DARK CLOUDS OVER EUROPE

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 23, 24 June 1867, Page 148

DARK CLOUDS OVER EUROPE

•' (From the Examiner.) However disposed to regard -sinister " rumors Hud predictions of approaching

calamities and “last woes” in the lighin which’alone they should generally be regarded—as the idle dreams ot diseased imaginations—there are oe casionally precursors of portentous events which no amount of phlegma tism or scepticism can wholly ignore. .».It is notorious that'for some years past the political ties, whether of sympathy or interest, which bound tin Governments of Europe in something like a federal system have been re laxed; and; as a cdnsequeuce, that events of the greatest importance and significance have been left very much to be decided by chance and the cur rent of events. That such a condition of the States of Europe may have postponed a general war up to the present period may be true; but that it could have any other effect than to lead to ultimate confusion, no one who believes that reflection and foresight were given for the avoidance of danger and ruin can for a moment doubt.: As the result of this laissez-faire laissez passer system, what do, we see? That no man would buy the peace oi Europe at six months’ purchase. The opinion is becoming universal that tin general tranquility cannot be preserved beyond that time. The satiie lan guage is heard in the Ministerial Glob: of London and the official journals ol St. Petersburg and Moscow. It must be a chaotic state of the world when a Grand Duke of Russia drinks a toast to the revolutionists of Crete, and Garibaldi has left his island home t< preach up and organise an expedition in their favor. It had been alrnosi . sworn, says the organ of Sir Staffor-.; Northcote, that we were to remain at peace this year, but we now. doubt whether it will be possible to preveni war from breaking out before this yeai expires. A great war. it adds, is but a question of time. The Moscow Ga zette is more precise iu its utterance* “The solution of the Eastern ques lion”. it .declares to be “ a matter ot necessity. The critical day approaches rapidly- The events which are pre paring in the Peninsula of the Baikal, are our cause.” Not less emphatic lithe language of the Journal de St ‘Petersburg. It directs attention to thi “immediate” evils which may be tht the effect of Turkey continuing the op ’pression of the Christian people of tin East. The Russian official journa; also contains some despatches of Princi Gortschakoff to the Russian 'Ministei in London, which break off with a recommendation that Crete should bi made independent under the suzerain!} of the Porte ;• and this comes accom panied with a report that the-Russia: soldiers on furlough have received or ders to join their regiments, and that a Russian force is to be moved toward* the Turkish frontiers in the course o: •next month. > Again, we learn from the Memorial Diplomatique, that an expediton is preparing against Turkey, from ih« Italian shores of the Adiiatic, to b* Jed by Garibaldians, if not by Garibaldi himself; and, from another quarter, u is stated tiiat the electoral agitation in Italy, which has produced an unusuu! degree of excitement, is not foreign tv the Eastern question—having been goi up for the purpose of driving the RicaBoli Ministiy from power, and detach ing Italy from her Prussian connection. In Berlin, Herr von Bismark ha made an urgent appeal to the member* of the North Gorman Parliament, to agree to the Constitution before, tin. 18th of next August, within which period by the Convention of Berlin ol the 18tb of August, 1866, the mon enlarged'confederaton with the States of South Germany may be effected,; whilst at Vienna there is uuboundeu joy at the renewed attachment of Hungary to the monarchy, and the vigor oils steps taken by the Diet of Pestii ii. carrying out the Imperial wishes. We may mention, as among the sighs ol the times, a report, to which aii exci ted imagination only could give origin, that Queen Victoria recommended the King, of the. Belgiaus to become a member of the German Confederation, with a view of securing Belgiun against the - supposed, designs “of tht Eijiperor of tlie .Erenchi ‘ u iWlien we flqcl at our own doors un der a Constitutional system where men undoubtedly possess a large aitfount ol irdedoitt ‘tile" totclr b$ civilwarspatter * ’* Afco «l«ws

ing and smoking, although it will not ;ake light we may well bring together the signs of the ominous times which • ppear to be iinpenning over Eiirope. in all probability the thun/ler will burst in the: East, bu f . who can contemplate ihe mixtures of !race9, nationalities, mil creeds, which overspreads the whole <f that part of Europe with the hope that if once heard there, its roll will not be echoed far off?

We give up as perfectly hopeless the attempt to unravel the policy of any of die great, powers, in respect to the Eastern question, except, perhaps, that if Russia, which seems to contemplate the possesion of Constant ipole with a persistency and firmness of hope that in itself does so much for its own realisation. The common saying is not now apres inoi le delude, but atprds l ’ exposition, vous verrez.. Never since 1815 was the general peace of Europe in so critical a position.