New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4521, 16 September 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.

Thb state of Europe is by no means assuring. There are disturbing elements in plenty, which may at any moment set the Continent in a blaze. And these elements are scattered broadcast from the Iberian Peninsula in the West to the Bosphorus in the East, and from the sources of the Volga to the far north-eastern confines of Europe. Socialism, pure and simple, is menacing the stability of Russian - society. It is wide-spread, subtle, and persevering, and assumes every possible aspect of social and political unrest. And the strangest part of this business is, that it is the work of the “ educated classes.” The peasantry are loyal and contented. When Alexander abolished serfdom, land was alloted to the peasants ; savings banks were established ; and if no very marked advance in culture was apparent, at all events the foundation of a prosperous commonwealth, having its lower courses deep in the soil of ‘ 1 holy Russia,” was laid by the wisdom of the Czar. Railroads were built and schools established, and Russia took her place in the ranks of Western nations as a progressive and civilising power. But there was one thing wanting in all these reforms. The aspirations, of the middle classes of Russian society were left unsatisfied. Freedom of speech and publication was denied ; and that national energy which would have found, vent in the newspaper and periodical Rress of the country, to its ultimate and incalculable gain, now takes the direction of social unrest and sedition. Russia has not yet adapted a safetv-valve to its political system. It requires one;— the self-acting and unfailing safety-valve of a Free Press. With this check to sedition in operation, Russia would become immeasurably stronger than she is. There would be an end to socialism in schools, universities, and workshops. The aspirations of her young men would not rest satisfied with the obscurity and excitement of paltry conspiracies against the organised Government of the country, or attacks upon its social arrangements, but they would seek the glory and aggrandisement of their fatherland. The Minister of the Interior, in his circular to the teaching bodies in Russia, on the evils of Socialism, made no mention of the inducing cause; but unless some concession be made to the growing intelligence of the country, all his warnings will be vain. Russian society is a seething cauldron, which may at any moment boil over and scorch and destroy all within its influence. Yet Russia is making overtures to England, to shake hands across the hillforts of Afghanistan, and promising that so long as her influence is respected on the Oxus, England need not fear for the line of the Indus. An alliance, offensive and defensive, with Russia, might be a politic measure, in view of a possible conflict with China, through the Court of Burmah. It is notorious that China has of late years made immense strides in the reorganization and equipment of her armies on the European model. China had force enough to ■ spare to wipe out, once and for ever, the formidable Moslem rebellion on her north-western frontiers, openly encouraged and abetted by Russia. She is in possession of ironclads and arms of precision; her arsenals are busily occupied in the herculean task of providing means of offence and defence for her huge territory. England has much to fear from the Celestials; Russia, in another sense, has even more to dread ; and in view of possible European complications, both Powers would be stronger and freerhanded if they had an understanding on the Chinese and Central Asian questions.

And this brings us back to the European theatre of political forces, a collision of which is at any moment probable. In South-Eastern Europe vast changes are impending. The Hellenic Kingdom has been within an ace of being again in the market for a sovereign, by the abdication of King George, who has become thoroughly disgusted with the subtle Greek ruffianism by which he is surrounded. A constitutional crisis has arisen. A new Constitution has been carried against the will of the King ; and a country of brigands, governed by venal Ministers, is to be called upon to elect, on the basis of universal suffrage, a national parliament. The King thinks the Greeks are not fitted for the exercise of free institutions ; hence his dislike to play a part in a system which cannot possibly be successful. It would not, therefore, surprise anyone to hear from the Piraeus of another petty revolution.

But the internal condition of Turkey is far more menacing. That country, since 1850, lias become debtor to the world in the sum of one hundred and fifty millions sterling, and as there is a large deficit anticipated on the Budget of 1875-70, the English bondholders took fright, and Turkish fianance formed the subject of an animated debate in the House of Commons. It does not appear that Turkey wasted much of this money. She has created a fleet in lieu of that which was destroyed during the Russian war; she has built thousands of miles of railway, established schools, and promoted the development of her internal resources; but race differences, and what is of far greater consequence, religious differences, bar the way to any united national effort. The traditions of the House of Othman govern the Court of Constantinople, and Oriental

luxury, extravagance, and corruption—an implicit faith in the favor of Divine Providence, which long centuries of brilliant success certainly warrant the Osmanlis in cherishing with fanatical devotion—baulk every serious effort at reform. But the national debt of Turkey has made it in reality one of the Western Powers, and it is satisfactory to find it responding to the financial challenge of the House of Commons, by an assurance that the. national honor would be upheld, and the interest paid. But how ? “By a change “in the incidence of taxation.” The Customhouse is to yield a larger share of revenue ; tithes are to be a secondary source of income, which will set the whole official caste, that is, the pure Turks, against the Government and Western ideas, to which latter they will rightly attribute the check to those exactions from the peasantry, and plunder of the revenue, by which they lived in luxury. A reaction may be created, the consequences of which it would be difficult to foreshadow with any degree of certainty. On the other hand, the revolution in Herzegovina continues, and the latest news is that 3000 Serbs had crossed the frontier to assist their compatriots and kinsmen. This is in accord with our anticipations in a previous article on PanSclavisism in South Eastern Europe. Servia is the natural rallying point for the Sclavonic race in the South; andemissaries of the Belgrade Government have gone into Bulgaria to foment sedition amongst this most patient, docile, and downtrodden race ;—a race which has lost none of its moral qualities under the long domination of the Turks. It lies between the Balkan mountains and the Danube, and is the garden of that part of Europe. The Christian population numbers several millions, and if Bulgaria could be politically annexed to Servia, Herzegovina and Bosnia would in all probability follow. The great feudatories of the latter principality wore crushed by Omar Pacha, but they still retain a strong feeling of nationality, and the Christian population gained materially by the rough justice of this great man who, although professing Islamism, was of their own race. With such accession of territory, Servia would become a strong Christian power in South-Eastern Europe, controlling the mouth of the Danube, and giving assurance for the regeneration of Turkey. In Germany, there are many disturbing elements at work, and the reaction in Bavaria, on the Catholic question, bodes no good for Prussia. Should Bismarck proceed to extremes with the Church, he need not count upon the support of South Germany. That point has been made plain by the elections. But the Prussians have the political sagacity to see that it is necessary to change the issue, wherefore they have raised the cry that France has entered into alliance with the Ultramontanists across the Vosges. This diversion, if successful, would substitute a foreign for a domestic qviestion ; but the French promptly repudiated the charge, and leave Bismarck to settle his quarrel with German catholics his own way. And the Separatists are strong in Hanover, where the iron curb of Berlin has always chafed. Austria is singularly quiescent. The recent elections in Hungary have resulted in an overwhelming majority in favor of national unity, the Croats, Serbs, and other Sclavonic people within the Hungarian circle, having supported the Magyar candidates. Public credit has thus been established, and laws ameliorating the condition of the people are promised. At the same time there is a good deal of disquietude among the Czechs of Bohemia. Italy is not so well governed as it should be. Sicily is in the hands of an organised body, which has systematised robbery, murder, and every possible description of crime. Its agents are to be found in every public department; they are on the bench, at the bar, in the National Guards —everywhere, iu fact, so that justice miscarries, and the decrees of the Maffia alone are enforced. It is said that certain ecclesiastics are opposed to the civil supremacy of the Italian Government, sanction the Maffia on condition of receiving a portion of the spoil. However that may be, nothing but the most repressive measures will reduce the people of the old Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to order.

In Spain, war to the knife has been proclaimed by the Madrid Government, and confiscation and proscription have commenced. The Alphonsist journals preach a war of extermination. Neither sex nor age are to be spared ; not a stone of the Oarlist villages is to be left untouched, not a stalk of wheat is to be allowed to grow ; their hospitals and manufacturies are to be razed ; the country seats of the Oarlist gentlemen are to be destroyed, and the northern provinces of Spain reduced to a howling solitude. And this is kingcraft in the nineteenth century. His Most Catholic Majesty, King Alphonso, would reign on the graves of Spaniards. Better far obliterate the whole Bourbon •tribe than continue, on their behalf, such shocking crimes against society. From the foregoing summary, however, our readers will perceive that great political complications are possible, involving the fate of Europe, and most probably drawing into the struggle the distant dependencies of the English Crown.