New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-04-18
FOREIGN PRESTIGE At HIGH COST

Lord Beaconsfeld's wand seems TO have lost
its magic. The wars are dragging. Imperial
interests once gilded with splendors, are now
clouded over. A foreign policy that was full OF
sudden shiftings and startling surprises is now
complexrather than brilliant. THERE'S no longer
glitter for the eye and stimulus for the I'M
agnation. The charm of the Oriental effects
has gone. The cOlored fires flicker in the pan
as the cold drafts of commercial depression
sweep over them. The audience are counting
the cost. Ii may not be too much TO say that
the majority OF them suspect that they have
been cheated.
Among the shrillest voices that rise from
tbe nit is that Of The Pal Mall Gazette. This
Conservative journal has never regained It's
temper since the Salisbury SchouvalOff com
pacf was prematurely brought to light 1t
now contends that the Afghan COM
plication was mine secretly prepared
Inv the Russians to moderate any eager
ness on the part OF England to med
die with the Car and his conQuests in
Turkey. 1t intimates that Count Schouva-
loft. acting ostensibly as an honest broker
between the two countries rather than
tLe servant Of his own, revealed in
Indian frontier II traces the effects Of
tins discovery not only III every line of the
secret agreement, but in the terms OF the
Treaty of Berlin, and IN the subsequent with
drawal of the Russian columns and diplomatic
agents from the Afghan frontier and
capital. The recent renewal Of activity in
Central Asia, and the revival of Russian in
terest in the Afghan succession, are explained
as expedients for coercing English policy in
Roumelia. The argument is summed up
very forcibly: "The Salisbury surrender
" was the first consequence; tame acquiescence
IN the production Of such q state of things as
"ye see in ROumelia was the next forced sub
emission to an occupation scheme which pro-
"claims the helplessness and hopeleSsness of our
"yaunted stipulations Mt Berlin was the next;
at is impossible yet TO say what will be the
"last.n The shril treble of this journal
may be pitched too high, but it has
clearer ring than the stuliy BASES
of the Government press. The connection
between Roumela and Afghanistan may not
be so close as this English critic insists that
it is, but it is plain that the accept
lance of the mixed or joint occupation
scheme will be a radical concession
TO Russian diplomacy. Therein Lord BeacOns-
field will be forced TO admit that his own
handiwork at the Radziwill Palace was clumsy
| enough. and must be done over in another
and q Russian fashion. If he sends Brit
ish troops into the Balkan peninsula he
will subject the Porte to physical pressure.
This course was proposed III the Berlin Mem
orandum, which he would not sign. If he had
done then what he is likely to do now, the
war between Russia and Turkey would have
been indefinitely postponed.
But Constantinople is not the only point
upon which pressure must be brought to bear.
| There is a ruler at Cairo who refuses to be
educated In the arts and reforms of European
| Government. de has excellent tutors, Eng
Ish and French, and apparently was getting
ON well in his studies, when suddenly he
| turned his instructors out OF doors and aban-
| doned himself TO his own caprices. 1t was in
| this quarter of the world that the Premier
made his first bold stroke in purchasing
the Khedive's shares in the Canal with
| 500, 600, 600 borrowed at high rates and
pledged without the knowledge of Parlia-
ment. England was committed to mOmen-
tous policy, and the ultimate occupation of
Egypt by Europeans became inevitable
| The Premier cannot so back, and I'M
luckily he cannot go on alone, fol
| in the course of diplomatic nego-
tations he has admitted France into partner
ship on the Nile Yet history teaches that
the joint occupation OF any country OF
province invariably leads to Jealousy, strife
enlargement and conflict between the Power,
that take part in it, Even it, France break,
through her recent policy OF noninterven