The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-07-17
Hard Times I'm England-!-The Turco-
Scryinn War.

m. D. Conway In Cincinnati Commercial
One by one the signs Of war are languidly
looming up around us. The sick man Is
very sick, but he is not to die just at pre-
sent, because his life is insured in London.
He is doubly insured. The Stock Exchange
would have to lose largely, and it is feared
the nation would lose its power over the
path to India. Neither OF these prospective
or hypothetical calamities come very close to
the concern Of the common people OF Eng
land. But in matters of this kind they are
as flock Of sheep in the power Of the Cabi-
net shepherds. They are this day con-
scious only Of being bored by the inter-
minable accounts Of affairs IN re-
gion with which they are not gene
rally acquainted, which I'LL the newspa-
pers. That they are drifting helplessiy In
the direction of war for things they
care not, and for cause they would abhor
if they knew anything about 1t-1or Islam
against Christianity-is curious phenome-
non. The only popular manifestation we
have is the steady encroachment OF paralysis
upon business. Stagnation is setting IN
upon all the usual interests. I'hc dealers in
Injuries are the first to feel it. The lavish
expenditures for pictures have ceased.
Yesterday I stepped in at Christie Il Man.
sons. A picture sale which ordinarily
would have filled the room had brought
hardly dozen together, and the bids were
low. Purses tighten to such degree that
even dinner-parties are more economical.
Rich people are already riding in omnibuses.
It is said five hundred carriages have stopped
running this season. The Government Is
deceiving the country, not by proclaim
ing anything false, but by failing to pro-
claim anything at all. The popular impress
sion is that England is one of six Powers
which have guaranteed the security and in
tegrity of the Turkish Empire. The fact
that the guarantee extends only to security
against foreign invasion, and by no means
entities either Of the six Powers to interfere
against insurgents within Turkeys own do
minions, is not generally understood, and
the Government plainly does not wish it
understood. Servia and Herzegovina are
to be dealt with as il they were parts OF
Russia instead Of parts Of Turkey. This is
the Palmerstonian edition Of English
Cabinets, and the people arc mere coun-
tiers with which the game is to be played.
How secure the Government feels
in this matter was illustrated last
night in Parliament. The Daily Meas, al
most the only paper which is endeaVorlng
to bring before the nation the true facts OF
Ulp NuCSUIOu5 AtAo SSliO oNo A1tSN Deet
raria careful correspondent, who recently
reported o frightful series OF atrocities and
massacres committed by the emissaries OF
Turkey. A long list of towns and villages
which had been burnt, the butchery OF
men, the outrages on women, the sportive
murder of children, were described with
exact details and names by pen not given
to cxaggeration. Last night Mr.. Forster,
in the House Of Commons, and Lord STRAIT
heden, in the House Of Lords, called atten-
ton of the Government to the statements in
question. The Government adopted the IA
miliar tactics of giving one statement to
the Lords and another to the Com
mons. Lord Derby said he was making in
uuiries. Mr.. Disraeli surrounded himself
with an Oriental romance in which he i'll
troduced some mysterious figures whom he
called Bashi-BaZouks, who had settled in
Bulgaria, and were very ferocious indeed.
Whether these Bashi-Bazouks are Moslems
or Christians, whether their ferocity was
manifested in the interest OF one party or
the other, is an enigma which the Prime
Minister sends to our breakfast-tables this
morning, to beguile us while the procession
OF fatal events moves on its prescribed path,
lust as it has moved again and again and
again. Whenever circumstances OF this char
ministry can always fly; it is called "patri-
otto reserye,' and it means that the ParliG-
ment of England must not inquire too
closely what is going on while they are
going on, but only after they have gone one
way or another, and no more can be done.
Lord Derby said last night that England
had no disposition to interfere in the inter-
nal dissensions Of Turkey, but no rule could
be laid down amid such complex affairs;
and then he acknowledged handsomely the
"patriotic reserve" which Parliament had
manifested in not demanding explanations.
II England goes to war to bind the old vic
Tins Of Turkey with fresh cords it will be
this "patriotic reserve" that will render it
possible. Meanwhile Ministers show as much
anxiety to disabuse the popular mind of all
notions implying that there is any conflict
between Christian and Mohammedan in this
struggle rs the Confederates here once did
to diSpel the notion that slavery was in
volyed in the issue between the North and
South in the late civil war. The accounts
do seem to show that the Christians are by
no means less piously ferocious than the
readers OF the Koran, and there is hardly a
pin to choose between them; the Chris
tianity and the Mohamnedanism have also
become clinical watchwords rather than
deyout beliefs; but, nevertheless, the point
OF the struggle is the last fortress Of the
Musselman religion in Europe, and it
would surrender tomorrow but for the arm
Of Christian England.
The Court Journal, in describing one Of
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