The New York herald., 1877-01-14

the expiring efforts of the Conference to
overcome the difficulties in the way of
peaceful solution of the problems discussed
side the report of a significant utterance at
st. Petersburg. His Majesty the Emperor
distributes his thanks to the persons con-
cerned for their efficient assistance in the
mobilization of the army. AS no one is
thanked for his share in a great labor while
that labor is still in progress or only half
done, it is to be inferred from this imperial
act that the mobilization of the armies called
for is completed and that there are three
hundred thousand Russian troops ready for
service in the southern provinces CT the En-
pire. This is not precisely what the news
filtered through Vienna and London has led
MS to anticipate, but it was scarcely possible
that news should not be colored by the way
The likelihood that the Russian army is
ready gives interest to the newest aspect OF
the Eastern question. Some months since
the Eastern question, if reduced to its SIM
plest form, would have been, How can the
existence of the Ottoman Empire in Europe
be reconciled with the maintenance of civil
izatlon and the progress of political i'm
provement in the part subject to it's domina-
ton? This would have been its most
general term, viewing the facts apart from
preconceptions inspired by particular ma
tional interests. From the London stand
point it might have been, How can we
limit, in the interest of England the prog
ress of Russia toward Constantinople or
how shall we prevent the exclusion OF the
Moslems, who buy from us annually sixty
five million dollars worth, by the Russians
who only buy from us fifteen million dol
lars worth or how shall we maintain the
Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor in their
present condition of efficiency as barriers
and buffers between our line Of commune
cation with India and the restless endeavors
of the Muscovites in the same direction?
From the Russian standpoint the ques-
ton would have been framed with charac-
teristic differences. In it's naked rudeness
it would be, How shall we reach and pos
sess ourselves of Constantinople? But the
first envelope of the question would be,
How shall we do this with least alarm to
terested in the ownership Of the greatest
seat of commerce in the world? And there
would have been considerations of the
Slavic and Christian grounds of agitation as
essential helps to the diversion of attention
from the great, ever present purpose
It seems to be resented as an injustice to
the Emperors Of Russia that they should be
suspected of wish to acquire Constantine
pie, and the present Emperor has declared
that no such ambition is involved in his
policy toward the Ottoman Empire. If it is
to suspect the Czars Of disingenuousness to
believe that in the midst Of other apparent
purposes their eyes are really turned to the
Bosphorus, it is to suspect them of politi-
cal imbecility to believe that the hope to
acquire Constantinople is not the basis of
all their acts and plans with regard to Tur-
key. No doubt the present Car has gene
rous sentiment for the oppressed Of the
same race with his own people who are
crushed by Turkish tyranny, and no doubt
a profound religious impulse affects the
whole Russian nation as it has affected other
nations in Europe when the story is told of
the butcheries of Bulgaria and neither this
sentiment nor this religious impulse may
conceive of any policy nor of anything else
but an immediate satisfaction of it's wrath
against the Moslems.
But the policy in regard to Constantinople
is beyond all that. That policy, derived
from the time of Peter the Great, and de-
fined in his will, has taken hold upon the
very constitution of the Russian mind and
character, and is unconsciously behind all
temporary and occasional purposes. 1t is
and that the imputation Of this policy is
slander. II so, he who invented it SLAM
dered very wisely. AS to the authenticity
of the will, it is not matter of the slightest
consequence in regard to document Of this
nature who it was written by; and if Peter
did not dictate it the belief that he did and
the document itself have had just as
much influence upon Russian ideas.
"Make the nearest approaches possible"
says the will, ''to Constantinople and
the Indies. He who shall reign there will
be the true sovereign of the world. Pro-
woke, therefore, constant wars, with Turkey
now, and now with Persia; set up arsenals
and factories on the Black Sea; seize that sea
little by little, as we'll as the Baltic; hasten
the decadence of Persia; advance by the Per-
sian Gulf; reach the Indies, and once there
You can do without the gold of England.
Attach and unite to you the Greeks through
out Turkey, become their centre and sup
port by sacerdotal supremacy. and you will
have all these as friends in the house of
your enemy" The nation whose policy has
grown for a century on inculcations like
this will not be affected the less by them
though told that it has been in error as to