christian subjects
are becoming more numerous and wealthy, while
their rulers are becoming fewer and poorer. Tho
first
are s
sl fully
is convinced that the supremacy of
thetircoming
to an end. At the same
ti
me
time they are as rapacious and licentious as ever.
Horrible are the cruelties perpetrated by them on
Christian men ; shameful are the atrocities
ted by the .1-1 on Christian women. Justice is unattain-
able in the law courts ; corruption of
public func-
tionaries is universal. The • '
Turk imitates the
Western European—in his vices. This
form of imi-
tation is certainly no flattery to the one, no benefit
to the other.

supposed pproesa ed dy thatto u anunite
peoplein
ssuffering in
government for that which now
fthat
;t
sl tttlaht
eE upTrrohepirsea, ar
anehldlru
however,
ac
no llouttnhleo
another
might
fvo on
nubl would be
of
oege
vsre
ee
si nret a
ibSinlso us
uht hu
a
nEo pea I:sv rt
:ars
and
eds Et
pi'
ore pe
re;
t
likely to happen. Though they
pro-
fessing the Christian faith and in hating their
Mussulman rulers, they are not of the same creed
nor of the same race. If representatives of all the
nationalities over which Turkey now rules were
gathered together in Constantinople, they would
recall to memory the dispersion of Babel or
its counterpart and corrective the day of Pentecost.
There are the Greeks of Roumelia, Macedonia,
Thessaly, and Epirus who desire to be annexed to
Greece. These, so far from wishing to come under
the rule of the CZAR, look upon Russia as their
enemy. On the other hand, a Bulgarian would
feel insulted if he were called a Greek. He would
reply that he belonged to the orthodox faith and
hated the Hellenes. The Greek clergy have
allied themselves with the Turks in Bulgaria,
Bosnia, and Herzegovina. In fact,-as has been
stated by a clear-sighted observer of Eastern poli-
tics, the different Christian communities would
rather be g( era I by the Turks than by a
rival Christian sect. The Armenians dislike
the Turks ; but they hate the Greeks;
and the Greeks, while they hate the Turks,
despise the Armenians. The Greek people are
hated by three-fourths of the members of the Greek
Church in Turkey. There is no chance of realising
the grande idee ; a Greek Empire with its seat of
government at Constantinople is impossible.
Passing from the Greek races we find the long belt
of Slavonic tribes extending from the Adriatic to
the Black Sea, of whom the Western, or Servian
and Croatian half, speak the purest Slavonic. Five
hundred years ago Servia was nearly becoming a
great empire. It may even now become the head
of a large kingdom, for it is, perhaps, the most
flourishing of all the States subject to the Porte. But
the most probable result of the dismemberment of the
Turkish Empire is the establishment of several
small States. Small, that is, comparatively, though
larger than Belgium and Switzerland. At the
present moment the tendency is towards amalgama-
tion rather than subdivision. Experience has
shewn us in the case of Belgium and Switzerland
how useful small States may be in acting as a
barrier to war. It is possible that Europe may
before long be glad to see the creation of petty
independent States, each complete and self-con-
tained, and therefore a guarantee for the peace
which has been so long threatened by the huge but
heterogeueous TurliiBll Empire,.

The Fenian investigations that are proceeding at '
Bow-street naturally engage attention and inte-
rest, for one feels anxious to have any light that is
possible thrown upon the affair. It seems one
strange part of the case that so many persons noticed
the men and the woman who were engaged with the
truck and barrel, destined to play so important a
part in the tragic business. Certainly let their plan
have been what it may secrecy did not seem a
part of it, for the perpetrators of the dread-
ful deed went about as freely as if they
were engaged in the most innocent pursuit, or
were employed for the most rational purpose. The
charge of wilful murder include a good many
altogether, for JOHN O'KEEFE was put with the five
others in consequence of information that had been
received. ALLEN appears to have been particularly
prominent in the affair, but no doubt the others
were also required. In all probability they
must have supposed that in the confusion
that would ensue they should readily get off
and escape detection, and therefore they sacrificed
all considerations of prudence for that end, otherwise
it seems difficult to comprehend why they should
have made themselves so unnecessarily conspicuous
as they did. It is well that they should have done
so, or else the ends of justice might not have been
met, and it would he deplorable if none of the mis-
creants had been caught. Such a coincidence would
indeed have been a triumph for Fenianism greatly
to be regretted, but it is to be hoped that the cap-
ture of so many may be equally destructive to the
cause. Great interest will attack to that part of
the inquiry relating to the delivery of the barrels
of blasting-powder, but in consequence of the
absence of witnesses it is not yet completed.
Between ten and eleven in the morning the four
half barrels of the blasting-powder were delivered
at Pulteney-court, and those were put in the truck,
the remaining one being lodged in the back part of

the premises.
Some prudent precautions have been taken at
Warwick, where the Fenian prisoners have been incar-
cerated. Lord LEIGH, the Lord-Lieutenant, hascoru-
municated with the Secretary of State,and the latter
has agreed to a military force being stationed in
the vicinity of the county prison. In awaiting their
arrival the greatest care is being taken, by night
and day, to prevent an outbreak. The local volun-
teers are in the inside, and on the outside there is a
strong body of the county police. Some strange
characters have been seen in Warwick since the
prisoners were sent to the gaol, but no indication
has been given of any attack or outrage. Still
it is very desirable that all proper precautions
should be taken to prevent any chance of a dis-
turbance, In consequence of the various untimely
occurrences that have taken place at Merthyr-
Tydfil, the whole of the special constables assembled
at the Police-court, when the presiding magistrate
addressed them, and tendered some directions.
Some anti-Fenian meetings have taken place, and
in every direction attempts are being made to put a
stop to the insidious efforts of the designing conspi-
rators. The swearing in of special constables in

the metropolis also continues
in the most satisfac-
tory manner, and is an encouraging sign.

The arrival of the Hermann from New York on
the 2d tells us that Gen. CANDY has issued an order
which is likely to do something towards restoring
tranquillity in the Carolinas. He ha 3 provided the
homestead exemption from legal seizure, and has
revoked SICKLES'S mischievous order prohibiting
the sale and distillation of liquors in either S;ate.
There is little enough reason to interfere with any
branch of industry in the Southern State,, and
a wholesale prohibition affecting many trades
could not he otherwise than injurious at
a more prosperous season. The efforts of
all parties in the North should be directed
to the restoration of trade and commerce
in the Southern States,
since not until some de-
gree of commercial prosperity returns is there
any chance of the burdens of the North being
lightened. The unsetled position of every thing, of
the civil government, of the tenure of property, of
the representative system, of the form of adminis-
tration following on the disasters and losses of the
war, had completely depreciated the value of pos-
sessions in the South. Estates in Alabama and
Mississippi have been recently sold for less money
than had been expended in improvements
upon them, and when the land itself is reduced to
so little value we can easily believe that other pro-
perty will be reckoned as worthless. The head
hoffiiscriaelpoorft to which the Fwrheedhmea's Bureau in Mississippi, in
we
referred the other day,
draws a terrible picture of affairs in that State.
Ile says that cases have come to his knowledge in
which not only the whole crop of a plantation has
e.
Tb y
willcsurnsphpiiirstmeid Y
believeted by their obstinacy and
the
be injustice. jdivided usti
amongst them,
been turned over to the labourers to satisfy their
They
claims, but even the mules and implements had to
be given. The failure of the cotton crop left the
planters without the means of
esatisfying
negroes' demands, and they, already filled with
dreams of owning the lands themselves, are roused
atto
hn furyadt nithaet bymatters
rs landsare the
e
presumption. It is not to be expected that Northern
capitalists will invest their money in such a country,
and yet without the influx of capital what can the
impoverished Southerners do. A people whose
numbers alone constitute them, in Mr. GLAD •
STONE'S words, si a nation," are thus reduced
to an absolute deadlock of misery and de-
solation. The PRESIDENT is doing what he
can to repair the mischief wrought by Congress
in their wild scheme of military reconstruction,
by substituting moderate and honourable men for
the harsh and unscrupulous commanders formerly
appointed. The City of London steamship brings
two days later news from New York, reporting
the appointment of Mr. JOSIII7 A BAKER, a promi-
nent Conservative, to the Governorship of Loui-
siana, by General HAfic.oCK, an act which
will not certainly bring him into more favour
with Congress. The Washington section of the
grand army of the Republic has nominated GRANT
for the Presidency, and in other quarters the Gene-
ral's name is being constantly put forward as the
only really available candidate for the office.

THE BISHOPRIC OF NATAL.—The Rev. W. K.
Macrorie, incumbent of Accrington,
has, it is said, with
the sanction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, accpted the
appointment of the disputed see of Natal, and will shortly
be sent out to take spiritual charge of such persons as re-
ject the authority of Bishop Colons°. Mr. Macrorie was
lately rector of Wapping,
a moderato high churchman.
in the diocese of London, and is

TIIE,STRIKE IN SOUTH YORK
SIIIRE. —The adjourned meeting of the Parkgate
ironworkers to consider the proposed reduction of 10 per
cent. was held on Saturday afternoon last in the Tem-
perance-hall, Parkgate. As the proposed reduction affec-
ted the ironworkers generally of South Yorkshire, there
was a numerous meeting, including delegates from the
Midland, the :Holmes Milton and Elsecar, Thorncliffe,
Wakefield, and other works. After a warm and animated
,
discussion, it was resolved to accept the reduction of 10
per cent. at present, until a more favourable opportunity
presented itself. It is expected that those terms be
accepted by the men at all the works in South Yorkshire,
and that operations would bo resumed yesterday where
the furnaces could bo got ready. The dispute, which
has lasted only three weeks, was creating a good
good deal of distress in consequence of there being no
general union among the men. The determination of
the above meeting will, no noubt, rale all the works,
many of the men having agreed to abide by the Parkgate
decision,