New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-11-05
EUROPEAN AFFAIRS.

| LONDON, Oct. l9s-lt IL now oomOeh"6
like fortnight that NJ. Gambetta has cOntrived to
concentrate a large share of continuous attention
upon himself His single personality has occupied
! a good deal Of the public mind even while grave
| events were passing and while political clouds
| were gathering thicker and thicker on almost
| cvery quarter of the horizon. Indeed, his
speech at Romans is almost month old,
and never since he uttered 1t has II ceased
| TO be topic Of discussion and dispute.
! The later speech at Grenoble has had ts share OF
notice also; and one might have thought that when
| all the needful comments lad been made on that
speech the distracted politicians OF Tins part OF the
globe would have been at liberty to give their undl-
ylded attention to the swiftly-chauging dramas Ill
| the East, But all at once NJ Gambetta has turned
| his glance also in that direction, and his Journal
the RSpubIique Franpaise published yesterday an ar
ticle which, merely because it is his. has stirred
! fresh commotion in England. connection else
where also it may be- but il is in England that the
| effects of it first visible.
| This article is not more than half column long,
Int il amounts to not much less than an indictment
of tho Treaty of Berlin. 1t might be more correct
| TO say that it is condemnation of that treaty III
is like NJ Gambetta who has a keen appreciation OF
dramatic effect, to publish it just when his recent
tour and speeches have made him more than usually
| conspicuous But his place IN European politics is
|
matter could hardly fail OF It's enect, no matter
| when or how uttered.
| 1--WE should like hundred times better" says
! ~ Gambetta's journal, Z" to be able to affirm that
the results of the Congress were favorable but the
fact can hardly be hid that this diplomatic assembly
| has done nothing toward establishing really
durable peace Nothing' What then becomes of
| the approval, qualified though it was, which W.
| Gambetta allowed the Paris correspondent OF The
| Times TO pronounce in his name the treaty just
| about the time when Lord Beaconsield came home
TO receive the welcome of the Dover Aldermen. and
when the rab0le Of London cheered HIM rs he drove
down Whitehall in Lady Abergavennys car
| riage In truth, NJ. de BlowItz's interview
with the great French tribune had nothing yery
| precise about it. NJ Gambetta's words were hardly
| more than n civil acknowledgment that any treaty
was better for the time being than the war that
! would have followed failure of the Congress. The
vague phrases Of conventional pOliteness which NJ
| de BlOwitz reported. weighed little against the
stern criticism of the Schouyaloll-Salisbury memo
randum, which the Eeppbhque FRANCHISE never
ceased To maintain But the RtpubiqHe FTGpcaise is
| little read in England, and Ahe lines is stall read
! good deal; that, on the whole. the partsans OF
| the Prime Minister were able TO extract certain
| amount of comfort out Of NJ Gambotta's supposed
acquicscence in the work done at Berlin. They are
|
! What 81 Gambetta says Of the actual condition Of
things has aud can have no novelty. 1t is such Il
accumulation as everybody who watches the course
of affairs must make FOR himself. The obstinate re-
fusal OF the Porte TO execute the provisions of the
| treaty and its kindred obligations, whether with
reference % Greece, TO Austria or to England the
Russian reluctance To cyacuate Roumelia the Eng
| sh Aect hanging about the Observation-Disclosures and
other plain evidences of the impotence OF the Berlin
DEGREES are what impress VI. Gambetta and the rest
of the world. He too, has been struck by the Rus
sian rcoccupatiou of the lines Of IchekmedJe;
| and still more by the hints that Russian diplomacy
threatens once more to get the upper hand at Con-
| stantinople. The report that Mahmoud Pacba was
10 be recalled as Grand vzier startled Europe only
| n few DAYS ago. Mahmoud Pacha is simply Rus
| sian agent and 20 make him Grand ViZer again
| would be the plainest way Of saying to Englaud-
what, for the rest, is plain enough without--that
the Porte has no thought Of forcing those reforms
| in Asia Minor which England thinks indispensable
| which Lord Beaconshed, who does not care but
| ton about refOrns-wants to throw out as a tub To
| the Liberal whale. France. 1t must be said. has
! has never looked with a incndy eye that Asia
Minor Convention, or the Instrumentation Of Cyprs
lying M it does mcnacingy close the very region
of the Levant in which France conccyes herself TO
have the greatest interest. and toward which point
| her most sentimental aspirations. IN this, as In all
other European questions, Gambetta il a Frenchman
| of the French. He has never forgiven Lord BcacOns
field the turn be played him in his secret bargains
! first with Russin and then with Turkey And II
| never was doubtful. TO anybody who remembered
| how bitterly that betrayal was denounced at the
time that NJ. Gambctta's confidence had been with
| drawn once for all from the author OF the policy
| which had brought humiliation TO France.
| For all tins there il no need 10 agree with the
| 81 nIatt that n
| eral war threatens to become inevitable can find
| nobody who suppOses European war likely TO
break out by the end Of October. The situation is
| strained, but not strained enough for that. b.
| Gambetta remembers TO ask whether the Sultan OF
Turkey haA made up his mind 10 sink into an Indian
| Raah. But he hardly takes into account-he GER
tanly does not mention-the present embarrassment
| Ut England IN her Oriental possessions. That en-
barrassment will make her reluctant than ever
| to enter upon war in Europe; except in the one
contingency OF identifying Russia with Shere Ali,
which would make a war with Russia. both in Eu-
rope and ASIA. inevitable
Ash am Whiting about NJ. Gambetta. though only
as factor in the Eastern question, l may be al
lowed TO say n word about the new departure he IL
supposed to have taken French affairs ! have
seen his Romans proposal for disseminating the
| emption Of priests and pupils Studying for
the priesthood, described IA "blunder" lt Is
treated as an attack on religion and the
Church. 1t il neither nor the other. Ii Is an
attack on Clericalisn which he has never ceased 10
| attack since his first entrance into political life
Clercalism means, among other things, the claim
of the Roman Catholic Church tOpolitical supremacy
II means the constant effort Of her priests TO com
pel the conscience Of the citizen TO own allegiance
in political matters to the Church FIRST and TO the
| State second 1t means that whenever the in
\ s1afa ata