MAIL NEWS.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1232, 14 February 1878, Page 3

MAIL NEWS.

Our files by the Suez mail are to December 21st. From the " Pall Mall Budget "of that date wo take the following : THE RUSSIAN PRESS ON THE FUTURE. The " Novoe Vremya," in an article on the fall of Plevna, says that, although tilings look brighter for Russia in tho East, clouds are gathering in Western Europe. " Germany alone congratulates us on our victory ; while England, envious of our glory, strives to reestablish the European concert in order to tear from us the fruits of our efforts and our sacrifices. * * * But Russia takes up a courageous and independent attitude, worthy of a great Empiro which has begun its task alone, and will alone complete it. We will not permit any mediation that others may reap what we have sown. We have, in originating tho idea of liberation, forwarded our own interests and our own destiny; and we will continue to do so. Our destiny is written on the Eastern horizon. It was not without reason that we extended our territory from north to south, and between the east and the west. It was from the west that civilisation came to us, and after having regenerated it in the fire of the Russian spirit, we must now with our new and independent civilisation become the rulers of the East, where our army has made the name of Russia famous. The East must be ours ; our efforts must bear fruit for ourselves above all, and through us for the enslaved populations. Russian gum must guard the entrance to the Black Sea, and at Constantinople, the refuge of many races, the Russians must feel at home. Then will Russian ships, laden with the produce of our southern provinces, lie at anchor in the Golden Horn, and the cathedral of St. Sophia, taken from the Christians by the Mahommedans, be restored

to its original owners. . . . Our motto is, Forward ! We have lifted on high the flag of liberation, of the resuscitation of the great race, and Russia will not allow it to be lowered." The " G-rashdanin," writes in the same tone: —"What our enemies fear," it says, " is to see the Russian army before Constantinople j they look upon this as inevitable if the campaign should continue. Lord Derby was right in saying that the Russians would yet have many difficulties to overcome before they could reach Constantinople; . . . but the capture of Constantinople would certainly be far less difficult than that of Kars. The Russian people desire peace, but not too soon, for they know that the object of the war cannot be attained except by the complete destruction of the Turkish power. The ruler of the Ottomans must be crushed like those of [Kazan, Astrakhan, and the Caucasus, and the not be over until the Turkish princes trade as peacefully in soap and dressing gowns as those of Kazan and Astrakhan. To conclude peace at Adrianople will not solve the Eastern Question; a peace at Constantinople may perhaps do so.

WHY RUSSIA WENT TO WAR. The correspondent of the "Times" at St. Petersburg, writing just before the news of the fall of Plevna, analyzes the forces which* in his opinion drove Russia into the war. He rejects the theory " that the Russian Government had from the very beginning of the negotiations a clear, and well-defined programme." The G-overnment, he says, " often acta like a man whose feet are tied together. Inadvertently it allows itself to be pulled a little to the one side or the other, and then takes an enormous leap to recover its equilibrium." Thus, in his opinion, it acted during the last two years : —" The diplomatic hesitations and contradictions were the result, not of Machiavellian cunning, but simply of autocratic indecision, and the popular movement had unquestionably a considerable influence in bringing about the final decision." It was not bo much the organised pressure of the Slavonic propagandists, the restlessness, the divided counsels, the abrupt changes of Russian society thilt overbore at length the solid arguments with which the Ministers unanimously, and especially those in charge of the Departments of War and Finance, opposed the rupture with Turkey. But whatever Ministers may think and say among themselves, when they approach the Czar their wisdom is tongue-tied. "The Monarch listens to each Minister and adviser separately ; and counsellors, whether official or unofficial, have rarely the courage to express to an autocrat opinions which they foresee will be unacceptable. If his Majesty happens to be for the moment in a warlike frame of mind, they will think it well to conceal their paciGc views ; and if he happens to bo pacific, they will refrain from putting prominently forward the reasons for going to war. Thus, advice offered to an autocrat has merely the tendency to confirm

bo happens to be when the advice is asked. So far as I can discover, tho question of peace or war was never discussed in the Council of Ministers, and certainly it never was put to the vote. If it had been the majority would have beon in favour of peace; but the decision would have had littlo practical value, for it might have been reversed by the still higher powers." Can anything be more full of danger to Russia and her neighbours than such a system or no-system ? But if neither the Russian Autocrat nor his people saw clearly where they were going, thero were others who did see clearly. Hence " a mysterious pressure emanating from Berlin," of which the "Times" correspondent at St. Petersburg speaks with bated breath and obvious perplexity. THE CAPE DISTURBANCES. The anxieties of the Cape Government have not come to an end with the suppression of the Galoka revolt. A rising was threatened among the Gaikas, a tribe occupying reserves in British Kaffraria, on the western side of tho Kei River. Their chief, Sandilli, was once a very formidable foe to the British power, but "in his old ago he has degenerated, and he implores the protection of the English. His tribe, however, is restless and bold; and when news came that the defeat of Kreli had been followed by the expulsion of the Galekas and the confiscation of their territory, the Gaikas showed alarm, "assembled in great numbers, and, raising their war-cry, declared they were ready and would fight if the Government attacked them." It is needless to Bay that no such attack was ever intended ; some petty Galeka chiefs who had crossed the border at the beginning of the war with Kreli, refused to obey the disarmament ordered in Sir Bartle Frere's proclamation, and had taken refuge among some of their Gaika kinsmen. The frontier police were sent to restore order and enforce obedience, and were supported by 120 soldiers and two guns. Sandilli, on being [pressed, agreed to surrender the fugitive Galeka chiefs, and the latter apologised for their resistance and offered complete submission. When the last mails left the Cape everything was»reported to be quiet. To tranquilise the natives Sir Bartle Frere had issued another proclamation, explaining the reasons for the seyere measures which had been adopted against the Galekas, and offering a free pardon to all but the ringleaders, on condition that they at once returned to their allegiance and reported themselves to Colonel Eustace, lately British resident with Kreli, who has been appointed chief magistrate for the nevly annexed country. THE TELEPHONE IN GERMANY. Already, according to a German paper, telephones have been provided for the use of the telegraph officials at Britz, Weissensee, Linum, Rauen, Schopfurth, Nauendorf, Magdesprung, Plotzkau, Wildenbruch, and Liebeseele, and many more are being constructed. Telephones are aho in regular use between the offices of the Postmaster-General and the Director of Telegraphs, between the offices of many of tho higher officials in various public departments, between the post offices in Hamburg and Altona, and between tho post office and railway station in the town of Cassel. Experiments, at which a high official in the German and a representative of the French telegraph service are present, are also being carried on with a telephone arranged between Dresden and Freiburg.

AN ENGLISH COLONY IN RUSSIA. A small English colony, according to the " Zachfc," a Russian paper, exists near Archangel, which at the present time enjoys perfect independence. This colony was formed gradually by emigrants drawn there by the establishment by an English company of some important sawmills. The colonists have raised a town the existence of which is, bo to speak, unknown, as it neither figures on maps nor upon official records of real property nor in the rate-bookß. The inhabitants of this happy place, whose numbers are not mentioned, are therefore free from rates, taxes, and nil other burdens such aB weigh so heavily on British householders. They are, moreover, independent of all local authority, and, indeed, of authority of any description. This strange colony is, it is stated, not the first of the kind which has sprung up in these quarters. Not long ago an American town, established under somewhat similar conditions, was discovered in the neighborhood of the Bay of Morton, Kamschatka. A correct list of these independent little colonies, with information as to the readiest means of reaching them, would doubtless be a boon to a large and important class of her Majesty's subjects.

A GERMAN VIEW OF ENGLAND'S FUTURE. A correspondent of the " Morning Po9t" translates for that journal a forecast of " England's future, from a German point of view," which lately appeared in " Kladderadatsch.'' Some of our readers may find it amusing:— English journals intimate that if Rusßia were quietly to appropriate Ears and the whole of Armenia British interests would not be affected. Russia retains possession of Kars and Armenia. According'to English newspapers the features of the war would have no prejudicial effect, as regards England, should Russia take and keep Constantinople and Asia Minor. Russia seizes Constantinople and annexes Asia Minor. The English press makes public the opinion that if Russia forcibly possessed herself of the Suez Canal and Egypt, England could have no reasonable objections to offer, for she has alwajs the safer road for the defence of India round by the Cape. Russia occupies Egypt and seizes the Suez Canal. English newspapers openly state that if Russia were to conquer India it would be only a matter for congratulation, as she costs no end of money, and is a heavy burden to England. Russia takes India. English papers begin to touch on the probability of a Russian invasion of England. General merriment is caused by this. A vast Russian army, however, effects a landing, conquers England, and abolishes the English press. England now consists only of Heligoland, which the German empire, out of a feeling of regard, allows to remain undisturbed. The following items are from the " Spector.":~ THE FRENCH CRISIS.

The French crisis, after lasting all the week and going through a great many phases of hope and tear, appears to be at an end at last. On Saturday, December Bth, it appeared that M. Dufaure, after receiving satisfactory written assurances from the Marshal and aftor undertaking the formation of a Government, was dismissed again, somewhat rudely, for insisting on naming the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, of War, and of the Navy for himself, and not accepting those named by the Marshal. On Tuesday a very threatening interview between the President of the Senate—the Duke d'Audiffret Pasquier—and the Marshal was reported, from which it was evident oither that the Marshal wished the Sei ate to break with him, that he might retire with honor, or that he contemplated the use of force. On Wednesday a Dissolutionist Ministry, with M. Batbie at its head, was really formed, M. Jahan having accepted the portfolio of Finance, and everything looked like a renewal of the struggle, when M. Pon-yer-Quertier, who had refused the portfolio of Finance, visited the Marshal in the midst of his Council, and broke up the fragile Administration by forcible remarks on the folly of incurring the tremendous pecuniary responsibility of trying to screw unvoted taxes out of Frenchmen who know perfectly well that they are illegal. M. PouyerQuertier's Norman good sense and practicalness really succeeded in performing a surgical operation on the Marshal's brain, and letting a ray of good Constitutional sense into it.

IMPORTATION OF CATTLE. Our Government is evidently inclined to protect the home meat trade, and with it the rents of the owners of land. The special committee appointed to inquire into the prevalence of cattle pjague and other Birailar diseases fy»| reported, m favour of <&> toUJ

prohibition of the import of cattle from Russia, Germany, and Belgium, the almost total prohibition of the import from Holland, and the concentration of all control over the matter in tho Committee of Privy Council. The farmers of course approve this highly, and delegates from the Farmers' Club and the Central Chamber of Agriculture waited on Thursday on the Duke of Richmond to say so. Tho Duke was delighted to see them, quite agreed with them, and stated that Government would embody the report of the special committoe in a Bill. It had much better prohibit the import of live cattle at onoe. Then there would bo no trouble, the farmers would have a monopoly, and science would avenge the consumer by devising means by which the whole world could send us its surplus of dead meat at sixpence a pound. Moreover, the entrance of epidemic disease, which it was Btated positively diminishes the stock in the country from year to year, would be prevented, without making invidious distinctions between one country and another. AMERICAN CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. President Hayes, we are sorry to see, has been defeated in his first great effort at Civil Service reform. He had removed the Collector and Naval Officer of New York for interfering in elections, and encouraging their officers to subscribe the regular percentage in favour of some State "ticket," and nominated in their stead Messrs Roosevelt and Cap f ain Prince. The Senate, however, must confirm these nominations, and on the 12th inst. the Senate refused, rejecting the nominations by 32 to 25, only six Republicans and 19 Democrats voting with the President. In the United States, as elsewhere, dismissed officers remain in office to carry on business until their successors arrive, and the result of the Senate's vote is therefore to confirm the officers dismissed in their places; The Sonate was guided by Mr Conkling, who holds the system of official interference in elections to be essential to the working of the Government, and who has a personal quarrel with President Hayes ; but there can be no doubt that the Senate is utterly opposed to Civil Service reform, and will not sanction it until the body of the electors interfere. These latter are in favour of the President, but are nervous about allowing appointments during good behaviour, as they think officials appointed for life would be a sort of aristocracy. The President does not seek re-election, and will, it is believed, remain firm.