The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-01-09
THE EASTERN WAR.
THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT AND IT'S
PROBABLE ACTION ON THE
EASTERN QUESTION.
what War Between England and RUS
sia Would Hiring AbOut-'The Power
of che English Fleet.

sia would Hiring About-The Power
of the English Fleet.
Especial Corresp ondence Of the Democrat
WASHINGTON. Jan. Sit is possibly unpatri-
otc bat 1t is quite sensible to say that there are
almost as many people In this country who look
with rapt interest to
THE ASSEMBLING OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT
one week from next Monday, as there are who
await the reassembing of our own Congress
with anxiety. No Parliament since 1898 has met
In London ander circumstances of so much
moment to mankind ut large as this ore for the
FIRST question that 1t wi have to consider is the
aues' ion whether or not Great Britain is ready
to sustain by might the prestige she has won
and to hold against all &C mers the empire she
has been two hundred years conauering. The
superficial view of the situation is. that IL Eng
land fights at all. she musht fight to keep the
Russians out of Constantinople, to maintain
the blockade OF the Black Sea, to arrest
THE PROGRESS OF RUSSIAN CONQUEST
toward the Hiudoo frontier, and to checkmate
in general the growth of Russ Ia as military
power and political factor In Europe. These
assumptions are all true, but are only the sur
face Of the truth. Behind or beneath them lie
other considerations which are vital to the very
existence of ths British Empire and the per-
petuity of tho British people In their present
state These are chiefly the maintenance OF that
prestige which has hitherto made the British
| flag in every part Of the world the symbol Of
such perfect security that the commerce of the
| earth has at last nestled under its protecting
| folds. bringing with 1t to those bleak little
| islands wealth. luxury and refinement. com
paredto which the past has seen nothing wor-
| thy Of the name. Twenty years have passed
since England has deemed 1t necessary to bat
| in Europe, upon which depends her influence
| in tho affairs OF the world and her importance
as factor of civilization Those twenty
| years have seen marvellous transformations.
| They have seen Russia rise from the dust and
sackeloth of Inkermann to a rank OF power and
n capacity for action which astonish even the
military critics of Germany They have seen
Germany herself grow from distracted mob OF
feeble principaties into one Of the most sym
| metrical empires known to history. develop
ing resources which no one seems able to
fathom. They have Sc Italy elevated from u
divided impotence. and awakened from leth-
| argy as of despair. to become one Of the great
| powers Of new Europe. These things have
gone on. not noiselessly indeed but. as we are
told as oil history is made, without the special
| knowledge Of those who help to make 1t and
| whose wonders appear only to those who read
| 1t In after years." The epoch that has
passed since Gortschakoff signed the treaty
| of 1855 has really been the most won
derful twenty years In all the history OF
| Europe-if one except the twenty years during
which Christ was growing up and preaching in
aalilee. the most momentous in the history OF
man. And yet Its events have come along one
| after another as matters of course and we see
| now mass of results so vast and bewidering
| tbutxrs patF Enr any han han
In our minds the thread of destiny that has led
| to them.
| Gortschakoff signed
THE TREATY OF 1866,
and when he had laid down his pen said in re
ply to Il complacent remark of the English am
bassador. La Russie ne bonde pas: ellie sc re-
cuitleP'-"Russia does not pout. she bides her
time"
| That observation is Just beg 'nning to have its
| force. Russia has bided her ime to good pur :
pose. The demonstration, Of 1855 was. feeble,
its strategy was hating aud indeeisive. Its exc
| eution was weak and hesitating, and 50. at the
first shock Of disaster the shell of the hopes of
was bns heart nnd e fs as
sia buried her dead. cleared away the wreck of
| her defeat, and from that day to this the ener-
gies of eighty mi lions OF people have been bent
| 70 the one purpose of refrigeration for another
| blow; blow not merely for the conquest Of q
few thousand square miles II territory in Asia
| Minor or on the Danube. but for the dominant
| place In the councils Of Eurupe-for that place
Ia the affairs of men which England held when
Lord Castlerreag;h r., went to Vienna after Water
emperors," as Napoleon said in his bitterness
a. &c. Helena; This is a blow at england,
| That insignificant island In the North Sea
| for good part ,f the world and her prosperity
depends upon the fxedness, with which ehs
whom she gets rich. She holds this grip almost
entirely by virtue Of the prestige OF past victo-
ries and by the memory of the force she (. once zee
years over coun ry village. and who has en-
Joyed oil the sweets and perquiaites Of power.
but who at last is confronted with younger
ssprant for that sort of honors, En- land is
confronted now by Russia and must light again
to hold her own.
There Is no lack of indication that
RUSSIA AND GERMANY
have agreed to divide between themselves the
next century Of arbitrary power and imperial
influence in Europe. They will in turn recon
@ Of Of h1 The dee and as
drawing 's to . closs: They vii make tie t5beir tbiIs 1
to their coffers the profits. of commerce
and the wages of industry. This IS the spectre
that disturbs the dreams Of Englishman. Tur-
gle Is not primarily to drive the Turk out OF
Europe, or to replace the Crescent with the
Cross upon st, Sophia. but to try e3nlgsions be,
that of the Muscov and the Teuton. In this age
there are enough relics of superstition to serve
as pretexts for crusades. but behind the simu-
lated emotion of statesmen is a keen eye for the
material emoluments of power. The soldier
who risks his life is taught that he is fighting
for God and religion. but the potentate behind
him laughs in his sleeve and thinks altogether
OF earthly things.
All these things will be mooted and consid
cred when Parliament meets. The wise heads
of England will take good heed Of what is at
stake, and. after
GLADSTONE
| and his coterie Of doctrueaires have had their
brief rant, the hard sense and the stern prac-
ticality of the British race will carry the day by
| a round majority There will be diplomacy
and there will be conferences of the powers
solemn conclaves of ambassadors vieiog in the
| art of deception and plenipotentiaries exhaust
| ing the devices inculcated by Machiavel; but at
the end OF all the fanfaronade there will be
tions that have expanded until there is no
longer room for both. and one must give
WAY A war between ENGLAND and Russia