The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-06-07
THE AVERTED WAR.
Gladstone's Victory Over the
Conservative Opposition
RUssIA'S TREACHERoUs ACTS.
RsIfast-The Irish as Religieaists-
Things Theatrical-"CharitS ser
mons"-Late Spring.
BELFAST. May IS, 1885.

Correspondence of THE HERALD:
1t is considerably unsettled yet
whether British subjects are pleased
with the temporary relief from war with
Russia. Where there are two prominent
political parties in a government one OF
them always resembles fice-and the
fee is the outside party. This little
whslp is perpetually barking from IN
side the fence. and just as soon as the
bigger dog gets inside the fence, the fce
gets outside and banks the other way.
The party inside is forever 10 the di-
lemma of the unfortunate fellow who
was sure to be damned if he did and
absolutely certain to be damned II he
didn't. That is the fix of the Liberal or
Gladstone party, in the United King
dom. While war was uncertain, or
while there was imminent danger OF
war, the Conservatives belabored the
Gladstone ministry right and left for its
course, to which all the evils that are
now Detailing England are attributed.
War was deprecated; yet it was inevlta-
BILE: and the weak and vacillatlng course
pursued by the Gladstone ministry was
the cause OF the whole difficulty: When
negotiations were commenced looking
| to an amlcable adjustment of the disput-
alton between Great Britain and Rus
sia the Conservatives could not con-
tain the Indignation they felt at this
spectacle of British humiliation, and
twas but another evidence of eHeminacy
and .incompetency of the ministry.
| Now that the settlement of the vexed
question has become matter of arbl-
| tration, the perfection of British humn-
iation has been consummated. Nothing
but war should have determined the
issues involved; and the whilom pres
tige of the Union Jack and the Lion
and the Unicorn may well be said to be
at it's ebb, when a matter OF such
grave and palpable wrong is left to
arbitration. and that at the solicitation
of the power so greatly wronged. The
Gladstone ministry is as q feather in
the breeze, which is caught up by each
new breath of wind and blown hither
and thitfler without any aim or object,
devoid of purpose. and unsteadied by
the anchor of a solitary stable principle.
Its resolves are India rubber; stretched
or contracted as exigences may require;
no fixed plan; weather vane which
responds unhesitatingly to- the de-
mands of every wind from whatever
government; shuttle-cock, with which
other nations play battle-door at will.
| War was a calamity, than which none
could be greater; now that there is to
be no immediate war, peace has been
purchased at a price that is worse than
| death, worse than the most calamitous
armed contest. And so it goes. The
only instance in which the comparison
of the fee does not hold good is that
the mastiff is on the defensive always,
while the fee, at secure distance, is on
the offensive.
There is little doubt, however. that
up from the Conservatives themselves
when war had been averted, if only
temporarily. The fact is admitted that,
however untitled Russia may be for
protracted or a heavy contest at arms,
1such as would be the case were Eng
land her opponent), Britain herself is
not in the best fighting trim even had
she mot the Soudan and Canadian
troubles on her hands. War would
have been a calamity to Great Britain,
and while she would doubtless have
won in the contest. the victory would
have been bought so dearly that she
would hardly have recovered. There is
little doubt of the waning prestige of
Great Britain, and that admission is not
one of shame. For centuries she has
been without rival, and whatever may
be the feeling of over Jealous and crazy
patriots, she has done more than any
other nation in the world in the cause
Eharfxv.
decline will be as grand as was her
ascent to the pinnacle of national great
ness. The greatest of statesmen have
made her the greatest, the grandest of
nations; her prime has passed, as the
times would seem to indicate. She can
live as long on her past as many boast
full, yet younger nations are likely to
survive in their youth and yigor.
bipartisan and broad-gauged men
not only fear, but feel certain the war
which a few days ago looked almost in
evitable, really was and is inevitable.
While the present arrangement may
avert it, temporarily, it is certain to
result in the future-in the early future
;. The encroachment of Russia, year by
year, toward British possessions in the
east, is inexplicable save by the con-
struction that she has her eye on those
possessions and is determined to wrest
them from the grasp.of the Lion. As
) fast as Russian advances have been
made, Just so fast has she explained
that she had no thought on British
territory, or on other territory-she
only wanted to protect her own, and
secure it from invasion or the advances
of unfriendly powers, and this while no
advances have been made by unfriendly
or other powers. Thus, little by little
she has encroached on other territory
} and nearer and nearer has been her ap-
proach to the much-coveted possessions
of Great Britain in the east. Russia
has acquired, because of her treachery,
the title of liar, and her promise is
worthless to any nation, as it is well
understood she will not allow promise
to interfere with her plans. Russia is
determined to strike England through
the east; England will, England must
resist, and the result will be bloody war
between these giants-the one civiliz-
ing and liberal government, the other
the het-bed of oppression and tyranny
where men are as SO much cattle. All
civilized countries must pray for victory
: for England; but it viii be victory
that will hasten the decay and decline
! Of grand old government. which is
| without an equal on earth, and which
!; has been without an equal for many