The New York herald., 1870-12-02

Tho New Aspect OF tho Russian Qaessaoss
The dispatches published this morning.
under our most conspicuous foreign heading
Indicate that the grand diplomatic and military
game which for months past has held the
world In suspense and has bestrewed one OF
the fairest portions Of Western Europe with
corpses, is working its way into the clear reve-
latlon of perfect light. The British Cabinet is
in a state Of crisis because Earl Granville
stands firm to his note, on the one hand, and
the attitude Of the Russian Prince Gort chakod
indicates no retreat, upon the other. Yet, in
the meanwhile, Russia positively disclaims
any hostile designs upon Turkey, and Prussia,
as an intermediary Power and an intercessor,
courteously accedes to something quite newell
What Is that? the reader may ask. All! the
secret pith and kernel of the whole mat
ter-to wit, the virtual possessorship BY
England of the new chief channel to
East Indian commerce, the Suez Canal,
leaving Russia to do as she pleases with the
Ottoman empire. In other words, Prussia
finds It not only easy, but just the very things
working into her own hand, to use both hec
powerful neighbors and secret friends-Great
Britain on the right and Russia on the left-to
cut Off and extinguish the outside prestige and
influence Of France, as she herselfis is trampling
down the military strength and trade re-
sources Of that afflicted country at home. But
yesterday France was the patron, as a SON Of
hers was the deviser and engineer, Of the Suez
Canal, and then England decried and opposed
the enterprise. To-day France is stricken
and English capital steps in to control
the prize SO long secretly coveted. Yesterday.
both in Syria and at Constantinople, as well
as in Egypt, France dictated the evolutions Of
the Eastern question and foreshadowed the
destiny of the holy places. To-day Russia
looms up as the master of the situation.
1T is no longer in the NORTH" said the first
Napoleon, whose conversations still form
textbook for modern statesmen, s'that great
questions will be resolved, but in the Medi-
terranean. There exists enough to content all
the ambition of the different Powers, and the
happiness of civilized nations may be pur-
chased with fragments Of barbarous lands.
Let Kings listen to reason. Europe will no
longer tolerate continued international hatred.
Prejudices are dispersing routes of commerce
are multiplying; it is no longer possible for
one nation to monopolize them"
Now, this is precisely the wisdom which
Russia has pondered at home and has been
seeking to apply abroad since the commence
ment of the reign of Alexander and under the
able guidance of Gortchakof, the inhertor
in our time of the best traits of Mes
selrode. She has shown as much in
her enlightened commercial treaties, and
especially in those contracted with her great
Oriental neighbors, Persia and China; in her
propositions with regard to the navigation OF
the river Amoor-the Muscovite Mississippi;
in her genial and friendly sale Of Alaska and
her other possessions on the northwest of our
Continent, and in her spontaneous, abiding
and outspoken friendshipfor her very antipodes
in political form--the American republic.
Now we behold emerging at the eleventh
hour, from the vapors of the political caldron
over whose
Bubble bubble,
Toll and trouble,
the wizard Bismarck has been presiding,
fresh and imposing conception of Russian
policy With railroads rapidly stretching
their glistening lines, like rays Of the rising
Sun, to every part of her dominions,
particularly on the south and east;
with steamships darting forth from
all her ports on every inland sea; with
Christian missionaries persistently piercing
the boundaries, crossing the frontiers and
penetrating the recesses of Mohammedan and
heather lands, Russia advances upon Turkey,
no longer for war, but for peace The thirteen
millions of Greeks, Armenians, Druses, &C.,
and the one million five hundred thousand
Roman Catholics among the less than forty
million Of souls subject to the Ottoman
sceptre do not tremble at the approach of her
legitimate influence, for which, indeed, the
growing reforms adopted and favored by the
present Grand Turk himself have largely pre-
pared the public mind of his dominions. In a
word, out of the perilous embodiment Of the
present hour arises, in clear and beautiful
outlines magnificent guarantee for the
security of the future, as out of primeval
chaos, "without form and void. with ''dark-
ness resting upon the face of the Deep"
ascended, because the Supreme mandate had
prepared it, armament Of future
beauty, s'and there was light" The
clouds and confusion that have fallen
upon France have precipitated the eastward
movement Of civilization and Christianity
which might, otherwise, have fingered on the
way through Western dynastic aspirations.
Britain advancing by Suez and gaining clear
and swift pathways to her East Indian possess
sions, Russia must join (not oppose) Turkey
at the Dardanslles, and thus three enlightened
Powers together must unite in pushing farther
eastward the arts and arms of Europe.
Cxar atoas To tho front and intn thc.