New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-16
THE RUSSIAN CASE.
WITH NOTES ON SOME OF IT'S ADVOCATES
IN LONDON.

oves over the latest political puzze pronounced py
that eccentric journal The puzzle Is not 80 uucn
in the Russo Afghan problem 1t has SET i'Soii "
solve as in the conduct of the paper. VIVA. peopi0
ask is: sWho has got bold of Mr. stead ! i"e
onswer the inevitable answer at first. was that
Madame de Novikof had got hold OF MT. oteau. :"
ia accompanied with circumstantlal detahs' "no"
that very clever and energetic lady hrst mauo ao
scentson London now some years past no honuon
paper was willing to open its columns 10 nel p'o-
Prss;an rronapand. She is a dplomatist who taxes
the modern view of diplomacy The mysterious
Comte Paul Vasi in the chapter on JournahS'eS
which fills some thirty pages in La Societe dc V'ene'
declares himself proud to have been one OF the nrst
dnlomatists who perceived that new order Oh
things had come into being. What with dispatches
n.wspapers the important place Journalists nav
taken in Parliamentary life and the a''en''v"
Governments are Obliged to devote TO them' up,o'
moov savs Conut Paul, must be done by help OF inc
nress A diplomatst, adds he. must have douo'o
education so as to be able to adhere 10 'rao''io" "
matters of form and to change his metn'" CUM
pletely with respect to the substance VI n'' WI
Madame de Novikoff appeared on the scene long
,,ofnrs Connt paul had been heard of, and may
share with him and many others the credit oil TINS
discovery. or invention. She took n step further'
II ia one thing to depend the press for iniorm-
.io, IT ia another TO supply well as derive news
and oninions: in other words. to induce other
people 10 depend on the dpomatist whue 'ncS
believe themselves indebted to the Journalist ohIy'
When Madame de Novikoi found the columns OF 'no
Iondon papers closed to her. she did not despair
She had already established an acquaintance WIN
Mr. Gladstone. and 1t may we'll enough nave ocen
from Mr. Gladstone that she heard oil the eX's'ehco
of a provincial press; ignored If not unknown III
LONDON, bat valued and often publicly eAtol'ed ny
the Prime Minister as the true organ OF tho real
opinion of England She somehow became aware
nj little sheet Published in the North oil Ehgiauu
and called The Northern Echo. Possibly MI brien's
nraise of IL had renamed in her capacous memory
Tho editor of this paper thought it worth while 10
nnblish what his metropolitan brethren hau
rejected. The connection between HIM and MS
Russian contributor was kept up. and presently u
happened that this remote provincial editor fonhd
his way to London became lieutenant 10 MI john
Morley. whom not long after he succeeded anu 80
Nine de Novlkof found after not TOO many days ia
London tie bread she had cast upon provincial
waters. Long before this she had made her way
into other London periodicals MI. frouhe pau
given her his arm to lean on. Mr.. James Knowles
had opened wide the pages OF Inc NmeNe7" Ce"-
t,rs Bnt the experienced Russian gent was aware
that Whatever she published over her own name
would be read by many with Suspicion. and by all
f.n
learned TO attach to all political literature ayow'
edly of Russian authorship. 1t was not enough to
have Mr. Stead for friend. She made him
convert She saturated his mind with Russian
opinions and that Is how. according to the legend
now current in London, The Pal Mall Gazette
became the organ and instrument of Russian diPio-
macy.
NJ Lessars name IS to be heard as we'll az Nine.
de- Noyikoa's in the mouths of those who attempt
TO account for the present attitude OF the Journa
which Mr.. stead controls. Nine. de Noyikon,
having prepared the ground and sown the Seed had
deDarted NJ. Lessar arrived just in time to reap
the harvest He is an official envoy. she was an
II Unofficial ID unackno wedged agent. NJ. Leisar
il Is you will be It'd if you ask, who supplied Mr.
Stead with the material for the singular statements
he has been publishing for some weeks past. lie H.
in effect though not in form. the author of the most
singular of all : the article which The Pan Mall
published last Thursday under the title. a" Direct
Challenge 1t is one moro example OF the revo-
lntionary methods which Mr.. Stead IS seeking 10
introduce into English journalism; not very
successfully as yet The challenge was adufe'seu
to Minister'S to the Leaders OF the Opposition 10
tho chief London papers; and to certain pamed
authorities ON tho Central Asian question. AS a
matter of tactics. this defiance was illJndgei. Mr.
Stead with all his undoubted abilities II hardly as
vet in position to fliug down gage oil batte 70
the rest of the universe and expect tho universe to
treat it as seriously rs he himself does. No MIN
ister or Opposition Leader has paid the least atten-
ton to his challenge No leading journal has
noticed It, Nor has any one of the Central ASIAN
authorities who were appealed to by name made
serious response Mr.. Stead, however. whose sense
of bumor 10 not keen, pc rseveres. Day by day he
marches into the arena with this Russian CHIP on
his shoulder vainly beseeching some one oil the
MANY amused spectators to knock it OIL. Not one
OF them will obige him.
This Stead essar challenge rests upon an
assumption of fact and it is this assumption OF fact
which Mr. Steal implores his contemporaries W
DESTROY # they can. before they venture 10 Write
another word in menace of war. His contempo-
raries however. continue to write great MANY
words which can be construed IN enaces oil war;
with An air Of provoking nd derence to their
clustering brother. Mr. Stead, wanting. as said.
in hnmor, has added to the general fund OF amuse-
ment By his announcement that their silence cannot
be due TO Ignorance He inclosed he tells u.s. copy
of tine panrr containing the direct challenge 10 all
those whom he had defed. ! suppose we shall soon
he told that il they do not answer II ~ because
they cannot, and Mr.. Steals trumpet will bs heard
proclaiming in its hoarsest tones that Judgment
has gone against England by default.
The assumption of fact when reduced to It's
simplest form Is good example OF the Russian
method of dealing with case. There are. indeed
more assumptions than one. but one will serve the
purpose Mr.. Stead rests his case the allegation
that Penideh was part of the dcbatable or debated
territory and that the Afghans by Selling il became
the aggressors. The proof is that it was men
toned in Sir Peter Lums lens instructions last May
as place on which the Commission had to adjudi-
cate. and which Sir Peter Lumsden had authority
tn assign, if he saw fit. to Russia. No Afghans
were in PenJdeh at the time. In June they made a
rush for the place and sci zed It, Subsequent