New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-07-28
BRITISH TOPICS.
ENGLAND AND THE WAR.


LONDON, July H. 1S77.-A report APP
pears this morning that Lord BeaconsfeId
is about to resign. IL will certainly be CONTRA
dcted tomorrow morning, unless 1t be left. az some
others have been to fade away of itself Lord Bea-
consfeld is old and ailing doubt, but he is not
going to resign. There is one obvious and decisive
reason why lie viii not and cannot Resignation at
this moment would be a confession OF defeat III his
Turkish pohcy-the policy on which he has staked
his reputation, for the furtherance of which he has
risked his supremacy in his own Cabinet. 1t would
mean that Lord Salisbury had triuInphed, or that
Lord Beaconsfeld felt himself unequal to carrying
on longer the struggle against his youthful and
equally obstinate subordinate. Anybody who be-
licyes he will do that can have studied to ttle
purpose the history of his forty of courageous
and brilliant effort for the position which lie is now
supposed capable OF throwing away when won.
With the methods by which he made his way to
power the use he makes of it when won, you may
not have much sympathy But it is idle to under
rate the force or pertinacty of the If he has
an object left in life it is TO signalIzc his tenure of
Office by some reSounding exploit some great act
that shall connect his name with landmark of
English history. | suppose he belieyes-lf he be-
leves any thingthat the interest of England Is to
help the Turks He would like to take part IN
great Continental war; TO have his name whispered
be- in European Courts and in the hamets of the
Caucasus. | no more believe he is going to resign
than believe MacMahOn is going to take himself
out of the way wien France invites him, next Sep
tember Oddly enough, heard some days ago, from
the same quarter the same solution prOp0unded for
the ills of both countries: that both Lord Beacons-
field and Marshal AfacMahon should die. Either OF
them may do that, but resignation Is probably the
last thing that Will occur to either.
The Anglo Turkish papers are naturally enough,
making what capital they can out of the tales OF
Russian msdeeds in Asia Minor, and Bulgaria They
follow the lead of the Pashas at Constantinople,
who for ten days past have been flooding Europe
with all sorts of stories, stories which they
describe as Officially" reported or confirmed.
What the value of an official Turkish report may be
you have had means OF Judging before now. You
know on the highest official authority that the
atrocities in Bulgaria in part invented by Mr.
Barring and Mr.. Schuyler in part committed by the
Bulglrans on themselves. There is, however, no
reason to doubt that the Russians have done bar
barous things. 1t is time of war, and Oriental
notions of what may be done in differ from ours
Excuses have been committed as in all wars. They
ought to be, and are condemned. When it appears
that they are officially approved and the authors of
them rewarded and promoted by the Czar-as the
Bulgarian atrocities were approved and the authors
Of them rev aried aud promoted by the Suan-it
will be time enough 10 put Car and Sultan on
cycl.
Meanwhile. the effort on the part of one English
ournal TO stir I'D against the Russians the indigna
tioa which when moved against the Turks it de
ridcd, produces queer results. don't suppose its
correspondents have had orders TO discover atroc-
itics or would obey them if they had; but they
seem to understand instinctvcly that there Is de-
mand for Russian outrages, and endeayor TO supply
it as best they can. Here is a specimen two from
The Daily Ieicgrdph headed, in big type, Massacre
of Mosems," and dated at shumla-at safe dis
lance in the reIr
The country must of course suffer much from the al
of hostile army, bat few could have anticipated
the dreadful destruction pcrpe.ratcd by the RUsSiaus.
who appear treat friend and Zoe with tue utmost i'm
partialty opprcs IN, CHRISTIAN and NOslcm with equal
baIblry. Quite unududiul OF the special object FOR
which the war was uudcrtakcn TIE Muscoycs are burn
ing and deyastan far rs their arms can reach eSp,
c.aly the villages between Selyi and 1inora, marking
tnell progress VITA ii.c ana ashes.
Terrible taes nave been received here Of the massacre
81 MoAammcdlus, ana northumberland details are
HOW IN NY hands.
WHAT are these terrible tales ~ Why does not
thi, enterprising gentleman telegraph them instead
OF the naked assertions and easy generalites which
compose his dispatch Why does he write history
in the future tense saying, On the whole | am
bound 10 conclude that the war is assuming a cruel
and a savage aspect, and fear that horrible scenes
are about to be enacted" This method has at least
one convenience; ii insures its author against con-
tradiction. Nobody could deny that he fears that
horrible scenes are about to be enacted lie is 50
much pleased with this novel form of narration
tina: he employs it again next day though still
more cautiously.
II the reports hear he truc-and many OF them are
repeated 6y Turkish fugtyes-thc war; fear, Will
assume a terrible c.aract@r
lie is still teleggaphing from Shumla Turkish
headquartcgSl; elcg:aphng such headquarter gossip
as this:
Sho, King accounts coming in here tn the condi
ton OF the invaded districts 0i Bu.sui ~ Is stated
that the Russian soldiers arr buinlng VIuagc6 and
through which they pass. Certain It Is that Bulgaria -
suffering all the hororS OF W"r nave heard II posi-
tail"Hs anu iio T b ,r ri ,b r., e,''' i,
are nastening here IN crowds FOR protection.
That such things should be stated" and assert
ed" by Turkish statt-ohicers ia the credulOus and
willing ears of an AnglO-Iurkish correspondent can
excite no wonder. Yet even assuming the STATE
ments and assertions 70 be true, not one Of them
can fairly be taken TO mean that anything more is
dong by the Russians than is done by all armies in
a hostile country in time If war.
But what would You have! You must have some
thing. Expensive special correspondents have been
sent-not indeed exactly to the seat OF war, but
all events good way OH from london and it would
be unreasonable t. expect them 10 he wholly silent
except when they have news. What | have quoted
above is ut least readable and valuable rs a dis
patch in the same paper from Adriauople that the
Turkish commanders confident of the success Of
thcir plans" aud that heavy fighting must soon
take place, the bclhgerents being noS 81 Close
This is very muc. If IN English correspondents,
dur Z tine Rebellion had established himself ia Bo>-
ton and sent home information OF VIVA; was expected