New-York tribune., 1877-07-20
ENGLAND ON THE WAR.
PUBLIC OPINION DIVIDED.

WHY WAS THE FLEET SENT TO BEslhA BAY i-piS-
sENsION IN THE CABINET-GooD AND BAD WAR
PONDENCE-sUPERIoRITY OF DISPATCHES
TO THE DAILY NEWS.
PROM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT oF THs TRIBUNE }
LONDON, July IA great many stories are in cir
cnlation protesting each in different way, to eX-
plain the sending of the British fleet to Beska Bay
They may perhaps, be recouced on one theory-that
Lord Beaconsield was determined to do something
by way Of supporting the Turks and that Lord sails
bury was determined that little as possible should
be DONE The dispatch of the feet to ITS old anchorage
represents a new irreducible minimum" The OoV-
ernment have been asked in the House of Commons
10 say why they took the step. and the Chancellor
of the Fxcbeouer has answered categorcally that 1t
is in order that the fleet may be at convenient
station Russia and the rest of the world are wei
come to all the en ghenment they can extract out OF
that The most generally accepted story IS one we
all heard long ago-that Lord Beaconstield wanted
70 send both the fleet and an army corps say 25,000
men, not TO Besika Bay, but to the Bosphorus and
the nights about Constantinople. Beaten once In
this effort he renewed it never admitting himself
beaten but biding his time and cginning again. as
his way is.
There is believed to be- moreover a connection be-
tween this new order and the proposal OF the
90 OOO. 900 vote, concerning which yOu have
heard something. That vote was not proposed. The
poStivc assurance of one of the Ministerial organs
that il would be brought forward last week never
came true. What the AngO-Iurks ask You to be-
lieve now is that the matter has only been post,
poned the fleet having been dispatched, meantime,
i'm the hope that IL may far comphcate the rela-
tions between England and Russia TO make the
need of money for warlike preparations by-and-by
more evident and the vote more difficult to refuse.
Ii is conceivable tha; such is one OF the many springs
by which tae curious mental machinery OF Lord
BeaconsfelI is set in motion. And may say here
for it Is after all more important matter thah the
ordering of half-a-dozen ironcads across the Archi
pelago that If the money is asked for 1t Is more
than probi bic that the proposition VIII meet with
some support from leading Liberals. Some of them
who besitated at first, now say openly that they
will vote for it, Mr. Gladstonss letter--a letter
powerful in tself-has given OHense 10 some of bis
old colleagues. They resent his writing 1t at all,
and they particularly dislike his addressing the
Baptist churches of Worcestershire on such aques-
ton. Why, they ask does not Mr. Gladstone make
a statement to tine House of Commonsf why does
he act Independently of his former c0leagues There
is. one must admit, some force in such questions
and the degree of irritation with which they are
asked is natural. The notions of decorum which
have so great an influence over English political
life are appealed to IN proof that Sir. Gladstone Is
wrong in writing the letter. Still, the public cares
less about decorum than about the welfare of the
Kingdom. II will be~ficult to persuade the Eng
hsh people that statesman IN Mr. Glatstones posi-
tion is bound 10 fold his hands and close his mouth
when 4 great peril seems immnent or that he is to
remain silent while a dangerous policy marches to
completion because the forms of TIE House do not
permit hnn TO make a speech.
This letter. the truth is, has made it much more
t IL
The intention was to base tne demand the prece
dent OF 1870. pointed ont in general way, last
week. tlat the circumstances IN 1870 and now were
80 different as to make the precedent nappl caOle.
MIR. Gladstone with an authority and fuilness of
KNOWLEDGE winch no Turk dispute, has proved
to Il demonstration that the TWO cases have nothing
In comuon. IN America all tnat would % for little.
We are wont to judge Oi the eXpedIency OF par
tcular act withou, much reference 10 what done
or said at another time. But here precedent is
more powerful than anything, IN pohrcs as III law,
and the shr.eks which Mr.. GladstOnes letter have
elected are only expressions of rage on the part OF
men who sce the foundations Oh which tney had
noped 10 build pulled from under tnen.
One of the MOnammedan pape.s, which Ii supposed
TO possess the confidence OF the Government denies
that there have been Ministerial dIssenslons on this
on,s. ION Nobody believes the denial. All the dis
policy OF the Government with reference to the East
eru o Iestion are conducted on the assumption that
such dssensiuns do exist 1t Is foolish 10 pretend To
sav positively what took place and did not take
place az a particular Cabinet meeting Bat the TACT
tt Lord B.acOnshelI falls one way dnd LDrd Sails
bury another is as well known any tact Oh the
klAd can De.
some rather positive assertions have been risked
as TO the policy OF TIE Eng sh pubic a,out the
movement Of the fleet. The least scrnpulOus Of the
Turaish papers-I mean the Turkish papers Oi
London-say that the movement Is opposed by
lhe English people They said that the morning
after tAe fact bad become public. hey had had
then something less than twenty-tour hours III
winch to collect evidence Of tine sentiment OF
3O.OUO,OO0 people respecting an act which the
majority of them did not understand. and the mean
mg Of which is still Ambiguous. suppose II any
thIng can he said confidently 1t Is tins That the
feeling permost is curiosity. If the fleet says at
Besika Bay it can do 40 great good OF harm. What
people really want to know is what the Government
viii do next 1t is always questIou-a question
rhat has to be put afresh every mOrnlng-whlch III
0uence in the Cabinet is getting strength. The
Be,lka Bay business is taken as an Indca or that
f,r the moment and 10 a certain limited extent,
Lord Beac0 0lsfeld had his way. Ii a cOnces-
sion by Lord Salisbury. But what Lord BeacOns-
ied conceded in return-how much more lie wanted
To- do and could nOt-that is what we do not know.
The difference between good and bad war CORES
poudence has seldom been better illustrated than
IN the recent dispatches of The Daily Acos and Tie
Daiig telegraph. So long as nothing was doing, the
/ latter journal had an advantage over its rival.
Since the passage Of the Danube began the ad-
vantage Is the other way unless, indeed the British
pubhc prefers imaginary battles to real battles.
.