THE EUROPEAN DEADLOCK.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2896, 28 May 1878, Page 2

THE EUROPEAN DEADLOCK.

If the only way to the restoration of European tranquillity and the only guarantee of European peace are to be found in a Congress of the European Powers, the immtdiate prospect* is the reverse of hopeiul. It is true that one barrier to the assembl ng of a Congress is the difficulty of discovering a compromise between the different attitudes which England and Russia rigidly maintain. ; A week ago it was hoped that this difficulty was dr.jly decreasing, and would entirely disappear. Only a morning or two since we hruri that Russia had made an intimation of what s"he was prepared to concede to the English demands — which it was thought Her Majesty's Ministers might regard as satisfactory—rat Vienna.. This view apparently has not, been taken by the British Government; there is no reason to believe that we are much nearer the discovery of the t .'riium quid between the Russian position and the English uhinc-lum than we were a fortnight ago; and there is a' general tendency both in England and throughout Europe to despair of the Congress ever be'ng held. The v all >rnative to a Congress is a protraction of the present period of "anxiety and feverish unrest, culminating perhaps, as all such periods are apt to - culminate, in the attempt to evolve cosmos out of chaos, order out of ronfusion, by the appeal to the sword. On our side we are doing all,we canto be prepared for the eventuality of war. There is the clang of preparetion, as Mr Gladstone put it on Saturday last, in our^ dockyards, arsenals, and small and large arm factories ; fresh ships are being commissioned ; militavy officers of all grades are receiving instructions to hold themselves ready for foreign services; our militia and volunfc; 3rs vie in demonstrations of patriotic zeal with our regular army; the material of war, ammunition, and provisions are being Accumulated in every direction; and iar^e invest men! s are being made in horres for our cavalry troops. Of what Russian is doing, that the emergency of battle may not come on them unawares, we have no trustworthy eceounts. The rumcur is that she is massiag her troops on the Bosphorous, and that she is ready at a moment's notice to occupy Constantinople, and subsequently,'should it be necessary, Gallipoli. Meanwhile English men-of-war keep watch and ward in the Sea of Marmora, and, notwithstanding tl>s alleged Muscovite movements on . the Bosphorus, there is reason to believe we could effectively block that entrance to the Euxine, as well as (he approach to the Propontiy through" the Dardanelles. If, therefore, the position of the Russian land armament in the East is a menacing one, that of oar own naval powci.' is a strong one.- "'■ ' . ■■' .' .;.■-'' ■ - '■ . '

The points in dispuie between the Russian and English Governments as to the conditions on which the Congress is to meet are simple in themselves, but, as it would seem, are complicated by one or two collateral considsrations as well as bysome undeniable facts in the past diplomacy of England. The English demand, as at present formulated, seems to be that before.the Congress assembles Russia should explicitly allow that the Trrafc/ of San Stefano, signed' between the Sultan and the Czar on the 3rd of this month, is to be examined by the Plenipotentiaries by the light of the Treaties of 1856 as these treaties were recast in ,1871. It would thus follow that every clause o" the document " done," in diplomatic parlance, at San Stefano, would have to be considered with; reference to the treaties of twenty years ago, tad that if any point of the former conflicted with any of the agreements of the latter, it would be open to England or any other of the Powers which signed the Treaties of 1856 to object. It is not, i of course, pretended by England that in j the case'of such conflict being discovered : it would necessarily oe objected to. The Treaties of 1856—even making allowance for the e'.teratioas or modifications effected in them seven years since—had for their object the preservation of the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire. The Tre Ay of March 3, 1878, destroys that Empire as it exists in Europe, and seriously compromises it as it exists in Asm. England does not adv nee the, manifestly untenable proposition, that whatever in the new lre_ty is inconsistent with the regulations laid down in the old si a! 1 be criticised by the Congress and, if necessary, abandoned by Russia. What she does insist upon is, that before proceeding to the Congress Russia shall admit the broad fact that the Treaties of 1856 ar J still valid, and that from these Treaties it follows that England or any other Euro can Power has an indefeasible ri^ht to oe consulted in, pad to revise the Treaty of the 3rd of this month. Her Majesty's Governmeat, in fact, adopt the same attiude now that they did seven years ago. Then P.u'ssia claimed to be released from certain clauses of the Treaties of 1856': England repi:ed that, while she was willing to consider those clauses in a proper manner, she could not accede to Russian pretensions. The result was that the London Conference of 1871 was held, and that tlie articles prohibiting the navigation of tha Black Sea by Russian men-of-war were rescinded. In 1871, then, Russia yielded to the English protest: is;there any reason to believe that she will similarly yield in 1878 ? And first, let us ask what is the alternative which Russia volunteers to the

English demand as stated above? Sio does not deny the right of England or any other Power to object at the Congress to any of the clauses in dhe Trep.lv of San Stef'ano. She delines, however, not only to be bound by this objection, but to do anything from * which it could be inferred that she admitted she was so bound, and such an admission she considers her accession to English demand would constitute. Russia, however, goes practically further even in the direction of concession than this. Sho says tba* each Power will be justified at the Co:ig/es3 in objecting to anything which affects its ow 1 interests. She Specifically declares, according to the latest information, that she has* no wish to interfere with any of the English interests in the Eastern Question, as specified by Mr Cross last summer—the fate of Cocslantinople, the independence of Egypt, the freadorn of our highway to India by the Suez Canal. What she obj: ?ts to is the policy of Eng^ kind in meeting the Treaty of San Stefano "jy i lie Treati^T of 1.856, and in taking her star ' upon the entire validity of the latter. It is, of course, a question o? form and words ; But it is. one of thcae formal and verbal questions which, produce a deadlock that is only sometime* cut by war. We have said that the issue was complicated by certain undoubted passages in our owa diplomacy of inteUr* national dealing. When the war between ' Russia and Turkey was only impending, Her Majesty's Government declared that the policy was to maintain the independence and integrity of the Ottomai Empire and the Treaties of 1858. Whe 1 the war actually brokj out, and aver it had been some time in progress, Her May sty's Ministers chang 1 tbeir lone; they talkid no more about treats guaranteeing Turkish indepen- „ dence aad integrity; they substituted for them the phrase, " protec'.;.on of Biil'sh r'n.orests!" If these were not at.'ac ;■■■-1. t' =;) we should remain neutral. What Ri ssia, therefore, is now attempting "o do is to jjslify her conduct by taking England at her wovd. We do not, say the Russia Government, wish to menace English interests; let hejp defend, them at the Congress: what more, according to her owa- statement, c.n she tfant? It iar of course open for the Eaglißh Government to reply that the Russian conditions, ao far as they touch the Turkish Empire in Asia, do threaten a distinct British iuieresfc. Eat that, as we are given to understand, is cot the cardinal conlention of our Cabinetit ib that, until they have been formally annulk d in whole or part by the signatory Powers, the Treaties of 1856 are valid, and that Russia has no pewer of her own to override those treaties by ft separate agreement with Porte. There are not any signs that other European Powers wi'l support England in thus'presenting hers'*f as the champion of tbe sanctity of treaties. Austria, apparently, is willing to accept her solatium in the way of new territ'iy; Prince Eismarck will not back up our argument; France and Italy are determined to hold aloof. Under these circumsiinces, it is surely not too much to hope that- come way, of settling, the discussion between the Governments of the Queen and the C7ar may* be found 1 j and that hostilities may not be preoipiKted by an obstinate and barren tenacity c i their §ide.—Home News.

Sings and Tokens.—When you see a man, with a long willow switch in his .band, sneak cautiously down -to the back fence, and stealthily pull himself up until his head is above the top of it, and look anxiously, longingly, and with a dig* appointed expression withal, Up aad down, and all around a vast, lifeless, uninhabited scope of vacant lot, without a sign of ' human life about it, you may aafely bet your little pile that there is a broken window in that man's house, and a twelve-year-old boy about a thousand miles away, and still going.