The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 765, 12 May 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1877.

Equal and exact justice to all men, j u Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or V/.political 4 • « #; ' Here shall the Pifesi the People’s right maintain, ‘ ' : Unawed by influence and 1 unbribed by gain

The despatch of the!liiarl q£ Derby, reported in our last as repudiating the arguments in Prince Gortschakoflfs circular as r tb'the reasons which induced Russia; to {declare war against Tui'key, and declaring- that England cannot concur; in, or 'approve of .the decision oi Russia; may,, we fear, be looked upon as the prelude to a formal' declaration of war itself on the; part .of England,, against that. country. It was. just so in the 'Crimean, war./ The Government of 'then day,, oh that occasion, took almost a similar course preparing, as it were, the pnblic mind in England for the; declaration, and seeidng a pretext for interference which should disarm, not the hostility of the Peace Party at home, but, their influence upon popular feeling. A few, days, probably, and we shall, for the second time within a quarter of a century, have the extraordinary spectacle before us of the most christianised, the -most liberal, ami the most civilised nation of Europe iaking up,arms in defence of the bitterest enemies of Christianity, the least progressive and most barbarous, of the peoples of Europe; '. ~ In 1854, Russia showed, herself' by her willingness to' accept '■ the Vienna note, desirous of-bringing the misunderstanding to a peacable solution. . That' note was recommended by the Ambassadors of England,: L Austria, : and Russia, as a document which the Sultan might accept consistently with honor, ,and the integrity and independence of his Government. Russia, oh her part, accepted it, .yet, within a week of her doing so, Turkey declared War, and crossed the Danube. .Alluding' to this matter, Mr Bright, in his speech, on the Royal message,ln the House of Commons, on the 31st March, 1854, said, "It is impossible from this fairly to.doubt the sincerity o£ the desire for peace manifested byj the' Emperor of Russia. He would accept the note prepared by. the Conference at Vienna, sanctioned by the Cabindts in London and Paris, and according to the interpretation 1 put upon it by those by whom it had been prepared—such interpretation to be defined in a clause, to be by them attached to the original document." Turkey, as We have said, made peace impossible, by initiating war, and dragged England, as its ally, nothing unwilling,- into the struggle. We' refer back' to this, as to us there appears a parallel between the war of 1854. and thit of 1877, as far as England's part in it is concerned.- In 1854, she was precipitated into it by the action of her ally, despite the professions of good faith upon the part of Russia, thatthatStale would be bound by the single 'meaning of the Vienna note. In 1877 it would seem that she may be involved. in war with Russia from a distrust on her own part in the good faith of the Emperor Alex- ; ander's protestations. .No one for a moment believes that England will defend Turkey for any love of that effete and. besotted race, but that she fears the t aggressiveness of Russia, and the. traditionary (whether true or apocryphal) policy of Peter the Great; Yet the earnest remonstrances of the Russian Emperor against any existing cause for such belief, of only a few weeks' standing, are fresh in the memory of us all, protestations made to the British Minister by Alexander, " not as Emperor of Russia, but as a

gentleman" No oath could be bo binding, no protestation of good faith more sacred than this. And in good sooth, the popular mind will soon come round to understand that it is so, and thaKGVeat" Britain*, I perhaps, will have' long' j and costly war 'forrl |no ; r tangibly benefit. We have pecent]y published; • evidence showing that exists; a triple alliance between Austria, Germany, and Russia which jealous ?' the growing power of Germany, has been endeavouring to thwart, 1 That., alliance., will, we believe, be "foand c 'tFblTfoif thlT&ctive tiomof: the ■ Panslayonic. movement, which the of Thursday ' seems ! Hs6 ha ve just' discovered, but which,* '/inonbhs ; pasfy has * be t en • 'pbtnted" out by' this jourrial'as the" real object* v and' ultimate outcome'of the struggle now being entered upon'." 'Jilfithis be so, jthen Britain, in entering into the struggle, iis fighting only for a shadow, for the balance of poNyei* would be as well, nay .more;;.»effeetuallyi secured ;by. : : .making-: Austria a.! great Slavonian \Empire lying in the.western path of Russia, than by maintaining there ; the r .sick''and tottering Empire; of Turkeyr <-For when the f f war' is ended, Russia will be Russia'still, , .and .Turkey less able to defend h,er-. sel'iF 'than now.; ! , The prosecution of • war: Ayill neither blot Russia, afc a firstrate State from the map, of Europe, nor revivify the Ottoman Empire.' 'Hundreds of thousands bf'lives'will be sacrificed, and mil-of-treasure expended in producing a position of affairs, whatever it be, which a few years, as the last have done, will bring : back to the statits ante quo. What Russia is probably aiming . at;is the dismemberment, of Turkey and the annexation of certain of her ' Christian provinces. To assist her in this will be the policy of Germany 3' and if to Austria are given the Turkish provinces westward of .' the Black Sea and south of the Danube, which territory includes a large portion of the Adriatic seaboard, she may be well content to cede part of Western Austria to Germany, and allow; Russia to extend Westward to the Danube, even if JPesth itself become Russian.

Later telegrams received last night show that the interference of England is to be delayed till Constantinople itself is threatened. This, however, reduces the question only to a matter of time, not in any way affecting the real matter at issue.

We. alluded in a late issue to the intention of shortly discontinuing the local mail services in Waikato, at present performed by mounted members of the Armed Constabulary Eorce, but we were scarcely prepared to learn that this change would take place so early as the end of the "present month. Such, however, is the case, and to make matters worse there is no intention on the part of the Post&l Authorities of taking over the service when thrown up by the Constabulary. Mr Walter Grey, acting Postmaster at Wellington, is of opinion that none of these services are necessary with the exception of that between Alexandra and Paterangi, and so with a few marginal lines of red ink he quietly sweeps away a seivioe which has been of very great importance and convenience to the district. The wrong, however, ,is one under which .the Waikato public should not sit easily and quietly. We have done our part in representing the importance and value of these services to the district, and in giving as early as possible a notice of the intention of the authorities. It is for the public itself, which is so largely concerned in the matter to take it now actively in hand and remonstrate openly and directly with those in whose hands the remedy lies.