MR GLADSTONE FROM A GERMAN POINT OF VIEW.

Kumara Times, Issue 1067, 2 March 1880, Page 4

MR GLADSTONE FROM A GERMAN POINT OF VIEW.

[PALI MALL BUDGET.] Mr Gladstone's overflowing eloquence has excited the attention of German politicians and journalists only as proving anew the radical incapacity of a past Prime Minister to comprehend the true factors of foreign policy. When England abandoned the protectorate of the Indian Island, without even retaining a strategetical position in Corfu—the importance of|which for her was admirably set forth in a memorandum by Mr Adair in 1809— Prince Bismarck shrugged his shoulders and said that it was unnecessary to take into account a Power which began to give away territorial rights j and he did leave Engjand out of account as long as Mr Gladstone was at the helm of the State. When in 1874 the elections turned to the advantage of the Conservative party, the result was understood in Germany to signify a well considered protest against the policy of masterly inactivity and nonintervention which had well-nigh struck England out of the lists of the Great Powers. The Bulgarian-horror campaign provoked in Germany only astonishment that the Government allowed their hands to be fettered by a hollow agitation; and in the latter phase of the Eastern complication no attention was paid to Mr Gladstone's speeches, since it appeared that Lord Hartington had become the leader of the Opposition. Now we see Mr Gladstone again pouring out the vuls of his indignation over the Government, probably in hope that a certain reaction has Bet in against Lord Beaconsfield. His speech on England's foreign policy, however, only proves to impartial German observers . that he has learned nothing by the experience of later years. All he has to [say about the Turkish question amounts to affirmation of the abstract principle of nationality on the Balkan peninsula. Because Germany belongs to Germans, Italy to Italians, the inheritance of the Turk must not fall to England, Austria or Russia, but to the races hitherto oppressed by the Porte. It is really astonishing that a man who has been British Prime Minister Bhould fancy he contributes anything to the solution of the knottiest problem of our time by so poor a commonplace. How much more did Theirs realise the real difficulty of the question when he asked at the beginning of the present complication, " Qui fera la police de tous ces petits e"tats nouveaux, de toutes ces races rivales, si la domination Turque disparaitl" Mr Gladstone does not seem to know that those heirs of the Ottoman Empire hate each other much more than the Turks, and that each batch of them has foreign allies with whose assistance it hopes to overpower its rivals; that the Bulgarians expect aid from Russia, the Hellenes from Greece, the Albanians from Italy ; that there are relations of race and religion between the Christiana of Bosnia and Croatia, between the Servian State and the Servian population in Southern Hungary. As a Liberal he believes in the blessings of constitutionalism for those hopeful new members of the European family, while anarchy is rampant in ■ Servia, and the Prince of Bulgaria is alreadyatdaggersdrawn with the Radicals, of the Assembly. It is a generally accepted view in Germany that the intention of prince Bismarck at the congress was to slacken the process ofj dissolution in Turkey, to oppose any further encroachments of Panslavism, and to establish a balance oE power which would prevent Russia from deciding the ultimate fate of Turkey. Every day proves that this aim can only be obtained if each of the parties interested is watchful to prevent the encroachments of its rivals. Without such watchfulness Bulgaria would have advanced its frontiers to the gates of Constantinople, Russia would not have withdrawn her army, and Italy would have plotted in Albania successfully. But Mr Gladstone soars above all such calculations; he decrees that the nationalities of the Balkan peninsula must be free from all foreign influence, apparently thinking himself able to control by his eloquence the Cabinets of Europe ; he "convinces" Russia that they have no business whatever on the Lower Danube, and then he comes to the conclusion that Lord Beaconsfield's meddling policy is tl.e main cause of disturbance. It is sufficient reason for him-to denounce the ambition of Austria that Lord Salisbury had welcomed the establishment of that Power as a guard over Constantinople ; but it is trespassing too much upon the credulitv of the public to pretend that a State situated as in Austria has no legitimate interests in the East, and . blindness not to see that Austria had simply the choice of seizing Bosnia or allowing it to be seized by her rival. I do.not ; pretend to judge of the impression which Mr Gladstone's eloquence has produced upon Scotch constituencies • but I can say that the prevailing opinion in German political circles is, that whatever may be tho shortcomings of Lord Beacbnsfield's policy, his adversary must have made himself impossible as a future Liberal Minister. Abstract theories are bad enough in home politics, but they lead to ruin when applied to the stubborn facts of foreign policy.

Vi!£ ?i" T\ M< P " B P ea king at the Licensed Victualler's banquet at Ipswich recently, said it was idle to think that the licensed victualler's trade would be put down by agitation or legislation, while people pre. ferred something else than water to drink. S. e J 6ma i "J** 0 8* Wilfred Lawson had abandoned the Permissive Bill, and the Gothenburg system had fallen through. Now they had local option, which Mr Glad. Btone rapported ; but he thought the magis. m£fc WOrk very well with ° ufc