New-York tribune., 1882-03-12
SKOBrlFFf AND THE SLATS.

Another speech by SkObclch has apparently
caused new furry of excitement in Berlin
and London. Although he has been recalled
in hot haste from his foreign tour and rep
rimanded by the Minister of War and the
Gar for bis indiscretions his tongue is still
wagging as industriously as ever. The panic
mongers now represent him as taking group
of officers into his confidence, and, under the
guise of a dexterous compliment to his SOW
ereign as "the best Russian" as explaining
his recall as ga new humiliation proceeding
from the man who, with blood and iron, had
"founded an empire which must be destroyed
"by Russian blood and rOn." If SkObcleff has
really made any remark of this sort, it may
be accepted as incOntcstable proof that the
Government, for purposes OF its own, i'll order
to win the support of the strongest political
organization in the Empire, has inspired"
all his recent utterances and has not been dis
pleased 10y them. We suspect, however, that
this last speech is a fiction of Berlin Journal
ism like the imaginary conversation between
the sovereign and his madcap general, which
has been telcgraphed from the same capital.
Skobelcff7s post-prandial rhetoric would not
have caused any excitement i'll Europe if its
significance had not been persistcntly magni-
Il
mats in London. These are the Russian-haters,
who have never forgiven Mr.. Gladstone for his
indifference to the close alliance between Eng
land and the German Powers which Lord
Beaconsficld openly courted. Dcspising France
as the most unstable of allies, owing to
her republican institutions, and ndiculing
the concerted action of the Powers and
the restraints of European public law
as forms of organized impotence,
they have never ceased to lament the reversal
of Lord Beaconsfeld's foreign policy as the
beginning of the end of English influence on
the Continent and prestige i'll Asia. Such Incl
dents as SkObeleff's haTangues enable them to
renew their lamentations over the decadence
of British diplomacy and to keep the European
atmosphere surcharged with what Carlyle used
to call electric suspicion Yet when properal-
lowance has been made for the exaggeratOns of
panic-mongers and the morbid iances of Rus
sophobists in England. there are race movements
and tendencies in the SlayOnian world which
menace the peace of Europe, albeit in the remote
rather thar the near future. Whether Skobeleif
has been "coached by court tutors in his
recent contributions to the literature OF Pan
slayism. or whether his tongue has simply fol-
lowed the fe-vid impulses of champagne, he
has undoubtedly given voice to the aspirations
and disappOintments Of an imaginative and
restless race.
If we 20 back to the battle of KOenigs-
gractz it will be to find the Prussan and
Russian Foreign Offices working i'll concert,
with confidential understanding that
AustrO-HUngary was TO be Inundated,
that the IlOhenzOllern was to have supreme
influence in Central Europe, and that the
ROmanof was ultimately to extend his sway
over the Slavs of the Balkan peninsula. Kat
kof, the high-priest Of Panslavism, was already
offering incense to the historic gods of the
race, and in the next year the EthnOgraphical
Congress of Moscow gave powerful impulse,
not only to Russian intrigues i'll the Balkan,
but to that national movement which was to
eliminate ten years aftcrward III great war
for the delverance of the SOutnem Savs.
Long before the campaign opened, Bismarck,
having excited the cnmity OF France for gem
erations to come, had converted Austria from
Il deadly foe into a staunch ally; and when
the Peace of Berlin was concluded he had
given to that ally two Slav provinces in South
eastern Europe. Panslayism, painting and
bleeding from the agonzing struggle of that
war of deliverance, found itself sharing with
the hereditary enemy the fruits of victory.
Here, then, is the simple explanation OF the
resentment of the Slavs which finds express
sion in Skobcleff's speeches. They stood by
and watched with indifference the victories
achieved by Prussia over Austria and France,
and they expected that the Germans would be
equally unconcerned when the same work of