Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-08-11
WHY ENGLAND HESTTATES.

/
The apparently vacillating polio,
of the English Government regard
ing the Eastern question has been
source of much perplexity to Amer
lean thinkers and writers. This per
plexity arises in great measure from
the mistaken assumption that Eng.
land has a policy in which her peo
pie are united. Instead of this the
British nation is divided into two
parties as violently opposed to one
another on the Eastern question as
the Republican and Democratic par
ty were in this country on the ques-
ton of reconstruction. At the head
of one of these parties stands Lord
Beaconsfield, formerly Benjamin
Disraeli, who adheres to the old
Canning-PaImerston doctrine that
the Ottoman empire must be upheld
at all cost as a bulwark against Rus
sian aggression; at the head of the
other Mr.. Gladstone, who desires
the extirpation of the Turkish gov
ernment in Europe, and has no OBJ
lection to its being replaced by Rus
sian occupation of all the European
provinces. Our own opinions,
which, however, are not now under
discussion, accord with those Of
neither of these positions, and we
give the following paper from the
London World, not as advocating
the opinions it expresses, but to il
lustrate the impossibility of the
English government taking deci-
ded part in the controversy, arising
from the divisions of opinion which
cut sheer through the whole struct-
ure of English society from top to
bottom. The people are divided,
the Parliament is divided and even
the Cabinet is divided. If Lord
BeacOnsfield had uncontrolled sway
England would now be engaged in
the war on the Turkish side if Mr..
Gladstone had the united nation
with him, England would be help
ing the Russians; as it is she does
too much to suit one party, and not
enough to suit the Other-hence the
following paper. Its author is evil
IDENTIFY an old Palmerstonian and
thinks that the British army and
navy ought now to be occupying
Constantinople instead of lettering
in Besika Bay and at Malta. We
ourselves do not share his opinions,
but give the article to make British
heSitancy Ineligible:
TOO MUCH OR NOT ENOUGH.
The feet has been again sent to
Besika Bay; and the Chancellor Of
the EXchequer has done us the honor |
of explaining in Parliament the rea-
son of the movement. BeSika Bay, |
it is said, is a convenient station,
where the Admiral in command of |
the fleet is within easy cOmmunica-
ton of the Admiralty and of our
Ambassador at ConstantinOple. He |
has taken especial pains to give sig
nificance to this answer by pOintedly |
that he did not say |
as an anchorage, but con- |
venient in the sense of proximity to
Now telegraphic |
between Mr.. Layard |
and Admiral Hornby could be prac-
tically quite as rapidly carried on
with the fleet at the Pir9us, and the
Admiral could receive his orders |
from home quite as quickly at the |
one place as at the other. The cause
of the removal of the fleet, therefore,
must be looked for, not in the fact
of Besika Bay being a more cOnven-
lent station for the receipt of orders,
but in its being a more convenient |
station from which to depart when |
orders have been received. In a
word, Besika Bay is a convenient |
point from which to steam to the |
Dardanelles and ConstantinOple
and the return of the fleet to that |
station undoubtedly means that the |
Cabinet is prepared to back up, by
the use of our fleet, so far as that
goes, the declaration as to English
interests contained in Lord Derby's
despatch to Count SchOuValOff.
In this act the Cabinet has done
too much or not enough. It cannot
be doubted that this return of the
fleet to Turkish waters will beviewed
by the Turks in the sense of moral
support and that the belief that
England will come to their aid,
YoOI or1cO will no T-O,,Nr !
terially strengthened. Already the
Porte is impressing this idea upon
the minds of its soldiers. In the in
teresting letter in the Times of last
from the correspondent of
that journal at the Turkish head
quarters in Asia, it is stated that
slips of paper were being circulated
by authority among the Turkish
troops, on which was printed the in
that England had mObil-
lied a force of six regiments of cav
airy, four brigades of artillery, and
battaliOnS of infantry. !
That information, though incorrect,
will never be cOntradicted and now
it will be made known in the same
way that the British fleet has ar
rived for the protection of Turkey.
In Europe and in Asia fresh courage
will be given to the Turkish sol
1iery, and no formal declarations by
Mr.. Layard that we shall not give
aid to the Porte will weigh against
the material presence of British iron
cIads within a days steam of Con-
In fact, the return of
the fleet to Besika Bay is a direct
to Turkey, because
the Porte will view it as the preface
to material assistance from England.
If, then, the policy of the Cabinet is
IN truth what we suggested three
weeks ago, a suggestion in which
we were followed by the Pail Mall
Gazette ; if indeed the Government
is unwilling to make any prepara-
lions for war, lest by doing SO they
should encourage Turkey, and pre-
vent that conclusion of peace which
is to be urged upon the Sultan so
soon as Russia has obtained any sig
nal advantage-then this last act,
this despatch of the fleet to the mouth
Of the Dardanelles, is a very unwise
act, and must tend to defeat the OBJ
ect which the Cabinet has in view.
In that case, the Government has
lone to much.
But if, on the other hand, the Cab
met considers that the time has now
,..,,, e.. - l. e.. /, do !