THE EUROPEAN UNREST.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5092, 19 July 1877, Page 3

THE EUROPEAN UNREST.

(From the Home News, May 31.) The gloom of uncertainty and suspense overshadows Europe from one end to the other. There is no country in which the general sentiment is not one of feverish anxiety and misgiving as to what may happen next, either within its own limits or among its neighbors. The fear that the war in the East may gradually draw into the vortex of battle other nations than the Russian or the Turkish, is gradually giving plo.ee to a conviction that it must, and from the .Egean to the English Channel the apprehension that entanglement in the step is inevitable, has taken firm root among the peoples of the West. AVhate ver occurs at home amonganyof these is regarded immediately from the point of view of its possible connection with or influence upon the momentous issues with which the struggle between the Mussulman and the Muscovite is pregnant. In France there has just been consummated a change of Government which fills the hearts of all sober persons with alarm and dismay. A Republican Cabinet is replaced by a Cabinet of Royalists ; a Government which was pledged to support the new form of Government in France, is succeeded by one whose members are bent upon its destruction. There will be —such is the impression produced by what virtually amounts to a revolution —a renewal of those intrigues and machinations which prevailed under the Imperial regime—the corruptions of the Empire without an Emperor, loading to dynastic struggles with an ambitious foreign policy, to internal legislation or external aggression which may result in war. Who knows what may be the attitude which a Cabinet with the Due de Broglie at its head may adopt towards the Catholics and the Vatican ? Who shall say whether the attitude may or may not provoke reprisals or reprimands from Germany ? Who can be certain that the new forces which will govern France may not commit the country to some act which the imperious Teuton may interpret as a challenge or defiance ? It is only, so argue the great mass of cool and reasonable Frenchmen, the wisdom and moderation of the

| Republican Government which have kept the country out of war with Prussia. What, it is anxiously asked, may bo expected when the Government is Republican only in name ? Public feeling is not less disturbed elsewhere; the dread of what the immediate future may bring with it is not less the predominant sentiment of the hour. There are rumors of a secret treaty between Germany and Russia: Italy is said to be prepared to dispute England's claim to be mistress of the seas: the Austro-Hungarian Empire is rent throughout its whole fabric by internal divisions and heartburning jealousies: Greece is contemplating revolution; Servia will not profit by the lesson of the past war. Owing to the action of Roumania the Danube has ceased to exist as a great highway for peaceful trade. The consequences of the policy of Roumania in flinging herself into the arms of Russia are far-reaching and indefensible. Promised, according to a variety of reports, by Russia a good slice of Bulgaria when the time for distributing the spoil comes, she has already been instrumental iu exciting the jealousy and alarm of her neighbors. It is doubtful how long Austria can remain without entering Bosnia. In the Austro-Hun-garian Empire the conflicting sympathies of Slavs and Magyars have reached a point which is one of extreme peril. Already voices are heard angrily denying the right of Russia to do with Roumania what she wills. Who shall say that the partition of provinces may not involve the redistribution of empires ? That is really the question which a survey of Europe at the present moment suggests. It is not only the Turkish Empire and the Russian Empire which are threatened, bilt the entire European system. A violent wrench was given to this system by the result of the Franco-German war, and no one can guarantee that before Europe has permanently settled down to the new order of things another period of violent contention may not have to he undergone. Both in England and elsewhere those who have merely seen in the war which is now raging between two empires, the isolated crusade of Russia on behalf of the Greek Christians, admit or feel their mistake. The struggle cannot be narrowed to such an issue. Any one of a score of circumstances might alarmingly extend its area. As for the results, they cannot be [defined ; it is uncertain how far they can be controlled. What is certain is that vigilance and firmness can alone be of any avail in in the present crisis. The duty of the other nations of Europe is the duty of England, and that not merely at Home but in every portion of her Empire. To discharge this duty is not to be panic-stricken, any more than to insist on it is to play the alarmist.