The New York herald., 1870-11-24


This great year Of 1870 win inevitably bs
marked with broad red lines on the records Of
the nineteenth century. 1t comprises an epoch
in itself, and, in other times, whole genera
tions sprang up and passed away without
having witnessed the marvellous variety and
grandeur Of incident which will have signal
lied this wondrous twelvemonth Of disruption
and reconstruction. The Turkish Egyptian
misunderstanding; the Ecumenical Council
the Austrian provincial imbroglio; the French
pls6iscituna,' the Spanish throne question; the
Franco-P -Prussian war; the tremendous down.
fall Of Napoleon ILL.,. the declaration of the
French republic; the italian occupation Of
Rome followed each other In bewildering sue
cession; and now, to cap the climax, ''crown
the edfce" and finish Off the vivid political
panorama Of the year, revision Of the Treaty
Of Paris. involving almost necessarily the abb
rogation Of the treaties Of 1916, is pushed
into the foreground toward the close Of No
vember. The immediate outlook beyond this
is to Congress Of the great Powers, and
readjustmsnt Of the map Of Europe lp = sense
which will diminish the number of minor In
dependent States, complete the political unif-
cation Of two or three grand national bodies,
remove lingering restrictions that still clog the
advance Of trade and commerce, and open
broader and wider pathway to rational liberty
and progress: - s~'s'''.f = -'.'r. i,
The careful analyst, upon close cxaminaS
tion, discovers that these events which, to
superficial observation, seem totally discon-
nected are in reality linked together by half
revealed links Of cause and effect and they
have all provldentially worked together for
that ultimate good which the eye Of faith fore
sees. no matter how gloomy may appear
the aspect of the passing moment. For in
stance, with the light Of past and contempo-
raneous history to guide US, we perceive in
the application which The Muscovite govern
ment has just made to the cosIgnatories Of
1866 only a fair and timely step likely to re-
move rather than to create causes for Var. As
We endeavorsd te demonstrate in recent
articles on this subject, the circular of Prince
Gortchakof is more likely to awaken the con-
science Of Europe and lead to an armistice
and the subsequent cessation of the frightfdl
hostilities now raging on the soil Of France
than to preclpitate additioH2l collisions. In
this view of the case we are borne out by
the fresh events Of every day. The lesser
question, to wit, the quarrel betwecp France
and Germany, is merged in the greater
issue-viz., the free and untrammelled navfga>
ton Of the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles and the
Black Sea, and the prepondeTsuce Of Chris
tian rather than Mohammedan civilization
throughout Southern Europe. n is true that
The Stock Exchange fuctuates at London and
ut few other centres Of financs; aud that
warlike rumors for the benefit Of speculation
re rife; but these manifestations are transi-
tcry, while, on the other hand, the grand COM
non sense logic Of the case remains. Eng
and, Austria aud Italy have hardly reached
hat pitch Of madness whittier the gods; who
would destroy lead their foredoomed victims.
They do not and cannot wish for war. FL
nancial, social, political and military rea1
sons forbid the thought. On the contrary,
the struggle now proceeding embarrasses them
all, and none OF them more 80 than triumphant s|
Prussia, whose people are groaning under the |
burden of expenditure and mourning which
exhausts and darkens, Fatherland. This,
is the very hour for truce and
conference, in which the causes Of present and
possible trouble may be discussed and OBJ
viated.
In the meanwhile let us for moment ex-
anime the position of Russia in regard to
The rest of Europe, with q view to q
proper appreciation Of the necessity that
presses upon her for maritime outlets and
freedom Of motion. The vast body of her
empire, in the direction Of the West, abuts
upon Germany or, in other.words, upon the
central part of Europe. Gould she develop
fully and fairly toward the East her true
destiny would plainly lie in that quarter Of the
world; but such result is evidently impossi-
BILE unless the great inland seas which afford
openings to her commerce are NOT merely left
free for traffic in time of peace, but with
right upon her part to secure her fourishing
maritime cities and the adjacent coasts against
attack and seizure by superior expeditions
entering by the Dardanelles, the Sea Of
Marmora and the Bosphorus; now absolutely
held and controlled by the Sultan and his
allies, two of whom are the leading naval
Powers Of the world. The Baltic and the
Black Seas are not only tho two wings, but
they may be likened to- the two lungs Of the
Russian empire, and one scrutinizing glance
at good map Of the world will reveal
acstriking analogy between it's situation In re-
spect to them and that Of the United States,
with our chain Of Northern lakes ON the one
side and the Gulf Of Mexico upon the other.
We have treaty with England that neither
Power shall keep armed vessels on the lakes,
except few smalEboats for revenue purposes,
But the difference separating the, two cases IL
Al,ot uhila our areannaunapt with Great Rri.