THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 91, 24 January 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1872.

Tiir, news from the old-world centres of civilization, to hand by the last mail from England, contains much that should interest us at this remote spot on the earth’s surface. We are near the mother country, and yet far oil. The inventive genius of men has, by the aid of steam and the electric telegraph, accomplished this apparent paradox. And we find the most conservative countries in the world rapidly imbibing ideas of progress and scientific development. Turkey in the West; Japan in the East, alike avail themselves of the triumphs of science. But “ the land of the rising sun” is in advance of the land of the Crescent. The political and social revolution accomplished in Japan within the last ten years, is one of the strangest events in modern or ancient history. The traditions of an old and imperial race of Orientals have- been trampled under foot. Privileged classes have been reduced in tho social scale by a stroke of the Mikado's pen. The civil and military organization of the Empire has been changed. Dualism in Government is at an end. The Mikado is the fountain of honour; the Tycoon, and his court and secondary nobles have disappeared from the scene. And last of all, the national religion, Budhism, has been disestablished, and the followers of Cakya-Mouni are no longer a privileged caste. And why has all this happened, seeing that it was only a few years since the Japanese authorities offered every obstruction to the. British Ambassador in negotiating the treaty by which a few ports were opened to trade ? It is simply the progress of Western ideas amongst the educated classes of Japan. Their commisioners have visited India, Europe, and America, and they reported what they saw ; and the Mikado’s Government was sagacious enough to perceive that the only plan of maintaining national independence was to avail itself of European skill in the construction of railways, steamboats, and other instruments of modern progress. This it lias done; and now Japan may be said to be open | to the enterprise of the European races. A market is thereby opened «to us for our coal, and corn, and fish ; in return for which we can obtain tea and a variety of Eastern produce. The new movement in Turkey may simply be spasmodic. It is the work of one man. The new Vizier' has brought a cultivated mind, and vast European experience to the service of the (State; and when he has persuaded the Sultan to reduce his civil list by £300,000 a year, and give up a variety of other Oriental luxuries of an exceedingly costly nature, with the view of presenting a budget without a deficit, there is every reason to hope that his other reforms may be carried out. These, in brief, would abolish the privileges of flic Mussulmans, and place the faithful and the Christians on a footing of civil equality. A net work of railways are projected, mining is to be encouraged, foreign capital is to be attracted to the country, and the longsealed riches of the ancient Byantinc Empire are to be discovered to the world. It is a grand project. The picture is a bright one ; but can it be realised? If it is to be accomplished, tho railways and telegraph will do it. These will not give the old Turk time to think. He will have taken his ticket by the express train of Western civilization, and will he carried to the terminus in spite of himself. Let us hope so devoutly. The Turk has done a world of good in his day. He swept away an infinity of corruption and shams, and if lie was like a human mile stone on the highway of civilization, lie was a substantial one. There was stuff enough in him to make ten Bvantine Greeks or a score of frivolous Syrians. But like all other fixtures, he must he removed or altered in the general renovation and refurnishing. His place in the family of nations is anomalous. The railway scheme of Mahmoud Pasha, and the ready economy of his Imperial master, Abdul Aziz, backed by social reforms and free secular cdu-

cation which jtrc promised, may save the State; but Then, it will not be Turkey, nor will its Government be the Sublime Porte. It will lie the same, ami yet another: one more of those startling paradoxes which puz/.’e students of modern history and observers of the march of ideas.

Then we come to Egypt: ahead, in many respects, of Turkey. The Khedive, or sovereign of Egypt, is bent on opening up the interior of Africa, and for this purpose lie has projected several hundred miles of railway, connecting upper Egypt with the rich but undeveloped countries beyond. In Europe the old races are lifting up their heads. The Czechs, or Bohemians, insist on the restoration of their national rights ; and at “ Prague the Golden” as on the banks of the LifTey, we hear the demand for “ home rule.” The memory of a glorious past belongs to Bohemia ! It was the seat of literature, and art, and the cradle of free thought and religious liberty long before the Fatherland, to which it was ultimately subjected, and by which it was thrown back into barbarism, had participated in the great awakenings, response to which has made tbe German the leading race in Europe. The Sclaves too, are awakening; and there are hopes that, there will once more be a strong Sclavonic nation westward of Holy Russia, which affects to lead and consolidate the different Sclavonic tribes in that powerful monarchy. But although Russia is Sclavonic, it has little affinity with Catholic Poland.

And this brings us to another remarkable movement in Europe. The destruction of the temporalities of the Pope was unheeded amidst the thunders of the bhttles between Germany and Fiance, and the new Kingdom of Italy at last assumed possession of the ancient capital without a hand being raised against them. This followed the promulgation of the dogma of the personal infallibility of the Pope, which would have made greater noise in the world but for the war. And now we have a new schism in the Church. The Old Catholic Church has been formally inaugurated at Munich ; and Catholic Bavaria declares that it will protect and recognise them as Catholics, and “ that the dogma of the Pope’s infalli- “ bility is a danger to the State which “ has altered its relations to the Roman Church.” The adherents of the dogma are held to be schismatics by Dr. Ddllinger and his friend. A union between the Greek and Anglican Churches and the Old Catholic Church is spoken of, and is not improbable, at least in degree.

Meanwhile, in England social questions agitate the public mind, and threaten civil commotion at no distant day. The friends of civil order are alarmed, and willing to make concessions. The longer a settlement of the education and other questions is delayed the greater will be the danger to the State. Wo have our own troubles in New Zealand, but they are not so great as those of other countries.