The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-05-12

The marked division of sentiment among
the English people and English statesmen
a division of sentiment which extends into
the Cabinet of Lord aconsfeld-respect-
ing the attitude which the government OF
makes it unsafe to predict at what stage, or
whether, indeed, at any stage, OF the pres
ent war, England will take the side OF
Turkey in open and declared hostility to
Russia. If she is wise she will take no part
in the struggle until she can get other
allies than Turkey to act with her;
nay, if she were really wise she would
the fears which she may entertain for the
stability Of her Empire in India is not
sufficient reason why she should fight Rus
STA alone, with all the advantages on the
side of her adversary and oil the chances OF
success against her. On all other grounds
she has less to fear from the ACKNOWLEDGMENT
of Russia than any other Of the great Pow
ers Even if the danger Of Muscovite SUI
premacy in Europe were not the ridicu-
lous chimera which oil instructed men
know it to be, England is the last
European country against which the
waves Of Russian ascendancy could
dash. The countries most exposed, If Rus
STA should become too great, are Germany
and Austria, which lie upon her frontiers.
The Gar would have to subdue these two
Empires. these immediate neighbors, and
march over their ruins before he could ex-
tend his conquests to Western Europe. But
these great nations which border upon
Russia do not think that they are in any
peril from her designs of aggrandizement.
conspicuous proof of this is the fact that
they are apathetic, while England is SO ex-
cited. more solid and unanswerable proof
is the fact that Germany, while she bestows
great expense upon fortresses on the borders
of the Rhine near her French frontier,
takes no such pains on the banks of the
Niemen and her Russian frontier. She has
no fear of the Muscovite Colossus, but has a
lively apprehension of the possible designs
of France. There could not be a more con-
elusive and convincing proof that the i'm
mediate western neighbors Of Russia do
not think her aggressive and formidable
How very slight, then, must be the
danger to England, SO far as she is
mere European Power, from an increase of
Russian strength Before Russia could
reach England she would have to over
run and subjugate the great Powers of
Central Europe and then march her vic
torious legions over the soil Of France. So
long as Germany, Austria and countries less
remote from Russia do not feel that their
safety is imperilled by Russia, it is simply
absurd for England to 60 into political hys-
terics with reference to the balance of power
in Europe To be sure, England is also an
Asiatic Power; but she cannot afford to fight
Russia in defence Of her Indian possessions
unless she has other and stronger allies than
Turkey It would be On act of desperation,
almost an act of suicide, for England to en-
gage in this war unsupported by any Of the
great Powers Of Europe. AS yet there is
not the slightest symptom that single one
of them is disposed to act with her.
If England ventures alone into this con-
test in aid of Turkey she is pretty sure to
be soundly whipped in the field besides in
viting destructive blow to her commerce
and industry. Of the European nations
which stand in the front rank, England is
altogether the weakest as military power.
She has never in recent times achieved
military success by the unaided exertions of
British soldiers To go no further back
than our own Revolution, she employed
mercenary Hessians and American savages
to fight against us, and even with their
assistance was ANONYMOUSLY beaten. In
the great Napoleonic wars she subsidized
the troops of Continental allies and fought
with all Europe at her side. The great and
decisive battle of Waterloo, on which Eng
land so boastfully plumes herself, was less
British than Continental victory. True,
the Duke of Wellington, the commander-in-
chief, was an Englishman but if he had
fought the battle with merely the British
troops under his command Waterloo would
have been something very different from o
boast in the military annals of England.
In the Crimean war England never had
more than thirty or forty thousand of her
own soldiers at the scene of action at one
time, and she had great difficulty in
furnishing even that small number. On
the recommendation of the Duke Of New
castle, her Secretary Of War, Parliament
passed nm act authorizing the drilling and
training in England of foreigners enlisted
as recruits. So difficult did she find it to
supply her contingent in the Crimean war
that she violated the neutrality laws of the
United States in desperate attempt to
make enlistments in this country, which
caused our government to dismiss Mr..
Champion, the British Minister What
could British soldiers alone have done
against Russia in the Crimean war? The
weakness of England as q military power is
.apalt, che no VIC for her ind II stria nj oruan.