IMPENDING EVENTS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 232, 19 February 1876, Page 12

IMPENDING EVENTS.

The summary of mail news via San Francisco, published by us on Tuesday, contains items of more than ordinary interest. It is evident that the time is not far distant when important changes in the world's affairs will be accomplished. In the first place, the long rumored intervention by America in Cuban affairs is assuming practical shape. President Grant has addressed a circular for the information of European States, to the effect that the time has come when the United States must interfere to prevent a continuance of the anarchy and disorder which reign in Cuba. The protest of Spain against such a course is sufficiently feeble, having for _ its basis the allegation that an American interference with Cuba, made notably in the interests of the insurgents there, would encourage the Carlists and prolong the civil war which now desolates the home country. So far the replies to President Grant's circular have not been unfavorable ; but as we remarked in a previous article on this subject, it is quite possible that dan a or for the United States themselves may loom in any Cuban difficulty with which they may practically identify themselves. One thing is certain, that whilst foreign war such as an opposed intervention in Cuba would produce, would entail difficulty and expense for the States, that war, so far as the States are concerned, could reach no further than Cuba, and could not by any means develop into an attack on Spain itself. On the other hand, Spain possesses an ironclad fleetin seagoing order so immeasurably superior to that of the States, that the latter would be but as a bulrush in an elephant's path against it, and thus Spain might cripple American commerce and seriously injure American seaports. In the interests of humanity, however, it is necessary that a stop should be put to the bloodshed which a tyrannical rule is causing in Cuba, even though such should result in the island's becoming an appanage of the United States. In Spain itself the condition of affairs, never reassuring, is likely to become more complicated, if possible, by the intention of King Alphonso to give the ex-Queen a home in the country which her vices and fanaticism have done so much to destroy. It is impossible not to perceive in this the germs of a danger to the thrv-ie itself similar to that which producew the flight of Isabella and the military dictatorship of Prim. Not long since we pointed , out the wretched condition of the Herzegovinian rayahs, plundered by landlord, State, and Church. It is their condition that has brought about the insurrection, which everyone feels is pregnant with vast results to the map of Europe. The nation whose interest and inclination it is supposed to be to produce those results, shows herself in the front rank of the pacificators ; but diplomacy has ever been wont to conceal the strongest intentions under the meekest words. It will be gratifying to some, perhaps, to notice the latest effort for the preservation of peace. The representative of Mahomet has invited the successor of St.

Peter to unite with him in persuading the Herzegovinian peasants that they are a happy and contented people. As both these parties have contributed to the unhappiness and discontent of the peasants, it is scarcely likely that their persuasive powers will be exercised with effect. In the face of the circumstances noted above ; with President Grant's Cuban circular, the Herzegovinian question, and the disordered condition of Spain onthe surface, we can more than guess at the disturbing causes lying underneath that must before long produce changes fraught with important consequences —it is not at all unlikely with a war such as the world has seldom seen.