The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-28 00:00:00

EPIRIT OF THE ruBLIo JOURNALS.

The Times insists that the Turks and Greeks have mane '
their own quarrel. The talk now (it continues) is all of
the Conference. Should the matters in dispute be referred
to such an assembly, no doubt that they would be dis-
cussed fairly and reasonably, and that each Power, what-
ever its sympathies, would deem it due to its own reputa-
tion to uphold the principles of justice. The Times,
however, has no great enthusiasm for the Conference,
simply because it is impossible to imagine that it will
throw any new light on the subject, or be able to effect
anything that might not equally be effected by the
ordinary diplomatic machinery. Everything that can be
told concerning Crete or the Hellenic kingdom is known
to the Foreign Secretaries of the various Powers, to their
diplomatic agents, to the most instructed members of the
Legislatures, and in a more general but still a practically
sufficient way to the European public itself. What is to
gained by bringing seven or eight diplomatists to a round
table in Paris, where each will be bound by his instruc-
tions, and will merely represent an absent Cabinet, is
more than the Times can discover ; and there is, on the
other hand, the obvious inconvenience that any member
of the Conference may digress into any collateral ques-
tion, as the Paris Congress of 1856, for ending a war in
the East, wandered into the subject of the Belgian
Press. But, if Sovereigns and Ministers will have it
so, what are other mortals that they should dissent ?
In the meantime we shall, no doubt, have something
resembling war, for the Porte cannot be expected to sus-
pend its operations, though, perhaps, it may limit them to
what is strictly necessary to prevent another invasion of
Crete. It is obviously the policy of Turkey to settle
matters once for all, and either to succumb to the Greek
propaganda or to show that she is strong enough to repress
it. Nothing can be more disastrous to the interests of the
whole East than the state of things which has prevailed
during the last two years. The determination of the
quarrel will also be a most important advantage to
Greece itself. Patriotism cannot be indulged for
nothing, and it has been admitted in these
columns by a friendly writer that during the last two
years there has been a deficiency in the Hellene Budget of
£1,500,000. But this is a trifle to what we are threatened
with. The latest financial intelligence from Athens is
that the Chamber has granted to the Government a credit
of a hundred millions of drachmas. What this means
will be best Understood if we state that the whole annual
revenue of the country is somewhere about 25 millions,
allowing for the usual deficit which mars the calculations
of the Greek financiers. Thus, to fight Turkey this
bankrupt and reckless little State proposes to spend
four times its gross annual revenue, and, if it can find
lenders, to increase its total debt by one third. The
Chamber, however, adds a singular clause to its vote—that
the Government should have "full power to seek other
financial resources." What this may mean we cannot
say, except it be that all the Greeks throughout the world
are to be subjected to the importunity and extortion of
the committees and their agents. The Times firmly be-
lieves that if this agitation be brought to a close, and the
East tranquillised, the progress of the various countries
will be rapid, under the influence of Western enterprise
and civilisation. It is the perpetual intrigues and alarms,
the work of Russian ambition and Greek vanity, whicl
check confidence, and, consequently, progress.
The Standard believes that all the Powers signitaries o
the Treaty of Paris have agreed to the Conference as pro-
posed by Prussia, and the plenipotentiaries will begin
their deliberations in the course of this week. The chances
of war would not have been so great had England,France,
and Austria assumed a more decided attitude. Unwilling
to offend Prussia, the Government of this country
has hesitated, and hence the time has been lost.
The question is, what will the Powers do
when they meet in Conference ? Will Turkey, which
is principally concerned, and which knows that the Con-
ference is not summoned from any regard for its interest,
agree to refer the question in dispute with Greece to their
arbitration ? We doubt it very much. The Sultan cannot
go back from the position he has taken without inflicting
a most dangerous blow upon his prestige. For him to
agree now to regard the conduct of the Greek Government
as excusable, or to assent, as a satisfaction to Greece, to
any proposals for the administration of Crete or other
provinces which the Conference might suggest, would be
to stamp himself before the whole East as a mere depen-
dent of Russia.

The Post calls for the reform of our military system.
Our contemporary thinks the present want of arrangement
in our home army should be altered. Our militia should
be converted into a feeder of the regulars. The volunteers
should have more money. And, above all, an army of
reserve should be formed. With regard to this latter
proposal the Post says: Every year some fifteen or twenty
thousand men, thoroughly drilled and disciplined, would
he returned to the country for civil and miscellaneous
employment. These men would be enrolled in the reserves,
but, being called out only occasionally, and when urgently
required, their occupations would not be interfered with.
The whereabouts of every man would be known, and in
times of apprehended danger the whole force would be
available in whatever particular form might be thought most
desirable. This would be a reliable reserve to fall back upon,
and one which would be very inexpensive to the country.
It is to be observed, moreover, that as we accumulated
trained men of this description we might make reductions
in the numerical strength of the regular corps, having the
men in hand to fill up the cadres to a war standard when-
ever we should be driven to do so. The creation of this
force must, however, be a work of time, and the economy
to be derived from it cannot, unfortunately, be realised at
present ; nevertheless, it is just one of those gradual and
sound improvements, combining efficiency with economy,
which Mr. Cardwell has led us to expect at his hands.
The Herald is alarmed at the increasing cost of our
paupers and our criminals. Crime is rampant, and
pauperism abounds. We cannot let the matter rest any
more than we could let an invading army have its own
way. Yet if we are more generous, the poor rates threaten
to overburden the ratepayer ; if we are harsher, we shall
have an increase in the deaths from starvation. The
population of London has increased one-sixth in ten years,
but the pauperism has increased one-half. The Herald
thinks the increase cannot be entirely due to the augmen-
tation of the idle, who like to live at the public expense.
There is a vast amount of distress, notwithstanding that
the philanthropists have increased as well as the paupers.
A wholesale remedy must be tried with the unemployed.
Unless trade and commerce so revive as to employ the
hands that are now Idle, employment must be found for
these in some other way. We object to set a colony of
paupers to work to build a sea wall or reclaim waste
lands in England. But there can be no objection
to their cutting down the forests and tilling the ground
in Western Canada. There are weighty political reasons
why we should wish them to do it. The western frontier
of the Dominion wants strengthening. The Russians
are wiser than we are. They take the starving Finns and
send them out to colonise the regions of the Amoor.
The Finns are thankful for the chance, and both parties
are likely to be the better for it. We have thousands
of starving people in England. It is an ugly thing to say,
and we may not like to own it, but it is true, nevertheless,
and it would be well if we were to give these people a
chance of living elsewhere, instead of theorising about
their presumed perversity and indolence. England has a
surplus population, which does harm at home, but which
might do well if moved to a more open field. It is the
law of Providence that old nations should found new
ones, and the new ones in turn nourish the old.

The weeks go by, and yet the Spanish question is no
nearer solution, observes the Daily Telegraph, and the
only change that can be seen is the prominence given to
the candidature of the Duke of Montpensier. If the
Duke be selected the only difference will be that
the revolution has substituted for ruler of Spain
an untried Bourbon for one of that house
who has been tried and found wanting. The
establishment of a Republic in Spain would
be far more formidable to Imperial interests than the
elevation of an Orleans Prince to the rank of King. In
short, if the Spaniards think fit to select the Duke of
Monttpensier for their ruler, nobody will interfere with
their choice. Whether they will do so is a question which
their tutors, rrim, Serrano, and Olozaga, could perhaps